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Originally posted by artplumber
Occasionally I have been known to have a Macanudo... , but to answer your question, the working poor do drive the most. Homeless people are a vastly smaller number than those who are "lower class" and do work.
Public transport has always been difficult in the US because we have (or had) space. That's what we like. We are very individualistic and will not go somewhere on someone else's schedule. It's part of the american psyche. Even in states which have very liberal political records, it is difficult to find funding & votes for a public trans system. About the only really successful systems are NY and SF, (and maybe Chicago - don't know too much about there). Look at Washington state: the geography sucks for multiple freeways in the urbanized areas around the Puget Sound, they usually vote Dem, and they have been trying for 3 decades to get a commuter train system into Seattle. LA with hundreds of miles of Freeway in gridlock from 5 am to 10pm finally is getting some kind of commuter train system, but it's pretty limited and won't run after like 9pm (WTF?).
Furthermore, here transportation is a religion, because your car says a great deal about who you are. (It's why I got the raw turbo)
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i understand the space and individualisme, the same individualisme is present here as well, the only difference is the lower density, and the fact that our cities have been around for much much longer, so as soon as technology got developped, our transportation was booming... eg trains and subway came with steam, trams came with electricity... we had public transport before we had cars
currently , if you're poor here, you can't afford a car, especially since cost of purchase, ownership and fuel is a lot higher here in Europe. it's considered a luxury , not a necessity
with the rising fuel costs, the governements here are making a excellent deals on the tax incomes. but as prices go up , the countries are changing the tax percentages. so the impact is lessened ( not much by , but if the prices go up more , the tax percentage will go down even more )
imagine what happens if we suddenly stop taxing fuel all together
we'de be very competitive , since we'de be getting our fuel at a (for us relatively) normal price, while you guys would be paying till it hurts (compared to before)...