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The end of the road for motormania

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Started 9 months ago by Walker
Latest reply from manticore33

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Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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The end of the road for motormania
16 August 2011 by Fred Pearce
NewScientist.com

Something unexpected is happening to our car-crazy culture. What are the forces driving us out of motoring?

IS THE west falling out of love with the car? For environmentalists it seems an impossible dream, but it is happening. While baby boomers and those with young families may stick with four wheels, a combination of our ageing societies and a new zeitgeist among the young seems to be breaking our 20th-century car addiction. Somewhere along the road, we reached "peak car" and are now cruising down the other side.

READ MORE: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128255.600-the-end-of-the-road-for-motormania.html

Posted 9 months ago #
JayR
OSU
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While I dont particularly buy into the idea of peak travel, as an environmentalist and localist (is that a word?) I find the downward trends in car usage to be thrilling and hopeful. You can see it in Columbus too: bikes are all over from Clintonville to Germain Village and everywhere in-between. Armed with this research, I feel that it should expedite and energize efforts to improve pubIc transit in Columbus. We have an excellent bus service but we should diversify.

Posted 9 months ago #
HeySquare
German Village
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JayR said:
...I find the downward trends in car usage to be thrilling and hopeful. You can see it in Columbus too: bikes are all over from Clintonville to Germain Village and everywhere in-between. Armed with this research, I feel that it should expedite and energize efforts to improve pubIc transit in Columbus. We have an excellent bus service but we should diversify.

what a novel idea. Perhaps we should consider other alternatives like rail or streetcars.

Posted 9 months ago #
rus

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Why does less cars = thrilling?

Posted 9 months ago #
JayR
OSU
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rus said:
Why does less cars = thrilling?

Several reasons. It means public transit is catching on, it's becoming more economical for alternatives, and less carbon is being emitted into the atmosphere.

Posted 9 months ago #
rus

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JayR said:
Several reasons. It means public transit is catching on, it's becoming more economical for alternatives, and less carbon is being emitted into the atmosphere.

*scratch head*

So, it's all about the carbon?

I'm not trying to be argumentative; I've seen the "cars bad!" meme here often, but never understood it.

Posted 9 months ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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JayR said:
We have an excellent bus service ....

really?
Compared to what?

Posted 9 months ago #
cc

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Tenzo said:
really?
Compared to what?

Agreed, compared to other cities I have been to our bus transit system seems pretty mediocre. It has made progress, but calling it excellent would be putting the bar fairly low.

Posted 9 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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rus said:
I'm not trying to be argumentative; I've seen the "cars bad!" meme here often, but never understood it.

Probably because you dumb it down to a "cars bad!" meme instead of actually trying to understand someone else's perspective.

For me, it's more about a healthy balance of options. Cars aren't bad. Freedom from choice is.

But yeah. I'm just one of those cars=bad people that you'll never understand. LOLZ!

Posted 9 months ago #
rus

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Walker said:
Probably because you dumb it down to a "cars bad!" meme instead of actually trying to understand someone else's perspective.

If cars aren't bad, then why be thrilled at less of them?

Or for your other options to exist there must be less cars?

Posted 9 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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I didn't say I was thrilled. You're asking the wrong guy.

Posted 9 months ago #
rus

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Walker said:
I didn't say I was thrilled. You're asking the wrong guy.

Well, I was asking Jay...

Posted 9 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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rus said:
Well, I was asking Jay...

When you quote someone it looks like you're responding to them.

Posted 9 months ago #
rus

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Walker said:
When you quote someone it looks like you're responding to them.

And when you interjected it looked like you shared the same sentiment.

Posted 9 months ago #
Mercurius
First Avenue
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Rus, you really can't posit why people might prefer other options of transportation to cars?

What is better for promoting:
Smart Growth?
Urban vs. Suburban development?
Health?
Environment (including emissions - NOX, SOX and Carbon)?
Livability?
Affordability?
Aesthetics?

Etc...

Posted 9 months ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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This...this is what we need more of.

Get the Flash Video

Posted 9 months ago #
rus

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Mercurius said:
Rus, you really can't posit why people might prefer other options of transportation to cars?

In some areas, sure. If you wanted to live in NYC, for instance, the subway system there is decent. Reminded me of the tokyo subway / train system. Lot less hassle in both places than driving. Of course, travel takes more time than just driving, so it's a trade off. That also seems to require high density living, which is it's own down side.

Health... guess I could see biking that way. Workout while you travel and all. Of course, you arrive at your destination reeking if you did it right, so again there's a down side. Would save on fuel costs, though.

Still, none of that adds up to being thrilled that there's less cars, does it? Heck, in tokyo and nyc both there's oodles of cars... that doesn't mean either place is lacking in public transport / biking.

Posted 9 months ago #
GCrites80s
5xNW
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Jesus rus, do you even enjoy cars as a hobby? I find it fascinating that people who really love cars such as race car drivers and top mechanics have thought for years that things have gotten too out of control with excessive street and highway driving. They deplore our unskilled drivers, boy racers and know that too much street driving is very dangerous. Yet we have to hear about how awesome it is that so many people are forced to drive everywhere thinking it represents "freedom" from people who don't even care about or know anything about cars and the automotive hobby. Freedom is being able to drive when you want and not having to drive when you don't.

Know why kids don't care about NASCAR and IndyCar anymore? It's not boring drivers or too many safety rules or the economy nearly as much as that the automobile has been shoved so far up their ass that they don't care about it any more. Yet, the rest of the world still goes nuts for F1, rally and MotoGP because cars are still an escape for them.

Posted 9 months ago #
rus

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Snarf said:
This...this is what we need more of.

Posted 9 months ago #
Mercurius
First Avenue
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rus said:
In some areas, sure. If you wanted to live in NYC, for instance, the subway system there is decent. Reminded me of the tokyo subway / train system. Lot less hassle in both places than driving. Of course, travel takes more time than just driving, so it's a trade off. That also seems to require high density living, which is it's own down side.

Health... guess I could see biking that way. Workout while you travel and all. Of course, you arrive at your destination reeking if you did it right, so again there's a down side. Would save on fuel costs, though.

Still, none of that adds up to being thrilled that there's less cars, does it? Heck, in tokyo and nyc both there's oodles of cars... that doesn't mean either place is lacking in public transport / biking.

What if you wanted to live and work near the urban core of Columbus?

Posted 9 months ago #