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Top-level
 Yes, it would be great if every American city had the transit options of, say, Zurich or Copenhagen. But that's not happening anytime soon. In the meantime, micromobility and minimobility can bridge the gap -- and will always be part of any healthy city. But how do you make it so people are actually safe in something that isn't a 2-ton SUV? You've got to re-engineer streets. 4/ (gift link) 7 comments
Here's the thing -- we have the technology to move people around in more ways than ever. And a lot of it is personal transport which, like it or not, is what a lot of Americans prefer. But we can't unlock all this stuff without changing another technology, one which is controlled by tens of thousands of towns, cities and regional transit agencies -- safer, aka "complete" streets. The goal is simple: make people feel safe traveling on 2 wheels, 3, 4 (in a smaller vehicle) or on foot. 6/6 @mimsical My late father-in-law bought three Reva vehicles when they were first produced in India in 2001. All of them still work. They don't have great range but he figured for tootling around in traffic in Bangalore and Chennai, they would more than suffice. I had hopes when I heard Reva was going to open a plant in NY in 2009 but the initiative failed. What a shame. #electriccars #reva #india #smallvehicles #ev  @mimsical Why, it’s almost as if this is what you get when governments everywhere are completely, totally, utterly captured by the oil and gas industry, the richest most powerful industry in the world, for what, over a century. They want consumption of their product. So the world is designed to maximize consumption of their product. And in the US, suburbs are designed as a network of roads connecting houses to distant retailers, instead of local shops/markets within walking distance. |
Gregory's Server
Did you know the sole priority of the average transportation engineer is shaving a couple minutes off of the average car journey?
In 4 of 5 jurisdictions across the U.S., there is almost nothing on the books saying streets should seek to be safer and more accessible to all.
These policies haven't accomplished their stated goals -- by forcing everyone into cars, they create *more* traffic, which leads to average speeds low enough they could be matched with a more diverse mix of transit.
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