25 points

Are there similar maps available for other countries? Would be really intereseting to see

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43 points
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(source)

Not a map, but at least some more data from some other countries. The own car is unfortunately the most used mode of transport for commuting in every surveyed country, but the US seem to be especially far behind when it comes to alternatives.

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-1 points
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The wording on that one makes me wonder. It says “own a car,” but I’m sure there are millions of people who own a car but don’t necessarily use it daily for work. Isn’t it fairly common in major cities to own a car and still take a train/bus to work because of traffic, using the car for things like weekend trips or errands? Idk if that’s enough to really swing of the stats, just that I wish they had phrased it differently.

Edit: misread that. S’what I get for reading a Lemmy post before I put my glasses on, or even get out of bed to pee

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3 points

It says “own car”, not " own a car" (?)

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3 points
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It doesn’t say “own a car”, it says “own car”. As in, “How do you get to work?” “By my own car.”

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7 points

It’s “own car”, as in, not a ride share or taxi cab. They get to work in their own cars.

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2 points

Read it again ,including the title, it says own car, not own a car, which means that they use it to commute. That said, it’s worded a bit poorly

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15 points
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They mixed taxi and ride sharing with walking in that statistic. For the purposes of car usage, it’s not really helpful. That’s still one car for one person, on the road for the amount of time that person is commuting (i.e. it doesn’t park, it goes and picks up another commuter)

Moreover, difference in land mass and population density matters when looking at this from a national perspective. United States has significantly more rural space than Germany. The map posted is kind of pointless because it’s only showing the most used form of transportation in each county, and that will always be cars with extreme outliers like New York City, no matter how much we invest in public transportation.

What they’re using is Bumblefunk County Oklahoma to get from their little town of 2,000 people to the factory 20 minutes away in some industrial park between Nowheresville and Chickentowm isn’t really relevant to the discussion. Public transportation is only really viable in dense areas, but everyone else in the country is going to still drive because they’ve got distance to cover or irregular routes. Even if we expanded rail across the country, people in those counties would still need to drive to the station.

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6 points

I agree that both the map and the statistic I’ve posted don’t take those country-specific characteristics into account.

I’m not sure how important that difference really is, though, as both the US and Germany seem to have pretty similar degrees of urbanization (US: 83.3%; Germany: 77.8%; source). So the rural population isn’t really that big in either country, relatively speaking.

I’m not trying to say that the rural population isn’t a factor, I’m just not sure how big that factor really is.

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1 point

the US seem to be especially far behind when it comes to alternatives. leading the world as usual, hashtag based, hashtag foreign oil

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It’s not surprising when we’ve created an induced demand for driving through which infrastructure we build and subsidize. However, the numbers in Germany and China are changing as they push for non car-centric infrastructure. I can’t speak to the other countries.

Places like Copenhagen and Amsterdam used to be full of roads and parking lots. When they built public transit and safe bike infrastructure for shorter trips, they induced a demand and people ditched their cars for safer, cheaper, and more convenient alternatives.

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3 points

I think this source hasn’t sampled their data very well. The figures for china seem wildly wrong.

The figures from the same source even list the number of automobiles in China as 319 million in 2022, no where even close to 64% of the population.

The 64% commuting with own car in China is way off. So I’d question the entire chart.

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2 points

Outside the US there are very few major cities that don’t depend on public transport, because it is the most efficient way to move millions of people around a city. Ultimately it depends on the quality of public transport.

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9 points

I think this map would really benefit if the colors would be slightly adapted to show the percentage. In some regions, 50% commute by car, in other regions maybe 90% - and both are green.

It really highlights the fact that most of us (also in europe) depend on our cars to make a living.

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I’m guessing those red areas in Alaska are literally only because there are no roads.

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9 points

Or people

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34 points

That, or those people live in the place they work, or else only a few minutes away.

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20 points

I think you nailed it. The majority of the northern portion of alaska is going to be oil/gas workers, lumberjacks, and perhaps researchers and native tribes. All of those probably have company barracks, cabins, or if there is a ‘town’ it’s going to be a few hundred yards wide. For the towns, it’s due to the winter, when you almost need to be close to other people in case something goes wrong, because significant help is a long way away in distance and time.

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1 point

And also supplies. You can take a nice hour drive to the local town and stock up every month or so before heading back to your secluded cabin, but unless you’re hiding Walter White, why bother? it’s just not practical after a certain point.

You don’t have corner gas stations and supermarkets every few miles, so people are going to live close to the place where the stuff comes in, which also happens to be where the work probably is.

