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That's great for Intercity travel of 100 miles or so. So applicable in the northeast urban corridor. But totally inapplicable to the everyday commute of most people.
Worth pointing out that *all* cities were car-free until about 100 years ago. None of this is a radical idea, if anything it’s highly traditionalist and conservative. What we’ve done to ourselves in a few generations is crazy. You genuinely can’t get a single loaf of bread without a 4,000lb $35,000 machine to carry you to the 1 acre store surrounded by 55 acres of asphalt.
In the early 20th century, I don't think cities were nearly as walkable as you think. Horse s*** was everywhere. You constantly had to watch your step.
@@indianapatsfan This is overblown, most parts of most cities were not covered in horse shit. Cities had sanitation. Most city dwellers did not own or regularly use horses.
@@hewhodoes8073 "New York City epitomized a city in crisis during the nineteenth century. A small city of approximately 30,000 in 1800, New York began to essentially double in size every 10 years." "At the turn of the nineteenth century, New York City's infrastructure relied upon disease-creating entities such as the horse. Between 100,000 and 200,000 horses lived in the city at any given time. Each one of those horses gave off 24 pounds of manure and several quarts of urine a day" (See: "CARRIAGE HORSES History: PORTRAIT OF AN UNHEALTHY CITY: NEW YORK IN THE 1800S, From: Columbia University - by David Rosner) They were primarily used to move goods from one place to another throughout the city just as we have trucks do today.
My ridiculous WalMart story - I rode my bike there recently and when I arrived, searched high and low for a place to lock it up. There were no bike racks, no poles, just shopping carts. I scratched my head. No way was I going to leave it outside unlocked, unattended. This is LA, after all. So when an employee walked outside, I wrangled him and asked where I could lock my bike up. He acted like I was asking him to take me to the moon. Together we traversed the entirety of the front of the store. He suggested a light pole in the middle of the parking lot, amongst the cars. I laughed and said, "really?" In the end, we both gave up and I cycled to Trader Joe's. TJ's gets us.
Living in Japan, the idea that you can't bring your bag into a store is crazy to me. Everyone here walks or bikes around with backpacks on and it is totally normal to use one's backpack as a grocery bag.
Well, here, it's pretty usual for people to use the bag for things they picked up in the store, just a lot of times they're not paying for those things......
@@rodgerlang884 American culture and government policies are focused almost entirely on maximizing punishment for the worst possible scenario rather than trying to actually improve anything. Americans are so much more willing to shoot themselves in the foot (sometimes literally) than help others. The belief seems to be that it's actually impossible to improve anything because of "bad guys".
This comes after a tragic crash in San Francisco in which a driver crashed into a family of four waiting for the bus, killing all of them including an infant and toddler. This in a dense urban area with lots of transit, yet many great urbanist cities still have sections designed around cars and single family homes. These kinds of tragedies are reminders of why the work of City Nerd and the advocacy groups are so important.
@@jpg3702 Damn that’s awful. Do you have a link for the article? Not that I’m doubting you, I just wanna learn more as a Bay Area native who didn’t hear about this until now
Car culture is so baked in to our behavior that suggesting a one-mile walk or 3-mile bike ride is a shock. The number of people who drive their car to the local train station is astounding since many are within walking/biking distance. However, it is a labor to bike without bike lanes or paths separated from car traffic. I guess I was just spoiled after living for a few years in the Netherlands, but even they took decades to reform their behavior and infrastructure.
Considering the streets aren't safe for biking, at least where I live, if you simply don't have shops within 2 or 3 miles of your home, you HAVE to drive. I think the big issue, as City Nerd pointed out, is zoning keeping housing so far away from everything else.
and yet, buses take forever because people demand stops everywhere or else is not "transit oriented" or whatever. But then people don't take the bus because takes too long to walk to the stop. Bikes won't help you as most buses can't carry 52 bikes.
Oh the Urbanity did a good job of pointing out that conversations around safety statistics for a city typically only focus on crime and omit traffic deaths/injuries when the traffic deaths/injuries are typically much higher especially in the US.
Adding to this, people avoid public transit for real or perceived antisocial behavior while not giving much thought to antisocial behavior on the road, e.g. speeding, aggressive driving, failure to yield, let alone violence from car crashes.
Meanwhile there’s disproportionate attention paid to any crime that takes place on public transit - giving off the impression that it is intrinsically unsafe. When you compare it to driving, it’s still safer, even with the infinitesimal chance of getting murdered.
People also generally have an extremely poor understanding of crime, including where it happens and who is most at risk. People will avoid cities because they deem the unsafe, but even in the cities with the highest crime rates, it’s always hyper concentrated. It’s not just restricted to a handful of neighborhoods, but a handful of block groups within said neighborhoods. It’s also not exclusive to cities. Suburbs and rural areas with the same risk factors, namely concentrated poverty, have the same issues. It’s worth noting because so many problems with how we design things is based on misunderstandings around fear of crime and safety concerns. People won’t ride public transit because they are afraid it’s not safe, even though crime is rare and they’re far more likely to be injured or killed in a car. And people live in disconnected, unwalkable suburbs because they think the isolation keeps them safe.
@@thedapperdolphin1590 Going to have to push back a little and agree as well. Crime stats are problematic. There’s a LOT of crime that doesn’t get reported and that gets filtered out of the stats. The very people that are responsible for managing crime collect the stats. At the same time I agree with people very much discounting car risks because they WAY overestimate their own skill and have reinforced the belief it’s safe because they do it safely so often. Even those of us who know the actual safety of flying on a commercial airliner get a bit nervous flying (though when I flew weekly for a job that stopped), but get no nervousness at all when getting in a car. Now, put someone on a train that sends signals to the brain that they just went into a strange neighborhood, and they will get nervous in a very rational way. It’s both the fear of out of control which is rational, and the fear of finding that bad neighborhood with all the crime (my wife recently was on a train and did just that), that will combine to make them go back to the car they irrationally have no fear of. Forget the political BS and deal with the reality of it or you get no more trains! You aren’t likely to get people to have quite the proper safety calculator that they should using propaganda because people are now alert to propaganda from our bipartisan misinformation systems). Now, how do we change things in government that lead to more train use?
Australian here: a few years ago I visited a friend in Florida. At one stage my wife and I just wanted to go for a walk to get a few groceries like people do back home. The suspicious looks we got from both motorists and residents was surprising to even concerning. I'm sure at one stage we were followed by a police car - just creepy.
Australia isn't any better lmao, neither is NZ. We're worse in many respects. Total car dependancy and walking/public transport is seen as a thing poor people do, while cycling is seen as a thing only so called 'middle class' men do.
In the early 2000s, Saturn made a commercial for one of their cars where it focuses on “the people inside the car” where it’s just people running around where cars should be, and it actually shows just how wasteful and inefficient car based infrastructure is.
ohh yeah, this seems to be a common theme with car commercials. they know they can only make sitting in a metal box so interesing, so they film happy families playing, people chatting in a café or, in a comercial i saw a few days ago, a longboarder going down the street with the car driving in the background. obviously allways on empty and new roads.
@@weppwebb2885 it's always funny how the roads in car commercials are always empty. who would've thought the reality of sitting in traffic just to get groceries wouldn't be enticing
Saturn, for a few years in the mid 1990s, also inspired people to form groups of community where the common drawing point was owning a Saturn. For that time, it really was a social club, bringing people of otherwise various backgrounds, belief systems, and interests together. Forgot and bad, the USA was different then. Even today, bicycles don't attract people like that.
@@Rubicola174 Does NOT help when you bring up IRRELEVANT strawman stories about how stale one's food is. I don't care what people eat, as long as they are not breeding torturing and murdering animals to do it. How alienated some spouse is from their wife and kids is also irrelevant to the fact of carbrains FORCING THEIR choice of consumption onto the rest of us: onto cyclists and public transit users.
As an American who moved to a suburb of Paris, I can say that not owning a car for the past year and a half has been awesome! I walk so much more using the public transit, and I lost some of that weight I couldn't shake in Florida. Also not paying car insurance, car payments, car repairs, gas, etc is awesome. While the place I am could be more pedestrian friendly like the city of Paris itself, I love being able to actually walk places from my home. It's nice going to local shops like pharmacy, bakery, bar, restaurants, and you get to know the owners and they remember you. Back home even to go get my prescription was very hard without driving or potentially getting run over. Most cities in the US give no alternative to those that do not (or are unable) to drive...
@@starventure I choose the city of Villemomble for a few reasons. I had come here 3 times before because my cousins live on the other side of Villemomble. It's an affordable city rent wise because it's respectable but not fashionable like Versailles, Paris, or Saint Germain. It's safe and schools decent if I ever have to take care of my nephews. It has 2 RERs E stations depending on which side of the town you are at. Not far from Paris on the train about 25 min to Saint Lazare. Buses are frequent 10-15 min for the 114, 221, 121, 303 lines. I often wait like 5-8 min for a bus (sometimes more and sometimes less). About half of the inhabitants live car free (a number that seems on the increase), so I figure I would add myself to them lol. The negative parts of my city are: -really bad for bicycles (while on the rise, it really lacks bicycle infrastructure). -some sidewalks are in a bad condition - mayor prioritizes keeping stupid parallel parking instead of enlarging the sidewalk, making bike or bus lanes... -lack of bus lanes like in Paris, so buses don't get caught in traffic. Sorry for the long answer. If you are thinking of moving to the Paris area and need help, let me know. I would be happy to help :)
@@politicalhorizon2000 Suburbs of Paris, some of which were rebuilt around the automobile the American way (Créteil, Cergy, constructions of A3, A86 and Périphérique...) are definetly a work in progress in terms of car-free accessibility, and it is very fortunate that Paris itself took the lead in such a bright way. The car-brained energy is still strong around here, and some communes are totally incompetent in building useable infrastructure. If you master French and you're interested in biking I can only recommend you the Altis Play youtube channel, he's a Parisian cyclist who documents and tests out new infrastructure. (I live in Saint-Maurice)
@@RoCK3rAD The weather in Florida is generally way better. Paris is usually cloudy or drizzly from October to early May with occasional days of sun or partial sun. In the winter we sometimes get snow and ice, and as those days are rare, no one seems to know what to do. May is usually the best month with not too much cold or heat. The summer is ok, but with climate change more and more extreme heat days. Some summer days can also be cloudy or rainy. The weather in Florida depends where you are, but South Florida has nice weather all year round. While you can get rain in the summer months, it usually is briefly and helps to cool down the place. I also really miss the beaches. I don't miss having to drive everywhere or being 2-3 hrs in traffic. lol... anyway sorry for the long answer.
That's funny, I visit Hy-Vee with a backpack because I bike and even tell them if I could leave the bag so.ewhere and they tell me I can keep it and shop. Maybe because the mutual trust culture in Omaha is better?
Thank you for mentioning light pollution and parking lots. The parking lot in my apartment complex is overlighted. I'm ready to swear it is harming the quality of my sleep and my ability to get deep sleep.
Light pollution in general is an issue I don't see talked about a lot in urbanism. The suburbs have the issues too with flood lights on people's lawns for no reason (I thought the suburbs were supposed to be "safer") but there should be more done about light pollution in busy urban centers.
Today I learned that someone I know (knew) was killed this past weekend riding his bicycle, in a collision with a car. He was pronounced dead at the scene. And yes he was wearing a helmet. It is killing us.
Touched on but not stressed in this video is that large numbers of roads and impervious parking lots are huge contributors to urban flooding especially when they are built in historic floodplains. Water that would have been absorbed become runoff with nowhere to go.
Enviro consultant here. Another indirect habitat impact from roads and other impervious surfaces is making water runoff from rain more “flashy” by causing higher high flows when all that water suddenly hits a stream during the rainfall, when it would naturally take longer and hit the stream more gradually. These high flows have a negative impact on the habitat, destroying features like spawning gravel, and fish hiding places like undercut stream banks. Also causes more soil erosion which increases the sediment load, which can directly harm fish and also smother fish eggs etc. Salt in freshwater streams is a really huge issue in many places. Eg in ON Canada there are marine shrimp that can survive in some streams because they’re becoming more saline. Salt doesn’t get broken down by anything so it stays in the environment. Can get into groundwater used for drinking water too. Great video!
Yeah, as a professional planner I tried to keep current with research and syntheses, but it's hard, there's so much to read! Part of what I wanted to do here was let people know there's a whole ecosystem of academic work on a lot of urbanism-related stuff that doesn't get talked about much directly, but has influence that filters down through institutions and agencies (if it's good, relevant work)
Car dependency is such a huge part of the US economy as well, it's a huge industry and all the spin-off industry that goes along with it. And powerful politicians are not going to want to mess with it all that much, especially if their state is a part of that industry. The American car culture runs deep, and that can't be overstated enough. Americans love their cars and I doubt if many even think about the negative side of owning a car. They want to drive whatever they choose to drive without the government telling them. And Hollywood has always sort of romanticized the automobile, and that great American road trip.
@@JCDenton95 I imagine because the video is focussed in America, and changing things in America, because that is one of the big examples of car dependancy. There are other places that aren't good for it, and usually they took inspiration from American infrastructure.
Owing a car is a huge money suck. Cars lose money the moment you buy them, they drop in value massively once you buy them, and they keep costing more in upkeep and fuel. Car centric design is basically about taking your money away and giving it to the auto and oil industry.
Car repairs is a whole other bucket that destroys peoples' budgets. They advertise on TV for insurance programs that help pay repair costs, but every repair shop I've ever discussed this with says they are crap. My solution was to move to a college town five years ago where distances are small enough that I could walk to shop for groceries and other essentials.
