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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 27th, 2023

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  • I think there is one thing backwards here, the US didnt embrace the car which lead to suburbs, but embraced suburbs which lead to using cars. The decision (which really wasnt a conscious one, more just the way it worked out) is based entirely on the vast geography of the country. We have the extra space, so we used it, and needeing cars followed.

    The older cities in the US that were built based on European standards all have fairly excellent public networks (NYC, Boston, Philly, etc)


  • One thing that deserves special note is the US, aside from being more spread out in general, has a lot more sprawling suburbs with downtown areas…if you live near the downtown, then everything is walkable, but maybe 20% of a towns population in any given suburb will be that close, and thats a generous estimate.

    As an American who has lived in the EU, walking / biking like you can do there just plain is not possible for MOST of the US. As other have mentioned, if you live in a major city, or in the center of a suburb, then it may not be so bad.

    On a similar note, this sprawl is the same reason that public transport on the EUs level isnt viable in the US…there would need to be too many stops and too many routes to get decent coverage, and when you math it out, having cars is the most economical decision for most of the country.