How to end the American obsession with driving

Re:How to end the American obsession with driving by milkytron on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @12:13PM (#28526945)

I think the right way to end the "obsession" (which is probably a poor term to use, since it's highly incentivized to drive), is to end the massive subsidies for car based transportation. Require maintenance to be paid for by the users, and I'm sure we'll see car related costs skyrocket, and then many people will look for other options.

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Re:How to end the American obsession with driving by hackeraccount on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @01:47PM (#28528197)

That's going to be tricky. People want to be able to drive around and they don't mind paying for it.

Getting rid of those subsidies would presumably lower everyone's taxes by a similar amount. If people really don't like driving they'll just spend the money saved on something else if not then they'll just spend the money required for infrastructure directly.

I live in a city. I walk. I take public transport. I still own a car though because sometimes it's super handy. I'm sure there's a price where I'd decide the handiness is outweighed by the price but it's a pretty high price and I'm going to be reluctant to vote for people who make my life harder not easier.

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Re:How to end the American obsession with driving by milkytron on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @03:47PM (#28543523)

> I'm sure there's a price where I'd decide the handiness is outweighed by the price but it's a pretty high price

Have you considered car share programs?

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Re:How to end the American obsession with driving by twelve40 on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @01:34PM (#28528031)

how about providing those non-car options _first_? before punishing regular people for trying to get from point a to point b.

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Re:How to end the American obsession with driving by yjftsjthsd-h on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @01:19PM (#28527847)

> end the massive subsidies for car based transportation. Require maintenance to be paid for by the users

What maintenance / subsidies is that?

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Re:How to end the American obsession with driving by coffeeedan on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @02:17PM (#28528576)

Example subsidy: In NYC, street parking in most residential neighborhoods is "free". This is a subsidy paid for by taxpayers, 55 percent of which do not own a car. These parking spaces take up 500 million square feet of public space. That's a lot of free real estate for storage of private property.

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