How sedentary cars make us has affected me greatly. I'm only 30 years old, but I've been fighting some pretty significant back pain for the past year, almost certainly due to the fact that I work a desk job, spend my free time at my computer, and have never really walked, biked, or used my legs for transportation since I left high school. I've put in a lot of effort to keep myself mobile and active since my issues began, but I can't help but be a bit frustrated that walking and mobility is no longer built into our everyday life as humans. It is no wonder that back pain and other joint and degenerative issues are exploding in frequency. The human body was made to be upright and moving around during the day, not sitting in a chair for hours upon hours. Our bodies need to be subjected to some kind of load to build resilient tissue, and walking from our cars to our couches is outright insufficient.
I ditched the car ten years ago. The benefits for my physical and mental health were exactly what one would expect. I'm now convinced that if I die before my hundredth year it will happen crossing the street.
I actually drive to the gym and outdoor recreation quite a bit. My car has help me stay in the best shape of my life. It is about choices, not cars. Previously, I would have just stayed home watching Netflix... Or UA-cam 😂
@@cmdrls212When you walk everywhere you don't have to allocate a "healthy time frame", There are other benefits, if you live in the right environment/workspace
@@guntbuckler2890 Walking takes too long and doesn't compare to my gym routine which is far more comprehensive. It is a waste of my time to walk. I rather get more done at the gym for higher returns. It's about time management 😉
Even in cities like Chicago and San Francisco car ownership is pretty high. That says to me that we’re not doing a good enough job of making living car free not just possible but preferable. And once you have a car you are more likely to use it thus perpetuating the cycle.
Because not everyone wants to be in weather. I've riden bikes for years and I'm tired of it. The rain is garbage. Quit lying to yourself. I bet you drive.
Having worked in both Chicago and San Francisco: too many jobs are in car-dependent office parks. Metra further builds a mostly loop-centric network and has precious little service between points in the outskirts/suburbs.
Ray, thank you for this video. Your "true cost of car ownership" video a year or so ago was the final push that got me to get rid of my (inherited) pickup truck and switch to biking and walking. Beyond the physical and financial benefits, I've found that not driving has helped my mental and social life, as I now plan ahead and schedule meet ups with friends instead of suffering the stress of last minute hangouts. Being intentional and decisive instead of just going with the flow or waiting for stuff to happen was an unexpected but very real boon for me.
Main factor always overlooked in favor of rail transport over cars is the increased worker productivity provided by trains. 1: Workers can relax or nap on trains vs. having to remain alert on often stressful drive. 2:White collar workers can begin work on laptop computor during commute. 3. No worries about drunk driving home if you throw back a few after work😊
The drinking and driving observation is so true. All the drunk driving campaigns focus on not drinking, but they could just as easily focus on not driving. The neighborhood I grew up in had several walkable bars. I was too young (and also not interested), but walking to and from a bar is a good way to support a local business and not drink and drive.
Agree about you're comment on rail passengers taking advantage of their down time on the way home. Have to disagree on anyone drinking while in a self-driving car, electric or not, though. In Australia you would be arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, even siting in your car with engine off, drinking and keys in ignition would be enough for police to request a sample of breath and press charges. So they should with appalling loss of life caused by drug and alcohol driving.
Ya know, not too long ago I was feeling pretty down, and wondered if I might be suffering from clinical depression . Then, I discovered this channel. Now I DEFINITELY have depression.
Also that letting children be unsupervised is considered neglect, and parents risk having CPS called on them for letting them play in a neighborhood park
@@tonywalters7298 I absolutely agree. As a Gen Z adult who grew up in the middle of all the panics like drugs in Halloween candy, I'm lucky my parents still let me go out independently on my own and just equipped me with the knowledge on how to avoid that kind of thing. Ironically, the kids today are at greater risk than we could be with unsupervised internet access, but that's a whole other can of worms.
But is it cars? The correlation is spurious. Kids now have ipads, internet games, and social media. The idea they will get out more is naive at best, uninformed at worse. Not to mention, the excellent yellow bus mass transit means getting rid of a car doesn't mean a kid has to walk to school
I recently sold my car and went all in on my mountain bike and motorcycle. The savings are insane! Yes, my neighbors and coworkers also think I'm insane because they're all stuck on their car and pick-up truck dependencies.
hiiii Ray! Some recent twitter drama/discourse had me thinking about how over the years i've come around to the conclusion that urbanism + car-free infrastructure is a good thing for accessibility (when done correctly) but was shocked there aren't really any video essays floating around debunking the whole "disabled ppl need cars so urbanism hurts them" theory. would love to see your take
there aren't really any videos I know of that focus solely on this, but any video about walkability will probably mention it. Usually videos about urbanism will more likely just say "'disabled people who can't drive have it worse in a car dependent society", which kind of brings up a similar point.
The unfortunate fact is that just like people without disabilities are utterly dependent on cars because of the way our urban areas have been designed, disabled people are also affected by car dependent design and, if they are able to drive or be driven, may be that much more reliant on having a car to get around. However, to most of the people who are all "bike lanes make things inaccessible for disabled people" I would ask "where were you before fighting to make the world accessible"? I see their interjections as bad faith concern-trolling. I'm all for ensuring that amenities like accessible parking spaces, ramps, etc are widely available (and that people who don't need to use them, don't abuse them), and making sure that new active transportation and transit developments don't adversely affect people with disabilities.
@@michaelvickers4437these arguments remind me of a real-world legal case brought recently by an infamous ultrareactionary plaintiff's attorney in Portland, Oregon, who claimed that the city's failure to aggressively clear homeless people off sidewalks was a violation of the ADA! Evidently, though, the fact that homeless people are highly disproportionately likely THEMSELVES to be disabled was not relevant. But, of course, one mustn't lose a chance to weaponize the (affluent) disabled the better to beat down the poor ones.
I think the biggest thing people overlook when discussing cars is the massive cost. The average new vehicle in the US is $45k. If you want to spend just 10% of your income on your car (the recommendation of many budgets), you would need to make $130k/year. You need to make around $70k/year just to afford the payments on a $20k car and keep this budget. In reality, the average American spends over 20% of their income on a car. And this percentage is even higher for low income communities, often approaching 30, 40, or even 50%. The necessity of car ownership is a major reason that the cycle of poverty exists, and why it's so hard to save money when you make less than the median income.
As somebody who actually lives in a small town out in the country where a car is an necessity, I can understand this but in cities you would think they would have a better transportation infrastructure so people would not need a car, but they haven’t and the traffic has got significantly worse…..
I grew up in Southern California where we were bounded by freeways. They were Great Walls of China, as a child who could not drive, to cross these walls, we might have to go five miles out of our way, and then five miles back. It was drummed into us that driving was a "privilege" not a right. The vast amount of money spent on automobile travel was at the expense of those who chose not to have a car, or were not allowed to drive. I have promoted the idea that cities spend an equal amount of money per bicycle journey as automobile journey.
And just think; allmof Los Angeles and southern California in general had TWO good electrified rail systems which, had they survived to this very day, would've almost totally eliminated the NEED for a motor vehicle. (I emphasized "need"; if one so desired, a motor vehicle will, of course, be available.).
@@CraigFThompson If you're thinking of the Pacific Electric, yes, if they had managed to hang on they would have been useful. They were losing money in the 1920's though, and converting to bus routes. Not only were these less expensive, they also were more flexible, allowing route changes as needed. However, if you look at a PE route map, you see that the vast majority of SoCal residents were way outside of walking distance to PE stations and bus routes. PE was cutting service before WWII. After the takeover of the PE and its subsidiaries by central planners and bureaucrats, service deteriorated and the whole thing died off in the late 1950s. Some of the routes were purchased and upgraded by heavy-rail operators such as ATSF and SP, and some of the right-of-ways were sold for development . . .a few of these were bought back for the light rail lines started in the 1990s. However, the original problem remains -- the majority of residents are too far away from the rail and bus routes.
The worst part about that intro is that, in America, many of the people who SHOULD be watching this video would look at all of your points and say "So what?" Doesn't mean we shouldn't try though.
That said, there's also a pretty significant amount that will go "wow i didnt think of it that way before." we werent born urbanists, and there are still many people out there open to convincing
@@CityNerdthat's pretty much exactly what I did back in 1984 when I visited the States. (Ok, it was at McD's but same difference). The counter cashiers were all clogged up, so I went outside, ordered my stuff at the microphone block. Their looks of astonishment when I walked to the two windows, paid, and got my stuff were amazing. I laughed so hard.
Seeing the photos of the busy 1920s Kansas City Union Train Station really bummed me out because it's restaurants, merchandise & a single Amtrak station today. The Auto industry really took a lot from us
Watching this as my car is in the shop. I’ve been stuck at home all day in my car dependent neighborhood. Really puts into perspective how inaccessible it can be to live without a car in a car dependent place. My next move will hopefully be to a more walkable and transit focused area!
I recommend an ebike. You can get quite far on those. I only take my car out when I really have to and I wish I didn't even need to own one in the first place. My ebike saves me heaps of money in gas and long term health effects
@@ambiarock590 Can't you use a taxi when you need a car? I am using Bolt and Uber when I rarely need a car instead of my bike and public transit. 😁👌 Cars keep us poor.
@@ambiarock590 Can't you use a taxi when you need a car? I am using Bolt and Uber when I rarely need a car instead of my bike and public transit. 😁👌 Cars keep us poor.
@@ambiarock590 Can't you use a taxi when you need a car? I am using Bolt and Uber when I rarely need a car instead of my bike and public transit. 😁👌 Cars keep us poor.
Just imagine how great your life could be without a car loan, insurance, maintenance, and gas. If you save that money and invest all of it, you could retire.
The opportunity cost of owning a car is insane. If you invested $10,000 every year (the cost of car dependency) into a Roth IRA, you'd end up with a million dollars from age 25 to 65, enough for about 10 years of income. Instead we take that $10,000 every year and throw it into a proverbial fire by giving the auto industry massive profits.
@@ambiarock590That being said, cars will continue to be around regardless. I agree that we need less of them on the roads, but there's already so much passion and kove invested into them by various motorsport leagues and communities. Whether people like it or not they will continue to be a part if society in some form or another. Getting rid if them entirely won't solve the problems because road networks are still expanding, not diminishing. I got this info from a DOT worker who told me this first hand.
This is why I moved to Thailand, where you don't need a car to live a functional social/professional life. For the cost of what I was paying on the car note (600) insurance (100) and gas (300) each month in the US I can pay for a luxury apartment, food, internet etc and save the remainder of my income. Cars keep you broke and its all by design.
Just imagine if people were not taxed to death, many of us could retire much sooner and afford a decent vehicle. Imagine if the federal government did not tell us how 'safe' a car should be or asinine CAFE standards, who knows what a 'freer market' could have come up with for us consumers.
@@ambiarock590The limit for Roth IRA contributions is lower than $10,000 (although if you have a spouse you can both have accounts). If you did invest $10,000 a year though, you would have much more than $1 million. The average return of the S&P 500 is 10% per year. Just the first three years of contributions will get you to over $1.1 million by the time you get to 65. If you contribute $10,000 for 40 years you could reasonably expect to have over four million dollars, possibly tax free assuming you were married (to get past the contribution limit) and were eligible to contribute the entire time. Even if inflation averaged 3% you would still have over a million dollars in real terms and could draw the equivalent of $40,000 in real terms annually without running out of money.
I love this video. I live in a neighborhood that was originally designed 100 years ago. The neighborhood was being developed in part by the owner of the trolley company so of course, the neighborhood was built around public transit. Fast forward to present day and guess what area has been slated for transit oriented design? Yep. My neighborhood. Mid-rises are being built with little or no parking and many of the older residents i.e. boomers, are super upset about the lack of parking. My favorite comment of all time was "What happens if we experience a disaster like none other we've experienced and no one can drive out because of all the cars parked on the street?" I so love their optimism that the roads will still be driveable after a disaster like none other. Truth be told, if homeowners just cleaned all the junk they have in their garages so they could park their cars in their garage instead of on the street, a lot would improve in my neighborhood.
America had more adequate national mass public transit in 1890 than it does today. The U.S transcontinental railway moves more cars around the U.S than people.
In 1930 rural Perry Co. in SE Ohio had 4 passenger rail depots. Now the closest is approx. 150 miles north in Cleveland. To accomodate the new Intell chip factory Gov. Dewine wants to add lanes to interstate 70 heading east from Columbus, the state capitol with no passenger rail. (Green new deal my ass) Lets truly make america great again and VOTE GREEN PARTY. Both red and blue are in the pockets of the military and pharmecutical companies.
@@bwofficial1776we? How old are you that you were there? Regardless, that was also before select-fire M16s were invented. I’d choose the reliability and speed of a burst fire rifle to defend myself against drivers and if you do anything to prevent that, you’re a Luddite standing in the way of progress, which is always good and never harmful and should never under any circumstance be questioned and pulled back.
I m visually impaired and I absolutely loath how car centric this world is . The amount of time I have to spend navigating to cross roads and waiting for crossing lights to change . Trying to find crossing points usually extends my journey time even if I’m making a simple journey from point a to b . The world wasn’t built with us in mind at all and we are just an afterthought . Ever tried just walking to a supermarket ? Navigating all the parked cars and cars that reverse out of spaces? It’s exhausting mentally for me
America just needs to restore our lost trolley networks as soon as possible. Streetcars are much cheaper/quicker to build than heavier rail options and they’ll move the needle on car ownership way more than a bus or bike network. Not that those aren’t important, but if we remove personal automobiles from dense city centers (severally congestion price areas as lines open) , then EVERY street will feel like a protected path!
Also, I don’t want to hear anyone saying, but trolleys get stuck in traffic. Not if they ARE the traffic. Not to mention all the greenery/ planter space we will be able to add on the non rail streets ☺️
@@kamiljay2697 call it LRT if you want, the point is grade separation isn’t as important as just establishing a network. We can do grade separation projects later.
