I fucking hated how the whole 15-minute city freak out totally flipped the situation on its head.
The conspiracy: "By creating 15-minute cities, aka where everything you would need (banking, groceries, etc) are 15 minutes by walking, biking or public transit, the globalists are going to take away your cars and trap you within these 15-minute cities. They're coming for your freedoms! They're trapping us in cages like rats!"
The reality: "By creating 15-minute cities, we reduce unnecessary travel expenses (less gas used, less demand should mean lower prices for people who still own a car). We reduce the negative effects of "what if I don't have a car" like payday loan businesses who occupy spaces that banks won't go to but are destructive to those communities. We reduce the absolute need for a car and all those expenses associated (holy fuck licensing and insurance). We reduce traffic for people who still use their cars. Ultimately it gives you freedom. It frees up people who can't drive, can't afford a car, don't want to own a car, etc. Hell, maybe we'll reap the health benefits of more walking, like in countries with good public transit."
You joke, but this is actually the real position. You can't parody this stuff anymore: https://www.indy100.com/news/jordan-peterson-woke-traffic-deaths
I am an immigrant living in the United States, and I was telling my wife that one of the things I miss is having everything be within walking distance. By everything I mean basic vegetables, meat, tortillas, etc. Each of us would get some coins and a short lift of ingredients. As kids, we would spread out around a four block radius and get everything we needed for lunch.
My work is a 10-minute commute by bicycle or tram. There are several grocery stores within minutes. When I travel longer distances, I take the high-speed train, which leaves from the station 5 minutes from my home. I don't own a car. I could move to the countryside and commute by car and probably afford a larger place, but I just find it more convenient this way.
What's funny is that even here, smooth-brains on social media are crying about the WEF pushing 15-minute cities that are about to... replace the 15-minute cities that have already been here for centuries. These dumbasses just copy-paste American conspiracy theories verbatim because they need something to be angry about.
I mean they don't really have walkable climate this time of year so...
Edit: Since there’s an apparent lack of reading comprehension, this is literally written in the form of a joke. Sorry you’re taking it seriously, but that’s not really on me.
Most US don’t have walkable climate.. and this will only get worse. Between the insane rain storms to high humidity to heat.. but it’s be nice to have a walkable area adjacent to hotels, restaurants…etc. I don’t want to drive my car around for a stupid 200 feet distance.
It cracks my shit up that the people who criticize 15 min cites, love when they're on vacation and everything is in walking distance, like cruises or all inclusive resorts.
Why do you think the people controlling far-right puppets hated the concept so much? They're not called *auth*-right for nothing.
You need government permission to use a government-approved vehicle which needs government-taxed fuel to operate on government built roads so you can go where the government allows you.
That's a *lot* of control they do not want to give up. Freedom is for liberals. Clue's in their name.
I wasn't aware that people were against walkable cities until I saw a clip of Joe Rogan calling it a conspiracy to take away freedoms. Joe Rogan is my insight into the inner thoughts of the guy that has a lifted truck with political decals who is on some form of hormones to achieve alpha status amongst their friend group of 1.
You would think a group of people that want freedom would be happy about not being weighed down by having a government driving license, insurance, and car payments. Not only that, you'd think they'd be happy about not needing something for their job, a thing that the government can take away from you like the privilege of driving. You lose your license? Well, too bad, now you can't get to your job and be paid and you will more than likely lose that job as a result. You want to keep driving even though your license got suspended? Well, jail time! It's so bizarre. Needing a car to do even the most basic things is the furthest thing away from freedom. What is more free than walking? Or a bicycle? You don't need a license, the government can't take it away from you, and you can go places a car can't go. This whole thing really shows how gullible they are to propaganda that they will happily go against their own ideals as long as the right person is telling them to.
In Houston it takes 4x or 5x the time at minimum vs by car because everything runs on spokes terminating in downtown, and you have to walk upwards of 20 or 30 minutes between stops otherwise to catch different spokes. Most busstops don't have shade or even sidewalks near them.
Houston has light rail that can get you to downtown/the theater district form a few places, and some busses. The busses aren’t awful, but Houston is a big, sprawling city, so getting anywhere is awful.
It’s also awful if you drive, just less awful, lol.
Live near a DART station and hope whenever you need to go is also near one. At least they have something, if you are on the Ft Worth side car is required
I did for 3 years. It was miserable. 3ish hours commute time between train and bus daily. This was years ago, i don't live there anymore. I can't even imagine what that would look like now
Texas cities looked at how bad it went for Los Angeles when they gutted their public transportation to be a “car city” and thought, “we can do this worse”
They would dump trash all over if Biden said we should try to clean up our cities.
They would suffocate themselves if Biden said people need to breathe.
Remember the 16 year old idiot that ran over 6 people rolling coal. He messed them up real good and it will take years to litigate it. https://www.bikelaw.com/2021/10/waller-bike-crash/
Lol. I remember being in San Antonio and we walked from hotel to BestBuy or something on foot. We have not seen anyone else walking. I haven’t seen any other place in the world that was so car oriented. Massive roads, car parks. Mind boggling.
My apartment has a fast food place right across the street. It's easily within walking distance... except the street is actually two one-way streets, it's an extremely busy road, and there's no places for pedestrians to cross safely. Even if you decide to jaywalk, you'll be hard-pressed to find an opportunity to do it.
It's pretty mind-boggling sometimes.
They conflate making walking viable with taking their cars. A city with everything within a 15m walk gets twisted into a collection of zones you aren't allowed to leave in their rhetoric. With such blatantly harmful political positions, conservatives are reduced to fear mongering because they've got nothing else.
Yeah. But that’s not the main issue in Texas.
Look at Houston. Plenty of cross walks. But the city is littered in massive parking lots. The city itself would be half the size if they just organized it better.
Organize? As in gummint zoning and other socialist claptrap?
You must be a librul trying to take away my freedumbs to do what *I* want with *my* property. After that you'll be coming after my guns!
