Australian researchers have found that tire wear and tear is a major contributor to urban waterway pollution, producing particulate matter that includes microplastics. But, they also found that there are effective ways of reducing this type of pollution, which can affect the health of the…
Am I wrong, or does Japan not have at least one car per household (obviously less in the cities, but the same is true with New York). I know this is less than the average American, but I’d suggest the reason for this has more to do with economics and space than public transportation options. In New York City, I can take the bus (why THE FUCK would I?) The rickety subway (which is quite good, despite its obvious age and lack of maintenance) The Railroads, or peddle down a hot, or frozen street on a Citibike. When all else fails, I can walk, which most for most places (in Manhattan at least) is a great option…
…Yet, traffic in New York City is still horrendous, and I still have a car – Because I need a car to get to places those other options can’t reach, and I’ll bet that’s true for a lot of people. I don’t have TWO cars like those in rural areas because of the expense, the difficulty of parking, and I have a decent public transit system.
The second point being you can’t get rid of cars. They’re required for too many people to live and work. That’s true for NYC. That’s true for Japan and I’ll bet it’s even true for everyone’s Darling Finland, which it doesn’t take much googling to discover is true. The best you can hope for is 1 car per household … unless we’re going to start raising cities and completely redesigning them and even then I’m skeptical.
Indeed, it’s not a question of cars vs. no cars. It’s about the extent of car dependence. We will always have some cars, even Tokyo and Amsterdam has cars, but right now, in the US and Canada, we are often forced to travel by car because we have no other options.
It’s also not just about whether one owns a car, but how much we use cars. The fact that most Japanese or Finnish families own one car doesn’t mean much on its own. A lot of those families only use their car a few times a month. Most commute by train or bus, or just walk to the grocery store. As bad as New York city traffic is, it would be much worse if you didn’t have options like subways and good sidewalks. It’s a spectrum, not black and white. But, right now, we are FAR on the car-centric extreme.
I will say that for most trips into Manhattan I’ll use public transportation (Train or Subway) just because it’s easier and less subject to traffic jams. It’s also just nice to read a book while traveling to work. Overall it’s a less stressful experience. Almost anything in the outer boroughs I need a car to get to (Parts of Brooklyn might as well be on the moon) However Manhattan is very different then anywhere in San Francisco, whose public transportation I found mind numbingly slow and less frequent.
One place that could use some major improvement is cross-country train travel. My wife and I took a train to Montreal about five years ago and I swore never to do this again. It was painful how slow and shitty that experience was. It really wouldn’t take a whole lot to improve this, the bar is that low. I would have paid more money! High speed rail will never get you to the West Coast as fast as an airplane, but if the experience and ease is worth it you can get more customers. However it doesn’t seem like Amtrak gives a single good God damn. They might as well be carrying freight.