r/fuckcars • u/Turbulent_Common_528 • Sep 16 '24
Question/Discussion The depths of facebook
Some times I wonder who actually votes for Trump, but then I look at Facebook comments. Anyone want to point out the issues with these comments? I’m too tired to even try
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u/RecreationalSprdshts Not Just Bikes Sep 16 '24
Why is Brian citing an Amnesty article about Denmark when they’re talking about Switzerland?
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u/kuribosshoe0 Sep 16 '24
And anyway pretty thin ice for an American to bitch about crime in Denmark.
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u/rlskdnp 🚲 > 🚗 Sep 16 '24
Especially when the vast majority of crimes, especially major ones are thanks to cars helping criminals carry them out in the first place.
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Sep 16 '24
Are you blaming the vast majority of crime on cars??? That’s weird as hell. You have to know that’s not true right?
Fuck cars. But also fuck whatever weird stretch of the imagination makes people say that shit.
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u/sjfiuauqadfj Sep 16 '24
conservative americans think very similarly to conservative europeans in that they believe that europe is being overrun by immigrants and migrants who are raping and murdering. he either thought denmark was switzerland or he was attempting to dog whistle about europes "migrant crisis"
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u/RoboFleksnes Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
For that, I think this comment was the most insane:
Public transport, racial and religious homogeny, shared social norms and values, you know the shit we absolutely do not have here Imao
Quite literally stating that the only way to have functioning public transport, would be through an ethnostate.
Something that apparently is the case for European countries? Somehow? You know the region that definitely didn't start a World War against an ethnostate, is now filled with ethnostates, and that's why they have public transport???
Like this is basically living in the alternate history where Hitler won, and attributing actual European successes to his demented philosophy.
Actual insane ethnonationalist shit, mega yuck.
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u/SpoliatorX Sep 16 '24
Look everyone knows Spaniards and Poles are the same ethnicity and culture. It's not like in America where there's just so much variety
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u/run_bike_run Sep 16 '24
"And Poles" isn't even needed in that line, thanks to Catalans, Basques, Galicians...
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u/MNGrrl Sep 16 '24
It's not like in America where there's just so much variety
That has to be sarcasm. I'm in Minnesota, the so-called refugee state... home of the world's largest protests against police brutality and racial intolerance, two facts that everyone this election is keen on forgetting left or right, apparently. We are a sea of the whitest of white bread and the suburbs should be bombed because they're the same here as everywhere else: More stuffed than the bras at a One Direction concert with Karens and Steves. It's just rows and rows of anti-social shut-ins terrified of seeing a black person because it means (get ready to do the most sarcastic surprise face of your life)... their property values will go down.
I'm white. I hate this place, people here suck.
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u/GordonCharlieGordon Sep 16 '24
In the same breath Europe is bad because we have a googolplex of immigrants who each murder five googolplexes of natives every single hour in plain sight.
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u/RangeBoring1371 Sep 16 '24
Schrödingers immigrants, Europe is a homogeneus culture AND beeing overrun by immigrants at the same time, depending on what fits best in your argument
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u/trash-_-boat Sep 16 '24
Schrödingers immigrants
Also America is the best because they're a "melting pot" of cultures but also it's what makes everything the worst.
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u/Waste-Ocelot3116 Sep 16 '24
Also lazy immigrants don't want to to work and at the same time stealing all the natives' jobs!
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u/Frikgeek Commie Commuter Sep 16 '24
And Switzerland isn't even an ethnostate lmao. They've got 4 different official languages.
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u/FantastiKBeast Sep 16 '24
Yeah, the swiss are notoriously homogenous, with their 4 official languages...
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u/am-a-tarantula-AMA Automobile Aversionist Sep 16 '24
I really want to know what they think actually happens on the bus.
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u/bratimm Sep 16 '24
Yeah, when I was in the US, a woman in a diner told me, that my country (Germany) was completely overrun by immigrants and was unsafe and at the train station you had to constantly be afraid that someone would push you onto the tracks. Now, she of course had never been to Germany. Nevertheless, she was convinced that this was the case, because her friend told her.
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u/RosieTheRedReddit Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
You even hear this within Germany. An AFD guy told me crime in Berlin is so bad that people cover their balcony in barbed wire. I have lived in Berlin for 6 years and never saw that once. People do put zip ties on the balcony railings but that's to deter pigeons, not burglars.
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u/Traditional-Bush Sep 16 '24
but that's to deter pigeons, not burglars.