6:40 The isolation also makes it easier for abusers to hide their abuse. Nobody hears the yelling and even if you try to leave, there's nowhere you can really go, especially if you don't drive. As a kid, I couldn't escape my situation or go outside to ask for help because I could only walk around my neighborhood, and my parent would just drive up behind me in seconds. I think this is a very underrepresented point in fighting sprawl and car dependence.
Another way that car dependence enables abuse: I needed my parents to drive me everywhere, and they used this against me. Sometimes they dropped me off places and refused to pick me up, despite it being 40C below, and me being in the middle of a massive parking lot for a mall that was long closed. No phone, no way to check for bus routes, nobody even really around because if the mall was closed, nobody else would drive there.
@@thhunter Whereas in suburban isolation you have nobody to ever share your counter-revolutionary opinions with, so you think you're the only one, so the counter-revolution never happens.
To be fair and honest car dependency is the majn culprit, but that doesn't mean that people can't keep or use their cars for other reasons, besides a typical city commute.
Thanks for this video. I've been thinking about vehicle dangers a lot lately. Last week an entire family, including a toddler and baby, were killed at a bus stop in San Francisco by someone in an SUV. It happened close to where my aunt and cousin live. An utter tragedy.
@@SoloPilot6 True. Riding the bus is for poor people. There's a reason why poor people buy a car as soon as they can, they know how limiting it is to rely on the bus schedule and routes.
@@willythemailboy2 The poor working in NYC ride the omnipresent transit. Why do you think they could afford a car that would take over $10,000 from their meager income?
The fact you couldn’t walk into a Walmart with a bag without driving a car is frankly ridiculous. I doubt there’s any chance saving US cities, it’s too far gone
Growing up in suburban New Jersey I used to ride my bike everywhere. I can't tell you how many times I was stopped by the police and asked to empty my backpack. Evidently being a pedestrian or cyclist was considered "probable cause." I left as soon as I could and now live in a place with a different culture.
@@CityNerdI will agree that society needs to be less car-centric, but it's just as bad as saying we should get rid of cars entirely and outright. Truth is, cars will continue to stick around and be built even with increased public transportation infrastructure. One size doesn't necessarily fit all in my opinion.
@@mindstalk The main takeaway here is that cars are still going to be around either way, even with increased infrastructure for public transit. They've brought us up to this point in history and will continue to be relevant for quite some time. Having less cars on the road is more plausible than having none at all. They're a big part of modern day society as is, was my point.
The US is quite literally running out of land near urban areas, so single family homes will become too expensive for the average American. This could potentially be good news for mass rapid transit since condos will be the new american dream!
I find it more likely that suburbs will continue expanding further into less developed land. Chicago is a great example of this as the suburbs have grown about 20 miles beyond city limits.
It's kinda crazy how much more I feel a part of an urban community after one year of living in downtown relatively walkable Boston than I did for 18 years in a suburb of LA
I'm a paleoanthropologist. You are correct, our evolution into efficient bipedal walkers and runners means a sedentary lifestyle is bad for our health. Walkable communities are our natural state.
I hate pointing out how intensive mining is for electric cars because that's the main gotcha car drivers use to try and keep gas cars afloat, as if they've ever cared about the environment in their lives.
Yeah, it's always to justify the continued use of ICE cars which are objectively worse for the environment. EVs won't solve everything but it's better than the alternative if you can afford it (especially smaller compacts and sedans instead of SUV's and trucks).
EVs are the correct answer for truly rural areas, delivery/emergency vehicles, and the other many minor exceptions. The rest of us should do something else that's better.
@@tristanridley1601 Exactly. Electric cars only save emissions after like 5 years of use, and I don't even think it' a lot of savings. It's marginal at best improvements. Tiny improvements are not gonna help the climate situation, vast change will and building our cities so people don't need to lug around 2,000 of metal and plastic saves so much material in every aspect
There's also the "Long Tailpipe" lie, as in "you're just gonna charge that EV with electricity from fossil fuels anyway," ignoring that the marginal extra power plant emissions from EV charging are nowhere near as much as an individual car burning fossil fuels, not to mention all the damage from extracting, refining, and transporting that gasoline.
What's wild is this isn't even everything. Another terrible side effect of car dependency is poor design. Many people lament the decline in the aesthetics of American cities over the past 100 years (or compared to Europe) and a large reason is buildings and streets used to be designed to be taken in by slow-moving, nearby pedestrians and now they're designed to be observed by drivers zooming by. It makes many buildings in our cites more garish and boring - which can add the many other negative effects on mental health and society.
I still cannot believe people thought that single family homes, located away from all the things people need was a great idea. It’s energy inefficient, less community building since you can literally never interact with your neighbors even if you want, isolating if you don’t have a car (because again there’s nothing around you in reasonable walking distance). No wonder people are so depressed, angry, and in financial distress.
I have family who live like this and it's great. Short drive to almost everything. very few cars on the local roads because of the modern design. Easy to run or walk in the street safely. Virtually no crosswalks means I can do my long distance running without the annoyance of red lights. no annoying apartment neighbors and stupid apartment rules. no ever increasing rent
The car also created social divisions that previously were less defined. If wealthy people move to the suburbs, they create schools and systems that feel familiar. As city centres were gutted and emptied of population, nightlife and whole neighbourhoods destroyed for literal parking lots and malls that closed at 6pm, poverty reigned, multiplying and concentrating certain types of crime, drug-use, etc. and just contributing to a sense of decay and crime. That was "downtown." For a lot of cities, it still is. When people pick houses now, they're picking them on the back of the neighbourhoods these choices made 50-60-70 years ago created. Nice safe suburbs with nice schools with nice kids, or more troubled city centres? My parents explicitly picked a suburb based on this calculation. They knew they would have to drive everywhere and didn't love that but they wanted their kids to go to "good schools." And they were wealthy enough to own and operate two cars, so what did it matter? Now, they're converts to drivingland. They find the bus--something they would have happily taken as kids--just absolutely awful. It's cold, it rattles, there are weird people on it, it takes ages. It doesn't occur to them that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy that they are part of. Buses/transit will remain crappy and terrible so long as the only people who are required to use them, who even try to use them, are the poor.
I don't have a car and I save a ton of money that way. I only don't see it that way, since I never owned a car. I see it as normal and a car would be extra. That extra cost seems so ridiculously high that I don't even understand how so many people consider a car as essential and indispensable as a house, clothing or food. For me it's a luxury product.
I think it’s because many people don’t have an option. I have a car and absolutely hate it, but without it, I couldn’t work or go to university. Where I live you can’t get around without one; there’s no reliable public transportation, and the city isn’t walkable. For example: it took me 6 minutes to drive to university from my apartment, but it was a 51 minute walk - so imagine the journey for destinations further than a 6 minute drive. This isn’t including the fact that it’s over an extremely dangerous bridge with a skinny bike lane (if you chose to do that instead) and people driving 55-60mph. Not taking account for the weather, either - people have heat strokes here. 😅 I really hope to sell my car one day and move somewhere I can easily go without it. It’s a dream.
@@brisbreathing Bike, electric bike, moped... there are options. A 51 minute walk is still only a few km, thus a short distance. A car is only good for very long distances. I actually often walk back from work to home when I have time. It´s a little under 5 km, so around 50 min, just like you. It´s good for my daily dose of exercise. Walking is healthy and very relaxing after work. It´s with a mindset like that that you can ditch the car. I can´t say much about the heatstroke. Do you live in a desert like Arizona or Nevada? I don´t understand why people live in places where they can only live normally thanks to airco. Those places aren´t suitable for large human settlement. Americans should leave the sun belt and rediscover the rust belt where all the great old American cities were.
@@holygooff I see what you’re saying, but I think it really depends on where you live. It can be extremely dangerous, especially along major roads with no bike lanes, which is the case near me.
@@holygooff Time is the most limited resource anyone has. I looked up the most common trip I make. It's 2.8 miles that takes 65 minutes to walk, 18 minutes to bike along the non-suicidal route, 40 minutes to take a bus ( a third of it walking, including crossing several stroads), or 8 minutes to drive in an area with essentially zero traffic. Double that for the return trip. Can you see why I drive?
Kids in my neighborhood get in the family car with their parents to be driven to the end of their block 200 yards away to wait in the car at the curb until the bus arrives to be driven to their school 3 miles away… even when it’s 60 degrees out
My problem is that I have public transit in LA and San Diego but I have to deal with crackheads and it smelling disgusting. Someone also tried to rob me at the station. Until public safety is sorted out public transit will never succeed.
The same thing happened to me when I went to a Walmart. They said I could not bring my backpack in. I told them I was going to do it anyway and they could follow me around if they want. My question is, how do we convince people who disagree with us? I know that it is the point of this video, but when we provide evidence and studies that support our view point, many people come back with "fake news"! I promise I will read this paper. Thank you for the awesome content and your hard work.
And Japan they have lockers to the front of the store often. At the very least Walmart could’ve offered to take your backpack at the customer service desk.
I recently moved to San Diego and have been quite horrified at the layer of black dust from car pollution that accumulates on my balcony and outdoor table and chairs every day. I have to clean my table every morning to sit at it, and wear shoes on the balcony so I don't traipse the dust inside. I've never experienced this before (and don't even live near a freeway or anything, but do live on a main road) and it's quite concerning visually seeing just what we're breathing in all the time.
Some people will tell you that it's market forces but that it is a lie. It's not difficult to find people frustrated with their lack of public transport options. Fossil fuel companies have done an excellent job making sure that fossil fuels are most people's only option for movement and freedom.
@@rusticcloud3325 Well, it's not like I'm about to give my money, my property, my labor, or my skills away for free for the the public good. If the public wants it, it has to pay.
I'm a geographer and work in academia (though no longer as a researcher myself) and I am absolutely loving how you go into academic publications on your channel. I forward your videos to researchers who do stuff around sustainability and climate. Your work is much appreciated.
I've actually heard back from a couple of the authors on this paper, and they're enthusiastic about me sharing in this format. I really think there's a wider audience for some of the interesting research that's out there, but staggeringly few people read the Journal of Transport Geography (or other academic publications like it)! Anyway, thanks.
German here. Even just 2 people going 45-50 km to a party pay less and are way faster taking a car, even if it was thirsty af, than the train. So we squeezed 5 into a compact car and didn't have to walk 30 min uphill from the train station. The 50 euro ticket remedies it somewhat but only if you got that situation frequently+ first train on weekends? 6 in the morning. With my luck 7 unless i wanna pay extra for one that aint included. Last weekend i took a 4 am train to get closer to home then cycled20 km on my bike home. I'm fit. But. That this is not an option but my only way to get home before 8 in the morning is just 💩. On another occasion, different town, i had one of my dumb ideas and cycled the whole 45+ km home. N I cant even really do that. Starts with a horrendous Offroad Situation for 3km. Think mud a monster truck drove through that dried + leaves. Real hardcore mtb terrain. Then beautiful curvy bikepath apart from the road. Wonderful. For maybe 15 km. Then. Road. No, and i mean no other way and a sign no bikes allowed. Not Autobahn mind you. So i rode illegally and it sucked and there was cars.
thank you for summarizing the paper in a factual and unpretentious way. it really is mind boggling how many facets of our lives are directly affected by car dependency
The suburban houses at 6:55 are just so ridiculous. The space between the houses is so narrow you it's basically completely useless, but 100% still demanding for insulation to prevent thermal losses, and the fronts are almost completely taken up by the concrete pads. Just build some row houses already.
That's actually a good thing. Wide spaces = more sprawl. These are new city codes for SFH which means you can fit more homes on the same street ;p while there is denser development codes, there is nothing wrong with closer SFHs
The advantages of the extra wall are better noise insulation between properties. Something I am well aware of, living in a maisonette (like a flat, but with your own front door onto the street and with a garden). A terraced house would be better than what I have, but I really would rather live in a detached house.
The European cities are really pushing cycling. I live in Vienna. Again. Lived here in the 80s and 90s. Back then very few bike lanes. Nowadays… or last Sunday, I did a 58km ride all within the city limits and only about 4km were on roads with cars. Progress!!
Just want to point out, electric vehicles do not automatically have to be heavier. Batteries are getting smaller and lighter all the time, a process we could speed up by incetivizing lighter vehicles by changing from fuel taxes to weight taxes. Norway is apparently going down this road and I think it makes a ton (no pun intended) of sense.
Taxing vehicles by weight sounds more plausible and effective than by physical size, because it's pretty ridiculous here in America how they do that, amd I love cars don't get me wrong.
Living in Glasgow, Scotland. We used to have a world class tram and rail network 60 years ago. Today we continue to shift further towards car dependency, a new motorway was built 15 years ago, there is no train to the airport. Out of town shopping centres have sprung up in the past 20 years with huge parking areas and no train line nearby. The high streets in the neighbouring towns are falling apart and replaced with out of town retail parks for cars
Already watched on Nebula. Your content is excellent and depressing. I'm lucky enough to have at least a grocery store and a few restaurants I could walk to in about 15 minutes, which is great by American standards. When I lived in Madrid I didn't have a car for years and almost never thought about it. Having a car was more of a hassle than owning one. But this country isn't going to change anytime soon. "Just one more lane" is going to be us until Last of Us or something else happens.
I agree, the infrastructure in this country is centered around the automobile. You can’t change that overnight. Los Angeles has done a terrific job at building more rail lines, but most people still drive to work.
11:02 not only those who choose but also those you are legally allowed. Think about children. In a car dependend city children are basically inprisoned in their homes. If they want to do anything (going to school, doing sports, meeting friends, going to the movies etc.) they need their parents which can be really annoying especially when you are a teenager. This is literally the opposite of the proclaimed freedom that car owners always espouse.
