Comments by "looseycanon" (@looseycanon) on "Why Free Public Transportation Is a Bad Idea" video.
-
there is consumption tax on fuel, so use of vehicle pays for itself in this regard. Not to mention, that even this tax is again taxed for VAT. We could discuss, just how much this tax should be and whether proceeds from that tax should be strictly allocated to car infrastructure projects, but to say, that street also needs maintenance, which needs to be paid is dumb, cause it is being already paid twice, in nations, where on street parking is allowed only for those, who've paid, three times.
7
-
Finally a video, which points out the problem with public transport! Yes, every change, every stop that the bus or train makes is a problem for everyday commuters! Take my case. I live in the center of the city of Brno, I used to commute to the outskirts for work. When my dad took me, even in peak traffic, where everyone is whining, about how bad cars are, as they sit in those cars, from my house to the office building I worked at took some 20 minutes, give or take 5 minutes, one way. Some 40 to 50 minutes both ways. Public transport? Had to walk to the tram. Then change to another tram and then to a bus, with final significant stretch of commute on foot again. It took me 45 to 60 minutes one way! That's hour and a half to two, if things got extra bad three hours through a city, that has probably the best public transport system on Earth!
Really the solution for this is not public transport, nor banning cars in cities or even car ownership. No. The solution is, mandating those jobs, which can be made remote, remote. No more accountant going to the office every day of the week to handle invoices. Instead, once a week to deposit processed paper invoices, which he/she handled from home. No more comming to call center, to respond to clients. That can be done from home. It's the inflexibility of employers, who motivate vast majority of trips! It is, because you have to travel and be somewhere at fixed time frame, which doesn't confirm to public transport's schedule, which motivate's us to use the fastest possible private mode of transportation. And before anybody start's talking about bikes, I've got news for you. There will never be guarantee, that you'll live within reasonable commute time (say 30 minutes one way) from your working place by bike. That's simply utopia.
There are two solutions, which help cities. Two solutions, which can go hand in hand to actually solve cities problems. They won't solve climate change, but they will solve smog.
First. By mandating all positions, which don't require physical access (I'm talking manually swapping sheets of steel in a machine levels of physical access) to be strictly remote positions, you'll turn daily drivers into weekly+joy riders. That's cutting driven kilometers by at least half, at no costs to public coffers and potentially cutting cost to employers as well, not having to rent office space. Bigger homes, which will be required for people to work from home will likely increase in price. That is the only drawback
Second. All new cars can be mandated to be plug-in hybrids with internal combustion engine and 20 to 30 kilometer battery. This way, cost of the battery is lowered, which is the most expensive part of an EV. Battery degradation doesn't affect the car that much, as on longer drives, or when hauling something, it would still use normal engine, and the base, from which the battery would degrade is lower and there can be a mandate, to use electric drive only, when in normal use, in particular zones or even entire cities, because those are not such long distances, that need to be taken. Price of batteries and their inherent properties (including their carbon footprint), is what's killing the EV market.
1
-
1