HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

In today's age, cars are a necessity in the US largely in part because our cities have been designed with limited amounts of mixed zoning in downtown areas. Many cities in the US were restructured around major highways and have yet to recover from this (Atlanta being the one I can testify for). Car manufacturers have had a very tight grip on USA urban planning throughout the 20th century[1], and the rise of suburbs and accessible (at the time) single-family housing outside of metro areas has helped solidify the presence of cars in the lives of many Americans. Furthermore, our federal and state governments have done little to move people away from cars, despite the fact that the US economy doesn't rely on car manufacturing like it used to.

I am pretty anti-car myself, but the last point of the post makes me think that the author hasn't seen how personal transportation plays in ENORMOUS role in the everyday lives of families who live outside of major cities in the US. I'm a young 20-something pursuing a career in tech, so I'm part of the demographic who is most able to avoid car ownership.

I went to school in the south, and got to see firsthand how many of the thousands of people who worked for my university were only able to get to their jobs because they owned a car. My school, like many others in the US (Virginia Tech, UIUC, UPenn, etc.) was out in the middle of nowhere, and was by far the largest employer in the county (and surrounding counties). My school subsidized a fleet of several buses to make public transportation feasible, but those bus routes often were 5-10X slower than personal transportation and were undersupplied and undermaintained, making it difficult to use them as true replacements to car.

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odF4GSX1y3c

⬐ gerland

That's some nice insight. Actually, I'm the author :) Would you mind if I cite the whole thing in the post section of the article?

⬐ dwrodri

Go for it! Sorry I didn't see this reply sooner.