The Anti-Car Thread

[Hitcore]

1000 bicycles.... as a Dutch person: peanuts!
Lo and behold:



With virtually no car parking spaces. And it works. But us Dutchies have a bicycle culture that's like no other. Though I understand how this concept can be problematic for the Cambridge South station. What may work for Dutch places, doesn't necessarily have to work for UK places.

An interesting thread, I've only noticed it just now. I'm off to work soon and I'll be very busy the next couple of days, but when I have more time I'll catch up with it and formulate a nuanced post about the anti-car narrative that's being pushed.

 

[Geffers]

For many it is impracticable to cycle, things to carry for work etc., plus clothing in adverse weather.

We are going through an era where the establishment are coercing people away from cars.

Underwater cycle parking, that is interesting....

 

[Retro]

With virtually no car parking spaces. And it works. But us Dutchies have a bicycle culture that's like no other. Though I understand how this concept can be problematic for the Cambridge South station. What may work for Dutch places, doesn't necessarily have to work for UK places.

My reply is pretty much the same as what @Geffers has said. Besides, it's the overall freedom to get around for other reasons like seeing friends that makes a big difference and anywhere else I wanna go, for any reason, which might not even be possible without it.

A really excellent one is doing the mundane food shopping. Trying that using the bus is a pita in the extreme, to the point where I would just buy it all online nowadays instead, although it's hardly ideal for grocery shopping, especially for fresh, perishable foods. Having the car makes it so much easier to get to and from the supermarket, buy way more than I could carry directly, just dump the several bags of shopping in the back seat, then park at home and bring them through the front door. I can make more than one trip to the car if there's a lot of shopping, too.

Therefore, the last thing I want is some government busybody like Sadiq Khan forcing me out of my car with punitive charges to satisfy some dodgy agenda of his, like ULEZ.

@Mars I know you'll agree with this.

 

[Geffers]

Society has changed incredibly, I recall as a lad in the 50s (yes, I am that old) my Nan used to often send me shopping for just a loaf of bread or just 1lb of potatoes. Of course back then most local shops had a butcher, baker, greengrocer etc so most general food items available, not such a vast choice though. People back then shopped daily rather than as we do now, generally a week's shop.

 

[Mars]

@Retro you bet I agree.
It's not only the impracticality of it, as @Geffers has correctly pointed out; or the mundane little trip to the supermarket. It is the curtailing of our personal and individual liberties, this is what grinds so much.
Talking about Big Brother....it is no longer fiction: telling you what you can and cannot do.
Having a car is, by definition, a pass to freedom; you come and go as you please, when you feel like it; you insure it, fill her up, and off you go.
But with the draconian measures imposed upon us, this wonderful pass is in danger. In danger of being replaced by a......Bloody Bus Pass. To hell with them!

Our freedoms are being eroded, and this is what I find so utterly frustrating.

 

[Retro]

Yes, that's it, Mars, the Big Brother aspect of it which I could have said better. Gets me just the same as you.

 

[Retro]

Another classic anti-car trick, this time by rabidly anti-car Bristol city council.

This one's a "bus gate" engineered to encourage motorists to break the rules and get slapped with a fine, leading to massive profits for the council.

A “money trap” bus lane must be improved after drivers were fined well over £1million in six months, a tribunal judge has ruled.

Bristol city council made £7,400 a day from the section of Cumberland Road between Jan 1 and May 14 last year.

The lane, known as a bus gate, offers buses, bicycles and taxis access to a section of Cumberland Road that is closed to other vehicles.

If a car goes through the bus gate, the driver is given a penalty charge notice (PCN) at a cost of £35. This doubles after two weeks.

‘Money trap’ bus lane must be improved after more than £1m fines in six months, judge rules

A “money trap” bus lane must be improved after drivers were fined well over £1million in six months, a tribunal judge has ruled.

uk.news.yahoo.com

 

[Geffers]

Blue signs are mandatory, there should be a clear prohibition sign (maybe there is further back) if cars are not permitted. Councils try their luck with signs sometimes on the assumption that most will reluctantly pay rather than risk court to fight the penalty.

 

[Geffers]

Another unintended consequence of battery vehicles, apparently their extra weight may be too much for the safety crash barriers on our roads.

 

[Mars]

Another unintended consequence of battery vehicles, apparently their extra weight may be too much for the safety crash barriers on our roads.

No one ever mentions this, when they sing the praises of EVs; electric cars are in and that's it. And when you come to park your car, they penalize you for the audacity of still using petrol or-God forbid- diesel!

 

[Retro]

or-God forbid- diesel!

Indeed, diesel is the antichrist, don'tcha know?

Yeah, exactly.

 

[Retro]

This isn't so much anti-car as apathy and money causing problems for motorists. Perhaps just make the cars smaller?

I've experienced the annoying issue of having parked properly in a bay when some large car or SUV parks next to me on the driver's side, making it really difficult to get in my car. A couple of times there was no way to get in without letting my door touch theres and leave a little mark or dent as I literally had to squeeze in. In fact that asshole hadn't even parked centrally in the bay, but was over to my side, causing the problem to be so bad. And no, getting in from the other side wasn't an option.

Finding a car parking space can be stressful enough. But filling that space – and many cars literally fill a bay these days – only elicits the next challenge: getting out without damaging either your own or neighbouring cars.

While it might seem like car parking spaces are getting smaller, the problem is that cars have grown hugely while parking bays haven’t expanded to match them – since 1976. That could be about to change, but will it make any difference?

Ballooning car sizes are making parking impossible (and bigger bays won’t help)

Finding a car parking space can be stressful enough. But filling that space – and many cars literally fill a bay these days – only elicits the next challenge: getting out without damaging either your own or neighbouring cars.

uk.news.yahoo.com

 

[Geffers]

Guess the more inconvenient they make using a car the less people will use them. More space then for Rollers, Mercs, Beemers etc

 

[Retro]

If you had any doubt that those annoying 20mph limits are about screwing people out of money rather than improving safety, this video clarifies it nicely.

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[Geffers]

The problem is - Governments (local or National) need money, they bleed people dry and then when eventually that source dries up something else gets taxed. Just a few short years back the selling point for electric cars was cheap annual tax and charging costs, as they lost revenue from ICE cars then tax had to increase on electrics. When people cannot afford to run cars the public transport will increase in price.

The amounts owed by Governments are colossal, they talk in trillions now for many things, most people have little idea as to the enormity of a trillion.

60 seconds = one minute
86400 seconds = one day
Trillion seconds = 30 THOUSAND YEARs (plus a wee bit more)

UK owes around 3 trillion so if a bank clerk were to start counting 3 trillion pound coins, don't stop for a wee, don't stop for a sandwich, don't go to sleep, just count, see you in around a hundred thousand years US would be close on a million years, let that sink in.

Geffers