What about … an electric car?
They’re mostly to save cars. Does it reduce pollution? Yeah, but in the long end, bicycles and public transit are much better. They take up less space and are more comfortable.
The electric car is the solution to save cars, not the environment. It still makes roads bigger than they would otherwise be and divides cities
I live 20 miles from the nearest place where I can spend money.
Without personal vehicles, no one in my area could survive.
We also pretty much all have diesel generators. Power outages are frequent and winters are cold enough to kill.
Your argument makes no sense.
Have you ever lived somewhere else, you can see how good life is when you have both proper electrification and good public transportation
P. S. I am not telling you to move, I am wondering does my argument make no sense to you because you don’t know anything better.
I have lived in major cities.
This is way better and I would not trade it for anything.
Genuinely fuck your assumption. Have you ever lived rurally where the only sound you hear is your own fucking waterfalls?
Fuck off. Your opinion is shit.
What the fuck do I need any “good electrification” for? I have a fucking generator. What the fuck do I need “good public transit” for? I have a car, a truck, a snowmobile…a fucking bulldozer…?
this dude emanates mad toxic insecure energy fr
What would be wrong with responding to the substance of the comment as opposed to projecting your feelings on the person who wrote it? Your comment makes no sense.
Yeah I’m just blocking them at this point. I’m pretty confident they’re a teenager with this exchange, so no loss.
i’m talking about you, just in case you didn’t know that
Lol, that’s not toxic energy, that’s appropriate energy in response to OP being a naiive dumbass.
lol ok. Maybe respond to the correct person, next time. That will help.
I have, it is great there is also train to there and a bus to my family’s out of town house. And no power outages even tho it’s a small town.
My power never goes out, idiot. I have a generator.
I can go to see anyone whenever I want. In my schedule. Even during a state of emergency. You cannot.
Your option sucks more though, you can’t go there if your fuel runs out. You have to pay and maintain your car for a cost much higher… also, that’s pretty damn rude bro.
You pay to maintain your public transit with every purchase you make.
My fuel doesn’t run out. I am in control of the supply, not someone or something else.
I’m just going to block you. You’re an obnoxious cunt.
Sorry, you drill and process your own oil for your own fuel supply?
We currently pay to maintain car infrastructure regardless if we own a car or not. Per mile traveled, transit is far cheaper to maintain than roads are.
Oh I see, my argument didn’t make sense for you because you aren’t the brightest, good luck buddy.
you’re not in control of the supply lmao, the oil and coal companies are
P. S. I am not telling you to move
If that’s not your point, I can’t figure out what it is.
you don’t know anything better.
See that sounds very much like classism. People live in rural areas for a variety of reasons. Rural living has one set of problems, urban living has a different set. One is not better than the other. If I got you wrong here, I apologize.
Have you lived anywhere else
Oh, the irony. YOU need to look in a mirror and ask yourself the same question.
You’ve just decreed that everyone else is doing it wrong, yet you have no idea what it’s like anywhere else.
It’s a chicken and eggs problem, without cars the nearest place to spend money wouldn’t be 20 miles away.
According to Google maps the nearest grocery store is 34 minutes away by bike with a 600ft elevation change, almost all of which is in my neighborhood. Going to work would be an 80 minute ride with 950ft of elevation change. I also live where it snows in the winter and my neighborhood sometimes doesn’t get plowed at all. Furthermore even if I wanted to ride a bike I would have to get onto a highway to get anywhere.
There is no public transit near me. None. At all.
Stop pretending that everyone should just live in a dense city and be happy with 30 neighbors.
You had me until the 30 neighbors bit.
Do you not have apartment complexes where you live? You can easily hit that number in your building ALONE depending on how many units there are. Then you have buildings around you because apartments aren’t just a one off.
Let’s say you live on a city block with 8 houses on each side and there’s an average of 2 people living in each house, that’s still 32 people.
Yeah of course. I just don’t think there’s anything wrong with having 30 neighbors. He said it like it was some kind of unfathomable impossibility that someone could have 30 neighbors and still be happy.
I see where you’re coming from.
I personally read it differently. I read it as not everyone lives in a city, or wants to, and so people shouldn’t pressure others to do that (for mass transit) just so we can get rid of cars.
The times I was living in an apartment complex were worse by far than living in a house. Because having neighbors that share walls is always worse. Made even worse if you work night shift.