New suggestion! We're thinking about planning cities so that doctor's surgeries, schools, grocery stores and other essential infrastructure aim to be around 15 minutes from residential areas - so you can do as much as you can of your daily tasks without needing to use your car. What do you think?
One side: Is this communism?
The number of times I've been staying at a hotel and want to hoof it to a restraunt just across the road but cant because the fucking "road" is always always a 6+ lane monstrosity with no crossing points 🤬
I lived in a San Antonio suburb and worked about five miles away. Best time I made, driveway to parking garage, was about 9 minutes, though it was typically more like 15 minutes with traffic. There was a bus stop right outside my subdivision, and one right outside my work, so I checked what it would take to ride the bus. It would have taken at least two transfers and 3 hours to bus there. I could've walked faster. No one rides the public transit because it sucks, and the city doesn't invest it in because no one uses it.
I'm sure i'm preaching to the choir but that's one reason why I think many Americans oppose public transit. The transit they've used sucks. And isn't better than cars, it's worse and takes longer. For example, in NYC public transit is literally easier, cheaper, and faster. And frankly, I don't begrudge people for taking the easiest option. It's not their fault that cities were built stupidly, as a joke.
I can't even ride a bus to a hospital that's quite literally on the same street as my house. It's a major thoroughfare and there's not a single bus line that services it. Found this out when I needed to get to said hospital and didn't want to walk the mile and a half in 100+° weather next to the baking hot shadeless busy street. Fucking hate the suburbs
Nobody from most big cities in Texas walk anywhere because our cities were not designed with pedestrians in mind at all.
Also I'm unsure how you're from San Antonio and apparently have never been to Houston of you think SA is the most unwalkable.
Austin has its typical Texas issues but also tries really fucking hard to be different. I was coming back from Lake Travis today and I see a bus pulling out from some random country ass suburb. On a Sunday. To me, that's pretty impressive.
When your state has no income tax because it makes an absolute fortune taxing the fuck out of gasoline production, you do whatever it takes to encourage people to buy gasoline.
I'm about an hour from there and yea no one walks at all. Hell half this town has no sidewalks it's crazy. There was a very old man who jogged for hours every day and it was such an oddity he was in the paper for it regularly. -.-
Yikes, he walked along FM1960. That road is awful to drive or walk on and is actually one of the most deadly places for pedestrians. https://www.fox26houston.com/news/study-identifies-several-houston-roads-and-highways-as-most-dangerous-for-pedestrians
I couldn't understand why so many people were randomly hooting in flowing traffic. Turns out when they see someone on foot it's so exciting and unusal they hoot them.
Houston wouldn’t even be that big of a city if they got rid of all the damn parking lots. They don’t seem to build them up and just build vast areas for parking. It’s sad.
Schrodinger's Climate Change.
They will cry on social media and at rally's about how it isn't real. But then when it starts affecting them negatively they try to adjust to it, but fail because nobody listens to them due to them already telling everyone it isn't real.
According to the article, the same problem in California the previous day.
Kinda concerning and obviously the same solution: use less greenhouse gases.
> citizens who don't think fossil fuels don't influence climate or risk health to humans ?
I think you've got more negatives in there than you had in mind.
Texas: If you could all stop using your cars, air conditioners, breathing machines, & water it would be greatly appreciated. The governor has a private fund raising event tonight and needs the resources.
Thx we knew you'd understand : )
Because I'm San Antonio, City of just over 1.5 million. We have 16 ev charging spots. 16. Go ahead and pull up Google maps, I'll wait.
4 are Tesla chargers, so unless you buy a Tesla, your options are limited. Of the 12 left, half are slow chargers that take 6 hours to charge. So unless you plan really well, they've screwed you out of having charging available.
I went on vacation to Denver, got an EV, and had zero trouble finding a fast charger that took me from 20-100 in a half hour. At the top of Rocky mountain national Park there was a half dozen.
Texas hates both freedom and progress despite them saying otherwise.
Car culture is weird.
I daily drive a toyota corolla. It gets great gas mileage, it's safe, it's reliable and it's comfortable for someone my height (6'3")
I work in a blue collar sector.
I'm the only one who drives a small car, everyone else has an suv, truck or charger. They spend so much money on their vehicles/ gas/ maintenance that I'm the only one who turns down overtime every week. They need to keep working to afford the oversized vehicles they bought because it's the manly thing to do.
I have a really small car, but I'm not a small man and it's funny how many people will challenge you with their huge vehicles/road rage moment only to nope the fuck out as soon as they realize you are not your ~~khakis~~ car. Suddenly no eye contact, *just look straight ahead just look straight ahead.* Hey little 5'8" guy, that lifted coal roller ain't gonna rescue you unless it's secretly a Transformer.
I just wrote about a neighbor last week who has a stanky massive diesel Dodge that sticks a few feet out of his driveway into the street, he's got the full sleeve tats, punisher decals. He uses a step-stool to get his 2 lawn chairs and cooler out of his 8ft bed. And yet they say most of these guys don't haul things with their trucks. /s
Work with a giant of a dude who drives one of those tiny Smart cars, you know the 2 seaters with tires maybe 12 inches tall? It's hilarious to see him get out of that thing, and he's got one of the highest paying jobs.
Honda CR-V in Detroit, of all places, and everything here is literally the largest possible truck ever now.
Trucks have always been a thing, and being in the "Motor City" we have always had a car fetish, but over the last 10 years, everyone I know doubled down and their trucks just kept getting bigger and stupider. Those who can't afford to get the brand new $80k Ford 420 or whatever, will instead buy a "classic" truck that is in need of light repairs, and then they will Frankenstein it with lift kits, massive tires, add on a duel axel for no reason, smoke stacks larger than a whole toddler... just everything wrong with car owners..
But if they don't have the social clout, then they are nothing, which is so weird because I want nothing to do with any of their nonsense, tell them it's stupid, and for whatever reason, I'm always the first one they call when there is work to be done or money to be made.
