Image transcript:

Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes) sitting at a lemonade stand, smiling, with a sign that reads, “Trains and micromobility are inevitably the future of urban transportation, whether society wants it or not. CHANGE MY MIND.”

  • @t_jpegEnglish
    17•10 months ago

    1. Accessible trains that cover long distances (particularly high-speed rail) with trains that have floors at the level of the platform, like any European country with a competent public transport system. “Your mother” could also use something like a microcar to get to the station, which is allowed on bike lanes in the Netherlands as long as she can prove she has a disability.

    2. No, but your sons would have an easier and safer time getting around with protected bike lanes, which is precisely why parents in the Netherlands never have to do school runs.

    3. Your groceries will get to you faster the less unneccessary road users are there due to less induced demand. Do you honestly think countries that heavily rely on public transport don’t have businesses that use the road regularly? Do you honestly think they have no emergency services (ambulances, firetrucks, police cars)? Have you actually thought about examples of how countries that actually exist using good public transport amenities and dense housing operate? Or are you just against change?

    • Crass SpektakelEnglish
      -4•10 months ago

      You meticulously avoided all hard questions. No problem, I just repeat them for you:

      I wonder how a train is picking up my walking disabled mother from three Kilometres afar?

      Will a train stop at my house to pick up my some two tons of gardening scraps per year?

      At which time will it deliver my 100kg of groceries per week?

      Also, How does a long distance train help my mother to get the 3km to her doctor?

      How does a train help me buying building materials? Last week I bought 400kg of tiles. One drive with a car. It would have taken ten travels with a train if the train did stop inside the hardware store and directly in front of my house. Delivery by truck would have cost €50.

      A “micro car” is not only insanely expensive, it also has no room for my mothers wheelchair.

      My country has one of the best public transport systems in the western world. Everything you mention is available here. We can drive EVERYWHERE for a €49 flat rate and we have three bus stops within 100 metres. Still that doesn’t help to solve a single problem I mentioned earlier.

      Oh, and spending €245 for a family trip in a train? Not gonna happen. With the car it is a €10 trip.

      But there is a actually a solution which could work: Robotaxis at very low prices per km. It wouldn’t lower the traffic but reduce the parked cars and the TCO of personal transport.

      Please give me moar bullshittery to mock you. It is fun.

      • @t_jpegEnglish
        4•10 months ago

        I didn’t avoid your questions but if you would like to move your goalposts I can attempt to accomodate you.

        The use of a microcar with a wheelchair is a very realistic possibility. In actual fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they already exist precicely because microcars are designed for people who are disabled. You know, the same people most likely to be wheelchair users?

        I also find it so funny that you’re complaining about the potential cost of purchasing a microcar but a full size car is a justifiable expense to you.

        Where in the fuck is a trip costing 235 Euros that costs you 10 Euros by car? That type of cost disparity is not even a thing in the UK, where there is some of the worst teains in all of Europe. That’s simply a shit public transport system. Unlimited journeys through the interrail system across 33 countries in Europe for one month costs 704 Euros.

        That’s not even taking into account the fact that your mother would not be 3km away from some form of public transport service if your mother’s government was actually made of competent people.

        Funny how you also didn’t address point 2 and 3.