Ah yes, the car: the pinnacle of freedom. Except no, it’s the opposite. It’s like being addicted to cigarettes. Once you’ve become fully dependent on them, and built your routine around them, and literally your whole schedule revolves around them, you forget how much life was before you decided to pick it up.
Freedom of mobility is being just as able to get from point A to point B as anyone else despite being physically unable to operate a motor vehicle. Freedom of mobility is not being stuck in endless traffic jams, burning the planet to the ground to stay cool in the middle of a 12 lane asphalt heat trap. Freedom of mobility is being able to hop up to the corner store without ever setting foot inside a car.
We, citizens of the USA, are slaves to the car.
I moved somewhere I can leave the car at home for most trips and it’s amazing. I get a day pass for the train and I dont have to worry about where I parked. I don’t have to worry if I’ll have a place to park. And my wife and I can decide when to go home separately if one has more energy than the other. Sure I need to be aware of when the trains slow down, but it really is freeing
I would love to be able to just take the bus to work. Even that would be great. Instead I have to drive and deal with traffic. I could be browsing lemmy or checking my schedule for the day, or taking a damn nap. But no, I’m “free” to take literally the only transportation option I have: my car. Walk? Nope, way too far. Ride the bike? If you like unprotected bike infrastructure and people passing you at 60mph, sure. Take the bus? Sure, just drive 10 minutes to the closest stop and take two different buses to get there on time.
God forbid we spend money on infrastructure that benefits us all. No no, let’s build asphalt oceans so we can ply the open road with our Ford F-9000 Pedestrian Pulverizer Special Edition with the CUMmins My Ass v8 9.0 liter Diesel. Because you wouldn’t want anything fuel efficient, then you can’t bitch and whine about gas prices of course.
But it’s cool, I guess. It’s not like we’re slowly cooking the planet with our shit box cars and stupid obsession with rugged individualism.
I felt like that for so long before moving and I kept trying and failing to convince people it could work there and that life would be better. Ohio is owned by the auto industry, I know, but also the fact that the 3CD corridor keeps being rejected and the fact that Columbus and Cincinnati dont have a light rail is insane to me. Like yeah it’s longer to ride than to drive (except during peak times) but if you build your society’s expectations around a reasonable train commute it’s not an issue. A half hour drive is mentally draining in a way that public transit isn’t. With a train about every 10 minutes I’m not leaving anything early to take the train, I’m just taking for granted the fact that anything in the city within a reasonable distance of a train stop is reasonably accessible. I’m sure it’s a real schlep from end to end but that’s not the default, that’s going between two distant suburbs, which is always a pain in the ass.
I will say this has lessened my freedom in one way: I don’t want to live far from a train station again.
“Gas prices are down”. Weird mine are the same fucking price as when Biden was in office.
And then saying “inflation is down,” as if that has any real day-to-day impact on our travel plans.
That’s conceptually just such a crock of shit anyway. It’s fucking ridiculous reporting on the rate of change of a rate of change in order to distract/obfuscate from the actual amount of the quantity being measured.
Higher here, by quite a bit.
From the article: “There’s something about the freedom of mobility and there’s something very American about it, and so, I also think that there’s a lot of people around the world that think about American cars, and they think about American road trips, and we want to invite the rest of the world. They’re going to come for FIFA’s club games, or they’re going to come for the World Cup, or they’re going to come for the Olympics, come and see sporting events, but then you can also take a week or 10 days with my family to travel around this great country. Stop at our great restaurants. Stay in our wonderful motels or hotels. Gas up your car with great American energy.”
THIS is actual car-brain thinking. I see a lot of memes in fuck cars attacking individuals and the choices they are forced to make, but this article illustrates issues that we have to fight. It’s got all the delusion you expect from a government source written by car companies: tying car ownership to freedom, oddly thinking that non-americans think about our car culture as a positive experience, and that wonderfully tone-deaf tagline.
