@rysiek@mastodon.technology It's almost as if disincentivizing driving was the solution all along. I think there are better ways to do that than the current reasons gas prices are sky high. :)
@rysiek@mastodon.technology Like, take lanes away from cars. Replace them with functional sidewalks and bike paths/lanes. There is a main thoroughfare a couple blocks over here that they did this to a year or two ago. It used to be a 4 lane road with a lot of traffic. Now it is 2 lanes with still quite a lot of traffic but they did a before and after study and it turns out that 90% of trip times down that road didn't change and the 10% that got slower weren't significantly slower. But it made walking/cycling on or around that road MUCH better.
@kelbot @rysiek Sigh, listened to a recording of my council's public consultation on their transport plan this morning. Heard plenty of objections to them favouring public transportation & modeshift from people with limited imagination & faith in society changing.
Meanwhile I reckon bold public infrastructure is our best tool for influencing societal change!
Council seems to be taking this the right way, & I'd be concerned if I didn't hear those gripes!
@kelbot @rysiek Yup! And from what I can tell business owners (including some I relatively-know) are some of the worst this way!
I was also hearing some "EVs will save us!" soon after being in a discussion with one of my groups regarding resource overshoot & energy descent. EVs do seem to stunt imagination, people don't seem to even appreciate how little in the way of public charging they actually need! We don't need to replace gasstations, why'd we want to?
@alcinnz @rysiek@mastodon.technology I also think a lot of people get stuck on needing a 100% replacement for the car centered way of life where you can just drive wherever, whenever without a care in the world. No, we need limits and to have to think about whether you really need to make that trip. More efficient transportation and less unneccessary transportation is what we need. Maybe you don't need to drive your gas guzzer (or your EV) 10 miles on a whim to get a cheeseburger and you can walk or take your ebike to the local corner store for a sandwich instead.
@alcinnz @rysiek@mastodon.technology My town has a plan for improving walking and biking infrastructure and is making improvements. I'm sure plenty of people are complaining about it but thankfully that hasn't stopped them from continuing. It also seems that once changes are made and people see the benefits it might be a little less fight the next time around.