It’s also (western) safety standards. Even small cars are larger; compare an 80s Corolla to a 90s to a 2010s. Compare bmw 3-series across the same time span. To make cars safer for occupants, you need more metal and more space. So they got larger.
There are stil legitimate reasons for those size vehicles to be on the road so I think it’s still good to have safety for all sizes, but I see what you mean about spiraling out of control easily.
Another interesting contributing factor are safety regulations and their knock-on effects, which weren’t immediately obvious when they were implemented.
For instance, in an effort to reduce pedestrian fatalities from frontal collisions, vehicles in the US were mandated to have at least three inches of crumple space between the hood of the car and the engine block. The thinking being that more crumple depth would help prevent fatalities and serious injuries that occurred when a pedestrian hit the hood of the vehicle, which would deflect, allowing those soft human bits to continue right into the (not soft at all) engine block.
Well increasing the height of the hood of the vehicle meant that they had to raise the A-pillar, which raised the height of the window opening on the doors, since the bottom of the side windows generally lines up with the hood on passenger vehicles. This meant that the side body panels of the vehicle just generally increased in size, and in an effort to maintain a proportional look, the wheels also had to increase in size otherwise they would look weirdly small. And to maintain a comparable amount of visibility out the windshield and side windows, the roof of the vehicle had to be raised to compensate for the new position of the window sill in the doors.
So something that was intended to just add an inch or two of height to the hoods of existing passenger vehicles to satisfy a safety need, ended scaling up the entire vehicle.
I live in Vancouver and our transit agency is seriously considering ripping the trolleybus lines out. Just like how they ripped the streetcars out before the trolleybuses came and then shamelessly told us that it’s too expensive to reinstall the tracks so we’re just never getting it back. In both cases it was because “it’s getting too expensive to maintain” after they deferred maintenance for ages so everything is falling apart and the small problems got compounded into showstoppers from neglect.
Paved roads disrupt rainwater movement as they physically block water from permeating and also have fast flowing storm drains. They have been shown to significantly reduce groundwater replenishment and increase the speed and volume of run off into rivers and streams, which exacerbates flooding risks.
Fun fact from Germany! These giant Christmas markets actually double as parking lots outside of holiday seasons! Everything is temporarily built on top of a giant parking lot!
Furthermore these tend to be close to both major hubs (Think like a central train station!) and some other event areas that DO need the parking (like a football stadium!). That way, while the holiday markets (plural, several a year) are off, the space can also be used as parking space for sports events hosted in the adjacent stadium!
Just some amazing German efficiency for you. Oh also they frequently get used as skateparks.
Also to add (having just spent a good portion of the season going to various Christmas Markets all over Central Europe), a lot of times these central square event spaces are essentially the roofs over underground parking garages. LOTS of multi-level underground parking garages in all these cities.
Well, they’ve probably been markets for some hundreds of years before they dug a parking cave underneath. Old cities especially get increasingly cramped with time.
It’s called an event space and it can’t be occupied all year. There’s stuff going on pretty frequently but when it ain’t, it’s gonna have to be a skatepark + parking lot.
It ain’t just Christmas. There’s holiday markets for every season and even off holiday there is frequent flea markets. It’s even where popular bands will hold their concerts. Without a dedicated space like that, it’s impossible to set up these kind of markets and fairs. It’s inevitable that some days it’ll sit empty.
You try setting up a ferris wheel and rollercoaster in the cramped areas of the city. It won’t work.
As a German, I have never been to a Christmas market held in an event park. I know Christmas markets as just occupying the town square or city centre instead of a dedicated area away from it.
Event parks are in my experience usually just used for fairs, food festivals and sometimes concerts.
I am really coming around to the fact that mopeds should be more common. The trouble is, it feels dangerous until car/van/trucks reduce in number, which is a catch-22.
I am thinking of getting one for my commute as just started a new job where it is possible to go on public transport but takes twice as long and lots of changes. Its just awkward placement really rather than the lack of transport, as have to criss cross. It does blow my mind how everyone is driving around tanks just for one person to travel (as cars have gotten noticeably bigger), it just doesn’t make sense!