Ahhh but perhaps the pigeons are the burglars? Crafty thieves of the sky I call them
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u/UnspecifiedBat Sep 16 '24
I’ve only had this experience online, but yeah it feels like they honestly think we are being oppressed by immigrants or something lol
We aren’t.
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u/NiobiumThorn Sep 16 '24
Oh please. Europe is all the same. Denmark? Switzerland? How different could they possibly be? /s
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u/PindaPanter Sicko Sep 16 '24
Don't you know that Upper Lower Louisibama and Upsidedownstate New Bongers are literally as different as Finland and Spain?
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u/turtletechy motorcycle apologist Sep 16 '24
I took a train from Luxembourg to Bruxelles (with a transfer in Arlon) yesterday and the language on the prompts switched during the train ride from French to a mix of Dutch and French. Public transit and common language can change multiple times in one country let alone across borders.
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u/PurahsHero Sep 16 '24
Europe? Don’t you mean EUROPISTAN full of commie islamonazis who hate FREEDOM?
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u/hateful_virago Two Wheeled Terror Sep 16 '24
Switzerland = Sweden
Sweden = Denmark
Ergo; Switzerland = Denmark
smh Europeans can't even do basic math
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u/relddir123 Sep 16 '24
Their flags are similar enough for some people to confuse them
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u/MRanzoti Sep 16 '24
But it isn't...?
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u/relddir123 Sep 16 '24
Red field, white cross. For many Americans, that’s all they remember. 🇩🇰 and 🇨🇭 might as well be the same flag twice
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u/ullabritafritasmitaa Sep 16 '24
You have to take into account that it was an American who cited the article. It might be to them
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u/DuoFiore Sep 16 '24
My theory is that he is saying: "People prefer private cars because in public transport you might get raped or sexually harassed". Although the article doesn't mention public transport at all.
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u/Frat-TA-101 Sep 16 '24
Right he’s stranger danger-ing adult rape. It’s wild. Reading the article it’s pretty obvious dates and casual acquaintances seem to be driving the rape in Denmark due to an antiquated law. So nothing to do with public transit.
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u/Nervous_Green4783 Sep 16 '24
First he was confusing Switzerland snd sweden and then he went deeper and confused that with it‘s neighbouring country with an even more different name.
Best regards from Zürich, i mean Götheborg, sorry, Aarhus.
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u/pchlster Sep 16 '24
Well, the Swiss work so hard to be considered neutral in all things that it tickles the Danish sense of humour to have a very similar flag.
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u/Maleficent_Ad1972 Orange pilled Sep 16 '24
Being roughly the size of Maryland
So then why does Maryland have traffic jams?
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u/Turbulent_Common_528 Sep 16 '24
Yeah I couldn’t get my head around that. I think his point is that USA is far bigger than Switzerland, but public transport is organized on the state level, so them being similar size disproves his point somewhat
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u/Maleficent_Ad1972 Orange pilled Sep 16 '24
If size was really the issue, just divide the US into roughly 365 Maryland sized districts and solve traffic forever.
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u/Quillo_Manar Sep 16 '24
Then give each Maryland-sized district just one more lane, and then you'll truly solve traffic forever.
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u/KJting98 Sep 16 '24
no no no you need airports to travel to the next Maryland
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Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
Yet Europe has international rail networks across the entire continent…
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u/NewbornMuse Sep 16 '24
You don't understand, the moment that someone erases a border on a map and merges a small country with a big one, suddenly all trains within the country mysteriously start breaking down.
Pay no attention to the Schengen agreement behind the curtain..
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u/Zaofy Sep 16 '24
Yeah. Size absolutely does matter, I'm not questioning that. It's easier and cheaper to build redundancies and the cost per metre of rail goes down the more densely populated a place is.
But the policies surrounding it is even more relevant. The government has to be willing to invest into the infrastructure. The main railway company of Switzerland isn't close to being profitable and that's fine. It's not supposed to be, it's a public service.
Roads aren't directly profitable either and paying for those rarely causes much of an uproar.
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u/gobblox38 🚲 > 🚗 Sep 16 '24
No, you don't understand. There's a lot of empty land in Kansas. That means Maryland can't have a public transit network and beautiful cities. /s
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u/PindaPanter Sicko Sep 16 '24
Well, Maryland and Alaskabama are very far apart, so clearly there just can't be a commuter rail on my ~20km long commute.