There was an article about the dental offices that closed last year. There were a bunch that had to close from cars ramming through the office. Literally.
That being said I would like it better if cars were a niche instead of the norm, plus if you talked to a DOT employee about the situation they'll say that cars will still be a pretty big part of society either way, even after the next 100 or so years. However I can only say so much about it, so there's that.
True, man. I live in the Miami area and own a car. Over the years, I got tired of driving. The wear-n-tears on the car, pumping gas, police interactions - citations and court dates, paying tolls, struck in traffic. So, I just learn to use the buses to make long trips for quick visits. Still need a car to make multiple visits on short period of time while everything is spaced out.
I'm surprised there was no mention of global wars/proxy wars/imperialism. Control over oil resources is directly linked to car dependence and is a primary factor in nearly all geopolitical conflicts.
I appreciate the visual at 13:45. Sitting in congested rush hour traffic, in one car, on one freeway, in one city shocked me when I realized it. I don't know how long it would have been before I realized if my boyfriend wasn't already a bike commuter. I didn't know how to ride a bike, and this was San Antonio with all its sprawl, so I did not change my behavior immediately. But a couple months later, we bought a bike for me and got to work. :)
Thank you for encouraging people to take action. I went to Phoenix's Strong Towns meeting and taking action is easier when we have information and numbers of people. Thank you for this video contribution to actual solutions.
A drone shot of any US suburb shows off the effect cars have on the landscape. Massive duplications. Driveways, double driveways, same for garages, roads, curbs & gutters, etc. We like to build out all our problems. Great show.
Hey man. I’m a reporter in San Francisco. A huge deal here as I’m sure you are very aware is this framing of the housing debate around YIMBY NIMBY. I’d love to see a San Francisco specific video. Many of your videos recently have ranked SF pretty high in all the urbanism bona fides, so it wouldn’t be crazy to do. Love your stuff
I’ve felt the pollution from tires, both using them and disposing of them is not understood by a lot of people. I was trying to explain that an acquaintance and he scoffed at my mention of it.
Cities aren't noisy, cars are noisy... I lived in a capital city in Southern US while attending grad school. I moved there from rural upstate NY, where I grew up. I remember how strikingly quiet the particular area I lived in was: I lived in the business district, which, after 6 PM, became a ghost town. I can still recall how shocked I was by the stillness of the night. I also did not drive at this time, and I loved being able to walk to my destinations. Doing so, aside from helping me keep weight off, allowed me to feel connected to time and space. Rather than whizzing past a mile or two of city, I strolled through and took it all in: the sounds, sights, textures, smells, people, birds, rats, sun, rain, heat, humidity, and the cold. I felt more connected to the world around me than I did and do now living in a rural area.
Incidentally, your subscriber count is getting close to the capacity of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 257,327. I know you don't do the stadium thing anymore but it might be fun for old time's sake.
The two biggest costs for Americans are housing and car ownership - one causes the other. Cars enable urban sprawl and when not enough housing is built (because of low density) to satisfy demand, housing prices sky-rocket. The average person in China lives in dense housing and ride a $500 eMoped so don't have the same two financial stresses. That person can live on much less income and can take away Americans' jobs. My solution to cut car dependency is to convert parking lots of workplaces with +200 into dense affordable rentals for those that work there. Workers save on housing and not having a car and commute.
by far my favourite city nerd episode yet, and that’s including last week’s brilliant psychoanalysis of the urban pickup driver looking forward to reading the study
Driving to work to afford driving is what it seems everybody does around me. I live in México where disposable income is non existent for the majority of people, and when you get a car your income goes to keep the car 😅
Cars are important, trucking is important.....but car-dependency where you have no other choice is awful. I'm not an "abolish all cars" person but I love how City Nerd, StrongTowns, and Not Just Bikes highlight the woes of dependency. I hope the US chooses not to totally overthrow their car infrastructure, but builds more high quality public transit and cycling infrastructure into our transportation systems. There's a reason I moved to a cycling town in Minnesota - I can get to everywhere I need via local cycling trails that are separated from the roads.
I ride an ebike around. They are becoming a lot more popular. They're a very practical solution to people's everyday needs for getting around town, and very inexpensive to use. It costs me about a quarter penny per mile in electricity. Of course there are other costs, but they are modest.
What just happened in Baltimore is kinda proof. Where the bridge is very little to no public transit near by and no quick fix for the bridge. Should be fun
@@indianapatsfan train and bus networks are easier to build with redundancy in mind. To do the same with roads require triple stacked vertical highways
@Demopans5990 if I take public transportation to work, how is it better if the railroad bridge collapses instead of a highway bridge? I'm screwed either way.
@@indianapatsfan Railroads handle higher capacity much better than highways. A highway bridge collapse will jam up every surrounding highway in the area. A railway bridge collapse just means more crowded stations as trains run alternative routes. A single subway train in NYC moves more people in a day than the 6 lanes of the I 495. If the I 495 suffers a bridge collapse somewhere close to the city core, most of Long Island would be paralyzed as the alternative roadways can't handle the increased load. If a subway line is closed down for construction, there's enough redundancy that commuters can still get to where they need to go
@@Demopans5990 It actually might not get that bad, as people find a way to avoid that traffic. Same concept as induced demand. As long as there IS an alternative that can absorb that kind of usage, like a railway.
Many of the same things apply here though. If you can only afford a low rent apartment you will live next to a noisy and stinky road. Many places are only accessible by car, it's expensive to have and maintain one. Cars still make our cities loud, dirty, stinky and inefficient
The point about the separation of housing, commercial and work places only accessible by car is understated. Strong towns discusses this at length. How this creates insolvent cities - a cost we all burden directly because of cars.
I was visiting Baltimore and wanted to get to college park. I realized once there that google said it would take 3 hours by train so I said surely that’s not right. I asked the guy at the hotel and he said oh it’s easy you take the I95 and I had to say I don’t drive. He then just laughed at me My friend and I ended up just meeting in DC since that was somehow actually easier…
Not every one should drive (at least all the time) some people are bad drivers. It would be safer for every one if they didn’t have to drive. Having to miss work because of car problems having alternative ways of getting to work or other places is great. I do agree that people vastly underestimate how much car ownership costs them. I am willing to bet that most people do not actually end up saving money with long commutes. Most If not all the money saved on housing will go to increased car expenses in addition to making your life significantly worse
I agree, the car should be there as a choice and not be depended upon. As someone who is part of the car community the inly times I'd use a car is for track racing but that's it.
I'm really glad you mentioned that EVs are as bad, and sometimes worse, on many of these scores. I honestly do not understand how anyone thinks these things are going to "fix" all the problems cars cause. Even worse is the self driving car theory, people actually believe having a separate vehicle for _every_ member of the family that then drives back home to park is going to fix problems! Nothing like fixing traffic with more cars on the road for longer periods of time! 🙄
@@scottwittla Exactly. "Consuming their way to a greener future" is nothing more than abiding by the status quo which has been working out SO well so far
Hi! I just started school for public administration with hopes of working with my county to help advocate for more public transport in my city. I love watching your videos. I usually have them playing in the background while I am doing homework.
My most useful bike was my cargo bike. I live by a river. The nearest crossing point is 12 miles south of where I live. I am not allowed to use the freeway which crosses the river. I tried the bus and its bus rack but the cargo’s wheelbase did not fit. Anyway that cargo bike got stolen. My replacement bike has a shorter wheelbase and just barely fits on the bus. Now I can get across the river. That is where the big city is. We have a beautiful bikeway in the big city with lots of critters like deer and wild turkeys. I like it. I hate it when coffee shops have no bike parking.
The allegiance to cars is absurd. Thanks for touching on quality of life, which is also used to support auto-dependence. Those who have the choice to be car-less or car-lite know that it can greatly improve your quality of life. Cars cost a lot but the added benefits of walking to the supermarket, local bar/pub, interacting with your neighbors, etc. is really freeing.
This is it -- the only comment you need to read. If you want to support continued production of my urbanist foolishness, consider subscribing to Nebula. It's a streaming service that's creator-owned and has TONS of great content, all ad-free and promotion-free! Using my custom link gets you 40% off an annual subscription, and really helps the channel. Thanks! go.nebula.tv/citynerd
Lifetime deal still available too! go.nebula.tv/lifetime?ref=citynerd
Please condemn the genocide in gaza which your government is funding and supporting
Please condemn the genocide in gaza which your government is funding and supporting
I will when I get a job!
That's great for Intercity travel of 100 miles or so. So applicable in the northeast urban corridor. But totally inapplicable to the everyday commute of most people.
I wish Nebula had multi language subtitles like on UA-cam
Worth pointing out that *all* cities were car-free until about 100 years ago. None of this is a radical idea, if anything it’s highly traditionalist and conservative. What we’ve done to ourselves in a few generations is crazy. You genuinely can’t get a single loaf of bread without a 4,000lb $35,000 machine to carry you to the 1 acre store surrounded by 55 acres of asphalt.
In the early 20th century, I don't think cities were nearly as walkable as you think. Horse s*** was everywhere. You constantly had to watch your step.
@indianapatsfan I think you very neatly sidestepped the point of the original comment. Well done.
@@indianapatsfan This is overblown, most parts of most cities were not covered in horse shit. Cities had sanitation. Most city dwellers did not own or regularly use horses.
@@hewhodoes8073 "New York City epitomized a city in crisis during the nineteenth century. A small city of approximately 30,000 in 1800, New York began to essentially double in size every 10 years." "At the turn of the nineteenth century, New York City's infrastructure relied upon disease-creating entities such as the horse. Between 100,000 and 200,000 horses lived in the city at any given time. Each one of those horses gave off 24 pounds of manure and several quarts of urine a day" (See: "CARRIAGE HORSES History: PORTRAIT OF AN UNHEALTHY CITY: NEW YORK IN THE 1800S, From: Columbia University - by David Rosner) They were primarily used to move goods from one place to another throughout the city just as we have trucks do today.
@@indianapatsfanCities in the early 20th century was extremely walkable, wtf are you talking about?
My ridiculous WalMart story - I rode my bike there recently and when I arrived, searched high and low for a place to lock it up. There were no bike racks, no poles, just shopping carts. I scratched my head. No way was I going to leave it outside unlocked, unattended. This is LA, after all. So when an employee walked outside, I wrangled him and asked where I could lock my bike up. He acted like I was asking him to take me to the moon. Together we traversed the entirety of the front of the store. He suggested a light pole in the middle of the parking lot, amongst the cars. I laughed and said, "really?" In the end, we both gave up and I cycled to Trader Joe's. TJ's gets us.
Or you could do what I do, walk in with the bike 😅
@@knosis That crossed my mind but this particular Walmart is always crowded so I decided against it. TJs is better anyway. :)
I chain my bike to the cart return stall. I actually kind of prefer it to a lot of more traditional bike locking spots!
@chasejuggler easy way to get your bike banged up though
It's insane how something so simple is overlooked. At least the employee tried to help lol
Living in Japan, the idea that you can't bring your bag into a store is crazy to me. Everyone here walks or bikes around with backpacks on and it is totally normal to use one's backpack as a grocery bag.
Well, here, it's pretty usual for people to use the bag for things they picked up in the store, just a lot of times they're not paying for those things......
I got asked to leave from a grocery store in Palo Alto, CA for bringing a backpack into the store... the shining beacon of EV car culture in the USA.
@@rodgerlang884 American culture and government policies are focused almost entirely on maximizing punishment for the worst possible scenario rather than trying to actually improve anything. Americans are so much more willing to shoot themselves in the foot (sometimes literally) than help others. The belief seems to be that it's actually impossible to improve anything because of "bad guys".
@@Sunset4Semaphores U.S. cities will never be truly walkable/modern/urban until they normalize backpacks being worn everywhere.
That’s because we have a lot of homeless black folks here.
This comes after a tragic crash in San Francisco in which a driver crashed into a family of four waiting for the bus, killing all of them including an infant and toddler. This in a dense urban area with lots of transit, yet many great urbanist cities still have sections designed around cars and single family homes. These kinds of tragedies are reminders of why the work of City Nerd and the advocacy groups are so important.
This was so sad, the entire family erased, not long after another young girl in a stroller was killed in SF.
@@sammyrice1182 Tragic. I didn't know about the young girl. Just reading about it now.
@@jpg3702
Damn that’s awful. Do you have a link for the article? Not that I’m doubting you, I just wanna learn more as a Bay Area native who didn’t hear about this until now
I'll bet it was a pickup
Car culture is so baked in to our behavior that suggesting a one-mile walk or 3-mile bike ride is a shock. The number of people who drive their car to the local train station is astounding since many are within walking/biking distance. However, it is a labor to bike without bike lanes or paths separated from car traffic. I guess I was just spoiled after living for a few years in the Netherlands, but even they took decades to reform their behavior and infrastructure.
Considering the streets aren't safe for biking, at least where I live, if you simply don't have shops within 2 or 3 miles of your home, you HAVE to drive. I think the big issue, as City Nerd pointed out, is zoning keeping housing so far away from everything else.
and yet, buses take forever because people demand stops everywhere or else is not "transit oriented" or whatever. But then people don't take the bus because takes too long to walk to the stop. Bikes won't help you as most buses can't carry 52 bikes.
The nearest passenger train station to me is over 50 miles away. The next closest is 125 miles.
While the forces that really run the US are absolutely combative toward such reform.
@@LordofDestruction123 That is what I call "zoning for cars".
Oh the Urbanity did a good job of pointing out that conversations around safety statistics for a city typically only focus on crime and omit traffic deaths/injuries when the traffic deaths/injuries are typically much higher especially in the US.
