Can society move away from car based infrastructure?

[Indecent Anime Empire]

Would a Well Planned and Efficient Public Transportation System Be The End All of Solution to All Problems?

Taking into consideration how cars have transformed society I want to discuss how would the world be different if instead we pursued a minimalistic usage of cars and prioritized public transportation on large scales rather than per city or state or province(where ever you may live on a small scale, etc).

In addition to this question I want to ask the prompt; If it was possible to revamp the entire transportation system of any country instantly(with zero loss of life, low environmental impact, future changes in mind, and a large enough budget to rebuild the entire US highway system three times over) given your choice of country, would this create a "better world' than what we live in today if you were to configure that layout to be based on railway, trams, monorails, bullet trains and walking/biking distance?

When I refer to a "better world" I mean by creating a life in a said country where there is either less of something that is impeding future growth in the country, or more of any given subject that provides an incentive/benefit to the country. For example, less segregation of social classes, more interaction between cultural entities, or ending world hunger cause obviously we all are trying for that. -_-


Your input format-->

Answer to topic question:

Answer to prompt:

Country of choice:

Current main transportation method:

How would it change(or how would it not):

What are the benefits:

What are the down sides:

[Ethel mermania]

Mass transit is phenomenally expensive. While it can work reasonably well in an urban environment. It breaks down in rural and suburban markets and is only useful for commuting

[Adamede]

Fact of the matter is that public transportation is only really an effective option in areas with high population densities. A blanket ban on cars is as idiotic as basing all of society around them.

[Free Lancaster County]

We need bullet trains, like they have in Japan.

[Floofybit]

Make 10 min walk cities and have trains connecting cities, cities will be spread out and there will be more nature in between

[Sakamaki Izayoi]

Fact of the matter is that public transportation is only really an effective option in areas with high population densities. A blanket ban on cars is as idiotic as basing all of society around them.

I wouldn't call it a fact, cars are simply buy and dump, if you had an industry of mass produced and maintained transit that was used by even 75% of your countries population you are no where near going over budget. increase in jobs and access to larger reaches of your own country.

[Adamede]

Make 10 min walk cities and have trains connecting cities, cities will be spread out and there will be more nature in between

Yah no. The cities aren’t going anywhere. They’re not spread out in Europe or the north east. And I don’t think there’s any modern metropolis that’s a 10 min walk to all of it.

[Nar Van]

Wouldn't cities not need you to walk 10 minutes if the mass transit has transit for down the way transportation, buses excluded, you could take a 3 minute train ride and walk 5 minutes to your destination.

[Adamede]

Fact of the matter is that public transportation is only really an effective option in areas with high population densities. A blanket ban on cars is as idiotic as basing all of society around them.

I wouldn't call it a fact, cars are simply buy and dump, if you had an industry of mass produced and maintained transit that was used by even 75% of your countries population you are no where near going over budget. increase in jobs and access to larger reaches of your own country.

Have you ever lived in a rural area? There’s simply not enough people out there to justify running public transits in areas like rural Wyoming or Kentucky or the like, especially not with great regularity. And what if you have to haul a great number of goods at once, or have to operate vehicles for farming and the like? Like it or not but car ownership is a necessity in rural regions , has been for decades, and will continue to be so for decades to come.

[Obruahn]

All urban commuting should be done through a statewide, free of charge, and sustainable public transportation system.

Take the engineering in the current Tesla models, for example. That same engineering which includes advanced AI and a sustainable energy source could be applied to a public transportation model. Transferring statewide public underground would be highly sophisticated and better for the environment. It would also leave much room for capital productivity, room that would otherwise be taken up by the ridiculous infrastructure required to maintain the current model for the most common transportation in the West, which is build more cars to make more money and sell people with convenience and luxury, which just costs more money. It would be much more sensible for us as an "advanced" society to have statewide public transport that is free of charge. As I stated above it is placed underground it would simply leave more room for production industries on the ground that would just boost economic productivity. In the West everything from consumer product to means of distribution is taxed, so there would be no need to worry about whether the state would have the funds to maintain it...

Especially because a large percentage of above ground scrap and non sustainable automobiles, and even some of the infrastructure can be transferred into an underground system, easily.

[Adamede]

All urban commuting should be done through a statewide, free of charge, and sustainable public transportation system.