I ebike regularly to work, but still far from everyday. 25km/15mi each way makes it a bit time consuming. But I live within walking distance of a grocery store, a gym, elementary, middle, & high school, multiple pharmacies, all sorts of medical facilities, multiple parks, cafes, restaurants, a transit station (that unfortunately doesn't actually get used except for rushhour, which is irrevelant for me), etc. Very little reason to drive outside of the commute here and things like trips to visit family. Still the infrastructure leaves some to be desired, but you don't even need a bike to get to most amenities in a reasonable time.
And I live in an area that is one of the most common go-to examples of car-centric infrastructure. Granted, much more sparsely populated suburbs do exist in the area as well.
Sounds good overall, should reduce traffic levels significantly and make people consider whether they really need to drive their car in such a compact city.
Not sure if I agree with tolling motorcycles though, they don’t take up anywhere near the same footprint as the average car
The last time I was in NYC I was awoken by some asshole running his motorcycle up and down sixth avenue at five in the goddamn morning. And I was on the 14th floor of a hotel.
The fact that they weren't drawn and quartered in the street shows what a lawless place NYC is.
It’s the only place I know where people have argued with each other on how to best help a tourist out.
Look, this is a city where you have wealthy business owners and blue collar folk living across the street from one another, literary geniuses and creatives living next door to programmers and engineers… the people who live and thrive here are makers and doers, in every avenue of human adventure we can yet think of.
That a bit of noise is all it takes to get you to miss how wonderfully unique this situation is, of all walks of life talking, reading, eating and living with each other, is a damning indictment of how tough you actually are, and how much you bring to the table.
Can’t handle it? Wahh.
E: Each downvote on this comment is an admission that you, the downvoter, are similarly rigid. Prove me wrong.
Nah man, I absolutely don’t think that’s the case, not is that the case for any fellow city folk. My previous post should have made that real clear. We got all walks of life walking and talking, and a lot of us travel too. We see what we have, and what’s out there as well.
One thing you won’t see me doing is talking shit on other people’s home towns, because that’s low class and low quality thinking. I don’t particularly like small towns or suburbs for social reasons, some people do. That’s ok.
Your vehicle doesn’t make you special; wait in traffic like the rest of the motor vehicles on the road.
You’d be PISSED if you were in line at the grocery store with a full cart of groceries and someone with 5 items “filtered” around you without your consent because they’ll be faster.
Why should I wait? Do you know what an air cooled engine is? I incur more risk in driving specifically for the benefits of agility and compactness.
I’m sorry that my ability to go past you makes you upset, but again, I’m exposing myself to significantly more danger specifically for the benefits including the ability to not be stopped by the car in front of me, much higher mpgs, lower cost of ownership, etc.
Do you get mad at bicycles because they don’t operate the same as cars? I pass you in the bike lane all the time on my bicycle.
At least my life will have been more fun and interesting than yours 👍
Also: laws protect nobody until after the fact. Even in your car, you’re expected to keep your wits about you.
Either way, I’m usually passing people at about 10mph faster than they are in slow traffic, about the speed of a bicycle. When someone wants to change lanes, crossing my path, plenty of time for me to slow down and let them do their thing. If I don’t keep moving at least a little bit, my motorcycle will overheat as it is not water-cooled.
Well what are we tolling? Square footage? Noise? Carbon emissions? Deaths and injuries? Yes. Motorcycles are better in some categories and worse in others
Motorcycles are loud and the exhaust can be pretty bad, we don’t want everyone buying one to get around the congestion fees. They still take up more space than a standard bicycle or someone who took the subway.
fair point that I didn’t consider! my assumption would be traffic, seeing as the toll is branded as “congestion pricing” - which wouldn’t really make sense for motorcycles because they make up so little of the actual cause of traffic in NYC (large motor vehicles).
If we’re talking about noise though, and how clean the engine burns fuel, motorcycles are 100% guilty as charged IMO.
Deaths and injuries is a little muddier because there are several factors at play, fault could lie on any individual involved in the accident, or maybe even the road design itself. I don’t think these would be robust enough to use as the sole basis for a toll fee
I and most other people are riding around on stock engines with stock exhausts. Those confirm to stricter quiet standards in Japan than anywhere in the US.