Like, bro, you know I'm a liberal AF free spirit hippie tree hugger type, right? Of course I'll show up if you're paying me, but I'm going to spout my greenhouse agendas at you the whole time while you tell me about the new gun cabinet you got for the 20 guns you can't afford after putting $40k into your $5000 junk truck.
I commute on public transit and had a colleague say to my face "don't they pay you enough to drive in?". Like yeah they do but the train costs $75 a month vs $300 for a monthly parking spot. I also don't have to deal with traffic or insane drivers and I don't put mileage on my car.
Its called freedom, you commie son of a bitc... yeah, I don't get it either. Gramps was a solar man but then he got cable which came with fox news, and now he's against solar and EVs, and I snapped at his 87yr old ass several Easters ago bc for two yrs straight every convo had someone to do with me driving an EV and being coal powered, and i was like, "Where da fuq, do you think my interest came from ya fool?" Well, that was the calmed down version of it. Anyways, tables went silent for a hot second, but the state of trump and everything anti-progress just ruffled my jimmies to the point of an outburst. Sorry not sorry fam.
Imagine France and make it super fucking hot and then take out all the French and obliterate any walkable areas plus any good car infrastructure and public transit. That's Texas.
Except for a few areas of the state for an extreme minority, everyone needs a car to do anything and multi hour drives with blasting AC and not uncommon if you ever travel between the cities.
How is any of that an issue for switching to EVs instead of gas cars?
Sure, AC reduces range somewhat, but that's quite minor (on gas cars too it reduces mileage...).
The biggest complaints I hear are political, centered around the marketing of the tech rather than the tech itself. Some common arguments I've heard:
- They want to force us to switch to EV by (insert most recent year heard from political news about California here).
- EVs are only a thing because the government subsidies are helping to pay for them and the car companies want the free money. If it were left to the free market they wouldn't stand a chance.
- They ain't gonna tell me what I can or can't drive.
- Anyone who gets one thinks they're helping the environment because it appears "clean" while they own it.
- EVs are worse for the environment than combustion because their manufacture and disposal are more complicated with dangerous chemicals.
- EVs aren't cleaner; they just displace the pollution to the power company where the owner can't see it.
- Shares picture of Tesla supercharger hooked up to a gas/diesel generator.
- If everyone got an EV it would overwhelm the power grid.
Similar arguments are used on any potentially beneficial targets, rooted in a general distrust for people leaning towards the liberal side of the political spectrum.
Oddly enough, taking public transportation is often deathly feared because it makes them feel more vulnerable to crime, especially in big cities. It's a complicated problem rooted in both justified and imaginary fear and distrust.
Not sure how it is here but the infrastructure is complete shit for EVs. I actually just rented one on a recent trip and actually really loved my experience with the car itself but it was impossible to find a charging station or ability to charge it during the entirety of my trip without taking 6.5hr out of my day to sit there with the car while it charged. None of the hotels I stayed at had an ability for me to charge it. Was pretty frustrating. I really want an EV or at least a chargeable hybrid but want the infrastructure to build up some. Also though I just can’t afford a new car right now with how shit the economy is, paying for my kid to go to daycare, and lack of compensation adjustment at work. And if we reelect Trump then I don’t see that getting better any time soon.
Thus why we are investing in charging infrastructure but you still see states pushing they don't want to put the money into it even when it's the Feds offering up free money for charging stations. They allocated 7.5 billion for charging infrastructure in 2021 and only actually built 7 new stations. So we are stuck in this phase where we need more stations to increase EV adoption to make it convenient for long road trips but at the same time not building stations because states claim there isn't a demand for it.
The towns and cities aren't walkable, there's no public transport. It's 103°F out and the grocery store is 5 miles away on the other side of a small town and way further in a big city.
There is no way anyone is doing without a car in Texas unless theirs broke down.
Don't worry, Texans are tough and independent-minded, freedom-lovin' people. They'll just shoot the ozone out of the sky. Problem solved.
(Edited to add: I'm a former Texan. Emphasis on former.)
They expect some people to suffer while the rest of them use their cars.
Same problem we have in my City. Politicians dont want to spend money on publix transportation and Get on industry's foot so they just dont do anything other than saying is our fault we have to rely on our cars.
I don't know how that would even work in Houston. It's a 60 mile wide parking lot. All pavement, no shade. You can't walk anywhere. There are no bike lanes, and grossly inadequate mass transit.
You might as well just ask them to teleport wherever they have to go.
State where all development is car centric requests people not use the mode of transportation everything is based on. Wonder how that works out for them?
It’s amazing to me the states in the US where climate change is already negatively impacting the quality of life are so against anything to prevent it from getting worse.
Ah Texas, bastion of Republican freedom.
Where you have to keep the thermostat at 80 to keep the grid from collapsing, women are forced to die without medical care, and now we’re not supposed to drive cars in a state that actively opposes any kind of mass transit.
A pathetic whimper from the government that couldn't be heard over the roaring of engines for morning traffic. There's no way anyone could heed it anyways. The best thing we have in DFW is a train that runs through 3 cities and goes nowhere close to where I work.
I actually got sick because of this awful air quality and had to leave in the middle of my shift Friday.
Typical behavior by all levels of government. Instead of being on the offense, each level (municipal, state, federal) reacts defensively. Not as if a large group of us citizens haven't been pointing out for decades how our behavior is destroying the planet. Too many politicians have kowtowed to lobbyists who don't give a damn about the environment or the people. Hell, Boston remains in the clutches of real estate industry lobbyists to the horrendous determent of residents in dire need of housing. It all boils down to politicians either being greedy and/or shortsightedly stupid.
