this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2024
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Yea, these are some of the hardest things we need to address to make non-driving more popular in North America - overseas the increased density lends itself a lot more naturally to public transit.
Australian manages pretty good urban public transport, with a much lower density than the US
(Our rural public transport effectively doesn't exist though)
I don't know much about Australia, what forms public transportation are implemented over there?
Hope you're having a good day :)
Our biggest cities normally have bus and train. About half of them have some sort of light rail/tram equivalent too. The coverage isn't completely comprehensive, so it's possible to find suburbs that don't have great coverage, but by and large, it's pretty good. Footpaths and bicycle paths are common too. The cycling infrastructure is often gappy, so you on commutes etc, you can find yourself navigating spaces without dedicated cycling infrastructure, but generally, you can get a good portion of a cycle commute on dedicated bike spaces. The only roads without a pedestrian corridor of some sort are generally major highways
In our smaller and medium cities, the trains are normally inter city, not local, so they're not so much use as public transport, but there are generally buses, though with less coverage. Good pedestrian infrastructure even in smaller cities though. It's harder to survive in smaller cities without a car, but possible.
Once you get out of smaller cities and in to towns and villages though, it gets harder again.
Thanks for the reply! I hope someday the US gets there :)
Melbourne has the world's largest tram (streetcar) system!
My town (sort of- it’s a bunch or merged towns) finally got its actual grocery store back! That sort of thing is such a big deal to micromobility and public transit.
It closed down like a decade ago and we’ve had this discount merchant that nobody goes to because it’s real junk ripe with dollar store shrinkfkation issues, and if you can afford to go elsewhere, you do, and a few overpriced small town grocers that charge 2-5x what a regular grocer does.
The closest real grocery was 25 minutes by car on the highway going 70 for most of the trip. The re-opened grocery is 21 minutes by human-powered bike, assuming fitness (no, but working on it).
So now that that’s an option again, I have an actual excuse to get a cheap e-bike for shopping for fresh produce (that’s what’s most pricy at the small town gougers). I already have a nice detachable basket for shopping, so it’s the perfect out-of-house regular activity. Maybe weekly instead of monthly grocery trips. I’ll eat better, and for less overall.
Especially since I just paid 3k to fix the transmission on my car (😭😭😭). Sadly I’m rural enough I need the car, but if I don’t have to use it, I win.