Adding to this, people avoid public transit for real or perceived antisocial behavior while not giving much thought to antisocial behavior on the road, e.g. speeding, aggressive driving, failure to yield, let alone violence from car crashes.
Our government refuses to throw people in jail for driving without licenses.
Meanwhile there’s disproportionate attention paid to any crime that takes place on public transit - giving off the impression that it is intrinsically unsafe. When you compare it to driving, it’s still safer, even with the infinitesimal chance of getting murdered.
People also generally have an extremely poor understanding of crime, including where it happens and who is most at risk. People will avoid cities because they deem the unsafe, but even in the cities with the highest crime rates, it’s always hyper concentrated. It’s not just restricted to a handful of neighborhoods, but a handful of block groups within said neighborhoods. It’s also not exclusive to cities. Suburbs and rural areas with the same risk factors, namely concentrated poverty, have the same issues.
It’s worth noting because so many problems with how we design things is based on misunderstandings around fear of crime and safety concerns. People won’t ride public transit because they are afraid it’s not safe, even though crime is rare and they’re far more likely to be injured or killed in a car. And people live in disconnected, unwalkable suburbs because they think the isolation keeps them safe.
@@thedapperdolphin1590 Going to have to push back a little and agree as well. Crime stats are problematic. There’s a LOT of crime that doesn’t get reported and that gets filtered out of the stats. The very people that are responsible for managing crime collect the stats.
At the same time I agree with people very much discounting car risks because they WAY overestimate their own skill and have reinforced the belief it’s safe because they do it safely so often.
Even those of us who know the actual safety of flying on a commercial airliner get a bit nervous flying (though when I flew weekly for a job that stopped), but get no nervousness at all when getting in a car.
Now, put someone on a train that sends signals to the brain that they just went into a strange neighborhood, and they will get nervous in a very rational way. It’s both the fear of out of control which is rational, and the fear of finding that bad neighborhood with all the crime (my wife recently was on a train and did just that), that will combine to make them go back to the car they irrationally have no fear of.
Forget the political BS and deal with the reality of it or you get no more trains! You aren’t likely to get people to have quite the proper safety calculator that they should using propaganda because people are now alert to propaganda from our bipartisan misinformation systems). Now, how do we change things in government that lead to more train use?
Australian here: a few years ago I visited a friend in Florida. At one stage my wife and I just wanted to go for a walk to get a few groceries like people do back home. The suspicious looks we got from both motorists and residents was surprising to even concerning. I'm sure at one stage we were followed by a police car - just creepy.
Australia isn't any better lmao, neither is NZ. We're worse in many respects. Total car dependancy and walking/public transport is seen as a thing poor people do, while cycling is seen as a thing only so called 'middle class' men do.
Congrats, you did something Floridians thought wierd!
@@JonZiegler6 ah yes of course the only thing floridians find weird is being normal xd
Well, Flori-duh did vote for DeSantis after all. Enough said.
Were you walking on a sidewalk or just on the side of a busy road
In the early 2000s, Saturn made a commercial for one of their cars where it focuses on “the people inside the car” where it’s just people running around where cars should be, and it actually shows just how wasteful and inefficient car based infrastructure is.
ohh yeah, this seems to be a common theme with car commercials. they know they can only make sitting in a metal box so interesing, so they film happy families playing, people chatting in a café or, in a comercial i saw a few days ago, a longboarder going down the street with the car driving in the background. obviously allways on empty and new roads.
@@weppwebb2885 it's always funny how the roads in car commercials are always empty. who would've thought the reality of sitting in traffic just to get groceries wouldn't be enticing
Im Author so it really pains me i cant tell if i should completly prevent Cars from being Invented at all
Saturn, for a few years in the mid 1990s, also inspired people to form groups of community where the common drawing point was owning a Saturn. For that time, it really was a social club, bringing people of otherwise various backgrounds, belief systems, and interests together. Forgot and bad, the USA was different then. Even today, bicycles don't attract people like that.
@@Rubicola174 Does NOT help when you bring up IRRELEVANT strawman stories about how stale one's food is. I don't care what people eat, as long as they are not breeding torturing and murdering animals to do it.
How alienated some spouse is from their wife and kids is also irrelevant to the fact of carbrains FORCING THEIR choice of consumption onto the rest of us: onto cyclists and public transit users.
As an American who moved to a suburb of Paris, I can say that not owning a car for the past year and a half has been awesome! I walk so much more using the public transit, and I lost some of that weight I couldn't shake in Florida. Also not paying car insurance, car payments, car repairs, gas, etc is awesome. While the place I am could be more pedestrian friendly like the city of Paris itself, I love being able to actually walk places from my home. It's nice going to local shops like pharmacy, bakery, bar, restaurants, and you get to know the owners and they remember you.
Back home even to go get my prescription was very hard without driving or potentially getting run over. Most cities in the US give no alternative to those that do not (or are unable) to drive...
Yeah, but what area did you choose, and WHY did you choose it?
@@starventure I choose the city of Villemomble for a few reasons. I had come here 3 times before because my cousins live on the other side of Villemomble.
It's an affordable city rent wise because it's respectable but not fashionable like Versailles, Paris, or Saint Germain. It's safe and schools decent if I ever have to take care of my nephews.
It has 2 RERs E stations depending on which side of the town you are at. Not far from Paris on the train about 25 min to Saint Lazare.
Buses are frequent 10-15 min for the 114, 221, 121, 303 lines. I often wait like 5-8 min for a bus (sometimes more and sometimes less).
About half of the inhabitants live car free (a number that seems on the increase), so I figure I would add myself to them lol.
The negative parts of my city are:
-really bad for bicycles (while on the rise, it really lacks bicycle infrastructure).
-some sidewalks are in a bad condition
- mayor prioritizes keeping stupid parallel parking instead of enlarging the sidewalk, making bike or bus lanes...
-lack of bus lanes like in Paris, so buses don't get caught in traffic.
Sorry for the long answer. If you are thinking of moving to the Paris area and need help, let me know. I would be happy to help :)
@@politicalhorizon2000 Suburbs of Paris, some of which were rebuilt around the automobile the American way (Créteil, Cergy, constructions of A3, A86 and Périphérique...) are definetly a work in progress in terms of car-free accessibility, and it is very fortunate that Paris itself took the lead in such a bright way. The car-brained energy is still strong around here, and some communes are totally incompetent in building useable infrastructure.
If you master French and you're interested in biking I can only recommend you the Altis Play youtube channel, he's a Parisian cyclist who documents and tests out new infrastructure.
(I live in Saint-Maurice)
@@politicalhorizon2000How is the weather compared to Florida?
@@RoCK3rAD The weather in Florida is generally way better. Paris is usually cloudy or drizzly from October to early May with occasional days of sun or partial sun. In the winter we sometimes get snow and ice, and as those days are rare, no one seems to know what to do. May is usually the best month with not too much cold or heat. The summer is ok, but with climate change more and more extreme heat days. Some summer days can also be cloudy or rainy.
The weather in Florida depends where you are, but South Florida has nice weather all year round. While you can get rain in the summer months, it usually is briefly and helps to cool down the place. I also really miss the beaches. I don't miss having to drive everywhere or being 2-3 hrs in traffic. lol... anyway sorry for the long answer.
CityNerd is really slipping in his content these days: I saw exactly zero visual references to Cheesecake Factory.
Visual? I didn't hear any references to Cheesecake Factory either. And I watched & listened to it twice. ;-)
I reckon the Walmart visit left a bad taste in his mouth.
That's funny, I visit Hy-Vee with a backpack because I bike and even tell them if I could leave the bag so.ewhere and they tell me I can keep it and shop. Maybe because the mutual trust culture in Omaha is better?
And we are all better for it!
Unsubscribed
One high-capacity train line can move as much people as seven car lanes in one direction
Please condemn the genocide in gaza which your government is funding and supporting
Source?
I thought they broke up
Probably an underestimation. 1 car lane moves about ~2k people, one heavy rail train line (think NYC subway) can move like ~45k per hour.
How is that supposed to compel the average American to make the second most expensive purchase in their entire life(buying a car)?
Thank you for mentioning light pollution and parking lots. The parking lot in my apartment complex is overlighted. I'm ready to swear it is harming the quality of my sleep and my ability to get deep sleep.
Black out curtains are a must. Light pollution anywhere that doesn't look over empty wilderness will worsen your sleep.
Sleep mask
Light pollution in general is an issue I don't see talked about a lot in urbanism. The suburbs have the issues too with flood lights on people's lawns for no reason (I thought the suburbs were supposed to be "safer") but there should be more done about light pollution in busy urban centers.
@@aygwmsleep mask (or a T-shirt over my face lol) and ear plugs every single night have been my norm for years. Sleep is fantastic every night now.
@@blores95 Busy urban areas need to be as bright as daytime overnight. It's for safety.
Today I learned that someone I know (knew) was killed this past weekend riding his bicycle, in a collision with a car. He was pronounced dead at the scene. And yes he was wearing a helmet. It is killing us.
Correct, cyclists should be banned from all urban roads
@@julianrosas9134do you think that will reduce traffic deaths?
@@bink281Absolutely.
@@julianrosas9134 you have no idea where he was killed
@@Mary-oc5ns Well I know he was riding on a road with cars. Obviously, this was a tragic mistake
Touched on but not stressed in this video is that large numbers of roads and impervious parking lots are huge contributors to urban flooding especially when they are built in historic floodplains. Water that would have been absorbed become runoff with nowhere to go.
Enviro consultant here. Another indirect habitat impact from roads and other impervious surfaces is making water runoff from rain more “flashy” by causing higher high flows when all that water suddenly hits a stream during the rainfall, when it would naturally take longer and hit the stream more gradually. These high flows have a negative impact on the habitat, destroying features like spawning gravel, and fish hiding places like undercut stream banks. Also causes more soil erosion which increases the sediment load, which can directly harm fish and also smother fish eggs etc. Salt in freshwater streams is a really huge issue in many places. Eg in ON Canada there are marine shrimp that can survive in some streams because they’re becoming more saline. Salt doesn’t get broken down by anything so it stays in the environment. Can get into groundwater used for drinking water too. Great video!
Great comment. Informative about some specific related issues in a way very rarely seen in UA-cam or any other social media. Thanks!
As an academic (though in a very different field), thanks for the shout out & for actually reading our work! Also, thanks for another great video!
Im Writer/Author so it really pains me i cant tell if i should completly prevent Cars from being Invented at all
!!
Yeah, as a professional planner I tried to keep current with research and syntheses, but it's hard, there's so much to read! Part of what I wanted to do here was let people know there's a whole ecosystem of academic work on a lot of urbanism-related stuff that doesn't get talked about much directly, but has influence that filters down through institutions and agencies (if it's good, relevant work)
I used my current grad school (a different field) library access to pull the article. Hope I can find the time to read it!
@@jpg3702 Why though, it is under open access.
Also, always use Science Hub. It's a moral obligation for any true academic hahaha
Car dependency is such a huge part of the US economy as well, it's a huge industry and all the spin-off industry that goes along with it. And powerful politicians are not going to want to mess with it all that much, especially if their state is a part of that industry. The American car culture runs deep, and that can't be overstated enough. Americans love their cars and I doubt if many even think about the negative side of owning a car. They want to drive whatever they choose to drive without the government telling them. And Hollywood has always sort of romanticized the automobile, and that great American road trip.
To say nothing of car culture around the world. Why are we the ones to be blamed for it??
@@JCDenton95 I imagine because the video is focussed in America, and changing things in America, because that is one of the big examples of car dependancy. There are other places that aren't good for it, and usually they took inspiration from American infrastructure.
Owing a car is a huge money suck. Cars lose money the moment you buy them, they drop in value massively once you buy them, and they keep costing more in upkeep and fuel. Car centric design is basically about taking your money away and giving it to the auto and oil industry.
Car repairs is a whole other bucket that destroys peoples' budgets. They advertise on TV for insurance programs that help pay repair costs, but every repair shop I've ever discussed this with says they are crap. My solution was to move to a college town five years ago where distances are small enough that I could walk to shop for groceries and other essentials.
How sedentary cars make us has affected me greatly. I'm only 30 years old, but I've been fighting some pretty significant back pain for the past year, almost certainly due to the fact that I work a desk job, spend my free time at my computer, and have never really walked, biked, or used my legs for transportation since I left high school. I've put in a lot of effort to keep myself mobile and active since my issues began, but I can't help but be a bit frustrated that walking and mobility is no longer built into our everyday life as humans.
It is no wonder that back pain and other joint and degenerative issues are exploding in frequency. The human body was made to be upright and moving around during the day, not sitting in a chair for hours upon hours. Our bodies need to be subjected to some kind of load to build resilient tissue, and walking from our cars to our couches is outright insufficient.
I ditched the car ten years ago. The benefits for my physical and mental health were exactly what one would expect. I'm now convinced that if I die before my hundredth year it will happen crossing the street.
A car doesn't stop you from an active lifestyle. That's just an excuse
I actually drive to the gym and outdoor recreation quite a bit. My car has help me stay in the best shape of my life. It is about choices, not cars. Previously, I would have just stayed home watching Netflix... Or UA-cam 😂
@@cmdrls212When you walk everywhere you don't have to allocate a "healthy time frame",
There are other benefits, if you live in the right environment/workspace
@@walawala-fo7ds
Bro can’t envision walking to the gym
@@guntbuckler2890 Walking takes too long and doesn't compare to my gym routine which is far more comprehensive. It is a waste of my time to walk. I rather get more done at the gym for higher returns. It's about time management 😉
Even in cities like Chicago and San Francisco car ownership is pretty high. That says to me that we’re not doing a good enough job of making living car free not just possible but preferable. And once you have a car you are more likely to use it thus perpetuating the cycle.
