That's one of the big problem with unwalkable cities, yeah. In Amsterdam, if you're poor you don't have to buy a car. Bikes are way cheaper than a beater car.
In the US, we've decided to design nearly all cities and towns to make life impractical if you don't have a car. Just another way we fuck over poor people.
I see people who can't afford a car trying to make it using an e-bike or a cheap scooter. Where I live, scooters are allowed to get up to 32mph, and e-bikes are limited to 20mph. That can make for a long, rough commute in any place except urban settings (where you have a fighting chance at public transportation), 55+ communities where everyone drives golf carts, or resorts, where traffic is usually painfully slow to begin with.
And if someone can't afford a car, and they live within a car-centric area of the world, and they can't afford to move?
Maybe they make a gamble and buy a car with the hope it will be an investment, and provide them with more income…
But when interest rates have been at near zero for over a decade, and now they have shot up - it could upset quite a lot of finances!
That's one of the big problem with unwalkable cities, yeah. In Amsterdam, if you're poor you don't have to buy a car. Bikes are way cheaper than a beater car.
In the US, we've decided to design nearly all cities and towns to make life impractical if you don't have a car. Just another way we fuck over poor people.
I see people who can't afford a car trying to make it using an e-bike or a cheap scooter. Where I live, scooters are allowed to get up to 32mph, and e-bikes are limited to 20mph. That can make for a long, rough commute in any place except urban settings (where you have a fighting chance at public transportation), 55+ communities where everyone drives golf carts, or resorts, where traffic is usually painfully slow to begin with.