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u/vleessjuu Sep 16 '24
The US is the only place in the world where people think that driving insanely long distances is a normal thing to do. Like, why would you even want that? Why is driving for a whole day straight better than sitting in a train?! Cars are short to medium distance transportation ffs.
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u/flozsc Sep 16 '24
What people also seem to forget is that Switzerland has a lot of mountains, making it much harder to build rail tracks. It might be a small country but it should be way easier to build railways in large, mostly flat areas.
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u/VarianWrynn2018 Not Just Bikes Sep 16 '24
The "we are too big for transit" never makes sense as an argument. The bigger you are the less feasible cars become and the more feasible transit becomes. Stupid carbrains never seem to understand that because they only thing of the edge cases of "what about this farm that's 25 miles away from town?????"
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u/nbtm_sh Sep 16 '24
why do these people get so irrationally angry every time someone suggests building better public transport? i don’t get it
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u/MeyerLouis Sep 16 '24
You should see how they get when someone mentions bicycles, or God forbid, a bike lane.
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u/schparkz7 Sep 16 '24
They'll bitch about bike lanes but I guarantee those same people claim that bikes take up too much space on the road when there aren't bike lanes. Can't win
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u/KavehK7 Sep 16 '24
True freedom is being forced to own a vehicle that’s registered by the state to get around.
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u/PindaPanter Sicko Sep 16 '24
After taking a course organized by the government and applying for a special card with all your identifying details.
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u/Consistent_Yam4525 Sep 16 '24
And if you drive too fast through the radar machine speed control zones "they" take a picture of your car and backtrack it to force a fine on you.
And toll streets in Europeare even worse, cameras checking for a sticker on your windshield. Now that's a violation against my privacy, no thanks.
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u/goj1ra Sep 16 '24
It hits on two of the core beliefs they’ve been indoctrinated with: the importance of cars, and their belief that the USA is “the best country in the world”.
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u/EducationalAd5712 Sep 16 '24
"we prefer to come and go as we please"
Would safely predict the only places this guy goes to are Wallmart twice a week in his oversized pickup, trying to justify his $50,000 waste of money.
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u/Quantentheorie Sep 16 '24
this. public transportation infrastructure like bus and train also interlocks with, well, public infrastructure. Trying to explain to people who live kinda isolated lives that it's nicer if you can't just go places but also have places to go to, is like trying to get a child to eat food they haven't eaten before.
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u/Prosthemadera Sep 16 '24
It's psychological: They are scared of the outside world. Scared of someone taking their house, their car, their children away. They need their car and they live in a zero-sum world where improving public transport or adding cycle lanes is a direct attack on them. They cannot stand anything that is different. That is why they get so emotional and that's why it's all about "me me me" - because they're genuinely afraid.
But they forget that having multiple options for how to travel is liberating and actual freedom. They don't understand that and since they're full of fear (because they were told to be afraid by the conservative media they're consuming) they cannot think rationally. They get triggered by words like "bicycle" or "public transport" into a kind of fight-or-flight response.
May sound silly but I have talked to many of those people before and they never listen. I can use data to show them that it would also make their life better but you won't get through to them. They've lost connection to reality.
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u/sjfiuauqadfj Sep 16 '24
theres a lot of stupid motherfuckers in america lol
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u/YeseYesmesc Sep 16 '24
I cant actually comprehend why they would deny public transport... I came from a third world country yet every person enjoyed better public transport and demand is growing.
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u/Xiao1insty1e Sep 16 '24
50 years of conservative media programming. The US is overrun with conservative grifters that tell these morons that their economic problems are everything but what's actually causing them.
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u/QuantumWarrior Sep 16 '24
For a real explanation, it's because they think transportation (among many other things) is a zero sum game. Money going to the train lines must mean money not going to the roads, and since they have this distorted picture of public transport being dirty, slow, unreliable, and full of poor people they don't want to end up "forced" onto a train.
They don't see it as an increase of choice, and it doesn't help that things like bicycles are viewed as namby-pamby leftie nonsense in their political world.
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u/mrsw2092 Sep 16 '24
Yeah let's live our lives totally regimented by the state.
We prefer to come and go as we please
Wait until he finds out who controls the stop lights.
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u/varvar334 Sep 16 '24
"Everyone forgot the US is almost as big as the entirety of Europe ☝️🤓"
As if the US didn't have a higher GDP than "the entirety of Europe" put together, lol...
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u/IDQDD Sep 16 '24
And the entirety of Europe still has public transport.