Because not everyone wants to be in weather. I've riden bikes for years and I'm tired of it. The rain is garbage. Quit lying to yourself. I bet you drive.
Lived in Chicago owned a car but drove it maybe once a month to move something.
Fr, CTA and Ventra (the ticketing system) is kind of known to be a nightmare
Safety in mass transit systems is big part too
Having worked in both Chicago and San Francisco: too many jobs are in car-dependent office parks. Metra further builds a mostly loop-centric network and has precious little service between points in the outskirts/suburbs.
Ray, thank you for this video. Your "true cost of car ownership" video a year or so ago was the final push that got me to get rid of my (inherited) pickup truck and switch to biking and walking. Beyond the physical and financial benefits, I've found that not driving has helped my mental and social life, as I now plan ahead and schedule meet ups with friends instead of suffering the stress of last minute hangouts. Being intentional and decisive instead of just going with the flow or waiting for stuff to happen was an unexpected but very real boon for me.
Main factor always overlooked in favor of rail transport over cars is the increased worker productivity provided by trains. 1: Workers can relax or nap on trains vs. having to remain alert on often stressful drive. 2:White collar workers can begin work on laptop computor during commute. 3. No worries about drunk driving home if you throw back a few after work😊
The drinking and driving observation is so true. All the drunk driving campaigns focus on not drinking, but they could just as easily focus on not driving. The neighborhood I grew up in had several walkable bars. I was too young (and also not interested), but walking to and from a bar is a good way to support a local business and not drink and drive.
Idk you shouldnt be allowed to be fucked up on the train either because alcohol can make people violent
@@gencreeper6476 It was no problem for my grandpa and his buddies in the 1920s. They often helped one board th3 train😵
@@gencreeper6476SSSHHHHEEEEEIIIITT!
Alcohol is a helluva lot WORSE for people behind the wheel....
Agree about you're comment on rail passengers taking advantage of their down time on the way home. Have to disagree on anyone drinking while in a self-driving car, electric or not, though. In Australia you would be arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, even siting in your car with engine off, drinking and keys in ignition would be enough for police to request a sample of breath and press charges. So they should with appalling loss of life caused by drug and alcohol driving.
Ya know, not too long ago I was feeling pretty down, and wondered if I might be suffering from clinical depression . Then, I discovered this channel. Now I DEFINITELY have depression.
😭😭😭
At least you know why and know it's not your fault.
Start walking or biking more? It helps.
🎵I never looked around, never second-guessed
🎵Then I watched some CityNerd, now I'm always depressed
Apologies to NOFX
This video just provided the first statistical evidence I've seen that, indeed, we were outside more as kids than the kids of today.
I also put blame on the stranger danger and child predator panics of the 80s and 90s on this.
Also that letting children be unsupervised is considered neglect, and parents risk having CPS called on them for letting them play in a neighborhood park
@@tonywalters7298 I absolutely agree. As a Gen Z adult who grew up in the middle of all the panics like drugs in Halloween candy, I'm lucky my parents still let me go out independently on my own and just equipped me with the knowledge on how to avoid that kind of thing. Ironically, the kids today are at greater risk than we could be with unsupervised internet access, but that's a whole other can of worms.
@@goldenstarmusic1689 I agree about unsupervised internet access.
But is it cars? The correlation is spurious. Kids now have ipads, internet games, and social media. The idea they will get out more is naive at best, uninformed at worse. Not to mention, the excellent yellow bus mass transit means getting rid of a car doesn't mean a kid has to walk to school
I recently sold my car and went all in on my mountain bike and motorcycle. The savings are insane! Yes, my neighbors and coworkers also think I'm insane because they're all stuck on their car and pick-up truck dependencies.
Ha-ha, you hacked highway :D
hiiii Ray! Some recent twitter drama/discourse had me thinking about how over the years i've come around to the conclusion that urbanism + car-free infrastructure is a good thing for accessibility (when done correctly) but was shocked there aren't really any video essays floating around debunking the whole "disabled ppl need cars so urbanism hurts them" theory. would love to see your take
Yeah I'm really surprised to not see some ADA organization lobbying for better urbanism.
there aren't really any videos I know of that focus solely on this, but any video about walkability will probably mention it. Usually videos about urbanism will more likely just say "'disabled people who can't drive have it worse in a car dependent society", which kind of brings up a similar point.
what drama
The unfortunate fact is that just like people without disabilities are utterly dependent on cars because of the way our urban areas have been designed, disabled people are also affected by car dependent design and, if they are able to drive or be driven, may be that much more reliant on having a car to get around.
However, to most of the people who are all "bike lanes make things inaccessible for disabled people" I would ask "where were you before fighting to make the world accessible"? I see their interjections as bad faith concern-trolling.
I'm all for ensuring that amenities like accessible parking spaces, ramps, etc are widely available (and that people who don't need to use them, don't abuse them), and making sure that new active transportation and transit developments don't adversely affect people with disabilities.
@@michaelvickers4437these arguments remind me of a real-world legal case brought recently by an infamous ultrareactionary plaintiff's attorney in Portland, Oregon, who claimed that the city's failure to aggressively clear homeless people off sidewalks was a violation of the ADA! Evidently, though, the fact that homeless people are highly disproportionately likely THEMSELVES to be disabled was not relevant. But, of course, one mustn't lose a chance to weaponize the (affluent) disabled the better to beat down the poor ones.
I think the biggest thing people overlook when discussing cars is the massive cost. The average new vehicle in the US is $45k. If you want to spend just 10% of your income on your car (the recommendation of many budgets), you would need to make $130k/year. You need to make around $70k/year just to afford the payments on a $20k car and keep this budget.
In reality, the average American spends over 20% of their income on a car. And this percentage is even higher for low income communities, often approaching 30, 40, or even 50%. The necessity of car ownership is a major reason that the cycle of poverty exists, and why it's so hard to save money when you make less than the median income.
Which is why the majority of people do not buy new cars
@@rodgerlang884 I also do not buy new cars. But you cannot have a used car market without new car sales.
As somebody who actually lives in a small town out in the country where a car is an necessity, I can understand this but in cities you would think they would have a better transportation infrastructure so people would not need a car, but they haven’t and the traffic has got significantly worse…..
I grew up in Southern California where we were bounded by freeways. They were Great Walls of China, as a child who could not drive, to cross these walls, we might have to go five miles out of our way, and then five miles back. It was drummed into us that driving was a "privilege" not a right. The vast amount of money spent on automobile travel was at the expense of those who chose not to have a car, or were not allowed to drive. I have promoted the idea that cities spend an equal amount of money per bicycle journey as automobile journey.
Where in Southern California did you not have overpasses and underpasses every half mile?
And just think; allmof Los Angeles and southern California in general had TWO good electrified rail systems which, had they survived to this very day, would've almost totally eliminated the NEED for a motor vehicle.
(I emphasized "need"; if one so desired, a motor vehicle will, of course, be available.).
@@SoloPilot6 San Diego
@@GuillermoLG552 Did they evaporate? SD had no shortage of them the last time I was there.
@@CraigFThompson If you're thinking of the Pacific Electric, yes, if they had managed to hang on they would have been useful. They were losing money in the 1920's though, and converting to bus routes. Not only were these less expensive, they also were more flexible, allowing route changes as needed.
However, if you look at a PE route map, you see that the vast majority of SoCal residents were way outside of walking distance to PE stations and bus routes. PE was cutting service before WWII.
After the takeover of the PE and its subsidiaries by central planners and bureaucrats, service deteriorated and the whole thing died off in the late 1950s.
Some of the routes were purchased and upgraded by heavy-rail operators such as ATSF and SP, and some of the right-of-ways were sold for development . . .a few of these were bought back for the light rail lines started in the 1990s.
However, the original problem remains -- the majority of residents are too far away from the rail and bus routes.
The worst part about that intro is that, in America, many of the people who SHOULD be watching this video would look at all of your points and say "So what?" Doesn't mean we shouldn't try though.
That said, there's also a pretty significant amount that will go "wow i didnt think of it that way before." we werent born urbanists, and there are still many people out there open to convincing
And of course, the capitalist forces responsible for this whole mess will not even _search_ for videos like these from within their echo chambers.
What are they supposed to do, WALK through the multi-lane Chick Fil A drive thru?
@@CityNerdas someone who has walked through multiple drive through with mixed results this gave me a good laugh😂
@@CityNerdthat's pretty much exactly what I did back in 1984 when I visited the States. (Ok, it was at McD's but same difference). The counter cashiers were all clogged up, so I went outside, ordered my stuff at the microphone block. Their looks of astonishment when I walked to the two windows, paid, and got my stuff were amazing. I laughed so hard.
Seeing the photos of the busy 1920s Kansas City Union Train Station really bummed me out because it's restaurants, merchandise & a single Amtrak station today. The Auto industry really took a lot from us
The only group of people who benefit from car dependency is the auto and oil industry at the expense of everyone else's wallets, sanity, health, etc.
Watching this as my car is in the shop. I’ve been stuck at home all day in my car dependent neighborhood. Really puts into perspective how inaccessible it can be to live without a car in a car dependent place. My next move will hopefully be to a more walkable and transit focused area!
Buy a scooter, an e-bike or a motorcycle. Something on 2 wheels that it's easy to park and maintain. 😁👌
I recommend an ebike. You can get quite far on those. I only take my car out when I really have to and I wish I didn't even need to own one in the first place. My ebike saves me heaps of money in gas and long term health effects
@@ambiarock590 Can't you use a taxi when you need a car? I am using Bolt and Uber when I rarely need a car instead of my bike and public transit. 😁👌 Cars keep us poor.
@@ambiarock590 Can't you use a taxi when you need a car? I am using Bolt and Uber when I rarely need a car instead of my bike and public transit. 😁👌 Cars keep us poor.
@@ambiarock590 Can't you use a taxi when you need a car? I am using Bolt and Uber when I rarely need a car instead of my bike and public transit. 😁👌 Cars keep us poor.
Just imagine how great your life could be without a car loan, insurance, maintenance, and gas.
If you save that money and invest all of it, you could retire.
The opportunity cost of owning a car is insane. If you invested $10,000 every year (the cost of car dependency) into a Roth IRA, you'd end up with a million dollars from age 25 to 65, enough for about 10 years of income. Instead we take that $10,000 every year and throw it into a proverbial fire by giving the auto industry massive profits.
@@ambiarock590That being said, cars will continue to be around regardless. I agree that we need less of them on the roads, but there's already so much passion and kove invested into them by various motorsport leagues and communities. Whether people like it or not they will continue to be a part if society in some form or another. Getting rid if them entirely won't solve the problems because road networks are still expanding, not diminishing. I got this info from a DOT worker who told me this first hand.
This is why I moved to Thailand, where you don't need a car to live a functional social/professional life. For the cost of what I was paying on the car note (600) insurance (100) and gas (300) each month in the US I can pay for a luxury apartment, food, internet etc and save the remainder of my income. Cars keep you broke and its all by design.
Just imagine if people were not taxed to death, many of us could retire much sooner and afford a decent vehicle. Imagine if the federal government did not tell us how 'safe' a car should be or asinine CAFE standards, who knows what a 'freer market' could have come up with for us consumers.
@@ambiarock590The limit for Roth IRA contributions is lower than $10,000 (although if you have a spouse you can both have accounts).
If you did invest $10,000 a year though, you would have much more than $1 million. The average return of the S&P 500 is 10% per year. Just the first three years of contributions will get you to over $1.1 million by the time you get to 65. If you contribute $10,000 for 40 years you could reasonably expect to have over four million dollars, possibly tax free assuming you were married (to get past the contribution limit) and were eligible to contribute the entire time. Even if inflation averaged 3% you would still have over a million dollars in real terms and could draw the equivalent of $40,000 in real terms annually without running out of money.
I love this video.
I live in a neighborhood that was originally designed 100 years ago. The neighborhood was being developed in part by the owner of the trolley company so of course, the neighborhood was built around public transit.
Fast forward to present day and guess what area has been slated for transit oriented design? Yep. My neighborhood. Mid-rises are being built with little or no parking and many of the older residents i.e. boomers, are super upset about the lack of parking. My favorite comment of all time was "What happens if we experience a disaster like none other we've experienced and no one can drive out because of all the cars parked on the street?" I so love their optimism that the roads will still be driveable after a disaster like none other.
Truth be told, if homeowners just cleaned all the junk they have in their garages so they could park their cars in their garage instead of on the street, a lot would improve in my neighborhood.
America had more adequate national mass public transit in 1890 than it does today.
The U.S transcontinental railway moves more cars around the U.S than people.
GM definitely thanks Ike for this.
In 1930 rural Perry Co. in SE Ohio had 4 passenger rail depots. Now the closest is approx. 150 miles north in Cleveland. To accomodate the new Intell chip factory Gov. Dewine wants to add lanes to interstate 70 heading east from Columbus, the state capitol with no passenger rail. (Green new deal my ass) Lets truly make america great again and VOTE GREEN PARTY. Both red and blue are in the pockets of the military and pharmecutical companies.
And? That was before cars became easily available. We chose the speed and convenience of cars just like we've moved on from horses and buggies.
@@bwofficial1776we? How old are you that you were there?
Regardless, that was also before select-fire M16s were invented. I’d choose the reliability and speed of a burst fire rifle to defend myself against drivers and if you do anything to prevent that, you’re a Luddite standing in the way of progress, which is always good and never harmful and should never under any circumstance be questioned and pulled back.
@@bwofficial1776 seen how fast trains go now?