To your second point, modern car engines have efficiency gains due to important innovations like direct fuel injection, whereas most motorcycles are stuck with port injection, a limitation currently forced by the fear of having a very high pressure fuel pump between rider’s legs…
In spite of that, total bike emissions are lower for the same distance vs a car, we’re not lugging an entire chassis, air conditioning etc. The result is that even carbureted bikes from the 80s could go 55-60mpg. Bikes also have much lower engine displacement, your v6 2L has about 2000 cm^3 of air and fuel burned per revolution, whereas most motorcycles are in the 6-800 cm^3 range, per rev.
Manufacturers could make them quieter, but that adds both weight and cost, more of one if you adjust the other. I look forward to electric bikes with great range, as I don’t really do more than 350 miles on my long trips unless I’m late for something.
E: looks like Japan relaxed their standards since 2013, per some internal documentation, see slide 9 for harmonized requirements. Still quiet, all things considered.
Motorcycles are still FAR noisier than cars, even brand new with the OEM exhaust. I don’t think my stock bike is overly obnoxious, but it’s certainly the noisiest vehicle around most of the time. Modern cars you don’t even necessarily notice the engine from further than a few feet away.
Also, motorcycles have lower carbon emissions than most cars, but higher everything else. Can’t exactly fit a catalytic converter on there. NOx, fine particulates, etc, are all much worse than a car’s IIRC.
In the end these factors don’t matter much because motorcycles in the West are mostly a hobby, so there’s typically not enough of us to be a huge societal problem. However, if I’m going in the city I usually opt for my ebike because I live close enough and it doesn’t make sense to annoy everyone with my noisy dinosaur fart machine.
You’re partially correct, older bikes didn’t have catalytic converters. Compliance with Euro 5 means all new models past… 2018 I think, must have one equipped.
As for noise, 75db is louder than a modern car, but we don’t have room onboard to dissipate a lot of the sound energy like a car’s long, standing-wave tuned exhaust does.
I don’t have a car, just a bicycle and motorcycle. I like them both, though I trust my bicycle more when there’s a blizzard.
P.s. I also like fortnine videos, he’s mostly correct (though dead wrong about physicists being the grownup version of engineers) but look at the data for yourself. Keep in mind all these values are far, far lower than they used to be. We shouldn’t stop striving for better, but we should keep things in perspective too: bts.gov/…/estimated-national-average-vehicle-emis…
Underground parking garages are very common over here. Most of the times these city squares are exactly that, a huge multi-level underground parking garage because these squares are always event spaces, and they are usually city-center so even when there isnt events, people have somewhere to park when just visiting the city. Yes, there will even be long lines of traffic waiting/hoping for a spot during event periods.
With that said, they do fill up, usually fast. So most events suggest finding public transportation. This just means people park further away and then take the bus/rail/etc the rest of the way. These Markets arent just for the locals, people travel from all over to come to them. So public transportation for long-distant travel, while totally possible, isnt always as practical (sometimes nor affordable or possible) for everyone. Plus, long distance trains do sell out. We just spent most of the season traveling all over Central Europe going to various markets.
I remember in Germany they would have a “Festbuß”, festival bus, which were additional public transit routes from surrounding villages to wherever the event is happening. They are usually advertised in advance to give people additional option.
Yup, still a thing! Especially if a lot of surrounding villages are doing things, like christmas markets. Or even within a village with lots of small stops, like a bar-hopping type deal. The buses just loop, sometimes in both directions, through all the stops. They are separate from the normal transit buses, you gotta buy their specific ticket (or it’s free) and they are usually travel bus types rather than city transit buses. The inner-village ones are just passenger vans, though.
It wouldn’t, unfortunately. My city got Amtrak service back a few years ago, and sooo many people I’ve talked to are like “I’m never taking a train again!” because they caught a delay ONE TIME, even though they don’t bat an eye sitting still daily on the interstate.
it’s under an hour long so I can watch more than one like this during my lunch break. It’s the long form content over an hour long that I have to avoid because it’s usually just vods which severely bore me.
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