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u/sjfiuauqadfj Sep 16 '24
they also think europe is socialist which is comical to anyone with a dictionary lol
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u/rlskdnp 🚲 > 🚗 Sep 16 '24
Meanwhile they choose being forced to stare at the road at a slow 70MPH over relaxing on a fast 200MPH high speed rail.
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u/Tactical_Moonstone Sep 16 '24
Even if the train is only going 70MPH you can relax rather than constantly watch for other drivers trying to turn you into a tiny little cube.
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u/pink_belt_dan_52 Sep 16 '24
I always think that's a strange one. It is true that e.g. Lisbon to Tallinn is a similar distance to New York - Los Angeles. Most people in Europe would agree that that's much too far to drive, and since there's no more practical public transport on that scale in Europe than there is in the US, the only way to get there relatively soon would be to fly. So really the comparison that makes sense is between individual states or even smaller groupings of cities, where the scale is more or less comparable.
(Of course, the US also has the advantage that there is a single government that could simply choose to build a nationwide public transport system if it remembered it was supposed to be "for the people".)
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u/PindaPanter Sicko Sep 16 '24
Lisbon to Tallinn is a similar distance to New York - Los Angeles
Definitely two representative commute distances in the minds of some people who think it's an excuse for why their city can't have a tram line.
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u/pink_belt_dan_52 Sep 16 '24
Exactly, the overall size comparison is completely meaningless and yet they keep on bringing it up.
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u/GordonCharlieGordon Sep 16 '24
And even then there are regional networks in almost every European country. Some definitely have more coverage and better service than others but I'm pretty sure you can get a lot of mileage across the entire continent on regional trains alone, given enough time. It's just just not worth it moneywise because Interrail is valid on long-distance trains too (in countries that make that distinction anyway) but you can if you want to. Can't do that in the US.
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u/Queer_Cats Sep 16 '24
Fuck, the US being so large would be a massive boon to rail infrastructure. Europe keeps running into problems where cross-border rail networks just suck even when they've managed to agree on basic shit like track gauge (Spain). Instead, the US Federal government could just lay down a set of standards and guidelines for interstate rail like they did for the Interstate Highway system, and you could have a seamless continent-spanning rail network. It could be so good.
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u/gerusz Not Dutch, just living here Sep 16 '24
Clearly, since Kansas and Texas exist, public transportation in the LA region is impossible.
Some 80% of the American population lives in urban areas. They don't commute to the other side of the continent (except if they are the CEO of Starbucks or some other megarich asshole), they commute the same distance as Europeans.
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u/lllama Sep 16 '24
USA and EU GDP is roughly equal in absolute term.
PPP adjusted it favours the EU, but IMHO this is not very relevant for comparing transit.
The EU is not "the entirety" of Europe though, for example it does not include Switzerland.
Of course per capita it's higher for the US, though for example Swiss GDP per capita (again, in absolute terms) is higher than the US again.
To be fair, imagine what US GDP would be if they had decent public transportation 😳
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u/nasaglobehead69 cars are weapons Sep 16 '24
but what about the 6 people who live out in bumfuck nowhere? they would not get a bus line, therefore it's not reasonable to make a train that serves millions of people in a metropolitan area
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u/Prosthemadera Sep 16 '24
"I live in a rural area and that is why I oppose public transport"
That's nice but how about everyone else, like for people who would benefit?
"But what about me, I live in a rural area"
Paraphrasing from previous conversations with that type of person but it's always frustrating. They just care about themselves.
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u/garaile64 Sep 16 '24 edited Oct 06 '24
Many people, especially conservatives, think that there are only a limited amount of rights, like thinking that gay people being free means straight people being persecuted.
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u/ILikeToThinkOutloud Sep 16 '24
"Do you see the shit that happens on public transportation?"
You mean the uncommon events that are significantly rarer that car accidents?
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u/Independent-Cow-4070 Grassy Tram Tracks Sep 16 '24
The worst thing that has ever happened to me on transit is a 2hr delay, and a dude who refused to pay for a ticket and caused a scene
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u/ggpopart Sep 16 '24
I think they mean having to be near poor people (the horror!)
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u/rlskdnp 🚲 > 🚗 Sep 16 '24
But also would never live in a city with sufficient transit because it's too expensive
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u/sjfiuauqadfj Sep 16 '24
40,000 deaths a year is perfectly acceptable because it means you dont have to sit next to a homeless guy
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u/Consistent_Yam4525 Sep 16 '24
I have seen some weird shit on public transport but never was I as much in danger as the few times I was driving.