I m visually impaired and I absolutely loath how car centric this world is . The amount of time I have to spend navigating to cross roads and waiting for crossing lights to change . Trying to find crossing points usually extends my journey time even if I’m making a simple journey from point a to b . The world wasn’t built with us in mind at all and we are just an afterthought . Ever tried just walking to a supermarket ? Navigating all the parked cars and cars that reverse out of spaces? It’s exhausting mentally for me
America just needs to restore our lost trolley networks as soon as possible. Streetcars are much cheaper/quicker to build than heavier rail options and they’ll move the needle on car ownership way more than a bus or bike network. Not that those aren’t important, but if we remove personal automobiles from dense city centers (severally congestion price areas as lines open) , then EVERY street will feel like a protected path!
Also, I don’t want to hear anyone saying, but trolleys get stuck in traffic. Not if they ARE the traffic. Not to mention all the greenery/ planter space we will be able to add on the non rail streets ☺️
Light rail is closest answer wr can get now days
Absolutely!
@@kamiljay2697 call it LRT if you want, the point is grade separation isn’t as important as just establishing a network. We can do grade separation projects later.
@@tony_5156 🥰
6:40 The isolation also makes it easier for abusers to hide their abuse. Nobody hears the yelling and even if you try to leave, there's nowhere you can really go, especially if you don't drive. As a kid, I couldn't escape my situation or go outside to ask for help because I could only walk around my neighborhood, and my parent would just drive up behind me in seconds. I think this is a very underrepresented point in fighting sprawl and car dependence.
Another way that car dependence enables abuse: I needed my parents to drive me everywhere, and they used this against me. Sometimes they dropped me off places and refused to pick me up, despite it being 40C below, and me being in the middle of a massive parking lot for a mall that was long closed. No phone, no way to check for bus routes, nobody even really around because if the mall was closed, nobody else would drive there.
I too long for the days when you could hear your neighbor's counter-revolutionary opinions through the wall and report him to the proper authorities.
@@thhunter Whereas in suburban isolation you have nobody to ever share your counter-revolutionary opinions with, so you think you're the only one, so the counter-revolution never happens.
To be fair and honest car dependency is the majn culprit, but that doesn't mean that people can't keep or use their cars for other reasons, besides a typical city commute.
@@thhunter Sharing a wall with someone does not necessarily mean you can hear every word they say. There are lots of ways to insulate sound.
Thanks for this video. I've been thinking about vehicle dangers a lot lately. Last week an entire family, including a toddler and baby, were killed at a bus stop in San Francisco by someone in an SUV. It happened close to where my aunt and cousin live. An utter tragedy.
If they had had a car, they wouldn't have had to be at a bus stop.
It’s even scarier because MUNI is gonna be in a budget crisis in a few years. The last thing we need in SF is more people in cars
@@SoloPilot6If the SUV driver had chosen to walk, bike, or bus they wouldn't have killed anyone.
@@SoloPilot6 True. Riding the bus is for poor people. There's a reason why poor people buy a car as soon as they can, they know how limiting it is to rely on the bus schedule and routes.
As a wheelchair user and disability advocate in an inaccessible SE WI city, I find your videos incredibly spot on, and your voice soothing. Thank you
As you publish this video, the MTA in New York just voted yes to congestion pricing at their full board meeting. It will go into effect this summer
YAAAAAY!
Way to punish working class people for the benefit of your urban planning fantasies, I guess
Now, they just need to take out more of those street side parking spots!
Another program intended to prey on the least able to pay the fees.
@@willythemailboy2 The poor working in NYC ride the omnipresent transit. Why do you think they could afford a car that would take over $10,000 from their meager income?
The fact you couldn’t walk into a Walmart with a bag without driving a car is frankly ridiculous. I doubt there’s any chance saving US cities, it’s too far gone
Growing up in suburban New Jersey I used to ride my bike everywhere. I can't tell you how many times I was stopped by the police and asked to empty my backpack. Evidently being a pedestrian or cyclist was considered "probable cause." I left as soon as I could and now live in a place with a different culture.
We need more sidewalks, bike lanes, and better public transportation.
And more housing units that are close to all those things!
@@CityNerdI will agree that society needs to be less car-centric, but it's just as bad as saying we should get rid of cars entirely and outright. Truth is, cars will continue to stick around and be built even with increased public transportation infrastructure. One size doesn't necessarily fit all in my opinion.
@@TheSilverShadow17 We would have a lot fewer cars if we stop mandating car-centric design and subsidizing driving.
@@mindstalk The main takeaway here is that cars are still going to be around either way, even with increased infrastructure for public transit. They've brought us up to this point in history and will continue to be relevant for quite some time. Having less cars on the road is more plausible than having none at all. They're a big part of modern day society as is, was my point.
Sidewalks are car infrastructure. We need car free streets.
The US is quite literally running out of land near urban areas, so single family homes will become too expensive for the average American. This could potentially be good news for mass rapid transit since condos will be the new american dream!
I find it more likely that suburbs will continue expanding further into less developed land. Chicago is a great example of this as the suburbs have grown about 20 miles beyond city limits.
@@mitchellbenbrook2041Sad but true.
no they won’t
We have many rust belt cities that are filled with vacant lots where houses used to be
@@sioul8485definitely not
It's kinda crazy how much more I feel a part of an urban community after one year of living in downtown relatively walkable Boston than I did for 18 years in a suburb of LA
Ayyyyyy welcome to Boston!
For the 1% who can afford downtown Boston. Congratulations, you made it.
I'm a paleoanthropologist. You are correct, our evolution into efficient bipedal walkers and runners means a sedentary lifestyle is bad for our health. Walkable communities are our natural state.
I hate pointing out how intensive mining is for electric cars because that's the main gotcha car drivers use to try and keep gas cars afloat, as if they've ever cared about the environment in their lives.
Yeah, it's always to justify the continued use of ICE cars which are objectively worse for the environment. EVs won't solve everything but it's better than the alternative if you can afford it (especially smaller compacts and sedans instead of SUV's and trucks).
EVs are the correct answer for truly rural areas, delivery/emergency vehicles, and the other many minor exceptions.
The rest of us should do something else that's better.
@@tristanridley1601 Exactly. Electric cars only save emissions after like 5 years of use, and I don't even think it' a lot of savings. It's marginal at best improvements. Tiny improvements are not gonna help the climate situation, vast change will and building our cities so people don't need to lug around 2,000 of metal and plastic saves so much material in every aspect
There's also the "Long Tailpipe" lie, as in "you're just gonna charge that EV with electricity from fossil fuels anyway," ignoring that the marginal extra power plant emissions from EV charging are nowhere near as much as an individual car burning fossil fuels, not to mention all the damage from extracting, refining, and transporting that gasoline.
thats one of the great things about this video... it illustrates how electric cars solve very few issues that are associated with car dependency.
What's wild is this isn't even everything. Another terrible side effect of car dependency is poor design. Many people lament the decline in the aesthetics of American cities over the past 100 years (or compared to Europe) and a large reason is buildings and streets used to be designed to be taken in by slow-moving, nearby pedestrians and now they're designed to be observed by drivers zooming by. It makes many buildings in our cites more garish and boring - which can add the many other negative effects on mental health and society.
I strongly doubt designers are considering the speed of the viewer when they design the look of their buildings
I still cannot believe people thought that single family homes, located away from all the things people need was a great idea. It’s energy inefficient, less community building since you can literally never interact with your neighbors even if you want, isolating if you don’t have a car (because again there’s nothing around you in reasonable walking distance).
No wonder people are so depressed, angry, and in financial distress.
Also terrible for the environment
I have family who live like this and it's great. Short drive to almost everything. very few cars on the local roads because of the modern design. Easy to run or walk in the street safely. Virtually no crosswalks means I can do my long distance running without the annoyance of red lights. no annoying apartment neighbors and stupid apartment rules. no ever increasing rent
It makes people selfish and individualistic
2 reasons. "nice big house" and "quiet". They never think of the downsides
The car also created social divisions that previously were less defined. If wealthy people move to the suburbs, they create schools and systems that feel familiar. As city centres were gutted and emptied of population, nightlife and whole neighbourhoods destroyed for literal parking lots and malls that closed at 6pm, poverty reigned, multiplying and concentrating certain types of crime, drug-use, etc. and just contributing to a sense of decay and crime. That was "downtown." For a lot of cities, it still is.
When people pick houses now, they're picking them on the back of the neighbourhoods these choices made 50-60-70 years ago created. Nice safe suburbs with nice schools with nice kids, or more troubled city centres? My parents explicitly picked a suburb based on this calculation. They knew they would have to drive everywhere and didn't love that but they wanted their kids to go to "good schools." And they were wealthy enough to own and operate two cars, so what did it matter?
Now, they're converts to drivingland. They find the bus--something they would have happily taken as kids--just absolutely awful. It's cold, it rattles, there are weird people on it, it takes ages. It doesn't occur to them that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy that they are part of. Buses/transit will remain crappy and terrible so long as the only people who are required to use them, who even try to use them, are the poor.
I don't have a car and I save a ton of money that way.
I only don't see it that way, since I never owned a car. I see it as normal and a car would be extra. That extra cost seems so ridiculously high that I don't even understand how so many people consider a car as essential and indispensable as a house, clothing or food. For me it's a luxury product.
I think it’s because many people don’t have an option. I have a car and absolutely hate it, but without it, I couldn’t work or go to university.
Where I live you can’t get around without one; there’s no reliable public transportation, and the city isn’t walkable. For example: it took me 6 minutes to drive to university from my apartment, but it was a 51 minute walk - so imagine the journey for destinations further than a 6 minute drive. This isn’t including the fact that it’s over an extremely dangerous bridge with a skinny bike lane (if you chose to do that instead) and people driving 55-60mph. Not taking account for the weather, either - people have heat strokes here. 😅
I really hope to sell my car one day and move somewhere I can easily go without it. It’s a dream.
Id probably rather have a truck than a house if push came to shove.
@@brisbreathing Bike, electric bike, moped... there are options. A 51 minute walk is still only a few km, thus a short distance. A car is only good for very long distances.
I actually often walk back from work to home when I have time. It´s a little under 5 km, so around 50 min, just like you. It´s good for my daily dose of exercise. Walking is healthy and very relaxing after work. It´s with a mindset like that that you can ditch the car.
I can´t say much about the heatstroke. Do you live in a desert like Arizona or Nevada? I don´t understand why people live in places where they can only live normally thanks to airco. Those places aren´t suitable for large human settlement. Americans should leave the sun belt and rediscover the rust belt where all the great old American cities were.
@@holygooff I see what you’re saying, but I think it really depends on where you live. It can be extremely dangerous, especially along major roads with no bike lanes, which is the case near me.
@@holygooff Time is the most limited resource anyone has. I looked up the most common trip I make. It's 2.8 miles that takes 65 minutes to walk, 18 minutes to bike along the non-suicidal route, 40 minutes to take a bus ( a third of it walking, including crossing several stroads), or 8 minutes to drive in an area with essentially zero traffic. Double that for the return trip. Can you see why I drive?
Kids in my neighborhood get in the family car with their parents to be driven to the end of their block 200 yards away to wait in the car at the curb until the bus arrives to be driven to their school 3 miles away… even when it’s 60 degrees out
My problem is that I have public transit in LA and San Diego but I have to deal with crackheads and it smelling disgusting. Someone also tried to rob me at the station. Until public safety is sorted out public transit will never succeed.
The same thing happened to me when I went to a Walmart. They said I could not bring my backpack in. I told them I was going to do it anyway and they could follow me around if they want. My question is, how do we convince people who disagree with us? I know that it is the point of this video, but when we provide evidence and studies that support our view point, many people come back with "fake news"! I promise I will read this paper. Thank you for the awesome content and your hard work.
And Japan they have lockers to the front of the store often. At the very least Walmart could’ve offered to take your backpack at the customer service desk.
I recently moved to San Diego and have been quite horrified at the layer of black dust from car pollution that accumulates on my balcony and outdoor table and chairs every day. I have to clean my table every morning to sit at it, and wear shoes on the balcony so I don't traipse the dust inside. I've never experienced this before (and don't even live near a freeway or anything, but do live on a main road) and it's quite concerning visually seeing just what we're breathing in all the time.
Yes! Central London used to be like that but the congestion charge has definitely made the air cleaner.
Our transportation system is a disaster based on greed. It's quite ridiculous.
Greed is good. Wanting more is good.
Amen to that. Thanks to Ray and others for focusing our attention.
@@bwofficial1776 That's what capitalists say
Some people will tell you that it's market forces but that it is a lie. It's not difficult to find people frustrated with their lack of public transport options. Fossil fuel companies have done an excellent job making sure that fossil fuels are most people's only option for movement and freedom.
@@rusticcloud3325 Well, it's not like I'm about to give my money, my property, my labor, or my skills away for free for the the public good. If the public wants it, it has to pay.
I'm a geographer and work in academia (though no longer as a researcher myself) and I am absolutely loving how you go into academic publications on your channel. I forward your videos to researchers who do stuff around sustainability and climate. Your work is much appreciated.
I've actually heard back from a couple of the authors on this paper, and they're enthusiastic about me sharing in this format. I really think there's a wider audience for some of the interesting research that's out there, but staggeringly few people read the Journal of Transport Geography (or other academic publications like it)! Anyway, thanks.
