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How is this different from having to walk to each of those different locations to perform a the simple tasks? It's not just autocentric design that's scattered destinations across wide swatch of the city; economic factors also weigh in. For instance, my credit union moved from downtown Cincinnati to a commercial/industrial neighborhood near downtown for cheap rent. If I lived downtown, I'd have to make a special trip via bus to get to the credit union. Doesn't matter if it's via bus or car, it's still a special trip. I couldn't stop for milk and Tylenol on the way.
Oh, and you can pick up milk and Tylenol in the same location in the 'burbs thanks to those big ol' sprawling supermarkets; my bank even has a branch at my favorite grocery store. So that's just one trip ... which I make on my way home from work, when the car's already up and running.
In terms of a person with a car no difference. However if for some reason you can’t drive cities are often a better option. I personally don’t like what that town did to that normal main street (turned it into an outdoor mall). I think what it had before was much better from a functionality standpoint.
One of my grandparents lost the ability to drive, but with public transit and walkable streets she could keep a degree of independence.She and her best friend would take the bus downtown, take the bus to visit friends in an nursing home and get around on her own. She could walk to the grocery store to pickup an odd item if she wanted to and not need anyone’s help. I personally didn’t want her doing it cause it was an rough area and I would have preferred to drive her but losing the ability to drive might have put her down, but she was no where near out.
However what grates me is the faux urbanism that the OP seems to like. There is no public transit and the “densification” didn’t address or help bring it to the area in the future(i.e. It made it harder to serve). You need to drive to this spot just like an suburban mall (which likewise were all about walkability….just walkability indoors). It’s all about bikes but no busses (too slow/ghetto). All about street cars but again little intrests in a simple bus system. All about being anti-car without realizing that the car is an important aspect of society that isn’t going to go away. All about people wanting to live in small apartments(when in reality people prefera little more space). And all about the glitz of an city but not the less glitzy but just as needed functionality of it. It puts form too far ahead of function.
My guess is your credit union moved to a commercial/industrial area for cheaper rent because it has a drive thru window. Drive thru windows take up lots of real estate which is more expensive downtown. See post below. Remember when banks and restaurants were designed for people, not cars?
They can be smartly designed for BOTH. Sidewalk or access to one in front, parking lot to the side or back of the building. Drive tru's don't take a lot of real estate but do make the building much more useful to people who have other things to do than linger in an spot.
They can be smartly designed for BOTH. Sidewalk or access to one in front, parking lot to the side or back of the building. Drive tru's don't take a lot of real estate but do make the building much more useful to people who have other things to do than linger in an spot.
I'm not particularly bothered by drive-thrus, but I never saw them as much of a convenience, especially if there's a wait, the time savings is negligible.
I'm not particularly bothered by drive-thrus, but I never saw them as much of a convenience, especially if there's a wait, the time savings is negligible.
In hindsight I think one of the low points of our cultural history will be the point that corporations realized we are too fat and lazy to get out of our cars to eat. They could now increase their profit margins by herding us thru like cattle, but with us providing the vehicle. No longer would the customer enter the premises, use the facilities or dirty a plate or table.
Doesn't Las Vegas have drive up wedding chapels?
Agreed, though if the stores are clustered close enough together, a walkable street can be more convenient, at least for non-bulky items. And to me, feel more friendly and attractive than stores scattered in strip malls and devoid of people on the street. The worst I can remember was a few spots back in my hometown where getting to the stores across the street was unsafe, and it was more practical to drive.
Quote:
One of my grandparents lost the ability to drive, but with public transit and walkable streets she could keep a degree of independence.She and her best friend would take the bus downtown, take the bus to visit friends in an nursing home and get around on her own. She could walk to the grocery store to pickup an odd item if she wanted to and not need anyone’s help. I personally didn’t want her doing it cause it was an rough area and I would have preferred to drive her but losing the ability to drive might have put her down, but she was no where near out.
which is why I thought this previous post was silly, though I was trying to ignore it earlier:
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Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz
Now if you're a woman who wants to avoid getting harassed by men on the bus/subway, or if you have babies to take care of, or if you're disabled or elderly... well, just stay put in your apartment. We don't care about you. Cities exist solely for young men who want to have the option to bar crawl right outside their doorway.
Forgot those who can't (or won't) drive. And as to women getting harassed on public transit, yes I understand they do have safety worries than men (from real differences as well as just perception — women, especially compared to younger men, often just pay more attention to safety concerns rather than believe they're invincible), but plenty take transit in daytime and early evening/night hours without get harassed or in fear of getting harassed.
Quote:
However what grates me is the faux urbanism that the OP seems to like.
The OP's posts aren't always the most realistic IMO, and often seems unaware of how actual dense, walkable neighborhoods function.
In hindsight I think one of the low points of our cultural history will be the point that corporations realized
we are too fat and lazy to get out of our cars to eat. They could now increase their profit margins by herding us thru like cattle, but with us providing the vehicle. No longer would the customer enter the premises, use the facilities or dirty a plate or table. Doesn't Las Vegas have drive up wedding chapels?
I am different, I think drive thru's are useful modern inventions that have an place and an use. It allows you to pick up the food and take it somewhere else to eat(like home). Drive thru ATMS as well as banking windows very useful when you are not doing an complex transaction. Drive thru pharmacy perfect when you need to pick up something on the way to do something else or drop off an prescription.
There is even an sort of drive thru furneral chappel in my area where you can pay your respects to the dead. Not for family usually but for other people who are not as close to the deceased.
And people do enter resturants to eat, but if you have kids or an family and didn't have time to cook the drive thru is great, you can easily bring home enough food for the family without bringing the familly. On the way to work or have a short lunch break likewise. It eleminates the time you would have taken to park, walk to the store(and sometimes way back to where the the item is and out).
There is even an sort of drive thru furneral chappel in my area where you can pay your respects to the dead. Not for family usually but for other people who are not as close to the deceased.
I had no idea! Things are much worse than I imagined.
I guess with driveby shootings, driveby funerals were the next logical step.
So the only obstacle to someone going their whole life without getting out of their car, is a drivethru bathroom.
I had no idea! Things are much worse than I imagined.
I guess with driveby shootings, driveby funerals were the next logical step.
So the only obstacle to someone going their whole life without getting out of their car, is a drivethru bathroom.
People already do that with resturant bathrooms, park run to the bathroom run back out to your car(and only sometimes stop and buy something). The world where housewives stayed home and cooked, people rode street cars,and neigbhoorhood stores delivered to your house is gone. The car gives humanity much more mobility and ability to get from point a to b than was present before and so the enviroment changes a bit to enhance it. Heck there once were fountains for horses in towns!
When I was a kid one fun thing was going to the Drive in(they are now all gone) to see a movie. Cities and people adapt to new technology.
So the only obstacle to someone going their whole life without getting out of their car, is a drivethru bathroom.
Modern cars are not very comfortable to sleep in, and, as the demise of the drive-in theater has proven, not very comfortable to watch a movie in, either. A subcompact is a whole different animal from Dad's 1966 Ford station wagon.
Modern cars are not very comfortable to sleep in, and, as the demise of the drive-in theater has proven, not very comfortable to watch a movie in, either. A subcompact is a whole different animal from Dad's 1966 Ford station wagon.
I've managed once, though it was a midsize sedan not a subcompact.
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