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Location: San Ramon, Seattle, Anchorage, Reykjavik
2,254 posts, read 2,739,837 times
Reputation: 3203
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ziggy100
I admit I give you a lot of flak and it's mostly because, despite your familiarity with your employees in Seattle, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, NYC, DC, etc. those are not where the majority of the country's people live and the majority of the people in those cities don't work for you. Despite what you may think, you come off as really out of touch from reality given your limited experience with a diversity of people in general.
1) The vast majority of Americans don't live in the cities you mention.
2) The vast majority of people in those metropolitan areas don't live downtown, they live in suburbs.
3) The vast majority of people who live downtown in those areas have cars, though in some of those cities, it is more practical and not necessary to actually require one.
4) The vast majority of those people who live downtown, and don't own cars in the cities you've listed only do so for a very limited time in their lives (i.e. before or after kids).
If you spent any amount of time getting to know any other place or any other demographic of people (believe it or not, not everybody designs software or apps or whatever it is you do, and are 24 years old), you'd see the suburban dream is alive and well and thriving and exploding pretty much everywhere. It may not be a good thing, but it is a thing.
Downtowns have made a comeback and are no longer just for crack heads and homeless people, but it isn't for the middle class families it once was at the turn of the century and possibly never will be.
Remember, the discussion is around peak car, not NO car. People make personal choices depending on their situation. And every day more and more people that may buy a car are deciding not to. In the US alone, there were 17.7 million new car sales in 2018. They are expecting 14 million in 2019. Total car ownership is also dropping. Something is changing. Thus the discussion we are having.
Remember, the discussion is around peak car, not NO car. People make personal choices depending on their situation. And every day more and more people that may buy a car are deciding not to. In the US alone, there were 17.7 million new car sales in 2018. They are expecting 14 million in 2019. Total car ownership is also dropping. Something is changing. Thus the discussion we are having.
Another trend I see is where people who used to buy mutilple speciality cars (sports car and SUV for example) are combining features into one vehicle that does both (like a performance SUV). People now use trucks as family haulers instead of dedicated work vehicles.
No tolls. I'm in Tennessee. I don't even think the state would or allow(s) it. I think it's already been tried before. Parking is not expensive in the downtown area of my city. Daily rates range in parking garages from $8-12 and monthly rates range from $75-120 from snooping around some. According to the website for the downtown area in my city, there are over 40,000 parking spaces in the downtown area between surface parking in garages. With only 11k residents in the downtown area and most of the office spaces spread throughout the city/area, parking for the most part a none factor in vehicle ownership. For the few people it does affect, most likely their employer is paying for it anyway.
Location: San Ramon, Seattle, Anchorage, Reykjavik
2,254 posts, read 2,739,837 times
Reputation: 3203
Quote:
Originally Posted by dc1538
No tolls. I'm in Tennessee. I don't even think the state would or allow(s) it. I think it's already been tried before. Parking is not expensive in the downtown area of my city. Daily rates range in parking garages from $8-12 and monthly rates range from $75-120 from snooping around some. According to the website for the downtown area in my city, there are over 40,000 parking spaces in the downtown area between surface parking in garages. With only 11k residents in the downtown area and most of the office spaces spread throughout the city/area, parking for the most part a none factor in vehicle ownership. For the few people it does affect, most likely their employer is paying for it anyway.
$8-12 is not bad. I pay $25/day in Seattle and $66/day in SF to park my car near our buildings. Plus tolls.
Remember, the discussion is around peak car, not NO car. People make personal choices depending on their situation. And every day more and more people that may buy a car are deciding not to. In the US alone, there were 17.7 million new car sales in 2018. They are expecting 14 million in 2019. Total car ownership is also dropping. Something is changing. Thus the discussion we are having.
Most cars in the last 20 years were lasting a long time. Unless wrecked or some catastrophic event killing it cars last a long time with maintenance. Even longer if you fix what breaks.
Some people choose not to buy a car because ride sharing works for them. It just doesn’t work for everyone. It’s asinine to say that we all need to rudeshare because it’s the best thing. It’s not a one size fits all
The story of ONE guy in ONE car-hostile environment does not a trend make.
This guy obviously doesn't understand the character-building qualities of shoveling snow, digging your car out, and commuting in a sardine factory. His loss!
How many of you live in urban areas? If you do, post what you are seeing.
We are millenials. I can see the Boston skyline out of my window. Same skyline the subject of the article lives in. We have three kids. If myself or my wife lose our car for the day....it's a big problem. All three need carsests, and wife and I work 30 min on opposite directions. Needless to say neither of us will probably ever give up having a car.
The majority of the United States does not have public transportation of any kind. Every one has a car, as that is the only type of transportation available.
Go to any parking lot here, and you will find very few cars, they will be 4X4 or AWD SUVs and Pickups being at least 75%. The other day at the grocery store at a slow time there were about 50 plus vehicles in the parking lot, and only one was a car. The exception is during tourist season when the tourists from the coast are going through.
People do keep cars longer today, as they last longer than in the past.
It's called an opportunity cost in economics. It is real, your commute to work is time that you've dedicated to working, that you are not paid for. The longer your commute the more hours you spend "at work", thus relatively the lower your salary, a typical 45 minute commute over a 5 day work week is 30 more hours a month.
That is only if you would be paid in lieu of your time commuting. most people are not, they are not getting compensated for that time at all. You are not at work, you are commuting to and from work. Most people do not get paid for this, and are not considered in a work status when commuting. It is not an opportunity cost unless it is demonstrated they are losing out on something else, in this case, monetary gain.
I see this same BS reasoning with justification for eating out, in that the money they spend eating out "saves" them money because the time they save from preparing their food. Yet never demonstrate they are actually getting paid for this time either way.
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