As a big car-hater myself, I can agree with most of what you’re saying here (the “but it snows” argument is baseless though, see Denmark).
I think that if you’ve chosen to live in sparsely populated areas, then being car-dependent is your choice and you should be able to have that… but you don’t get to drive your car into the city.
Cars ruin cities. They’re loud, dangerous, dirty, and they kill millions. If you’re happy to live like that, then that’s on you, but you (I’m using the “motorist demographic” here rather then the personal “you”) can’t insist on having wide, multi-lane, high speed roads and plenty of free parking where most of the world’s population actually lives. You park at the periphery and take transit or a bike into town.
I live near artic circle and snow is really a problem im rural areas. If the roads have not been cleared its very straining to cycle. Wet snow is even worse and in late autum and late spring there can be ice hidden under the snow and even spicked tires wont help with that. Ebikes help with that, but most ebikes arent designed to subzero temperatures and low to middle price bikes emty the batteries much faster. Especially if the battery is fixed to the frame and you need to leave it outside during work or when going to shop.
On the other hand i lived in “winter cycling capital” of the world and you cant compare the well maintenanced bike lanes to rural roads.
(Also i laugh at the notion that Denmark knows anything about winter)
Can only agree. Cars don’t belong in the city. They’re loud, polluting, take up unnecessary space, kill walkers and bicyclists, and so on.
Lol looking at a few different sources online, Denmark average snow fall is around 20-30inch (50-76cm) per year.
In the US average between states range from 0 to 645 (1640cm). 34 states are above 40in(101cm) and 23 states are over 100in(254cm).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_snowiest_places_in_the_United_States_by_state
Good luck biking through a foot (30cm) of snow when it gets dumped overnight and keeps going for another foot during the day.
You’d have a hard time driving through that snow as well, so there are snow plows and such that make the road drive able. Most places that accomdate winter cycling have dedicated snow equipment for the dedicated cycle lanes.
I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to bike up a snow covered road at a 30 degree incline but I certainly don’t want to try it. Last winter me and half my neighborhood couldn’t drive up the only entrance road for several days after a heavy afternoon snow.
If parking and transit from the periphery of a city into the core actually existed and were usable then I’d like that but that’s not the world we live in now. One of my biggest gripes when traveling to a new city is trying to find parking for any of the big tourist locations. More often than not there is very limited street parking and no parking garages for several miles, nor any obvious transit locations. I often ended up just not going to the place I wanted to see because I can’t find a good way to get there.
I don’t mind walking a couple blocks to go somewhere. I do mind having to walk 30 minutes to see the one shop or restaurant I was interested in.
If you don’t already live in the heart of a big city they absolutely suck to get around in. Even more so lately with the advent of apps for parking or transit that you have to sign up for beforehand and that don’t have cash or card readers for non locals. I absolutely LOATHE creating accounts for more garbage apps and services I need to use a single time.
The car isn’t bound to any schedule, isn’t limited by any predetermined bus stops, and can carry the TV you just bought.
Yeah, but in the communist bubble people like OP live in, you don’t need a schedule because nobody has to be anywhere at any specific time, you can walk to the bus stop, and that TV you just bought is OUR TV, so, thank you! /s
I’ve said similar things in anti-car communities, and I have never gotten (or seen) a good answer. They just dogpile on the downvotes hoping it gets pushed to the bottom and that too many people aren’t hiding vote counts/weights and just sorting by all/new.
You’d think a person would want to address the most logical challenges to the argument, but that’s not how the Internet works. I don’t think it’s ever worked that way. If you find a place where it does, drop me a line.
Frequent tranist. Missing a tram is no big deal if another is coming in 5 minutes. It needs to be a tram with priority tracks and signals so it stays on schedule.
Missing a tram and losing 5 minutes is the same as hitting a couple extra red lights or being delayed due to construction or a collision. Planning to arrive a few minutes early fixes any issues you would have from possible delays.
The public transit isn’t bound to any road rage, isn’t limited by parking spots, and can carry the TV you just bought.
Same for bicycles. Not limited to schedules, parking spots, and can do heavy duty. Also, it literally grows you into a chad if you use it often enough.
Hahahaha, all you got is “road rage”?
Go ride a bus in NY, LA, Chicago, Philly (I have).
