why cannot we eradicate all cars and use public transports only?
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For public transport to make sense, there should be some minimum criteria to fulfill, one of the most importants is to have a minimum amount of people that wants to travel from point A to point B. This can be achieved in big cities, but even there not every travel need can be fulfilled with public transport, there will always be people that live or have jobs or do things in places that are tricky to serve reliably.
On top of that, there are a lot of things you could easily do with a car that can be difficult with public transport, to move things for instance.
For all the reasons listed here and so many more, I’d love to see cars become part of the new public transportation system for small cities and rural areas. Similar to taxi’s but and better paying than Uber. Basically a government job that has a regular paycheck and health insurance.
I especially want this for seniors who don’t want to lose their independence but know they really shouldn’t be driving either. We have senior busses for doctors visits but they’re difficult to schedule and usually only have one passenger anyway.
Public transportation doesn’t go everywhere or operate at all times, and where it does go it may not be the most efficient method of travel. I can drive myself to work in 15 minutes. The bus would take me two hours each way.
Also cargo. There’s no way my wife and I could get home with a week’s worth of groceries (6-8 bags, plus milk and other drinks) on the bus not to mention if I need supplies to do something around the house.
The reasons go on…
Its not easy to build things over thousands of miles and multiple different landscapes, not to mention actually making it worthwhile for people to use everyday.
Personal choice and the inflexibility of public transport, public transport doesn’t always go where you want and when you want it.
Rural areas do not lend themselves to public transport. It is, for the most part, objectively more efficient to use a car in this setting.
Dense cities, however, lend themselves well to public transport. DC’s subway system is pretty kickass, as I recall. But there will still be people who need to haul stuff or drive out of state or for whatever reason not wait on a subway.
Edit: typo
Because many parts of the country have low population densities and public transportation doesn’t make economic sense
Social momentum.
People want to keep doing things they’ve always been doing. The people who make a lot of money off cars won’t choose to not make money on cars unless they have already invested in the “new” mode of transportation. So they’ll spend a lot of money to keep things the way they are (bribing politicians, lobbying, smear ad campaigns against public transportation, etc.)
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