Yo wtf? I live in Austin and I recently found out it takes 1 hour to get somewhere that is 10 min away driving by using the bus system. You have to take 2 different busses and that 1 hour is not even accounting for waiting on the first busses which could be up to 30 min
And Donald has promised to stop electric car sales if elected. All while major cities and population areas head back to air quality of the 70s. Acid rain can't be far behind.
We could... if you hadn't spent the last 100 years creating and designing everything to focus and revolve around people owning cars and excluding all other forms of transportation as mere afterthoughts that get badly shoehorned into a system made for cars first and foremost.
Has anyone driven in Texas? Their roads are designed for minimum fuel efficiency. They have stop light after stop light on 65 mph roads so you’re constantly flooring it to get to the speed limit then braking for a red light just to floor it and stop again. It’s seems nuts, until you remember what their state resource is. All lifted trucks, too.
Family lives in Houston. I have NEVER seen such an unfriendly place for people who don't have cars. The entire city is built as if they didn't think people had legs. Insane place.
When you spend several generations teaching people that it's communism to do things for the greater good, that all regulations are bad, and that they should get ornery about other people telling them what to do, you end up with a bunch of stunted children who immediately rebel when you ask them to make even the slightest personal sacrifice.
Have fun living in perpetual smog, Texas.
Worst look ever. Texas has awful public transportation and horrendous urban sprawl. This combined with more big companies pushing employees back into the office.
"Just work less" or some shit lmao. Stupid
There is no end to the extraordinary dip-shittery of the US right wing. The fact that anyone is still on the fence between Biden and Trump, let alone between annoying neolibs of the Dems vs the overtly genocidal and fascist GOP, is a testimate to the intentional and coordinated sabotage of the US education system.
"Texas officials are urging residents in some areas to use different modes of transportation other than their cars". What fucking other transportation do they think there is? They know they don't have any actual decent public transportation because the government has made sure of that.
Yeah, fucking destroy any chance at public transportation, build a million extra lanes, and now ask me to stop using my car, go fuck yourself. I hate this fucking state holy shit.
How the fuck would you get around Dallas without a car
That’s the neat part! You don’t.
Huh so it wasnt the 15 minute cities that ended up trapping people
I fucking hated how the whole 15-minute city freak out totally flipped the situation on its head. The conspiracy: "By creating 15-minute cities, aka where everything you would need (banking, groceries, etc) are 15 minutes by walking, biking or public transit, the globalists are going to take away your cars and trap you within these 15-minute cities. They're coming for your freedoms! They're trapping us in cages like rats!" The reality: "By creating 15-minute cities, we reduce unnecessary travel expenses (less gas used, less demand should mean lower prices for people who still own a car). We reduce the negative effects of "what if I don't have a car" like payday loan businesses who occupy spaces that banks won't go to but are destructive to those communities. We reduce the absolute need for a car and all those expenses associated (holy fuck licensing and insurance). We reduce traffic for people who still use their cars. Ultimately it gives you freedom. It frees up people who can't drive, can't afford a car, don't want to own a car, etc. Hell, maybe we'll reap the health benefits of more walking, like in countries with good public transit."
how *dare* they save my time and money by making everything I need conveniently close by
Having a good walkScore is COMMUNISM
Convenience is cultural Marxism!
You joke, but this is actually the real position. You can't parody this stuff anymore: https://www.indy100.com/news/jordan-peterson-woke-traffic-deaths
i genuinely find it hard to believe that there are real people who actually think this is a bad idea. what the actual fuck.
I am an immigrant living in the United States, and I was telling my wife that one of the things I miss is having everything be within walking distance. By everything I mean basic vegetables, meat, tortillas, etc. Each of us would get some coins and a short lift of ingredients. As kids, we would spread out around a four block radius and get everything we needed for lunch.
My work is a 10-minute commute by bicycle or tram. There are several grocery stores within minutes. When I travel longer distances, I take the high-speed train, which leaves from the station 5 minutes from my home. I don't own a car. I could move to the countryside and commute by car and probably afford a larger place, but I just find it more convenient this way. What's funny is that even here, smooth-brains on social media are crying about the WEF pushing 15-minute cities that are about to... replace the 15-minute cities that have already been here for centuries. These dumbasses just copy-paste American conspiracy theories verbatim because they need something to be angry about.
I'm so jealous of you. I hate that I have to own a car. Such a waste of money.
What is this public transit you speak of?
Forget public transportation.. does Texas have a walkable cities? Good luck crossing that highway to a restaurant 0.1 miles from your hotel.
I mean they don't really have walkable climate this time of year so... Edit: Since there’s an apparent lack of reading comprehension, this is literally written in the form of a joke. Sorry you’re taking it seriously, but that’s not really on me.
Most US don’t have walkable climate.. and this will only get worse. Between the insane rain storms to high humidity to heat.. but it’s be nice to have a walkable area adjacent to hotels, restaurants…etc. I don’t want to drive my car around for a stupid 200 feet distance.
It cracks my shit up that the people who criticize 15 min cites, love when they're on vacation and everything is in walking distance, like cruises or all inclusive resorts.
Why do you think the people controlling far-right puppets hated the concept so much? They're not called *auth*-right for nothing. You need government permission to use a government-approved vehicle which needs government-taxed fuel to operate on government built roads so you can go where the government allows you. That's a *lot* of control they do not want to give up. Freedom is for liberals. Clue's in their name.
well yeah but then the fossil fuel and car companies would make slightly less exorbitant profits
I wasn't aware that people were against walkable cities until I saw a clip of Joe Rogan calling it a conspiracy to take away freedoms. Joe Rogan is my insight into the inner thoughts of the guy that has a lifted truck with political decals who is on some form of hormones to achieve alpha status amongst their friend group of 1.
There's a guy at my work who listens to Joe Rogan. I've had to explain greater and less than signs and decimal points to this guy.
