Seriously, why is this idea being thrown around? It’s not based in reality, and just fuels into pessimism. I’m American, so I’ll mostly focus on what I’m seeing here.
There has been so much progress, even just over the past decade. I think the reason that it feels like not much is being done is because the United States is so Massive. Even just New York can contain Beligum, Switzerland and the netherlands.
Looking at the US on a macro scale could give someone a picture of a country eternally doomed to have shitty transit and suburban sprawl forever. Thankfully, we have a beautiful think called local government.
There are a good number of places that you can go in the US that are very walkable and have good transit. Sure, it’s not on the level of Europe, but it’s definitely a good starting point if we’re talking about progress. Especially if we’re talking about progress within our lifetimes.
There are a lot of cool projects going on in the US right now, such as new rail lines, rail extensions, new BRT lines, and work being done on density. And of course roped into that we can’t forget about the massive California High-Speed Rail project, which if successful could have major implications for rail in the United States at large.
Is this enough? No. But it is real progress, and a sign that we’re at the beginning of real change in this country for transit and walkability.
And if you still think the US is shit and you really feel inclined to move out of your current suburban hell hole, you don’t even have to leave the US to do so. There are cities where you can go today in the US where you don’t have to own a car and can get around by walking. Not everything is a 6 lane stroad with giant parking lots and dead strip malls. We have DC, Philly, Boston and NYC as prime examples, which may not seem like much but NYC alone has 8.8 million people and could sure as shit fit way more.
Sure, we may never live to see the whole US become the netherlands, but I don’t think it’s unrealistic to think that certain places in the US could be seriously be at that level within our lifetimes.
It’s because Not Just Bikes dug his heels in about his stance on “North America is a lost cause, I moved to Europe and you should too” and “If you can’t move, go watch another YouTube channel, because I don’t care about your shitty country”.
Watch City Nerd. Dude’s legit.
City Nerd is awesome. But so is Not Just Bikes!
Not Just Bikes sounds like a tool.
I think he has reached a point where he is fed up with the same bad faith/poorly supported arguments like “my country is too big for bikes” or “my car is freedom”. It can taxxing on mental health browsing the comments on his videos, some car brains are very rude and insulting.
“Some car brains are very rude and insulting”
Curious what gives you the impression he feels like it’s not worth making progress?
His direct statements on BlueSky the other day.
https://imgur.com/a/03LSvmN
Ah that’s sad. Thank you for sharing the sauce!
No problem! For what it’s worth, this doesn’t bother me much. We have him to thank for showing us how bad things are and going viral with it.