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8 points

And the blue area is definitely “commute by boat”, btw.

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4 points

I was thinking snowmobile

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5 points

Alaska is a wild land of communities that shouldn’t be possible. For a lot of the state the lack of people commuting by car can be simply attributed to the sheer cost of importing a car (assuming there are roads year round to get it to where you are) See Whittier and Bethel for examples

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3 points

false, it’s more accurate to say Suburbs don’t really exist in Alaska. Primarily because it still hasn’t really filled up the “urb” layer.

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20 points

Why is “motorcycle” in a different category than “Drive Alone”?

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43 points

Climate impact is significantly less for motorcycle riders, that’s the only mitigation I can think of.

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-11 points

Motorcycles are one of the worst forms of transportation.

1 rider, 1 engine often regulated well below what automotive emissions standards require.

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25 points
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My understanding is that motorcycles (especially modern motorcycles) produce significantly less CO2 equiv than modern cars - in no small part due to their ability to not get caught in traffic.

Most commuters are 1 person per vehicle.

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0 points
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That’s hardly self evident.

The map has no information to specify its intent or methodology. Without that, you can assign whatever meaning to it you like.

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20 points
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One, they are much better on gas use. So less energy in general to move them.

Two, they are much lighter, which as we are discovering with electric vehicles, matters a great deal in how horrible the tire wear is (and remember that 28% of microplastics in the environment come from car tire degradation alone!).

Three, for traffic purposes, they are much, much better. They are smaller, so recall that picture that floats around of how much space 100 passengers takes up. They aren’t near the train/bus level, but are closer to the bicycle portion of the picture than the cars. It becomes even better if they are scooters compared to motorcycles (scooters are generally even lighter and have smaller engines with better gas usage). I always hear the stat thrown around that if 25% of individuals switched to motorcycles, modern traffic jams in cities (in America, I guess, where I hear it uttered) would nearly disappear.

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-17 points

They pollute more and use more energy to move a single person.

Motorcycles are worse than cars…

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7 points

Motorcycles use 50% less fuel than cars. And at least for the daily commute, both carry the same amount of people (one). Additionally, they need about 1/4 of parking space.

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13 points
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How exactly does a motorcycle that gets 60 mpg (3.92 l/100 km) take more energy to move a single person that a car that gets 25 mpg (9.4 l/100 km)? Notice that almost nobody carpools in America, which is the subject of this post.

Also note that almost all motorcycles sold worldwide comply with Euro 5 emissions standards.

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6 points

Because motorcycles take up way less space than a car

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1 point

Reform alone will not be enough. It needs a new revolution.

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162 points

Another demonstration of how NYC is the only real city in America and anywhere else is a suburb larping as a metropolis.

You can’t call yourself a metropolis unless half the population uses public transit: change my view.

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18 points
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Ok! As per the marriam-webster definition of a metropolis:

the chief or capital city of a country, state, or region,

the city or state of origin of a colony (as of ancient Greece),

a city regarded as a center of a specified activity,

a large important city.

As per Cambridge:

a very large city, often the most important city in a large area or country.

Collins:

A metropolis is the largest, busiest, and most important city in a country or region.

Britannica:

a very large or important city — usually singular

Oxford:

A very large urban settlement usually with accompanying suburbs. No precise parameters of size or population density have been established. The structural, functional, and hierarchical evolution of global metropolises is rooted as much in the past as in the present: modern information and communications technology may be more advanced than the 19th-century telegraph, but the processes and outcomes are much the same (Daniels (2002) PHG 26). ‘[Berlin’s] wealth of facilities, as well as their scatter across the metropolis, can be understood only in the light of the city’s history and, paradoxically, its troubles.

Longman:

a very large city that is the most important city in a country or area

You:

NYC but only if half the people use public transit

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5 points

All those definitions use “city”. Does the definition of city require the kind of density that would make relying mostly on self-owned cars impossible? Depends, in america no, in other countries maybe.

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0 points

No it doesn’t. However original commenter put a challenge out on what a metropolis is. I responded to the challenge.

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9 points
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Does the definition of city require the kind of density that would make relying mostly on self-owned cars impossible?

Ooooo, self-moving goalposts, nice!

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2 points

No. “City” is a legal designation for an inhabited area. Some legal frameworks place a minimum population requirement for designation as a city but none (AFAIK) require a population density value.

For example, Oklahoma City is the largest city in the US by land area (or it was a few years ago) because the city limits were drawn that way. Population density was and is very low but it’s still a city.