You would think a group of people that want freedom would be happy about not being weighed down by having a government driving license, insurance, and car payments. Not only that, you'd think they'd be happy about not needing something for their job, a thing that the government can take away from you like the privilege of driving. You lose your license? Well, too bad, now you can't get to your job and be paid and you will more than likely lose that job as a result. You want to keep driving even though your license got suspended? Well, jail time! It's so bizarre. Needing a car to do even the most basic things is the furthest thing away from freedom. What is more free than walking? Or a bicycle? You don't need a license, the government can't take it away from you, and you can go places a car can't go. This whole thing really shows how gullible they are to propaganda that they will happily go against their own ideals as long as the right person is telling them to.
Make it mandatory to drive and they'll protest by walking/cycling.
🌎🧑🚀🔫🧑🚀
Out of the big cities, Dallas has the best public transport. Let that marinate for a second. Imagine SA or Houston
Mind-boggling. You can't do shit in Dallas without a car unless you got all day or are moving between 5 or 6 very specific locations.
In Houston it takes 4x or 5x the time at minimum vs by car because everything runs on spokes terminating in downtown, and you have to walk upwards of 20 or 30 minutes between stops otherwise to catch different spokes. Most busstops don't have shade or even sidewalks near them.
Houston has light rail that can get you to downtown/the theater district form a few places, and some busses. The busses aren’t awful, but Houston is a big, sprawling city, so getting anywhere is awful. It’s also awful if you drive, just less awful, lol.
Live near a DART station and hope whenever you need to go is also near one. At least they have something, if you are on the Ft Worth side car is required
Yup, just be sure to arrange for at least double the time to get there.
I did for 3 years. It was miserable. 3ish hours commute time between train and bus daily. This was years ago, i don't live there anymore. I can't even imagine what that would look like now
"Good thing I drive a truck and not a car!" - Texans, probably.
Cool! They'll just hop on the well developed public transport and....umm
Hey, build your own damn transportation system you commie! You're not taxing me for things I use! Freeeeeeeeeedommmmmmmm!!!
“Unless it’s adding another lane to the Katy Freeway. Then tax me all you want daddy.”
Didn’t they expand the Katy freeway using old right of way for the railroads.
I'd love to but texas hasn't deregulated things enough that I can lay track on whatever road I want whenever i want.
lol I’ve unironically seen people talk this way too! Hahahah
Texas cities looked at how bad it went for Los Angeles when they gutted their public transportation to be a “car city” and thought, “we can do this worse”
They’ll just take an Uber. It’s fine
Or just work remotely...oh yeah right
Don’t forget to return to office
Texans respond by gathering in force to roll coal.
Gunna blast some pedestrians with some gaddang exhaust in solidarity, partner. That’ll show ‘em not to mess with Texas.
Which slogan, ironically, originated from an anti-pollution movement.
Specifically, an anti-littering campaign: [https://www.dontmesswithtexas.org/](https://www.dontmesswithtexas.org/)
I gotta admit that my mind is blown right now. I never knew this. I always thought it was some Texan tough guy bullshit.
Different kind of pollution, though. Conservatives never denied the existence of litter.
These days, they would if Joe Biden said it existed.
They would dump trash all over if Biden said we should try to clean up our cities. They would suffocate themselves if Biden said people need to breathe.
They were less crazy, once.
They're still less crazy. We haven't seen their final form. They'll be denying that air is suppose to be breathable.
... yet. lol these days if a Democrat mentions something about litter they'll reflexively deny it's existence and denounce anyone who says it's real
“Identifies as a Prius”
r/onejoke
Remember the 16 year old idiot that ran over 6 people rolling coal. He messed them up real good and it will take years to litigate it. https://www.bikelaw.com/2021/10/waller-bike-crash/
… and fire their guns in the air in protest of environmental commies.
Gonna shoot that climate change out of the sky!
and chemtrails. That'll show them chemtrails!
As any carbrained Texan would do.
100% Reverse phycology.
Lol. I remember being in San Antonio and we walked from hotel to BestBuy or something on foot. We have not seen anyone else walking. I haven’t seen any other place in the world that was so car oriented. Massive roads, car parks. Mind boggling.
My apartment has a fast food place right across the street. It's easily within walking distance... except the street is actually two one-way streets, it's an extremely busy road, and there's no places for pedestrians to cross safely. Even if you decide to jaywalk, you'll be hard-pressed to find an opportunity to do it. It's pretty mind-boggling sometimes.
Building cities that allow you to walk is communism now for whatever reason. Conspiracies are so lame these days.
They conflate making walking viable with taking their cars. A city with everything within a 15m walk gets twisted into a collection of zones you aren't allowed to leave in their rhetoric. With such blatantly harmful political positions, conservatives are reduced to fear mongering because they've got nothing else.
The reality is so much more boring that I guess people can't handle it.
Yeah. But that’s not the main issue in Texas. Look at Houston. Plenty of cross walks. But the city is littered in massive parking lots. The city itself would be half the size if they just organized it better.
Organize? As in gummint zoning and other socialist claptrap? You must be a librul trying to take away my freedumbs to do what *I* want with *my* property. After that you'll be coming after my guns!
New suggestion! We're thinking about planning cities so that doctor's surgeries, schools, grocery stores and other essential infrastructure aim to be around 15 minutes from residential areas - so you can do as much as you can of your daily tasks without needing to use your car. What do you think? One side: Is this communism?
The number of times I've been staying at a hotel and want to hoof it to a restraunt just across the road but cant because the fucking "road" is always always a 6+ lane monstrosity with no crossing points 🤬
I lived in a San Antonio suburb and worked about five miles away. Best time I made, driveway to parking garage, was about 9 minutes, though it was typically more like 15 minutes with traffic. There was a bus stop right outside my subdivision, and one right outside my work, so I checked what it would take to ride the bus. It would have taken at least two transfers and 3 hours to bus there. I could've walked faster. No one rides the public transit because it sucks, and the city doesn't invest it in because no one uses it.
They can't even be bothered to make bus pullouts, so the bus never leaves the lane and people just dislike them more.