Fuck that.
I hate carrying my new tv everyday twice a day on random times, but I do what I must
I don’t have a car, but sometimes I envy those who do. They can just look for furniture on second hand listings online and then just go and buy it.
If I need to do the same I need to do some serious planning ahead.
In EU, or at least my country, there is a concept of car rentals for minutes. You just boot up an app, it shows map with car locations, you reserve the closest one and get to it. Pay per minute or kilometer.
Is there sonething like this in USA?
Those apps don’t guarantee availability. We have them here in Canada, formerly Car2Go, now Communauto, and they’re great, but a) they are still a car, and b) availability is not guaranteed. Most weekends all the cars are gone by 9am.
We have enough of them here that they are enough, and that’s in student city. But they are coupled with proper public transportation, bike/e-bike rentals and e-scooter rentals, so there’s plenty to go along. So you have plenty of better options for just moving, but when you want to grab a lot of grocieres at once or something, there are car rentals.
And to add - I am just mentioning this to show that there are ways to implement “public” transportation that allows for cargo transfer when you need it.
Yeah, but that model does not work when you live out in the country. That’s literally a model that only works past a certain population density.
Yeah, but living out in the country is one of the rare times where having a car is actually fully practical, so out of scope for me, but I may have not been clear about it :|
OP is kinda advocating for a sensible public transport where schedules don’t matter due to frequent intervals and with a dense network of stops that are walkable. Possibly supplemented by car sharing or cargo bike sharing for the rare occasions someone has to transport something bigger than a week’s groceries.
The car is a crutch we need while society and politics fail to achieve okay public transit.
The car isn’t a crutch, it’s more like someone injures you, then gives you a crutch without fixing up the leg. Agreed with the rest tho
For the low low price of your kidney and the environment and all the car deaths, great deal I think. /s
You should probably look into the environmental costs of trains and bused before spouting such nonsense.
You could look into the environmental costs of fucking your mother :3
(it’s probably less than having a car)
Folks around here tend to use gasoline, propane, or natural gas generators to power their homes. Diesel’s more typically used for industrial and commercial applications.
Sorry you live in an undeveloped country.
It is extremely common for people in the country to have massive propane tanks for heating and backup diesel generators for power, here in Canada.
It’s just called living in real life and not just the internet.
Developed countries have robust and reliable energy grids while undeveloped countries do not. That’s real life.
So no country in the world is developed then? Because literally every single country in the world has power outages.
Lmfao, you sweet innocent indoor cat.
Sorry you live in an undeveloped country.
I feel like I’m repeating myself
Yes you are, and it’s rather embarassing in light of being handily proven to be wrong.
Name a developed country, and I’ll point you to a power outage and a need for backup generators. Here, how about I start:
Canada ✅, Norway ✅, Switzerland ✅, The UK ✅, Belgium ✅, Costa Rica ✅, Japan ✅, South Korea ✅
So please do go ahead and tell us your mythical country that doesn’t ever have power outages due to inclement weather?
Oh what’s that? You can’t name one?
My state, California, has banned the sale of generators, which puts us in the esteemed company of highly-developed, world-leading countries such as Nigeria and India.
Yep.
OP knows fuck all. Diesel has storage issues, so u less you’re using it continuously it’s not a good choice.
I just joined c/fuckcars and this is deep
I feel like that community is just a honey trap for pedophiles. Where else would you find so many naiive children?
yikes
Make public transport, cheap and frequent through the country, along with a cheap reliable car share/hire scheme… and you’d see the need for cars dwindle.
It’s easy for certain types of people to claim the high ground, when they have no idea what it’s like for everyone else… they live in gilded cages in cities with cheap and easy to access public transport… so they have no need for a car… and thus no one has a need for car either… they’re so blinkered, they might as well be blind… and the ignorance that goes with the preachy mentality is even worse.
So when I can walk to the end of my road and catch a bus to the next town over… without it taking over 2hrs to travel 6 miles… via a 16 mile trip in the opposite direction and changing buses that means sitting around in the freezing cold for 40 mins… I’ll consider giving up the car… But the chances of that happening are ZERO because ‘capitalism’ dictates we must CONSUME, CONSUME, CONSUME… there is no will with govts or the rich to do a damn thing… and the rich account for around 49% of ALL individuals emissions.