German here. Even just 2 people going 45-50 km to a party pay less and are way faster taking a car, even if it was thirsty af, than the train. So we squeezed 5 into a compact car and didn't have to walk 30 min uphill from the train station. The 50 euro ticket remedies it somewhat but only if you got that situation frequently+ first train on weekends? 6 in the morning. With my luck 7 unless i wanna pay extra for one that aint included. Last weekend i took a 4 am train to get closer to home then cycled20 km on my bike home. I'm fit. But. That this is not an option but my only way to get home before 8 in the morning is just 💩. On another occasion, different town, i had one of my dumb ideas and cycled the whole 45+ km home. N I cant even really do that. Starts with a horrendous Offroad Situation for 3km. Think mud a monster truck drove through that dried + leaves. Real hardcore mtb terrain. Then beautiful curvy bikepath apart from the road. Wonderful. For maybe 15 km. Then. Road. No, and i mean no other way and a sign no bikes allowed. Not Autobahn mind you. So i rode illegally and it sucked and there was cars.
thank you for summarizing the paper in a factual and unpretentious way. it really is mind boggling how many facets of our lives are directly affected by car dependency
The suburban houses at 6:55 are just so ridiculous. The space between the houses is so narrow you it's basically completely useless, but 100% still demanding for insulation to prevent thermal losses, and the fronts are almost completely taken up by the concrete pads. Just build some row houses already.
That's actually a good thing. Wide spaces = more sprawl. These are new city codes for SFH which means you can fit more homes on the same street ;p while there is denser development codes, there is nothing wrong with closer SFHs
@@cmdrls212No, not really, because it's combining the worst part of each development style and getting neither of the benefits of either.
@@cmdrls212they aren’t significantly denser and the houses are larger than older subdivisions with further apart houses
@lakelobster No one wants to share a wall with you.
The advantages of the extra wall are better noise insulation between properties. Something I am well aware of, living in a maisonette (like a flat, but with your own front door onto the street and with a garden). A terraced house would be better than what I have, but I really would rather live in a detached house.
The European cities are really pushing cycling. I live in Vienna. Again. Lived here in the 80s and 90s. Back then very few bike lanes. Nowadays… or last Sunday, I did a 58km ride all within the city limits and only about 4km were on roads with cars. Progress!!
Just want to point out, electric vehicles do not automatically have to be heavier. Batteries are getting smaller and lighter all the time, a process we could speed up by incetivizing lighter vehicles by changing from fuel taxes to weight taxes. Norway is apparently going down this road and I think it makes a ton (no pun intended) of sense.
Taxing vehicles by weight sounds more plausible and effective than by physical size, because it's pretty ridiculous here in America how they do that, amd I love cars don't get me wrong.
Living in Glasgow, Scotland. We used to have a world class tram and rail network 60 years ago. Today we continue to shift further towards car dependency, a new motorway was built 15 years ago, there is no train to the airport. Out of town shopping centres have sprung up in the past 20 years with huge parking areas and no train line nearby. The high streets in the neighbouring towns are falling apart and replaced with out of town retail parks for cars
Already watched on Nebula. Your content is excellent and depressing. I'm lucky enough to have at least a grocery store and a few restaurants I could walk to in about 15 minutes, which is great by American standards. When I lived in Madrid I didn't have a car for years and almost never thought about it. Having a car was more of a hassle than owning one. But this country isn't going to change anytime soon. "Just one more lane" is going to be us until Last of Us or something else happens.
I agree, the infrastructure in this country is centered around the automobile.
You can’t change that overnight. Los Angeles has done a terrific job at building more rail lines, but most people still drive to work.
It’s really depressing to think about the entire country so working to improve things locally is a little more manageable.
I literally yelled "YEEEEAAAAHH" the second I saw the notification.
11:02 not only those who choose but also those you are legally allowed. Think about children. In a car dependend city children are basically inprisoned in their homes. If they want to do anything (going to school, doing sports, meeting friends, going to the movies etc.) they need their parents which can be really annoying especially when you are a teenager. This is literally the opposite of the proclaimed freedom that car owners always espouse.
One of my favorite videos you’ve ever done, as a recent subscriber. This will the link I’ll share when people don’t understand the dangers of cars.
There was an article about the dental offices that closed last year. There were a bunch that had to close from cars ramming through the office. Literally.
It was in Beckers Dental, a healthcare publication. Titled “Fires, car crashes and a flood: 6 dental offices damaged in 38 days”
can't wait for anti car ramming security for homes lmao
Finally the all in one video explaining the issues of car dependency
Finally? He keeps making these points video after video, it's always the same.
@@soundscape26 His other videos tend to be one-by-one, not all-in-one.
Amazing how it took over 15 minutes just to LIST them!! Never mind actually getting into the weeds.
That being said I would like it better if cars were a niche instead of the norm, plus if you talked to a DOT employee about the situation they'll say that cars will still be a pretty big part of society either way, even after the next 100 or so years. However I can only say so much about it, so there's that.
True, man. I live in the Miami area and own a car. Over the years, I got tired of driving. The wear-n-tears on the car, pumping gas, police interactions - citations and court dates, paying tolls, struck in traffic. So, I just learn to use the buses to make long trips for quick visits. Still need a car to make multiple visits on short period of time while everything is spaced out.
I'm surprised there was no mention of global wars/proxy wars/imperialism. Control over oil resources is directly linked to car dependence and is a primary factor in nearly all geopolitical conflicts.
That concept deserves its own channel. I'm glad you said something
I appreciate the visual at 13:45. Sitting in congested rush hour traffic, in one car, on one freeway, in one city shocked me when I realized it. I don't know how long it would have been before I realized if my boyfriend wasn't already a bike commuter. I didn't know how to ride a bike, and this was San Antonio with all its sprawl, so I did not change my behavior immediately. But a couple months later, we bought a bike for me and got to work. :)
Thank you for encouraging people to take action. I went to Phoenix's Strong Towns meeting and taking action is easier when we have information and numbers of people. Thank you for this video contribution to actual solutions.
A drone shot of any US suburb shows off the effect cars have on the landscape. Massive duplications. Driveways, double driveways, same for garages, roads, curbs & gutters, etc. We like to build out all our problems. Great show.
Hey man. I’m a reporter in San Francisco. A huge deal here as I’m sure you are very aware is this framing of the housing debate around YIMBY NIMBY. I’d love to see a San Francisco specific video. Many of your videos recently have ranked SF pretty high in all the urbanism bona fides, so it wouldn’t be crazy to do. Love your stuff
Thanks!
No problem!
I’ve felt the pollution from tires, both using them and disposing of them is not understood by a lot of people. I was trying to explain that an acquaintance and he scoffed at my mention of it.
Cities aren't noisy, cars are noisy...
I lived in a capital city in Southern US while attending grad school. I moved there from rural upstate NY, where I grew up. I remember how strikingly quiet the particular area I lived in was: I lived in the business district, which, after 6 PM, became a ghost town. I can still recall how shocked I was by the stillness of the night.
I also did not drive at this time, and I loved being able to walk to my destinations. Doing so, aside from helping me keep weight off, allowed me to feel connected to time and space. Rather than whizzing past a mile or two of city, I strolled through and took it all in: the sounds, sights, textures, smells, people, birds, rats, sun, rain, heat, humidity, and the cold. I felt more connected to the world around me than I did and do now living in a rural area.
It’s wonderful to watch a video that is so open and honest about its sources and the purpose of citing them
Living in a walkable college town has been so great! I can go many weeks without needing a car.
Incidentally, your subscriber count is getting close to the capacity of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 257,327. I know you don't do the stadium thing anymore but it might be fun for old time's sake.
The two biggest costs for Americans are housing and car ownership - one causes the other. Cars enable urban sprawl and when not enough housing is built (because of low density) to satisfy demand, housing prices sky-rocket. The average person in China lives in dense housing and ride a $500 eMoped so don't have the same two financial stresses. That person can live on much less income and can take away Americans' jobs. My solution to cut car dependency is to convert parking lots of workplaces with +200 into dense affordable rentals for those that work there. Workers save on housing and not having a car and commute.
by far my favourite city nerd episode yet, and that’s including last week’s brilliant psychoanalysis of the urban pickup driver
looking forward to reading the study
Psychoanalysis of an urban pickup driver? Seriously?
Driving to work to afford driving is what it seems everybody does around me.
I live in México where disposable income is non existent for the majority of people, and when you get a car your income goes to keep the car 😅
It's the same for most Americans too
You've come up with some great content but I think this is a favorite. This is one I can share and reference. Great work CN!
Cars are important, trucking is important.....but car-dependency where you have no other choice is awful. I'm not an "abolish all cars" person but I love how City Nerd, StrongTowns, and Not Just Bikes highlight the woes of dependency. I hope the US chooses not to totally overthrow their car infrastructure, but builds more high quality public transit and cycling infrastructure into our transportation systems. There's a reason I moved to a cycling town in Minnesota - I can get to everywhere I need via local cycling trails that are separated from the roads.
I ride an ebike around. They are becoming a lot more popular. They're a very practical solution to people's everyday needs for getting around town, and very inexpensive to use. It costs me about a quarter penny per mile in electricity. Of course there are other costs, but they are modest.
What just happened in Baltimore is kinda proof. Where the bridge is very little to no public transit near by and no quick fix for the bridge. Should be fun
Yeah because the bridge wouldn't have collapsed if it was only for trains and busses.
@@indianapatsfan
train and bus networks are easier to build with redundancy in mind. To do the same with roads require triple stacked vertical highways
@Demopans5990 if I take public transportation to work, how is it better if the railroad bridge collapses instead of a highway bridge? I'm screwed either way.
@@indianapatsfan
Railroads handle higher capacity much better than highways. A highway bridge collapse will jam up every surrounding highway in the area. A railway bridge collapse just means more crowded stations as trains run alternative routes.
A single subway train in NYC moves more people in a day than the 6 lanes of the I 495. If the I 495 suffers a bridge collapse somewhere close to the city core, most of Long Island would be paralyzed as the alternative roadways can't handle the increased load. If a subway line is closed down for construction, there's enough redundancy that commuters can still get to where they need to go
@@Demopans5990 It actually might not get that bad, as people find a way to avoid that traffic. Same concept as induced demand. As long as there IS an alternative that can absorb that kind of usage, like a railway.
Issues like this make me wonder how worthwhile it might be to move to EU just for the healthier living.
Very worth, considering the healthcare difference
Higher risk of wars though.
Many of the same things apply here though. If you can only afford a low rent apartment you will live next to a noisy and stinky road. Many places are only accessible by car, it's expensive to have and maintain one. Cars still make our cities loud, dirty, stinky and inefficient
as an individual solution, it's objectively better (assuming you mean one of the major cities; Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, Madrid etc.)
Do you speak a European language?
At the words “taller, heavier vehicles” UA-cam kicks off an ad for a taller, heavier vehicle.
The point about the separation of housing, commercial and work places only accessible by car is understated. Strong towns discusses this at length. How this creates insolvent cities - a cost we all burden directly because of cars.
Chapters:
0:00 intro
2:20 1. Crashes
3:10 2. Intentional Violence
3:45 3. Air, Land, & Water Pollution
4:48 4. Noise Pollution
5:22 5. Light & Thermal Pollution
5:47 6. Sedentary Travel
6:30 7. Social Isolation (Dependence & Isolation)
7:02 8. Carbon Emissions (Big One)
7:52 9. Tires
8:16 10. Other Pollution
8:24 11. Land Use
8:58 interlude
9:32 12. Social Injustices (Unequal Distribution of Harm)
10:22 13. Inaccessibility
11:06 14. Car-Dependent Places
11:32 15. Streets and Freeways
11:58 16. Parking
13:03 17. Housing
13:32 18. Time
14:06 19. Financial Burden
14:20 Interventions
I was visiting Baltimore and wanted to get to college park. I realized once there that google said it would take 3 hours by train so I said surely that’s not right. I asked the guy at the hotel and he said oh it’s easy you take the I95 and I had to say I don’t drive. He then just laughed at me
My friend and I ended up just meeting in DC since that was somehow actually easier…
Not every one should drive (at least all the time) some people are bad drivers. It would be safer for every one if they didn’t have to drive.
Having to miss work because of car problems having alternative ways of getting to work or other places is great.
I do agree that people vastly underestimate how much car ownership costs them. I am willing to bet that most people do not actually end up saving money with long commutes. Most If not all the money saved on housing will go to increased car expenses in addition to making your life significantly worse
I agree, the car should be there as a choice and not be depended upon. As someone who is part of the car community the inly times I'd use a car is for track racing but that's it.
I'm really glad you mentioned that EVs are as bad, and sometimes worse, on many of these scores. I honestly do not understand how anyone thinks these things are going to "fix" all the problems cars cause. Even worse is the self driving car theory, people actually believe having a separate vehicle for _every_ member of the family that then drives back home to park is going to fix problems! Nothing like fixing traffic with more cars on the road for longer periods of time! 🙄
It feels like anything else, people think they can 'consume' their way to a greener future. Not how it works, unfortunately.
EVs are going to cause marginal improvements at best. What will REALLY improve the climate situation is VAST systemic change
@@scottwittla Exactly. "Consuming their way to a greener future" is nothing more than abiding by the status quo which has been working out SO well so far
Hi! I just started school for public administration with hopes of working with my county to help advocate for more public transport in my city. I love watching your videos. I usually have them playing in the background while I am doing homework.
My most useful bike was my cargo bike. I live by a river. The nearest crossing point is 12 miles south of where I live. I am not allowed to use the freeway which crosses the river. I tried the bus and its bus rack but the cargo’s wheelbase did not fit. Anyway that cargo bike got stolen. My replacement bike has a shorter wheelbase and just barely fits on the bus. Now I can get across the river. That is where the big city is. We have a beautiful bikeway in the big city with lots of critters like deer and wild turkeys. I like it. I hate it when coffee shops have no bike parking.
The allegiance to cars is absurd. Thanks for touching on quality of life, which is also used to support auto-dependence. Those who have the choice to be car-less or car-lite know that it can greatly improve your quality of life. Cars cost a lot but the added benefits of walking to the supermarket, local bar/pub, interacting with your neighbors, etc. is really freeing.