The thing that the modern urbanist movement gets wrong about cars is how much better they can be. They are made for this world. And this comes from a person who does not love driving and now lives in a dream city in which 647 different boulangeries are a seven minute or less walk from my front door!
Wait, 648!
They added one while I was writing the first paragraph.
Although there is that one boulangerie over there that I'm not sure ever opens? So fine, we'll stick with 647.
When you dream of living carless in a place like I currently live, perhaps while on vacation in my very city, you might not fully take in the following aspects of non car transportation:
1. Having to carry your mundane, or sometimes not mundane purchases, in a sack on your shoulder for anywhere from a couple of blocks to half the day, depending on what you're up to, takes its toll! Milk is heavy! Toilet paper is bulky!
2. Public transportation, even at its best, is squalid. It shouldn't be squalid. If no cars were allowed in all of my city it might actually not be so squalid. And it is not nearly as squalid as say, in Saint Minneapolis. But from Kyoto to Nantes, it is crowded, competitive, desperate, and tense. You want to stand two inches from other people lurching about and hanging by your hand to a metal rail? I bet that's how I got my cold!
3. Public transportation is limited. If you want to go anywhere, ANYWHERE even slightly off the beaten path, sure, it is likely possible, but you better be prepared to tell the rest of your day to fuck off. Because those eight miles are going to take an hour and a half, but only if you can time one of the four daily buses and their attendent transfers going in that direction perfectly.
4. Trains. Trains are great! Except when they are overcrowded (see above). And if you don't mind paying absurd amounts of money for them, regularly exceeding flying on longer trips. And also if you only need to go to 5% of all of the places in the country. And if you have plenty of time.
But well done trains!
Yes, all of this is way better than sitting in plush seats to go exactly where you want with exactly who you want, quickly, and protected from a cruel world by your own personal music playing robot exoskeleton.
So, that said, what's my whole problem with this glorious, deluxe car thing, that people can enjoy so much?
What's with all the Fuck Cars hullabaloo?
That's what we'll get to in our next installment because I'm all shaking with rage as I try to formulate my thoughts, and every explanation seems to involve things like Nazis and Racism, which is possibly a warning sign for me to calm down.
Though I should warn you that from my personal experience, that's not likely to happen.
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