So take the preachy bullshit and shove it somewhere dark and stinky.
I do agree entirely, I also live in a very car dependant country and traveling is very complicated for me because I refuse to use a car.
ITT: butthurt carcels who try to invent every excuse possible to not go by train/bus or bike.
carcels
Incels, but for being denied cars?
Yes, basically
I don’t even have a drivers license, and I recognize there are limitations with public transport / bicycles.
Like what?
Easier to buy second hand furniture with a car. That option is pretty much off limits for me.
Counterpoint: a bike trailer ✨
Lol, let’s see you move anything more than small items with a bike trailer.
As the kids like to day, “touch grass”.
I’m going outside more often than you, probably. 🤷
I transported an entire IKEA set for a bed with my bike. I think it’s just a matter of a skill issue.
Not a counterpoint. I bought a bike trailer and it’s far less useful for transport:
a) tippiness / base size: you cannot take any reasonable sized furniture in it, and absolutely nothing tall or top heavy.
b) lack of cover: you cannot transport anything unless the weather is perfect
c) lack of suspension: cars come with massive cushy suspension systems that prevent things from bouncing and breaking. This is also the main factor that limits biking home with groceries like eggs.
Again, I own a bike trailer, it’s mostly used for taking my hockey equipment to close games, it is not the same thing as a car and once you try and make it match the features of a car, you end up with 30 Rock Microwave / Pontiac Aztec situation.
For all of those there are cargo tricycles. 🤷 You can use tiewraps, cables, and bands too, people do that with cars and big transport as well.
So you want me to take a multi wheeled, suspension having, covered, and motorized vehicle?
Congratulations, you’ve invented the Pontiac Aztec!
Do go ahead and tell us how you moved your last bookcase on your bike? Last couch? Last fridge? Last washing machine?
Except if your car is too small for them, and also how often does this happen and why not use a rental?
I don’t even have a drivers license
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Renting a car is more expensive than owning?
Rent a car by the hour? Where do you live?
Oh, that explains it all - you really have no idea how the rest of the world works, and think that how your tiny little corner works defines it all.
You need to get out and see how everyone else lives.
Car rentals are exceptionally cheap compared to paying to own and drive a car capable of hauling a couch for that one time 4 years ago when you needed that.
I rented a car for a week recently: $1000
I’ve owned my car (small pickup) for 20 years now, paid $11000 for it. I’ve put nothing but, oil changes, tires, brakes, regular maintenance. Gas is a wash because a rental would use the same gas.
If I rented a car 2 or 3 times a year I would’ve paid as much as for my little pickup.
OP is clueless.
Lmao, no bro. Just people who understand how public transit doesn’t extend everywhere. Do we need to bring up a map and highlight the routes covered by public transit and the ones covered by roads so that you can see the difference?
I’ve literally never owned a car, I just occassionally time spend time IRL.
Or maybe, it’s people who think they understand why it doesn’t extent everywhere.
But the truth is, that lines got cut and slashed, trains made shorter, and so on, all in the name of the Golden Cow of Profit. When shareholder profit becomes focus, general wellbeing decreases.
I spend everyday outside, btw. It’s a bit naïve to assume that others like me don’t.
Lmao, no.
It’s because roads get built first because they’re cheap and flexible. It costs nothing to build a dirt road but a bulldozer and a bit of time.
Transportation networks start with desire paths with take the form of cheap and easy roads, then they’re expanded and improved upon or abandoned as time goes on demand calls for it.
Eventually public transit gets added and then eventually trains get built.
Congratulations on being a semi-outdoor cat, how often do you go out to the country, vs how often do you walk around the block before returning to your echo chamber? Because bringing up a detached Who Framed Roger Rabbit argument about San Francisco’s trams has literally nothing to do with most of the rural country that simply does not and never has had the demand necessary to support public transit.
You got this from your hippie great-grandma’s diary when she wrote it 50 years ago.
Seriously depends on what you are doing with that car.
I would not expect my plumber or electrician come by bike, even a cargo bike.
There are people who have to commute to work, and who don’t live in city centers. Public transport is either bad or nearly non-existent.
Arguing against a car comes from the narrowmindedness of living in a city center with short ways and buses every five minutes.
I live in rural place and both aggregate and car is pretty necessary things.
Aggregate? It shouldn’t be necessary these days, care to elaborate?