Take the engineering in the current Tesla models, for example. That same engineering which includes advanced AI and a sustainable energy source could be applied to a public transportation model. Transferring statewide public underground would be highly sophisticated and better for the environment. It would also leave much room for capital productivity, room that would otherwise be taken up by the ridiculous infrastructure required to maintain the current model for the most common transportation in the West, which is build more cars to make more money and sell people with convenience and luxury, which just costs more money. It would be much more sensible for us as an "advanced" society to have statewide public transport that is free of charge. As I stated above it is placed underground it would simply leave more room for production industries on the ground that would just boost economic productivity. In the West everything from consumer product to means of distribution is taxed, so there would be no need to worry about whether the state would have the funds to maintain it...

Yah I don’t think statewide subways is exactly the best way to go about that. Trains work perfectly fine on the surface.

[Shetl]

If you have everyone moving around individually in small metal boxes, society gets atomized. Case in point: the current state of every industrial nation.

[Indecent Anime Empire]

All urban commuting should be done through a statewide, free of charge, and sustainable public transportation system.

Take the engineering in the current Tesla models, for example. That same engineering which includes advanced AI and a sustainable energy source could be applied to a public transportation model. Transferring statewide public underground would be highly sophisticated and better for the environment. It would also leave much room for capital productivity, room that would otherwise be taken up by the ridiculous infrastructure required to maintain the current model for the most common transportation in the West, which is build more cars to make more money and sell people with convenience and luxury, which just costs more money. It would be much more sensible for us as an "advanced" society to have statewide public transport that is free of charge. As I stated above it is placed underground it would simply leave more room for production industries on the ground that would just boost economic productivity. In the West everything from consumer product to means of distribution is taxed, so there would be no need to worry about whether the state would have the funds to maintain it...

Your right, cars dont need to be outright banned. That said, how many jobs are remote these days? Why live in a cramped city when you can live in Kentucky as said above on a ranch working remote but still have the desire to meet relatives in more sprawling areas. I have to agree with some of the other users as well. Its more likely cities will grow with populations spreading out and people moving away from cities towards transportation systems.

[Portzania]

I think cars and public transportation are generally a good thing. The problem is when you plan an entire city over cars, and completely disregard the level of walkability after you build it. I live in Melilla, a pretty walkable city, not much need for cars here.

[Sakamaki Izayoi]

If you have everyone moving around individually in small metal boxes, society gets atomized. Case in point: the current state of every industrial nation.

Society is society cause of people coming together, be it business, personal matters, or simply traveling...people are always moving. Moving in the same direction but in individual cars just makes it "feel" like your independent, in reality many road ways are inefficient.

[El Lazaro]

Cars are like guns. You should have the right to own them if you use them responsibly, but there’s a problem if people in urbanized areas need them to survive.

[Obruahn]

All urban commuting should be done through a statewide, free of charge, and sustainable public transportation system.

Take the engineering in the current Tesla models, for example. That same engineering which includes advanced AI and a sustainable energy source could be applied to a public transportation model. Transferring statewide public underground would be highly sophisticated and better for the environment. It would also leave much room for capital productivity, room that would otherwise be taken up by the ridiculous infrastructure required to maintain the current model for the most common transportation in the West, which is build more cars to make more money and sell people with convenience and luxury, which just costs more money. It would be much more sensible for us as an "advanced" society to have statewide public transport that is free of charge. As I stated above it is placed underground it would simply leave more room for production industries on the ground that would just boost economic productivity. In the West everything from consumer product to means of distribution is taxed, so there would be no need to worry about whether the state would have the funds to maintain it...

Your right, cars dont need to be outright banned. That said, how many jobs are remote these days? Why live in a cramped city when you can live in Kentucky as said above on a ranch working remote but still have the desire to meet relatives in more sprawling areas. I have to agree with some of the other users as well. Its more likely cities will grow with populations spreading out and people moving away from cities towards transportation systems.

This is the sort of balancing out of society that great minds have predicted for a while now. Essentially due to the authoritarian Left and their revolution imminent along with the blatant ignorance of the "free" right, urban suburban and rural environments will balance out for where they're at right now; Los Angeles for example probably will not be doing any mass encroaching any time soon... When it comes to cities with an urban environment of that kind of level the most they can do in the coming future other than make very small and economically miniscule urban growths is to rather reimplement various areas of the current super city to metropolitan model; things like energy production, consumer product and distribution, infrastructure and even housing will have to be tweaked, and naturally like you said as congestion grows people will indeed move away and not only because of congestion but because due to possibly drastic climate impacts those exact cities are at total existential risk.. If this balancing out happens in a timely manner (probably a hundred years or less) then those cities can actually be saved... Public transportation would be a huge reimplementation for metropolitan cities.