Your city likely has some form of a transportation committee. Join it. Go to the meetings. The switch to Zoom has made it even easier to do so. My experience with our local zoning committee has reinforced that you have to fight like hell, even with your own neighbors, to do simple things like decrease parking requirements. Car-brain is real and it’s propped up by decades of propaganda and policy.
They’re going to come for FIFA’s club games, or they’re going to come for the World Cup, or they’re going to come for the Olympics, come and see sporting events
Nobody’s coming anymore, nobody wants to risk being thrown in a concentration camp because they aren’t white and rich and supporting Trump enough.
Getting ANYONE who isn’t already actively trying to reduce their own vehicle usage or doesn’t use primarily mass transit to pay attention to how much space has been given up for cars is like pulling teeth from a stone.
Even people who have never had a car seem to think cars are the only thing to use.
Getting anyone to even acknowledge the complete lack of travel infrastructure around my area is hard. There are few sidewalks outside the downtown area and a few surrounding residential areas. There are no sidewalks connecting downtown being 4 intersections.
There are two bike lanes that total about 1.5mi, marked on the shoulder of a street as an afterthought, and no penalties for parking in it.
Some of the roads around here don’t even have enough shoulder to allow two semi trucks to pass, let alone two cars and a bike.
I’m contemplating making a sign for my bike trailer that says “IF YOU ARE ANNOYED I’M HERE, TELL YOUR LOCAL COUNCIL TO BUILD A BIKE PATH”
I have started saying “bike path” instead of “bike lane” when talking to most people since they get offended at the mere thought of “losing a lane” to cyclists.
I’ve also thought about making a sign that says “rider is armed and carries a brick” since people literally throw things at me and some have even gotten out of their cars to scream at me.
Do they honestly believe tourists are going to come here for a sporting event and then go on a fucking road trip? These people are so beyond out of touch.
NJ got the finals for the World Cup in '26 in part because people could take a train to other venues.
That makes sense. New Jersey has a perfectly adequate rail network. It’s not amazing but it’s better than most places
Yeah, but the real lynchpin is Acela. Two other venues for the game are Boston and Philadelphia. It is feasible to make NYC/NJ the base for the games while seeing games in three different cities.
I’m contemplating making a sign for my bike trailer that says “IF YOU ARE ANNOYED I’M HERE, TELL YOUR LOCAL COUNCIL TO BUILD A BIKE PATH”
I’ve been thinking about doing similar for a long time, but I’m worried it would trigger more road rage.
this is just so pathetic
“freedom of mobility” lol
I hope this encourages people to spend more time in their own neighbourhoods
Fuck you and fuck you and fuck you and fuck you and fuck you.
and the car you rode in in
Just for that, I’m going to NOT use my car when I was otherwise planning to.
I mean, I pretty much only drive now when my destination is too far to bike, but I’ve biked to other states before, I can do it again.
Nothing sounds more fun than a nice long drive with everyone else doing the same. Unfortunately I’ve got a train to catch so I won’t be able to make it
It’s going to be wonderful for our economy
I’m sure this has nothing to do with international tourism sharply dropping.
Every single person I’ve talked to about this, including those that have traveled to the US as tourists in recent years, say they wouldn’t currently travel there. The non zero chance of being “administration error’d to a gulag” is pretty off-putting?! What a time to live!
They went from enjoying an upward trend in tourism revenue across the country, to projections of $10+b in loss within six months. They’re not going to get that much money from the American citizens they are encouraging to travel.
Shit, it isn’t even really safe to travel across states anymore, who knows what they’ll imply from your traffic data. A young woman traveled across state lines and needed medical care? Time to accuse her of an abortion, and tack on federal charges while they’re at it.
Consoom plebs!
Generate daddy some mother fucking profit, boy
If you want good advice on anything in your life, pretty much do the opposite of what these Trump-appointed secretaries are saying.
Nobody can afford a fucking road trip right now
No
