LittleBigMan

Convenience drives the modern economy and the modern thought process. It also drives us around in automobiles.

But are they really more convenient, or are they just lazy-man's items?

:confused:

Most urban drivers are alone in their cars. They move further and further out of town to get away from "urban congestion," bringing it with them wherever they go.

Go ahead, waste your life, one hour at a time.

Chris L

Having seen traffic in Surfers Paradise today, I'll vote for the latter option.

Matadon

This is your life, good to the last drop. Doesn't get any better than this.
This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.



I think that cars can really be both, and it just depends on how they are used; the problem lies in that most Americans drastically over-buy their cars (i.e., an SUV instead of a wagon), and then use them in an inefficent manner; such as driving to mail a letter when the post office is a few kilometers from the house, or chauffering the kids to school when it is only a short distance away.

fubar5

Cars definetly have their place, but they are way over used. If you had somebody that needed to be taken to the hospital, you wouldn't really want to load them on a BOB trailer and take off. And if you had to drive and 1 1/2 hours to work, you really wouldn't want to ride. But for the most part people don't live 1 1/2 drive away from work. But like others before have said, you don't need to fire up the ole gas guzzler to run down the street a block to get a snickers bar.

John E

In most urban cores, and in many suburbs as well, a car is a hindrance, rather than a convenience.

ViciousCycle

Read Asphalt Nation if you haven't already. The 'convenience' has largely been forced on us over time. Here's a few highlights:

1930's-1940's:
In the 1930's and 1940's, General Motors, Firestone, Standard Oil, and Mack Truck allied together as National City Line to forcibly buy out and shut down commuter rail systems. Among their accomplishments was shutting down 100 street rail systems in over 45 cities. Then, during the New Deal, a majority of the people who were trying to feed their families via the New Deal's job creation programs found themselves working on constructing a highway system.

June 29, 1956:
Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the largest public works project ever, establishing the Interstate Highway System. Under the pretext of the Cold War and the idea that cities might need to be evacuated quickly, virtually no major city was allowed to go untouched by this act. American cities might be very different today had it not been for this one act.

Today:
The federal government *heavily* subsidizes the creation of highways, then turns around and tells public transportation that it must mostly pay its own way. This really stacks the deck against public transportation, since it is competing with the heavily subsidized highway system.

thbirks

Most people don't every think about driving or owning a car. It's just as natural to them as breathing. I know this used to be the case for me. It's only when I started getting around on a bike that I was able to view the chaos that cars cause from the outside. The sad thing is that there is no where that people can go and escape the influence of the automobile in order to see the problems clearly. The only place in the USA that I know of where one can truly get away from the automobile is Plasticworld, I mean Disney World, but take a look at their parking lot.

I find that rail travel is a wonderfully convenient way of getting around. Occasionally, I'll ride to the light-rail station and take my bike into Philadelphia. It's great. It's fast, cheap and I can spend the time reading or relaxing. Much better than driving. Soon a new light-rail service will be completed that will link philadelphia to Trenton, NJ. When this happens I'll be able to ride the train to NYC and bring my bike and it will be much cheaper than Amtrak rates. As traffic congestion continues to increase I think more people will choose to use the light-rail.

LittleBigMan

Me too.

Quote:

The only place in the USA that I know of where one can truly get away from the automobile is Plasticworld, I mean Disney World, but take a look at their parking lot.

Actually, cars promote exercise in this way. Walking from the parking lot to the gate can be like crossing the Sahara. Then once inside, you walk, walk, walk...

They make their real money on $3.00 drinks.

Chris L

I've been giving this some though VC. Maybe we just don't understand the respective definitions of public and private

Richard D

1 hour 30 is still a good run for me - my best is 1 hr 25 (it's the hills that do it )

Am I mad leaving home 15 mins earlier just so that I can cycle in? (I'm not sure I want anyone to answer that one )

Richard (who reckons he should eventually get the run down to a little over an hour!)

D*Alex

The idea of quick evacuation of cities was not originally a reason for the interstate highway system. The primary reason was to make it easier to transport goods (civilian and/or military) quickly over long distances. Back in the 1920's, it would take a person at least 10 days to travel coast-to-coast, whereas today, an ambitious person alone can do it in 3 (the 36 hour "cannonball runs" of the 1970's not included).
The claims of making cities quickly evacuatable by highway (yeah, right!) was only used by politicians later, to justify urban highways. Originally, interstates didn't go through cities.
Although people love to bash the highway system, people should note that it has created a system of shipping direct from manufacturer to retailer which didn't exist back in the days of rail freight. Inter-city busses are also more flexible than trains, and small towns are much better served than they were in the times of rail transit. Railroads have evolved to only serve the heavy haulage and long distance segments.
As for cyclists, we should be glad that highways exist, since they remove autos from surface roads. Before the advent of the Interstate system, country highways were often bumper-to-bumper on summer weekends, sometimes for many miles.

john999

The Interstate is just a truly bizzare concept.

Originally, it was designed for ostensibly military purposes - but most of the Interstate is between strategically insignificant cities, and most of the money was spent in intracity freeways.

The freeways were designed with gently radiused curves and with visible sight lines - this was for one purpose - to maximise car speeds.

Steele-Bike

When I worked at the University a couple of years ago, I would often walk a 1/2 hour to work. It amazed me how many strange looks I got when people would hear that. At the time I even owned a car, so that puzzled them even more. I have a friend that still works there and has to walk 1 mile from his assigned parking lot, and he only lives 3 miles from work.

If anyone has any extra clues, please hand them out. I am beginning to think they are in short supply.