Dunno, in Lithuania and around they are getting bigger, not sure about the western Europe though. But seeing every car brand making bigger versions of each car (Yaris cross, Peugeot 2008, Volkswagen t-cross and many more)makes me think they probably are getting bigger there as well.
it’s already hard to fit a small car to park in the city, i don’t understand how people can even think to buy a car that’s longer than 4 meters. Roads and houses were built during the baby boom when cars weren’t used by everyone, so for example in my area there are 0.8 car parks per family.
Then i see my cousin, living alone, single, no family buying a huge 5,5 meters SUV “because in the next three years i plan to move, bigger space is useful”. Could rent a van for 100 euro a day instead of spending 10k euro extra for a monster…
It could be that it’s more normalised, or that post-Covid people don’t want to share public transport as much.
Whatever the reason, it’s good news as the more cyclists there are, the more that planners will have to take them into account - making it easier for more to become cyclists. Let’s just hope the momentum continues to fuel this virtuous cycle.
You’re probably right about the post-COVID thing of not wanting to be in enclosed spaces, actually. There was also a big increase in cycling right after the 7/7 bombings, for similarly depressing reasons.
Yes, I think the increase in WFH is likely the biggest factor. Still, the bike lanes are probably helping more people make active travel decisions and keeping them safe when they do, so it’s all good!
If a collision is inevitable, then yeah, I wanna be the one that comes out OK. Hopefully, everyone does, but the safety of those in my vehicle is far more important than anyone else to me. I’ll take something that protects the inside at the expense of the outside every day of the week. That’s somehow a bad thing?
Whatever suits you bro but that’s a genuine thought right there, was going to say it depends if you can slide or lean the seat back in the white truck, if you can, would beat the black truck. Usually has a tool compartment anyway so does fit as far as I’m concerned.
Who buys a truck for aesthetics and not for usefulness? The tiny one might be ugly but the bigger problem is storage in the interior of the car. You don’t even have a back seat in the small one. And also I doubt that the small one can haul large amounts of weight, like a trailer, where the big one can. Just because it is dangerous doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a purpose. Now, instead of having a car for getting around, an SUV for more people, something powerful for a trailer or heavy stuff, you have one for everything that costs the same price as one of those vehicles.
Every e-scooter is one less Uber on the road. Building bike lanes is the answer, not banning scooters. “Oh the Urbanity” did a fantastic video about it on YouTube, highly recommended.
Places that use private cars as public transport are just doing a super inefficient version of a bus. This service should be only used in rural areas due to there not being enough people for buses fdue to demand, but even still there won’t be enough people in rural areas to support them, there is where the right tool of owning a car would work due to the lack of transportation infrastructure. Currently we are trying too hard to use cars as a tool for every situation, there’s different jobs and different tools to do the jobs more efficiently.
@Adori@ray Agree. But most Euro cities that have excellent metro and bus services built their infrastructure decades ago.
Other than US cities like NY, Chicago, Boston, SFO and Wash DC, metro systems would cost a fortune and be built at a snail’s pace…look up Seattle light rail … an excellent system but has taken a long time to evolve, fund and build
@Adori@ray Even in many rural areas, this is not the best option.
First, in many towns, there often aren't any Uber drivers nearby, or the nearest driver is in another town and you're left to wait upwards of an hour for your ride to arrive.
Second, pairs of major cities and large metropolitan areas that are relatively close together should be connected by a railway line. Along with express services, these railways should have reasonably frequent all-stations services that serve the smaller towns along the way.
Third, there should be regular bus or coach services connecting multiple towns, and where available, feeding into these all-stations train services.
So if there's a train station in town A, there should be a feeder bus to nearby towns B, C, and D. This benefits rail passengers, who have more towns they can visit by public transport, and connects those towns to the rail network.
These inter-town bus services can make multiple stops in each town (for example at the local school, the local shops, and the local hospital),, providing both cross-town and inter-town services.
Fourth, with public transport, one service or route won't cover every pair of destinations—but a network can.
So say you have an east-west bus route connecting towns A, B, C, and D. You might have a second route that connects with that bus service at town C, and then runs north-south to connect it with towns E, F, G, and H.
The number of people travelling from town H to town D might be vanishingly small—zero on most days, no more than one or two on others. Certainly not enough to run a dedicated service from town D to town H.
Yet that trip can be provided for by the network, which draws its ridership from passengers who want to travel from any stop on either the north-south or east-west service, to any other stop on either service.
Fourth, with larger towns over 1000 people, an on-demand bus service that travels around town to designated stops is probably a better option. Again, this should feed into any railway stations of inter-town bus routes.
And finally, once your city reaches a population of around 10,000 or so, it should just have a regular bus service, and it should integrate with the broader bus and train network.
Electric motorcycles do not belong on bicycle and pedestrian paths. My biggest issue with ‘ebike’ users is they do not understand or care about trail etiquette.
Feet. I was always at odds with bikes and cars, because I always disliked being tied to a piece of metal. Trains, trams and buses are cool shortcuts, if they’re available. But at the end of the day, feet are the real MVP. They’re just always there, always waiting to chauffeur me to my next destination, and they’ll carry me all the way, even into houses, right to my seat.
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