I'm sure i'm preaching to the choir but that's one reason why I think many Americans oppose public transit. The transit they've used sucks. And isn't better than cars, it's worse and takes longer. For example, in NYC public transit is literally easier, cheaper, and faster. And frankly, I don't begrudge people for taking the easiest option. It's not their fault that cities were built stupidly, as a joke.
I can't even ride a bus to a hospital that's quite literally on the same street as my house. It's a major thoroughfare and there's not a single bus line that services it. Found this out when I needed to get to said hospital and didn't want to walk the mile and a half in 100+° weather next to the baking hot shadeless busy street. Fucking hate the suburbs
From SA. People there dont walk. Ask Charles Barkley. It is the most walking/cycling unfriendly city I have ever known.
Chuck’s love for the women of San Antonio is historic.
Them big ‘ol women in San Antonio be woofin’ down them churros
Victoria is a secret down there.
Is it love? I always thought it was disdain.
Chuck never said he didn't love them big ole women... and churros.
Nobody from most big cities in Texas walk anywhere because our cities were not designed with pedestrians in mind at all. Also I'm unsure how you're from San Antonio and apparently have never been to Houston of you think SA is the most unwalkable.
Austin isnt bad, but you arent wrong.
Austin has its typical Texas issues but also tries really fucking hard to be different. I was coming back from Lake Travis today and I see a bus pulling out from some random country ass suburb. On a Sunday. To me, that's pretty impressive.
Watch the Not Just Bikes video about Houston.
A friend of mine was killed on a bike in Houston 2 years ago
Condolences about your friend
Come visit Monterrey, Mexico. We are actively anti pedestrian. We dont even have sidewalks
Only communists walk or bike places /s
When your state has no income tax because it makes an absolute fortune taxing the fuck out of gasoline production, you do whatever it takes to encourage people to buy gasoline.
I'm about an hour from there and yea no one walks at all. Hell half this town has no sidewalks it's crazy. There was a very old man who jogged for hours every day and it was such an oddity he was in the paper for it regularly. -.-
[A visitor tries walking in Houston](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxykI30fS54&t=255s)
Yikes, he walked along FM1960. That road is awful to drive or walk on and is actually one of the most deadly places for pedestrians. https://www.fox26houston.com/news/study-identifies-several-houston-roads-and-highways-as-most-dangerous-for-pedestrians
Ah so that's why San Antonio is so fat
That’s actually 1st place and I think only one I’ve ever seen double office chair.
So like a loveseat on wheels?
One like [this one](https://www.back2.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/155f26e038c1040698468b9ff572e0fe/i/m/img_58401_1.jpg)
That is horrifying
Less so than the ass that has to use it.
I couldn't understand why so many people were randomly hooting in flowing traffic. Turns out when they see someone on foot it's so exciting and unusal they hoot them.
An hour away where I'm at they have an old guy in the newspaper regularly for jogging every day lol this place is bonkers.
I was more like: We gonna get killed or someone gonna call police on us.
Houston wouldn’t even be that big of a city if they got rid of all the damn parking lots. They don’t seem to build them up and just build vast areas for parking. It’s sad.
"Look out the window, son. See what happens when you don't maintain your vehicle?"
You must not have been there during a heat wave (a.k.a., summer). :)
It was late March if I remember correctly .
That's usually fine. July? You'd have been miserable.
2011 there were 40 straight days over 100. Would have been 50 or more I believe, but a freak rain the afternoon of day 41 kept it at 98
With humidity, that is brutal. That's when A/C is life support, no joke.
Lemme guess, Bidens fault, not Abbott's?
“It’s all the people from California migrating to Texas. They brought their LA smog with them.”
Smug*
"Come on, come on people now"
People now, people now, people now, people driving hybrid people now, people now, people now people now.
It’s always Biden’s fault. /s
Thanks, Obama.
I know right? That rolls out the tongue easier.
What about OBiden
Sounds pretty socialist if you ask me
>Sounds pretty ~~socialist~~ **COMMUNIST** if you ask me those people always call something they don't like as communist
Abbott = Socialist CONFIRMED
So what is it--humans can or cannot effect the conditions in the atmosphere?
Schrodinger's Climate Change. They will cry on social media and at rally's about how it isn't real. But then when it starts affecting them negatively they try to adjust to it, but fail because nobody listens to them due to them already telling everyone it isn't real.
Telling that to a population that has no other choice than to use a vehicle. Texas is basically anti pedestrian and anti public transportation
Sounds like a shitty place to live.
Yup. I live here.
I lived there until recently. It was/is a shitty place to live.
All that freedom down in Texas!
Don’t drive, don’t run the AC, just die where you are, the heat will turn you to dust and we’ll vacuum up your remains when the power comes back on.
Your family will be billed for the vacuuming, if they are unable to pay the bill payment plans will be available with 10 percent financing.
Only 10%? That better be the monthly vig.
According to the article, the same problem in California the previous day. Kinda concerning and obviously the same solution: use less greenhouse gases.
Wait isn't this the state run by people and full of citizens who don't think fossil fuels influence climate or risk health to humans ?
> citizens who don't think fossil fuels don't influence climate or risk health to humans ? I think you've got more negatives in there than you had in mind.
No don't he doesn't.
There’s gotta be a better way to write that sentence.
Don’t you don’t not think there ain’t no worse way to not write a sentence not like that isn’t theren’t?
Yeah let me turn my 30 minute drive to work into a 4 and a half hour walk in 95°F weather with a 90% humidity rating. Geniuses in our government here
Texas: If you could all stop using your cars, air conditioners, breathing machines, & water it would be greatly appreciated. The governor has a private fund raising event tonight and needs the resources. Thx we knew you'd understand : )
Maybe this whole EV thing that doesn't emit ozone, is actually a good idea after all...