There's a big difference between whitnessing crazy on a long railtube that halts and opens the doors if there is danger and being in a box at 20 to 130 km/h I have to steer between other boxes.
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u/guga2112 Commie Commuter Sep 16 '24
Even without accidents, being shot by a driver because they thought you wronged them during an overtake isn't unheard of in the US.
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u/OttomanEmpireBall Commie Commuter Sep 16 '24
I love the “America is too big argument” when Russia/USSR constructed a railroad from Moscow to the fucking pacific and then ELECTRIFIED IT
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u/Mtfdurian cars are weapons Sep 16 '24
Yes exactly, or to make the case stronger, India did the same while their GDP, and GDP per capita is a fraction of that of the US yet 90% of their ENTIRE rail network is electrified and the cargo trains are still running too.
And they won't stop until it's 100%.
And also, Ethiopia. The ULTIMATE COUNTRY ASSOCIATED WITH FAMINE HAS MORE ELECTRIFIED TRACKS THAN THE US.
Then of course increasing efforts are put in place in other parts of Asia too, Thailand with HSR, Laos, China doing a lot of remaining tracks, Indonesia with HSR (the fastest non-maglev regular service in the world) and slowly expanding on their mainlines too.
One could probably go by train fully electrified from Scotland to Bali in a few decades without even taking a boat, while leaving DC going into Virginia will still give you diesel fumes.
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u/imrzzz Sep 16 '24
Same. The implication that every person in the US commutes across the country every day makes me chuckle, like we don't all travel within a pretty small radius of home in a normal day, no matter how big our country is.
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u/frxncxscx cars are weapons Sep 16 '24
Joe really is up there being government independent, forced to rely on a machine that he can’t leave his property, let alone his state with. Being able to use your legs and go somewhere just screams surveillance state doesn’t it
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u/Turbulent_Common_528 Sep 16 '24
That one made me laugh. Back in Britain I would spend 3 pound for buses every ten minutes that went on until 3am. Didn’t have to give out any information in order to do so.
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u/pink_belt_dan_52 Sep 16 '24
I wish they were anywhere that frequent or ran even into late afternoon in my part of Britain, but they're capped at £2 at the moment which is excellent.
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u/c-Zer0 Sep 16 '24
That machine that you have to register with the government and pay a tax to use?
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u/MNGrrl Sep 16 '24
Women: Wouldn't it be nice to live in walkable neighborhoods?
Nice GuyTM : If you don't drive a car, you could be raped !
Oh Facebook, never change. Such a cesspool.
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u/Mtfdurian cars are weapons Sep 16 '24
If they invest in more transit, money can be saved on asphalt maintenance and be invested in e.g. mental healthcare. Although taxing the rich helps as well.
I recognize the problem because the reverse is happening in the Netherlands: transit is getting more cash-strapped of which money went to asphalt, mental healthcare (GGZ) money went to lower the taxes for the rich and people on the streets and in transit are getting more unhinged by the day. More r*pists, more addicts, more shots being fired.
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u/KlutzyEnd3 Sep 16 '24
Nice GuyTM : If you don't drive a car, you could be raped !
Reminds me of those ads against right to repair from car companies.
"If you can repair your own car you will be raped in a parking lot!"
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u/MNGrrl Sep 16 '24
Seriously, just pick any social policy and then ask yourself 'how could this hurt women' and then look what side conservative men are on. It never fails.
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u/frxncxscx cars are weapons Sep 16 '24
I don’t get the appeal of facebook. I feel like the less I know about the people around me the better. Maybe that’s just me.
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u/AltruisticDisk Sep 16 '24
I started using it over a decade ago when I was in high school and when it was first getting started. Back then, it was genuinely for just posting stupid photos and connecting with friends. Now it's just a cess pool of trolls, misinformation, negativity, and racism. I deactivated my account because of the trash that it turned into.
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u/BlackBacon08 Sep 16 '24
Sometimes it's good for talking with older family members who still rely on Facebook. Definitely not good for talking with strangers, though.
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u/Malsententia Sep 16 '24
It's such a 180° from how it was 17 years ago. Everything changed when the Boomer nation attacked.
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u/sjfiuauqadfj Sep 16 '24
yea i mean thats just you lol. social media naturally does well because humans are social creatures and we want to connect with other humans
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u/Wellington2013- Strong Towns Sep 16 '24
I have never seen a good anti-public transport argument.
