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Originally Posted by blender
Here's the problem in a nutshell. As long as we have the attitude that we get to choose how we live and the options are there, then we won't see any improvement. People aren't good at making self-sacrificing choices. Take away the choice and people will fall into line.
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Take away too many of the popular choices and the people may find new leaders who won't.
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We are in love with a whole bunch of bad ideas; in fact we are so smitten that we believe we are entitled to these bad ideas.
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Who get's to decide what "bad ideas" are?
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Originally Posted by blender
On public transit: I lived in Sydney Australia for a while, and I am still amazed at how efficient the transit system was. I've never seen anything remotely like it in North America, certainly not Calgary which is a pathetic joke by comparison.
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Not really a fair comparison given Sydney is much bigger than Calgary. Compare it to Toronto, the TTC+GO easily match Sydney's transit ridership and both are dwarfed by NYC.
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To me it is proof that it CAN be done if it is planned and funded properly.
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Yet even with that transit system in Sydney, the car remains king. Transit can be highly competitive transporting people to jobs in the central core, but those are only a fraction of trips that people make.
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Private transport – mostly cars – out-competes public transport in Australian cities for the great bulk of trips in terms of travelling time, convenience, privacy and comfort. Private transport accounts for 84% of all motorised travel in metropolitan Sydney and 89% across all capital cities.
Travellers value the attributes of private transport highly and they’re prepared to pay a lot for them e.g. the average motorist pays over $10,000 p.a. to own and operate a car, rather than the circa $2,000 p.a. it costs for an annual unlimited public transport pass.
Public transport was once the dominant urban mode in Australia, supported by a huge network of publicly provided train and tram infrastructure. It was effectively annihilated by the car in a handful of decades. Its (mode) share of urban transport collapsed from 90% of motorised passenger kms in 1920 to 25% by 1960.
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https://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurban...of-our-cities/