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19 points

not OP, but according to some of those definitions (cambridge, collins, longman), NYC would be the only metropolis in the US, as it is the US’ largest, busiest, and most important city.

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3 points
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It goes by region. LA, San Diego, Chicago, Sacramento, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Detroit, Charlotte, Tulsa, San Antonio, Dallas, Atlanta, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Denver, etc… all fall under the definitions of a metropolis. And the most important city in US is not NYC, it’s Washington DC. NYC is just the most populated and industrialized, DC trump’s it in significance because that’s the epicenter of trade, labor, and industry policies

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29 points

I don’t think they were being literal or looking for a dictionary definition. I think they were saying the definition of a real city should hinge on the use of mass transit.

Personally I think anywhere that’s car dependent isn’t somewhere I’d want to live.

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12 points

I think of it more as transit is a characteristic of a functioning city. You can’t scale well without it.

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-3 points

Then they should have said that

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10 points

Nah buddy I grew up in Atlanta you can’t convince me it’s a metropolis.

There’s a nice little downtown core and then 99% suburban sprawl. Fuck that

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-8 points
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Just like every city on the planet.

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8 points

In Amsterdam the mode share for all trips is like 30% for biking and for walking and like 20% for driving and for transit

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3 points

I was being hyperbolic in my comments anyway. My commute is basically always by bike unless there’s a thunderstorm.

I know the Brooklyn Bridge has lightning rods but the idea of being on the bridge on an e-bike in a lightning storm, 60 meters in the air is too much.

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3 points

change my view.

Me and the Sullivan twins would like to have a conversation with you and a few baseball bats in the alley out back if you’re seriously arguing that Boston isn’t a metropolis… and don’t you dare fucking insult the Red Sox, Dunkin’ or the Bruins (actually, we care more if you bad mouth our college hockey teams) unless you’d like to qualify for Medicare early.

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4 points

I like Boston fine as a New Yorker, but fuck Dunkin’.

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22 points

50% of Boston’s workforce commutes using the T every day, but it doesn’t show up on the map. I’m assuming because most of those stops are in outlying towns and, therefore, only make up a minority of the commuting workforce in each area. According to the federal government, the T is the third best public transit system in the US due to it being the fastest average commute out of any by at least half an hour, only outclassed by the quality of DC and Seattle (I believe, might be Portland that’s #1? I’d have to look again).

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17 points
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That’s just an example of how useless the map is. You can’t look at it at this scale and only pay attention to the top most used transportation from a county level. New York City shows up because it literally is those counties, geographically, nearly edge to edge.

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3 points

New Yorkers living up to the arrogant douchebag stereotype again.

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9 points

That’s this whole sub though

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1 point

Nah I’m not saying NYC is the best city ever - there are so many great cities on earth.

But there isn’t another metropolis like it in the USA. Is the only true metropolis in America.

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-5 points

What are u people smoking, cars are awesome.

NYC metro is bankrupt and unmaintained. They can’t even build a link to JFK.

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5 points

Driving is more fun when there are more viable alternatives. I don’t like driving, but it’s my only real choice where I live so I do it begrudgingly, and you have to share the road with me. Think of all the people who don’t want to drive (on account of it being dangerous, costly and/or mentally taxing) suddenly not being in cars, and how much traffic that would free up for you to zip around instead!

Also, calling a public service “bankrupt” is really weird to me. How many tax dollars are we spending on public highways and freeways again? Do suburbs, which are designed to be car-dependent, provide a net gain or net cost in tax revenue to cities?

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-2 points
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Sorry it’s a fact
https://gothamist.com/news/a-48-billion-debt-is-crushing-the-mta-paying-it-off-could-disrupt-the-future-of-nyc-transit

I’m not arguing that in better world this should not be the case. But in current capitalist reality it is the case.

They are legally not allowed to file for bankruptcy

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4 points

The state should give the city the metro instead of raiding it to save ski resorts upstate.

Also you should either block this community yourself or be banned for it. Fuck off car shill.

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-2 points

I don’t see the rule that says I’m not allowed to disagree with this channel.
In fact your rhetoric violates rule 1 and 3.

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2 points

Why isn’t public transport popular in the US? It’s cheaper, it’s cleaner, it saves time, it’s overall better if done right.

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2 points
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Well part of it is this conspiracy: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

But mostly you can blame Eisenhower for wanting to make US cities harder to nuke, racism for making suburbs appealing for segregationists etc.

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