When I took public transit into Cambridge this morning, I helped 2 people lift strollers onto the bus, and offered my seat on the subway to a man carrying a sleeping toddler. People can get around this area without cars (or with one car for 2 or 3 adults), with careful choice of housing, job, and childcare arrangements.
What makes people live without cars, or decide to use them less, are better public transit. And more options for housing, jobs, and childcare NEAR public transit. Flexibility is critical--adults change jobs and take evening classes at a university across town, children are taken to daycare and later to school. It can help a lot to see how other people commute successfully without cars, or to have assistance arranging occasional rides. (With carpools, rentals, or something like Zipcar.) I don't think mockery helps at all.
There are people who live in pedestrian-hostile, bike-hostile, public-transit-hostile cities. They have NO CLUE it is possible for an independent adult to function without driving. These people are not necessarily enemies.
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What makes people live without cars, or decide to use them less, are better public transit. And more options for housing, jobs, and childcare NEAR public transit. Flexibility is critical--adults change jobs and take evening classes at a university across town, children are taken to daycare and later to school. It can help a lot to see how other people commute successfully without cars, or to have assistance arranging occasional rides. (With carpools, rentals, or something like Zipcar.) I don't think mockery helps at all.
There are people who live in pedestrian-hostile, bike-hostile, public-transit-hostile cities. They have NO CLUE it is possible for an independent adult to function without driving. These people are not necessarily enemies.