[Floofybit]

Make 10 min walk cities and have trains connecting cities, cities will be spread out and there will be more nature in between

Yah no. The cities aren’t going anywhere. They’re not spread out in Europe or the north east. And I don’t think there’s any modern metropolis that’s a 10 min walk to all of it.

Are there any countries that this could work with?

[The Black Forrest]

It could. The problem is thoughts of profit get in the way.

The city where I went to uni decided to put in a light rail system. They asked the school for input. I was on that board. We presented the school was largely commuter and if there was a decent layout; many would forgo autos as parking was expensive and a pain in the ass.

They basically though that was crazy talk. The system basically did a lap to a few parts of the city to interest people to go to the businesses. The problem? You still had to drive in a park inorder to ride the system. Shockingly; low ridership

They asked again for input and were told its not convenient. Response? “We will make it convenient when enough people ride it.”

It was about 20-30 years later they took losses and expanded outward. And to their amazement; as it got more convenient; the ridership increased.

[Obruahn]

It could. The problem is thoughts of profit get in the way.

The city where I went to uni decided to put in a light rail system. They asked the school for input. I was on that board. We presented the school was largely commuter and if there was a decent layout; many would forgo autos as parking was expensive and a pain in the ass.

They basically though that was crazy talk. The system basically did a lap to a few parts of the city to interest people to go to the businesses. The problem? You still had to drive in a park inorder to ride the system. Shockingly; low ridership

They asked again for input and were told its not convenient. Response? “We will make it convenient when enough people ride it.”

It was about 20-30 years later they took losses and expanded outward. And to their amazement; as it got more convenient; the ridership increased.

One of the biggest parts of the way we function as a society is our various commutes. This model points to greed and utter stupidity by business owners as well as leaders. Lol! Gen Z will see to it that the model is reset. So that future metropolitan dwelling generations have a chance to survive let alone even live comfortably in the West...

Lol to answer the threads question; yes. However things can and will change in due time. Have patience.

[-Astoria-]

Mass transit is phenomenally expensive. While it can work reasonably well in an urban environment. It breaks down in rural and suburban markets and is only useful for commuting

Which, funnily enough, just so happen to be car-centric themselves, if I'm not mistaken.

[Ifreann]

I wouldn't call it a fact, cars are simply buy and dump, if you had an industry of mass produced and maintained transit that was used by even 75% of your countries population you are no where near going over budget. increase in jobs and access to larger reaches of your own country.

Have you ever lived in a rural area? There’s simply not enough people out there to justify running public transits in areas like rural Wyoming or Kentucky or the like, especially not with great regularity.

What do you mean, 'justify'? Why is it unjustified to run a bus service between small rural communities?

[Portzania]

Have you ever lived in a rural area? There’s simply not enough people out there to justify running public transits in areas like rural Wyoming or Kentucky or the like, especially not with great regularity.

What do you mean, 'justify'? Why is it unjustified to run a bus service between small rural communities?

I think he's talking about how many governments ignore rural transportation services. I don't think that invalidates the idea of public transportation in rural areas but hey, thats my interpretation.

[Washington Resistance Army]

Have you ever lived in a rural area? There’s simply not enough people out there to justify running public transits in areas like rural Wyoming or Kentucky or the like, especially not with great regularity.

What do you mean, 'justify'? Why is it unjustified to run a bus service between small rural communities?

Bunch of reasons, mainly though it'd cost a lot of money and be very time inefficient. Public transport is wonderful for suburbs and urban areas, but when you live a place that's a couple hours from civilization it just won't work. I'm only 20-30 minutes away from the city and even here the bus line is spotty, in a place with less people that's even further away it just wouldn't make sense to have a bus go out that far. Rural folks will always need personal vehicles for a variety of reasons.

[Mtwara]

It isn't ruined but it could be better. A car is probably the best transport option for the individual, it's comfortable, you can carry stuff, and it gets you from your driveway to exactly where you want to go. It starts being rubbish when there's too many cars about.

In the UK, I would probably reverse the Beeching cuts and add a lot of bullet trains between cities and big towns. I would improve cycling infrastructure and culture, so that using a bike to get around is much more safe and easy than it is now.

In theory the benefits would be that for most people, there would be no real need to use their car for the majority of journeys, and perhaps a lot of people would no longer need a car.