Last winter snow pressed trees against the power line and it rook 36 hours for electric company get it fixed.
Wouldn’t it then be better to have underground lines?
There are about 14 500 km of powerlines in my country and many of those go trough long unhabitabed stretches. Another thing is that where i live ground freezes and that makes the ground shift, sometimes enough to ruin foundations of buildings so there are some real problems to make long underground lines.
But yes. It would be nice if underground lines were easy to make.
You know what, that’s a fair argument. Maybe those lines could use frost protection and insulation. Or the trees being cut near power lines (but only there insofar necessary, not as a pretext to cutting them everywhere).
Underground lines cost 3 to 20 times more, have higher power loss, last about half as long and can’t be as long as overhead transmission lines.
Running a generator for a short period every few years when a line goes down will cost less and cause less pollution than putting in underground lines.
36 hrs sounds quite well suited for a i.e. 30kWh battery that you could charge it during night or whenever electricity is cheaper. Depends on your case of course, but it probably could be done like that.
Only because public transit is shit in rural areas due to the coal, oil, and gas lobby.
In countries like Switzerland, it’s available even in rural areas. A big country like China can build them aplenty. And the US used to have a much denser network of public transit.
We have basic public transit, and id say long distance transport is excelent, but it does not serve me at all when i need to drive because of my work from farm to farm, or i want to pick mushrooms or berries from random forest plots.
And bicycling then?
Because i cant bike holding fence posts and tools. Nearest shop is 15km one way trip and nearest bus stop 500m away. Long enough so i dont want to carry my groseries by hand.
As for biking i do a lot of recreational bike trips.
Wouldn’t an electric bike be an option? They go 25 km/hr (speed pedelecs can even go 45 km/hr, handy for rural areas).
And there are bicycle bags, you put them on the back of your bike.
that said, fair, recreational bike trips are fun. hope you have a good day :3
I have an e bike and bike trailer, but you know what cars have? Covers. And locks. And suspension so my shit doesn’t get rattled to pieces or stolen or rained on.
Lmao.
Bruh I was in Switzerland last year, their rural areas are like 20min from their urban areas. You can literally fit 26 countries of Switzerlands into a single province of Ontario. Literally no where there is as rural as most of Ontario.
Public transit is great, but you’re acting like public transit can cover all the edge cases of country living and it just fundamentally cannot.
In some places with unreliable power it is. It’s not a third world problem either. I have worked in parts of Australia where power is unreliable because you are in the middle of nowhere and you are the end of the power line.
Can’t you manage it with a battery and wind/solar?
Too many trees around sadly and it was part of a national forest so we couldn’t make a clearing.
Water energy then?
Then you might consider a big enough battery if that’s not in MWhs. You’d charge it during night perhaps and switch to it when needed?
If you live in a densely packed city. You’re absolutely right
if like birdwing says that switzerland can do it in rural areas too, then others can do so too
And then someone else actually living there says, yeah, that’s not actually true nor practical day to day.
Well, I dunno, I’ve lived there. But ok, just ignore it from someone who has experienced it themselves…
What if my home is powered by solar and a home battery, and my car is an EV? I basically have a personal generator and it’s fantastic, it’s just not Diesel, same for the car.
That is better, but the best would be a bicycle and public transit.
I’m going to sound like a carnivore on a Vegan sub now, but genuinely I’m disabled and not easily able to use the bike/transport options.
Apparently 36 minutes walk away from my nearest train station if I walk on a grass verge on a 60mph road with no pavement, there is a bus but that is 28 minutes to the train station with a change of bus and 9 minute walk.
I could probably manage the 2nd option, but not a lot else for the rest of the morning.
I don’t know what (physical?) disability you have, so forgive me the suggestion – but how about disability friendly bicycles? There are wheelchair bikes
that you can drive, and there are electric bicycles as well (which are much easier to get to speed on without tiring the muscle).
Bad weather and payload capacity want a word with you.
For bad weather I just wear a poncho or well-breathing rain clothes when bicycling. Or a shirt and plenty of water. Etc. Our bike pathes also get salted in winter. I pay much less in terms of fuel and maintenance, and it also makes me healthier. It’s liberation!
For payloads – most people don’t need to tow anything more than a backpack more than once or twice a year. It’s cheaper to get a normal car and only have a trailer for heavy duty when moving.
