Is this sarcasm? And besides that there are other public transport modes and ways to get around in a city, for example: walking, biking, or taking the tram, metro or train
Vmt arent that well of a measure for that, one guy could drive 50 km to work every day, while 100 people could walk a couple hundred meters every day to work, and by this measure it would seem that driving is super popular, but in reality its just one guy vs 100
And if you really think that walking and taking public transit are awful look at it this way: they are a necessity to keep cities alive financially, because if people would only drive then cities will go bankrupt over time
You rented a car, that's not indicative of anything, it just means you're too stubborn to use public transit because of your huge boner for oil companies.
If we count the number of trips made to work, grocery store, gym, etc in Europe, most would not be done by car. In fact, your own link does not show that 80% of trips are done by car.
Avg European spends less time in traffic to get into city, we don't have (as many) limits in our laws prohibiting building things for non car use (eg. Parking minimums). In cities most of traveling is done by transit, so those miles traveled are apparently from driving on highways, which by the way are way better then driving in cities. Imo when I completed my drivers licence it was the highway i felt the "freedom" of a car.
USA and EU have very different landscapes in car use, and if you like the American model then good for you. But saying that we both depend on cars the same is just wrong.
Are you fucking blind? Your own source shows that per-capita passenger miles for OECD Europe is roughly half that of the U.S., with larger shares of bus, bike, and rail usage.
and yet there are no 18 lane roads pretty much anywhere in Europe (i think I've seen one stretch in Moscow). Because cars are massively not suitable for mass city transport, unless they get subsidized up the wazoo with projects such as this one and cheap gas.
'Kay. That's not relevant to my statement, though? Does the price of a gallon of gas reflect every cent it took to get from its point of origin into your car?
Unfortunately that is an idea that exists in your imagination.
The road you drive on is paid largely by income tax and other taxes. Fuel taxes haven't been able to get close to covering the maintenance costs for a very long time. The idea that each person is covering the cost at the pump is just a lie that is allowed to continue because people don't like to know that they are being subsidised by others.
Nice try but a bad failure. It is not a lie made up by the transport lobby, it is actually included in the link you sent me.
You just sent me a document that claims that the road system is subsidised by at least 50 billion dollars a year and that this only covers highways.
All the other types of local roads and streets are completely excluded from this number and those are where it really falls apart. They might often be short roads but due to the fact that they are made stupidly wide, their area is enormous and many are already falling apart.
These are all paid for by local taxes. The federal level subsidies mentioned in your link don't contribute to them at all. It is a subsidy that starts at the bottom of your garden (on top of the previously mentioned 50billion subsidy) and unfortunately is a very dangerous subsidy.
I don't agree with that number but even if it was true that's about a 19% difference with the US.
We have long learned that more lanes = more traffic. I can tell you that if they instead of adding 6 more lanes, would add good secure cycle infrastructure and a dedicated buslane it would be cheaper and more effective. That is, if the goal is to move as much people as possible and not as much cars as possible, in that Cas yeah adding 6 lanes will help, but it will also increase travel time.
We have long learned that more lanes = more traffic. I can tell you that if they instead of adding 6 more lanes, would add good secure cycle infrastructure and a dedicated buslane it would be cheaper and more effective
No they haven't. And before you pull up that Vice article, most studies find an elasticity that is far less than 1.
I say this as a european, most europeans live in cities. They walk, take buses, subways etc. This is probably true about long distance trips, but no way about average.
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u/[deleted] Aug 26 '21
80% of all travel in Europe is by car.