"Cars and Independence" (Art by Sylvia Odhner)
"Cars and Independence" (Art by Sylvia Odhner)
cross-posted from: https://pawb.social/post/23351353
100 comments
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With a car, you can fix it yourself if you are determined enough. However, if you're using public transport, the same arguments apply + now things are enirely out of your control. There's no way in hell the public transport company will let you tinker with their broken stuff. The insurance company can pull out of them at any time for any reason. The company can go bankrupt, etc.
i feel like independance and not having to rely on someone would work better as an argument for the car.
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@Rin @grue It's hilarious watching people like you tout the "inevitability" of public transit failure as if THE MAJORITY OF THE PLANET DOESN'T USE IT WITHOUT ANY OF THESE "INEVITABLE" FAILURES COMING TO FRUITION!
It's almost as if you're spouting bullshit from a position of abject ignorance and a deep-seated aversion of analysis and/or introspection.
Almost.
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My brother in christ, you missed the point.
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@Rin Yep. Position of abject ignorance.
Buh-bye.
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Ironic
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Consider a bicycle. Very low maintenance, simple to fix, no need for fuel, unlimited range. Complete independence, with the sole exception of winter maintenance of paths, but that's also a problem for cars and public transport.
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bikes absolutely do not have unlimited range, at some point the human will die of exhaustion or starvation without food or dehydration without water. cars needs far less winter path clearing than all but the best fat tire bikes. cars suck in cities the majority of the earth is not a city.
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cars needs far less winter path clearing than all but the best fat tire bikes
I drive a regular city bike, nothing fancy, just studded tires. I'm talking about Norway here, so studded tires are the norm in winter for almost any vehicle. I prefer biking especially in winter because of the amount of cars stuck on the roads. With the bike I'm flexible, I can drive around obstacles or impasses, worst case lift it over a ditch to make my way somewhere else. On an average day I'm at least twice as fast biking than I would be driving.
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You live in an urban area right? If you're in the North of Norway and you still think like this you must be superhuman (I've only visited the North of Sweden once in February and I wouldn't want to cycle anywhere further than 5-10 km in those conditions).
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You live in an urban area right?
Yes, like about 80-85% of Norwegians inhabitants do. https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/folketall/statistikk/tettsteders-befolkning-og-areal.
Of course, if you live in the woods in the middle of nowhere a bike won't get you far in winter, but neither gets you a car until the snowplow has come through and dug you out. Skis are much more useful in these conditions.
I've lived in the North and commuted by bike except for days with extreme weather conditions. And again, you shouldn't be driving then either. Now that I'm a bit older I'd go for an electric bike though, I think.
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The range of the bicycle is constrained only by the rider. Assuming that the rider eats, drinks and sleeps (as most of us tend to do anyways for the sake of staying alive), the range is unlimited. You can't drive a car either if you starve to death.
I'm not disagreeing with you on the rest, I was just talking about dependencies, which the bicycle has the least (apart from walking or skiing for example).
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You need less energy per km to cycle at a relaxed pace compared to walking.
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This would 100% fix the comic for me
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In the past 25 years I've used public transport, I think the bus broke down once while I was aboard, and I think it ended up in the newspaper. I think it's a good thing public transport folks spend a lot of time maintaining the vehicles and especially on regular preventive maintenance.
I can barely fix my bicycle, so I don't want to tinker with the bus company's broken stuff. I trust that stuff to the certified mechanics they employ. Doubly so for trains, that's for some serious mechanics only.
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Most public transit in Europe is government backed, they're not just going bankrupt or lose their insurence, and I don't know why I'd tinker with a broken bus, the company has people for that.
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Exactly. Also, public transport is a system. Even if the vehicle you are currently traveling in breaks down, there's usually replacements and alternatives to get to the same destination.
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@wintermute @MBech I had a bus break down here while I was riding it.
(OK, it was a bit more dramatic. It caught fire.)
The replacement bus was there in under two minutes. It's almost like people design systems with fallbacks and failsafes.
Almost.
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No matter how determined I was to work on my car, it didn't matter. That shit sucks, is hard to do, especially if you don't have previous experience.
Also, cars today aren't roomy 1990's (or before) engines. They pack it so tight in there, with the need to specialized tools and knowledge.
Cars have become increasingly hard to work on oneself. Especially as computers and mechanical engines have been fused together.
I'd rather have my bike with a lane, or a sidewalk, lined with trees, than have stroads with rubber dust, smog, and noise, uninhabitable to pedestrians.
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I guess you're right. Personally, I've done some maintainance on my car as well as some basic repair, but I can understand that it's not for everyone.
And yeah, as the other commentor pointed out bikes seem like a better symbol.
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100 comments