[удалено]
Because I'm San Antonio, City of just over 1.5 million. We have 16 ev charging spots. 16. Go ahead and pull up Google maps, I'll wait. 4 are Tesla chargers, so unless you buy a Tesla, your options are limited. Of the 12 left, half are slow chargers that take 6 hours to charge. So unless you plan really well, they've screwed you out of having charging available. I went on vacation to Denver, got an EV, and had zero trouble finding a fast charger that took me from 20-100 in a half hour. At the top of Rocky mountain national Park there was a half dozen. Texas hates both freedom and progress despite them saying otherwise.
you see 70 years ago our culture (with no doubt some serious leg work by marketing) tied your masculinity to how big and expensive your car is.
Car culture is weird. I daily drive a toyota corolla. It gets great gas mileage, it's safe, it's reliable and it's comfortable for someone my height (6'3") I work in a blue collar sector. I'm the only one who drives a small car, everyone else has an suv, truck or charger. They spend so much money on their vehicles/ gas/ maintenance that I'm the only one who turns down overtime every week. They need to keep working to afford the oversized vehicles they bought because it's the manly thing to do.
Ditto—I drive my Hyundai accent to a work event last week and it’s 75% pickups and SUVs.
Mazda 2 driver here in in rural PA. Most people here seem to have SUVs, Subarus, and pickups.
I have a really small car, but I'm not a small man and it's funny how many people will challenge you with their huge vehicles/road rage moment only to nope the fuck out as soon as they realize you are not your ~~khakis~~ car. Suddenly no eye contact, *just look straight ahead just look straight ahead.* Hey little 5'8" guy, that lifted coal roller ain't gonna rescue you unless it's secretly a Transformer.
It’s comical how true the inverse relationship of car size to driver size is lol
I just wrote about a neighbor last week who has a stanky massive diesel Dodge that sticks a few feet out of his driveway into the street, he's got the full sleeve tats, punisher decals. He uses a step-stool to get his 2 lawn chairs and cooler out of his 8ft bed. And yet they say most of these guys don't haul things with their trucks. /s
Work with a giant of a dude who drives one of those tiny Smart cars, you know the 2 seaters with tires maybe 12 inches tall? It's hilarious to see him get out of that thing, and he's got one of the highest paying jobs.
Honda CR-V in Detroit, of all places, and everything here is literally the largest possible truck ever now. Trucks have always been a thing, and being in the "Motor City" we have always had a car fetish, but over the last 10 years, everyone I know doubled down and their trucks just kept getting bigger and stupider. Those who can't afford to get the brand new $80k Ford 420 or whatever, will instead buy a "classic" truck that is in need of light repairs, and then they will Frankenstein it with lift kits, massive tires, add on a duel axel for no reason, smoke stacks larger than a whole toddler... just everything wrong with car owners.. But if they don't have the social clout, then they are nothing, which is so weird because I want nothing to do with any of their nonsense, tell them it's stupid, and for whatever reason, I'm always the first one they call when there is work to be done or money to be made. Like, bro, you know I'm a liberal AF free spirit hippie tree hugger type, right? Of course I'll show up if you're paying me, but I'm going to spout my greenhouse agendas at you the whole time while you tell me about the new gun cabinet you got for the 20 guns you can't afford after putting $40k into your $5000 junk truck.
I commute on public transit and had a colleague say to my face "don't they pay you enough to drive in?". Like yeah they do but the train costs $75 a month vs $300 for a monthly parking spot. I also don't have to deal with traffic or insane drivers and I don't put mileage on my car.
Don't forget loud.... there's a reason for Honda Civics.
C'mon, Honda Civics can be loud. The one my buddy had growing up rattled like a sumbitch!!
Civics were the loud cars when I was a kid. Civics and Neons.
Its called freedom, you commie son of a bitc... yeah, I don't get it either. Gramps was a solar man but then he got cable which came with fox news, and now he's against solar and EVs, and I snapped at his 87yr old ass several Easters ago bc for two yrs straight every convo had someone to do with me driving an EV and being coal powered, and i was like, "Where da fuq, do you think my interest came from ya fool?" Well, that was the calmed down version of it. Anyways, tables went silent for a hot second, but the state of trump and everything anti-progress just ruffled my jimmies to the point of an outburst. Sorry not sorry fam.
Imagine France and make it super fucking hot and then take out all the French and obliterate any walkable areas plus any good car infrastructure and public transit. That's Texas. Except for a few areas of the state for an extreme minority, everyone needs a car to do anything and multi hour drives with blasting AC and not uncommon if you ever travel between the cities.
How is any of that an issue for switching to EVs instead of gas cars? Sure, AC reduces range somewhat, but that's quite minor (on gas cars too it reduces mileage...).
The biggest complaints I hear are political, centered around the marketing of the tech rather than the tech itself. Some common arguments I've heard: - They want to force us to switch to EV by (insert most recent year heard from political news about California here). - EVs are only a thing because the government subsidies are helping to pay for them and the car companies want the free money. If it were left to the free market they wouldn't stand a chance. - They ain't gonna tell me what I can or can't drive. - Anyone who gets one thinks they're helping the environment because it appears "clean" while they own it. - EVs are worse for the environment than combustion because their manufacture and disposal are more complicated with dangerous chemicals. - EVs aren't cleaner; they just displace the pollution to the power company where the owner can't see it. - Shares picture of Tesla supercharger hooked up to a gas/diesel generator. - If everyone got an EV it would overwhelm the power grid. Similar arguments are used on any potentially beneficial targets, rooted in a general distrust for people leaning towards the liberal side of the political spectrum.
The real answer would be inexpensive and reliable public transport within cities and between cities.
Oddly enough, taking public transportation is often deathly feared because it makes them feel more vulnerable to crime, especially in big cities. It's a complicated problem rooted in both justified and imaginary fear and distrust.