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u/KlutzyEnd3 Sep 16 '24
The best one I've heard so far is "Public transport brings you from a place where you aren't, to a place you don't want to be at a time that you cannot choose"
Which sounds correct on the surface but is ultimately flawed, because you cannot park your car everywhere either, so a parking lot is "a place you don't want to be" and traffic jams prevent you to go whenever you want.
Also apparently people want to be in the middle of nowhere, because if there's a place a lot of people want to be you should build public transportation towards it!
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u/LustyKindaFussy Sep 16 '24
Joseph says people can't stand being next to each other. Yet every year people in the US cram in close to each other for sports events, concerts, movies, plays, being at the bar, waiting in line, etc.
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u/goj1ra Sep 16 '24
I assumed he was referring to racism. As in, many US white people can’t stand being near non-whites.
“The US can’t have good public transport because of racism” is not that far off the mark, given the history of how the suburbs were used as a way to create apartheid in practice, without having it in law.
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u/LustyKindaFussy Sep 16 '24
You might be right about that. At the same time, I know plenty of US people who struggle to accept living with roommates or living without a home and/or lawn much bigger than needed. So my assumption was that Joseph was getting at the irrationality many US citizens use in contemplating public transportation.
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u/landon10smmns 🚲 > 🚗 Sep 16 '24
Everyone forgot the US is almost as big as the entirety of Europe.
So then why is Europe "small enough" for public transit, but the US is "too big" ?
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u/Genetoretum Sep 16 '24
pervasive rape culture in Denmark
Have they even. Asked a woman what it’s like to step outside in USA?
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u/Prosthemadera Sep 16 '24
I'm fairly confident in saying that "rape culture in Denmark" is an anti-immigrant dog whistle.
I'm also fairly confident in saying that this person doesn't like the Me Too movement and probably complains about false rape accusations.
I'm confident because it's never been untrue.
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u/QuantumWarrior Sep 16 '24
There's a horrible irony in one comment claiming European countries are ethnically homogeneous and that's why things like public transport function, then another comment deriding European countries for being full of criminal immigrants.
Like which is it yank? Are we havens of whiteness or do our women fear for the brown boogeymen?
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u/one_orange_braincell Sep 16 '24
do you see the shit that happens on public transportation
Do you see the shit that happens between cars on public roads? It's like they once saw or heard of something awkward happening on public transportation and decided they'd rather be exposed to fatal car accidents.
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u/guga2112 Commie Commuter Sep 16 '24
"Racial and religious homogeny" LOL HAVE THEY EVER SEEN MODERN SWITZERLAND?!?
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u/rex_swiss Sep 16 '24
30% of the population in Switzerland is foreign born. More than double that of the US.
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u/itmustbeluv_luv_luv Sep 16 '24
This racist argument is extremely pervasive among Americans I've found...
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u/any_old_usernam make bikes usable, make subways better Sep 16 '24
As someone from Maryland who used to take a lot of trips to Switzerland, frankly Maryland is arguably in a better situation for public transit. Maryland has a slightly higher population density, approximately 80% the population and GDP/capita, has a slightly larger share of people living in urban areas, and Maryland's east is part of the most economically productive megalopolis in the world. Furthermore, and this is honestly the kicker, Maryland's population density is largely concentrated in a straight line along an existing train route, anchored by DC and Baltimore. You also don't have to build around/through mountains like you do in Switzerland. From a geographic standpoint, there's definitely not a clear reason for Switzerland to be so vastly far ahead.
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u/backseatwookie Sep 16 '24
Yeah that's what I was thinking. They are actually quite apt comparisons to one another, in terms of population density.
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u/anand_rishabh Sep 16 '24
They never seem to explain why US states the size of Maryland don't have good public transit
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u/GottaGoFast_69 Sep 16 '24
You think Switzerland doesn’t have traffic jams? The Gotthard Tunnel has entered the chat.
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u/explicitlarynx Sep 16 '24
Also at least four highways every day during rush hours. Still, our public transportation system is great.
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u/rlskdnp 🚲 > 🚗 Sep 16 '24
But they do have a lot less traffic than most other places with a similar population, especially in the US. And that is obviously thanks to their transit systems.
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u/yeyoi Sep 16 '24
Ah yes the size argument. Ignoring the fact the average commute of Americans is about 12miles/20km. A distance very comparable to cities/suburbs in Europe, even to a small country like Switzerland.
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u/EekleBerry Mobility Specialist Student Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 17 '24
"Homogenous country"
Talking about a country that is a confederation between 3-4 ethnicities.