And even then, there are bicycle bags that you can put on the back of the bike. And bike trailers as well. Pretty safe and healthier still. I moved homes while doing that.
Most people buy groceries more than once a year, and as soon as I wasn’t living alone that became an unreasonable quantity of groceries to transport by bike. Even before then, I was carrying them in panniers - it was always way more than would fit in a backpack.
Cycling is great - ideal, even. But I bought a(n electric) car a year and a half ago, and now my nose wrinkles at the fuck cars mindset. The ability to take big items to the recycling centre, freedom from public transport schedules, not having to worry about falling off and breaking my instrument when riding to a music lesson - it has a lot of advantages.
And riding in the rain is fine, and people make a bigger deal out of that and a lot of other things than they should if they haven’t tried it, but driving is an improved experience on almost all of them.
And? I do my groceries by foot or bicycle and it goes just fine. Same with public transit. There’s also home delivery, that goes by bicyclists.
The public transit schedules being shit in your region is most likely because of defunding of their lines, intentionally reducing the amount of coupes/buses, not paying their employees a decent wage, and strike busting (eg prohibiting strikes where the transit continues to ride but without raising a fee). Realise that car and petrol lobbies worked a ton to do that.
And also… seriously? “Your instrument falling off” out of all worries? C’mon. Then you need a good bicycle bag and to bike more often to learn to do it well. I’ve never fallen off my bicycle and I’ve biked for 25 years. And that’s with snow, rain, heatwaves, potholes and bad roads. Alternatively, you get a longtail - or a cargo tricycle. Equipment then is sheltered against rain and doesn’t fall off.
For recycling big items (which I only need to do very rarely), I just have a bike trailer. It can be safely linked to the bike and then you can easily just transport it. You can also easily and safely unlink it again, and then you got a normal bike.
The car isn’t really an improvement for me. Stressing out about other drivers, all the honking, needing to look for parking, fuel costs, maintenance costs, and the enormous space it takes up for so few people – it’s incredibly inefficient. I much prefer biking. I love the absolute freedom I got with it.
And? I do my groceries by foot or bicycle and it goes just fine. Same with public transit. There’s also home delivery, that goes by bicyclists.
Given that I said I used to do groceries by bike but mentioned some changes, this isn’t worth very much without saying how many people you’re buying for, and how often. If you’re willing to go shopping every other day, or are only buying for yourself, it’s quite different than if you’re trying to minimise the number of trips and/or are buying for more people, isn’t it?
The public transit schedules being shit in your region
I didn’t say they were shit. For many purposes they are quite reasonable. But they are still a schedule, and the difference between getting to the bus stop at the right time to catch your bus versus a minute after it left is really annoying, meaning you have to be a lot stricter about when you leave your home and when you leave whatever it is you’re doing. It’s distracting and anxiety-inducing.
Then you need a good bicycle bag and to bike more often to learn to do it well.
Fuck off. Seriously go and think about what you just said to someone you know nothing about and what your goals are from this conversation.
The car isn’t really an improvement for me.
Then why don’t you talk about it from your own perspective, rather than telling other people how amazing cycling will be for them? You’d be less annoying and probably convince more people to cycle that way, too.
If I were to reply to your concerns about driving in the way you speak about cycling and public transport, I’d say something like, “you just need to check out where to park before you go” (you know, like you do bus stops); “if people are honking it’s because of a toxic culture that causes them to take their anger out audibly” (as if, like your comment on bad public transport, that makes it any better); “if your fuel and maintenance costs are bad, you just need to get a good car”. As you can appreciate, none of those response are reasonable - in the same way you’re being unreasonable.
I prefer biking too - when it’s reasonable. I do not prefer public transport to driving, except in limited circumstances.
My parents did it the same way as I do, doing so for a family of six. Longtail bike or cargo tricycle with a few bags, and then you go. Works just fine, whether once every other day or every week. I did this for them and siblings as well.
Buying for only myself, I do it every other day.
For the bus lines, you just leave a few min in advance. And does the car not have a same (looking for parking spots), if not more stressful issue, by having to focus while driving as well?
Fuck off. Seriously go and think about what you just said to someone you know nothing about and what your goals are from this conversation.
