Originally Posted by khuon
I would really like to see all of these people who claim they are so open-minded be a little bit more open-minded about the fact that not everyone lives in the same conditions
This is very true. There are cities and rural area in the US where one, especially with a family, would or does struggle greatly without a car or single car substitute (i.e. taxi)
I can not do everything I need by bike and bus alone in the Phoenix, AZ metro area. It is the city layout sometimes made worse by the heat. I have no problem with 1hr of cycling round trip errands, appts, committees, etc. but there are many that are >40mi roundtrip that can not be accomidated by bike alone. Some cities like Phoenix grew and developed based on an completely auto-centric design.
The counter arguement is to:
1. Move where one can live without a car- The shortfall of this is that if everyone who lived where one must rely on a car to those places where one does't, that those 'better' places would not be able to accomidate the extra population without major changes in infrastrcture, housing, jobs, which may be difficult to do while maintaining the environment that supprots car free lifestyle.
2. Change the city you are in so it can be lived in car free- This can only be done slowly and with great dedication, baby steps, getting more support for public transport, denser urban areas, etc. It is made all the more difficult by those who really care giving up and taking option 1.
3. Make personal sacrifices- Don't get the same level of health care for yourself and children by avoiding specialists, etc. who are 20mi+ from home, don't make friends with people on the other side of town, don't go to a concert after work because it is 40mi away and no bus would get you there on time, don't be an active patricipant in a organization who is working to make the city better because you can't get to the monthly centrally located meetings (unless you can borrow a ride), and on and on. Some of these are trade-offs that can be reasonably made, but some may be too difficult to live without, or take away something that is more important to you than living car free.
Al