<story><title>How the Car Keeps Americans Apart</title><url>https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/07/how-cars-divide-america/565148/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>roymurdock</author><text>What happens if&amp;#x2F;when you have kids. I’ve seen many people biking around Amsterdam with their kids in protective bike high seats. But this is unheard of in many US cities. Minivans are the usual solution. Would you teach them to take public transport or try to live within walking distance of everything?&lt;p&gt;Obvs doesn’t apply if u don’t plan on it, but curious if anyone has found a solution in US cities.</text></item><item><author>yosito</author><text>Anecdotally, I always loved having a car and the sense of independence and freedom that came with it. Then at the age of 25, I moved out of the country to a small, walkable town in Latin America where I either walked, drove my scooter, or took motorcycle taxis everywhere. After two years of living there, I moved back to the US, bought a Jeep, and was super excited to have the autonomy and ability to travel between cities easily in a day. I didn&amp;#x27;t have a commute at the time, so I never really had to drive in traffic. A year later, I ditched my car again and spent a whole year traveling around the world. I got around by walking and taking trains and taxis. By the time I got back to the US, I hated driving. It felt so isolating and boring. Then I got a job where I had to commute for an hour and a half a day in heavy traffic. It was one of the most miserable periods of my life. I started resenting having to drive anywhere. I started resenting places that weren&amp;#x27;t walkable. I started resenting how roads designed for cars break up and eliminate public space. Finally, two months ago I sold my car and committed to a car-free lifestyle, probably for life. It&amp;#x27;s completely changed how I do things; I spend more time out of the house, I spend more time socializing, and of course, I walk more. I went from walking less than a mile a day to walking an average of five miles a day. I&amp;#x27;m much happier with this lifestyle, and I hope I&amp;#x27;m never forced to go back.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ef4</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s precisely because I have kids that I prioritize a walkable place. Because kids can&amp;#x27;t drive!&lt;p&gt;So in car-dependent places, they have no autonomy until they&amp;#x27;re nearly adults. I think it&amp;#x27;s much more healthy for them to slowly and steadily expand their autonomy, rather than a sudden discontinuous break when they learn to drive.&lt;p&gt;The same argument applies in reverse to old people too. In places with good transit and walkability they can stay independent and active longer, with no sudden loss of freedom when they can no longer safely drive vehicles at high speed.&lt;p&gt;Walking and transit are both overwhelmingly safer than cars (most things are).&lt;p&gt;When kids are small you just push them in a stroller. Once they&amp;#x27;re too big for a stroller, they&amp;#x27;re big enough to walk everywhere that you can walk. It&amp;#x27;s really not that complicated. Suburban kids who never walk anywhere may whine about needing to walk two miles, but my kids have been doing that since before they could walk unassisted, it&amp;#x27;s perfectly normal to them.&lt;p&gt;I do also have a Dutch-style cargo bike which we use a lot around our neighborhood. It&amp;#x27;s wonderful.</text></comment>
<story><title>How the Car Keeps Americans Apart</title><url>https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2018/07/how-cars-divide-america/565148/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>roymurdock</author><text>What happens if&amp;#x2F;when you have kids. I’ve seen many people biking around Amsterdam with their kids in protective bike high seats. But this is unheard of in many US cities. Minivans are the usual solution. Would you teach them to take public transport or try to live within walking distance of everything?&lt;p&gt;Obvs doesn’t apply if u don’t plan on it, but curious if anyone has found a solution in US cities.</text></item><item><author>yosito</author><text>Anecdotally, I always loved having a car and the sense of independence and freedom that came with it. Then at the age of 25, I moved out of the country to a small, walkable town in Latin America where I either walked, drove my scooter, or took motorcycle taxis everywhere. After two years of living there, I moved back to the US, bought a Jeep, and was super excited to have the autonomy and ability to travel between cities easily in a day. I didn&amp;#x27;t have a commute at the time, so I never really had to drive in traffic. A year later, I ditched my car again and spent a whole year traveling around the world. I got around by walking and taking trains and taxis. By the time I got back to the US, I hated driving. It felt so isolating and boring. Then I got a job where I had to commute for an hour and a half a day in heavy traffic. It was one of the most miserable periods of my life. I started resenting having to drive anywhere. I started resenting places that weren&amp;#x27;t walkable. I started resenting how roads designed for cars break up and eliminate public space. Finally, two months ago I sold my car and committed to a car-free lifestyle, probably for life. It&amp;#x27;s completely changed how I do things; I spend more time out of the house, I spend more time socializing, and of course, I walk more. I went from walking less than a mile a day to walking an average of five miles a day. I&amp;#x27;m much happier with this lifestyle, and I hope I&amp;#x27;m never forced to go back.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>couchand</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m a parent to a one-and-a-half year old in New York City, and I grew up in a mid-sized midwestern city.  I&amp;#x27;m obviously biased, but I think we&amp;#x27;ve got it much better off here.&lt;p&gt;A block and a half away is one of the best playgrounds in the city, and three blocks the other direction is another fine playground.  Both of them are packed with kids at all hours of the day.  When we go visit family in the midwest, we make a point to take walks and visit the neighborhood playgrounds.  We&amp;#x27;re almost always the only people there.  Of course people have their yards so nobody needs the playground... I think something is lost.&lt;p&gt;Walk a few blocks in any direction from our house and you&amp;#x27;ll see tons of wonderful daycares, family-friendly restaurants, and other parents&amp;#x27; necessities, most of them locally owned and operated by another member of the community.&lt;p&gt;We travel all around the city, we take the train.  My son passes the time on the ride charming the other passengers and subway surfing.  It&amp;#x27;s much more civilized than strapping him into a car seat and not looking at him for an hour every day.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ll grant you that New York City is something of an outlier as far as American cities go.</text></comment>