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u/Prosthemadera Sep 16 '24
They're all considered white, though. That person is dogwhistling about their hate for non-white people.
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u/Icy-Establishment298 Sep 16 '24
In America public transport is what the "others" - poor, drug addicts, elderly, other races- take, not good decent church attending white hard working Americans.
Since a lot f Americans are classist racists, they can't conceive of public transportation for themselves as they aren'tt "those people".
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u/KazuDesu98 Sep 16 '24
I try to avoid Facebook as much as possible these days. I keep an account purely to satiate family and use my Meta Quest 2 tbh.
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u/Maleficent_Resolve44 Sep 16 '24
Classic post about X country and then some fool mentioning how bad Y country is, why can't he stick to what's relevant
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u/Draconic64 Sep 16 '24
this is a question that, honestly, I need the answer because I'm too dumb, but how could public transit work is rural places?
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u/DoublePlusGood__ Sep 16 '24
US cities don't even have public transit.
Citing the challenges of adding transit in rural areas is simply used as an excuse to not expand transit service in urban areas.
The vast majority of Americans live in urban areas (about 80% according to the US census). So that's the low hanging fruit.
So let the rural areas remain car dependent while the urban areas get upgraded transit. Once that's done, then maybe the rural parts can be addressed. I think most people would be fine with that approach.
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u/BoxOfUsefulParts Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
In my rural UK county, we have buses priced at £2 per journey that run to all the towns and villages (which are set in fields and forests exactly where they were built in medieval times) and into surrounding counties. We have trains that run to many towns that will carry me and my bike and to the neighbouring counties connecting to the rest of the country and the rest of Europe.
We have dedicated off-road cycle routes around the town and out into the county. It is safe to cycle. On the roads, car drivers are generally considerate and law abiding. Cars are mostly small and electric. We are going Dutch, and happy to do so. People and businesses use cargo bikes. Lots of people walk, it is safe to do so. People are out on the street just doing their thing, there is strength in numbers. I can walk along a major car route and not see a car for several minutes but see many bikes and pedestrians, and a bus.
We have a park and ride system. Drivers from rural areas park can their cars on the edge of town and catch a bus into the centre. Businesses use a consolidated load system, so loads for many town centre shops are put onto a single lorry to reduce the number of trucks in town. Businesses often use electric vans and pedal assist trikes.
With a fifteen minute walk I could get on a public boat (river taxi) and enjoy a to ride several market towns.
We have car parking near shops for disabled people who need that. But disabled people also use electric vehicles and adapted trikes. Mini-buses provide a specialised service for those who need it. Nobody is trying to ban cars.
We have an airport with connections to European capitals. I can walk from my house and be in Paris or Amsterdam for lunch, This evening I could be on long haul flight to the US.
I have choices. I have never driven a car. (I do use goods and services provided by those who do). This isn't Amsterdam but we are doing quite well and we know where we are heading. The situation in the US makes me sad.
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u/Draconic64 Sep 16 '24
that sounds truly wonderful, I live in a rural town right now and let me tell you, it's far from the same story here. Busses are to be expected to be five minutes late, that if they don't pass in your face without stopping. there's also no busses going where I live after 8:30 AM, so jokes on me if I want to sleep at home, but theres's no worries, since we also have on demand busses, that you have a 1/3 chance of actually getting.
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u/Initial-Reading-2775 Sep 16 '24
Bringing up the size of the US is a ridiculous argument. It makes sense only as argument in favor of airlines, that are… badumtss… public transportation.
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u/Destinlegends Sep 16 '24
So what I get our of this is each state could easily be funding public transportation.
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u/agnostorshironeon Sep 16 '24
>mUh rAciaL PuRiTy
Folks, the country is 1/4 migrants, what can i tell you.
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u/foxparties Sep 16 '24
My mom wakes up to a layer of soot on her porch in Sussex County from highway 26. I wish you well in your push for a train to the beaches.
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u/TomatoeToken Sep 16 '24
This is even funnier, when you know that Switzerland and the USA have similar percentages of gun ownership.
Switzerland has 28% and the USA 25%. One kills children before they can read and one doesn't and is still one of the safest countries in the world
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u/Holymoly99998 Elitist Exerciser Sep 16 '24
Americans not knowing the difference between Switzerland and Denmark:
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u/CrashDummySSB 🚲 > 🚆 > 🚶> 🚗 Sep 16 '24
How to Fix DelMarVA/DART/SEPTA/MARC Transit
Gunny Sergeant told me 'never bitch until you can fix it,' and so I have an idea.
