Quote:
Originally Posted by KNS
At some point Govt needs to realize they're making vehicle ownership cost prohibitive.
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Mostly walking populations with mass transit are fine for big cities, when it works that is, and only theoretically speaking. Tokyo and NYC are examples of how sustaining a personal vehicle infrastructure is less efficient whenever population density reaches a certain point. Many large population centers around the world eventually become highly segmented and localized. There are wealthy areas and poor areas. Business and residential. Meanwhile the government works to mix them all in a somewhat chaotic fashion.
Before that can happen several criteria must be fulfilled and sustained at all cost
(ok wrong term). It must be safe for all citizens. It must have 24 hour coverage to all major centers nearby. It must be dependable. It must be maintainable. And it must be economical.
So what are the alternatives to personal gas vehicles? EV has a limited range, slow charging times, limited charger infrastructure, many different proprietary plugs, and the infrastructure is not up to snuff. Efficient micro-vehicles(KEI cars) are banned by the NHTSA despite the goverment not paying for insurance claims. Trains and traffic don't mix. Same with bicycles (but motorscooters are the defacto in many areas of the world). And the airlines are currently falling apart. The layout planning of the entire country has been entirely based around the personal vehicle ever since the 1920s.
So there really aren't any viable alternatives at this point in time. Creating new systems of transportation would overlap existing ones and be prohibitively expensive over time. Eliminating something that works now is highly detrimental without any more positive solutions available.