• @WoodScientist
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    115 days ago

    I’m talking the machines themselves. A car costs 10x what an e-bike does. Yes, infrastructure sucks in many places. That doesn’t change the fact that a car is objectively a luxury compared to a bicycle. You live in an area that has made getting around in a luxury vehicle the only practical option. That doesn’t mean cars aren’t luxury vehicles. People who live in areas that mandate that the all homes must be at least 10,000 ft^2 don’t automatically become poor.

    Cars are a luxury, while bicycles are utility. We just build our cities with classism in mind. We build our cities to require expensive luxury travel modes, all in some misguided attempt to keep the poors out.

    • @dukeofdummies
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      815 days ago

      Your definition of objectively is off. Just because there is an alternate universe where cars would be a luxury doesn’t mean that cars are a luxury for all timelines.

      Status quo of now demands a car. It sucks. We are now stuck in a vicious cycle of people need cars because there’s no public transit -> people don’t need public transit because they have cars -> people need cars because there’s no public transit

      @IonAddis needs a car. Without it, their job options are limited. Much like me. We’d like to ditch our cars, but we can’t.

      • @[email protected]
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        014 days ago

        Aw, c’mon, cars are objectively speaking luxury items today. A modernized Daihatsu Opti with a sticker price of about $5,500 (the inflation-adjusted price of a Ford Model T) would completely meet the requirements for getting and keeping a job.