Being civil on the internet seems like a lost art. I know what I say. I bicycle everyday. Now, could you be so kind to behave like a normal person and not be rude, thank you.
Then why don’t you talk about it from your own perspective, rather than telling other people how amazing cycling will be for them? You’d be less annoying and probably convince more people to cycle that way, too.
I did. And you can be less annoying by not saying “fuck off”.
As you can appreciate, none of those response are reasonable - in the same way you’re being unreasonable.
Except that fuel costs are still higher going by car than by bike or bus. You’re paying to travel with a multiple-tonne vehicle for up to 6 people, probably only carrying one or two at a time – while a bus carries much more. I think you are the one being unreasonable here with your rudeness.
And? I do my groceries by foot or bicycle and it goes just fine. Same with public transit. There’s also home delivery, that goes by bicyclists.
Groceries are mostly doable I’d say. But what if you need a larger or heavier item? Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to get rid of the car and am bicyclist myself, but realistically? Between bad weather (while rain can be done, it is not a very pleasant experience, moreover when it’s cold as well), shit public transport and more complicated payloads and such, it quickly gets complicated. And all the kudos to you if that works for you, honestly.
For heavier items I just put them in a bicycle bag on the back of the bike. You then don’t need to carry anything on your back.
For rainy and cold weather I just wear gloves + a thin scarf + a shirt + sweater and then a breathing rain jacket. You’ll get warm soon enough bicycling and it works well for that.
That is not exactly the point, the point I was making is that utility like electric is a public utility provided for use, just as public transportation can be. But we are stuck in thinking about the car in that private mindset that if we apply to utility like electric is like having a diesel generator powering your home.
Electric is certainly better than fossil fuels.
I’d still rather live in a place that’s pleasant and safe to walk around, and has adequate public transport for the days when I’m too tired to drive safely.
What I wonder about is the efficiency of electric vehicles in areas that have coal power generation
Power plants have efficiency on the order of 50%.
Combustion engines have an efficiency on the order of 20%.
EVs have an efficiency on the order of 90%.Even 100% fossil fuel powered, EVs are significantly more energy efficient than a combustion vehicle.
There are always counter examples (Hummer EV, F1 engine), but it holds true when comparing like for like.
Burning petrol is slightly less polluting than coal, but internal combustion engines are about 20% efficient and coal power plants are about 35% efficient. Transmission and charging losses are quite small, and electric motors are about 85% efficient, so it is possible for a coal-powered EV to be slightly worse than a petrol-powered ICE car, but not by much, and any amount of less-polluting fossil fuels, any amount of clean electricity generation, shifts that balance.
Me too, I used to live in the city where everything was within 10 minutes, took the bus every day to work.
Only downside was living with so many people in an enclosed space there was constant noise. But that was before noise cancelling headphones and triple glazing, so may be better now.
Depending on your experiences, this could either make you happy or angry.
Cities aren’t loud: cars are loud - Not Just Bikes
Can confirm triple glass helps a lot, loud stuff going by next door - you don’t hear them.
Lmao, “pleasant and safe to walk around”?
Bruh come the fuck on have you literally never been out to the country or nature?
People in this thread need to get off the internet and literally just go for a hike in the woods. They seem to have forgotten what this little thing called nature is like.
I have a nature reserve near my house and I walk there quite frequently. It’s nice to get away from the noice of the cars, and enjoy the quiet sounds of tree, birds, and the wind.
Unfortunately for many people in this country, the only places within walking distance of home are paved urban sprawl. It is not particularly safe to walk there, and neither is it pleasant with the lack of shade, constant vehicle noise, and urban heat in the summer.
In my experience, areas with good public transport have safer walking paths that are often surrounded with nature (even if it’s sometimes just a short distance on each side), but areas with poor public transport just have roads with minimal plants or safe walking paths.
I don’t want to drive for 2 hours to the countryside every time I want some peace and quiet, I want to live there all the time. I also shouldn’t have to give up the benefits of living in a city to get away from car dependent suburbia.
There are many countries with quiet safe cities, all because they have adequate alternatives to driving.My point is that all cars are contributing to cities that are hostile to humans, and adequate public transport (including walking and cycling paths) is far better than an electric car.
Not everything is black or white, my friend. Some people don’t have a car, some have a car and use it unnecessarily, some other use it moderately and so on…
What is your point?
Probably that you are being very hyperbolic