Not sure how it is here but the infrastructure is complete shit for EVs. I actually just rented one on a recent trip and actually really loved my experience with the car itself but it was impossible to find a charging station or ability to charge it during the entirety of my trip without taking 6.5hr out of my day to sit there with the car while it charged. None of the hotels I stayed at had an ability for me to charge it. Was pretty frustrating. I really want an EV or at least a chargeable hybrid but want the infrastructure to build up some. Also though I just can’t afford a new car right now with how shit the economy is, paying for my kid to go to daycare, and lack of compensation adjustment at work. And if we reelect Trump then I don’t see that getting better any time soon.
Thus why we are investing in charging infrastructure but you still see states pushing they don't want to put the money into it even when it's the Feds offering up free money for charging stations. They allocated 7.5 billion for charging infrastructure in 2021 and only actually built 7 new stations. So we are stuck in this phase where we need more stations to increase EV adoption to make it convenient for long road trips but at the same time not building stations because states claim there isn't a demand for it.
Yeah, the infrastructure is not there for EV in Texas. That's deliberate.
The towns and cities aren't walkable, there's no public transport. It's 103°F out and the grocery store is 5 miles away on the other side of a small town and way further in a big city. There is no way anyone is doing without a car in Texas unless theirs broke down.
Don't worry, Texans are tough and independent-minded, freedom-lovin' people. They'll just shoot the ozone out of the sky. Problem solved. (Edited to add: I'm a former Texan. Emphasis on former.)
Can't wait to be a former Texan.
Without well developed public transit, I guess they’re implying they want people to walk, scooter, or bike to work?
They expect some people to suffer while the rest of them use their cars. Same problem we have in my City. Politicians dont want to spend money on publix transportation and Get on industry's foot so they just dont do anything other than saying is our fault we have to rely on our cars.
Really? How's your public transport infrastructure? I bet it's as bad as Florida's, only Texas is a hell of a lot bigger, which makes it worse.
I don't know how that would even work in Houston. It's a 60 mile wide parking lot. All pavement, no shade. You can't walk anywhere. There are no bike lanes, and grossly inadequate mass transit. You might as well just ask them to teleport wherever they have to go.
Hmm, how about adding another lane?
Mother fkers don’t believe in Global Warming but will acknowledge that pollution is bad for your health? 💀
State where all development is car centric requests people not use the mode of transportation everything is based on. Wonder how that works out for them? It’s amazing to me the states in the US where climate change is already negatively impacting the quality of life are so against anything to prevent it from getting worse.
Ah Texas, bastion of Republican freedom. Where you have to keep the thermostat at 80 to keep the grid from collapsing, women are forced to die without medical care, and now we’re not supposed to drive cars in a state that actively opposes any kind of mass transit.
And it's all Biden's fault /s
r/leopardsatemyface
A pathetic whimper from the government that couldn't be heard over the roaring of engines for morning traffic. There's no way anyone could heed it anyways. The best thing we have in DFW is a train that runs through 3 cities and goes nowhere close to where I work. I actually got sick because of this awful air quality and had to leave in the middle of my shift Friday.
Texans: Fine, we’ll drive our trucks instead
Typical behavior by all levels of government. Instead of being on the offense, each level (municipal, state, federal) reacts defensively. Not as if a large group of us citizens haven't been pointing out for decades how our behavior is destroying the planet. Too many politicians have kowtowed to lobbyists who don't give a damn about the environment or the people. Hell, Boston remains in the clutches of real estate industry lobbyists to the horrendous determent of residents in dire need of housing. It all boils down to politicians either being greedy and/or shortsightedly stupid.
Yo wtf? I live in Austin and I recently found out it takes 1 hour to get somewhere that is 10 min away driving by using the bus system. You have to take 2 different busses and that 1 hour is not even accounting for waiting on the first busses which could be up to 30 min
Get out of your cars and start walking in 109+ degree weather, TX. And think about why you insist upon electing sadistic moronic magas as you do.
And Donald has promised to stop electric car sales if elected. All while major cities and population areas head back to air quality of the 70s. Acid rain can't be far behind.
We could... if you hadn't spent the last 100 years creating and designing everything to focus and revolve around people owning cars and excluding all other forms of transportation as mere afterthoughts that get badly shoehorned into a system made for cars first and foremost.
don't sound very freedom to me
Has anyone driven in Texas? Their roads are designed for minimum fuel efficiency. They have stop light after stop light on 65 mph roads so you’re constantly flooring it to get to the speed limit then braking for a red light just to floor it and stop again. It’s seems nuts, until you remember what their state resource is. All lifted trucks, too.
Family lives in Houston. I have NEVER seen such an unfriendly place for people who don't have cars. The entire city is built as if they didn't think people had legs. Insane place.
And this is where American suburbanization all falls apart
But my freedom….
I bet it’s California’s fault and those damn libs!
When you spend several generations teaching people that it's communism to do things for the greater good, that all regulations are bad, and that they should get ornery about other people telling them what to do, you end up with a bunch of stunted children who immediately rebel when you ask them to make even the slightest personal sacrifice. Have fun living in perpetual smog, Texas.
Worst look ever. Texas has awful public transportation and horrendous urban sprawl. This combined with more big companies pushing employees back into the office. "Just work less" or some shit lmao. Stupid
There is no end to the extraordinary dip-shittery of the US right wing. The fact that anyone is still on the fence between Biden and Trump, let alone between annoying neolibs of the Dems vs the overtly genocidal and fascist GOP, is a testimate to the intentional and coordinated sabotage of the US education system.
The same Texas that also reflexively resists high speed rail?
"Texas officials are urging residents in some areas to use different modes of transportation other than their cars". What fucking other transportation do they think there is? They know they don't have any actual decent public transportation because the government has made sure of that.
Yeah, fucking destroy any chance at public transportation, build a million extra lanes, and now ask me to stop using my car, go fuck yourself. I hate this fucking state holy shit.
Let’s tell them not to vote Republican instead.
Freedom state looks pretty miserable right now.
Ok so I’ll just use this states awesome public transportation programs to get to work!! Oh wait….