pixelpoet 3 days ago

I've never had a driver's licence, lived in a zillion countries; don't think I could do that in America though.

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  • Retric 3 days ago

    Over half of New York City households are car-free. That jumps to 3/4 in Manhattan.

    Millions of American households don’t have a car, but you rarely hear about it as a viable option.

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    • JoeBOFH 3 days ago

      Because as soon as you leave a major metropolitan area, not having a car is almost a nonstarter.

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      • SoftTalker 3 days ago

        It's the same in Europe, but people pushing an agenda don't talk about that either.

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      • add-sub-mul-div 3 days ago

        Over 100 million people live in just the top 20 metro areas alone. It's hardly an edge case.

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    • tavavex 2 days ago

      NYC is the absolute best case in the US, if you're talking about the ability to exist without a car. It's not that no one talks about those millions of households, it's that they are all concentrated on a few standout islands (literally!) in a sea of the nearly identical car-only supermajority of cities. It's the exception to all exceptions.

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      • Retric 2 days ago

        Most people live on a few islands of density in a sea of nearly empty land in the US.

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    • calvinmorrison 3 days ago

      "the best public transit in the densest US city barely manages to reach 50% of car-free lifestyle" is what you're leaving out.

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      • Retric 3 days ago

        A household not having a car is a much higher benchmark than being able to live a car free lifestyle.

        It’s common for people to own a car and not use it for weeks, months, or in some cases years at a time.

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    • drnick1 3 days ago

      I would argue that even in NYC, having a car is necessary if you ever want to leave NYC (and you will want to).

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      • Retric 3 days ago

        It’s not useful if you generally fly most places you travel to. An of course if you’re going months-years without using a car then renting becomes relatively more convenient.

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chneu 3 days ago

Not possible when things are 10+ mile apart and a general grocery run takes 3+ hours and you can't carry more than a backpack, so you have to do it multiple times a week.

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  • Zigurd 3 days ago

    The US is ripe for an e-bike revolution. The distances, the wide roads with plenty of room for bike lanes, and the revulsion against things like Flock...

    Unfortunately it's as likely as this being the year of the Linux desktop because Windows 11.

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