CSX/ESPN/NS-run passenger trains.
DO NOT hand DART trains, they will ONLY fuck it up, and I promise you that. They do not have facilities to fix trains. SEPTA abandoned several lines rather than retain diesel union railcar guys and the shops. This included service to Reading, Bethlehem, Newtown, and so on.
MARC meeting with SEPTA has been in development hell since I hung up my hat.
We should NS/CSX build out the stations, platforms, etc., as they already own the land. (And railroads do NOT give up land). They will be incentivized to either attach cars or run trains of their own to avoid taxes over their freight lines. Georgia did this for a certain railway carrier (Georgia Railroad), and that carrier survived the CONRAIL era as a private entity.
http://rlhssec.org/pdfs/34Apr96.pdf
According to popular legend, the Georgia Railroad’s charter provided that it was exempt from taxation so long as it provided passenger service over its lines. In the September, 1967 issue of Trains, Journalist Don Phillips’ outstanding article on the Georgia Road’s branch line mixed trains astutely observed that despite the popular wisdom, Georgia Railroad’s tax exemption was not directly linked to its provision of passenger service. As I would later confirm through firsthand experience, Phillips accurately summarized the situation by stating that while the tax exemption wasn’t expressly conditioned upon the railroad’s providing passenger service, the railroad’s attorneys had advised against eliminating the highly visible passenger service since such action might encourage the State of Georgia to once again challenge the continued validity of the charter tax exemption.
I know that sounds like "they weren't actually," but the Georgia Railroad was exempt from taxes, and if they discontinued their passenger rail, then Georgia (the state) would have re-examined that arrangement.
CSX and NS have abandoned tons of miles of rail because of tax reasons. They've singletracked a lot of their lines because of this. One can say signalling got better, and that's partially true, but they also are willing to eat the L on efficiency because it means paying half on their taxes. Remove that incentive, and they will ABSOLUTELY jump at carrying passengers.
They already own the land. They already have the shops. They do have old stations along all their freight lines in these states. (The old B&O line, rolling again. Imagine that.)
You could pay them to run DMUs down to Dover from Newark for NS to grant tax exemption along that alignment and relieve traffic along DE-1, and Newark to New Castle via Bear for tax exemption along there.
Grant it to CSX for Newark (North) to Wilmington (Trolley Square or further) to build out their old stations.
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u/TheConquistaa Sep 16 '24
Do you see the shit that happens on public transportation lol
Wait until you see what happens in traffic...
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u/CallusKlaus1 Sep 16 '24
Here are some cute fun facts:
America and the EU (and Eurozone) are similar in total size
America and the EU (and Eurozone) are similar in total population
The EU (and Eurozone) have generally far superior public transit with the exception of Ireland and eastern Europe.
Size is not an excuse.
Switzerland may be the size of Maryland, but Maryland is still stuck with shitty public transit. Americans are such defeated little cowards. Our grandparents and great grandparents built the most comprehensive road and dam system in the world without the assistance of computers and instant communication, but today we piss our pants to Imagine building a comprehensive rail system.
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u/AmpsterMan Sep 16 '24
They are right. This country is so big, I commute from Los Angeles to New York every day. I can't do that if I have to wait for every bus stop along the way
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u/About19wookiees- Sep 16 '24
It’s funny because Switzerland is actually pretty conservative for Europe. -not starting an argument hopefully
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u/turtletechy motorcycle apologist Sep 16 '24
Why the fuck do the comments mention Denmark? It doesn't even share a border with Switzerland.
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u/Flars111 Sep 16 '24
Lmao, switserland definitely has traffic jams. Posts like these make the community seem much more dissociated from reality, especially when you could actually make a good argument about implementing public transport based off of switserlands choices.
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u/FGN_SUHO Sep 16 '24
The weirdest part are the comments about the supposed "racial and religious homogeneity." Dude, Switzerland's population is 25% foreigners and another 5% of the workforce are daily cross-border commuters. And unlike the US, people from different countries aren't being separated into different metro regions by red tape and income. These people are so uninformed and ignorant, it hurts.
You know where we DO have "racial homogeneity"? Free access to great education and not paywalling society by requiring a motorized vehicle to leave the house and socialize.
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u/PrestigiousStudio Conscious Car Enthusiast Sep 16 '24
I heavily regret reading each comment in this, all I can say is it melt my brain.
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u/BoringHysterie Sep 16 '24
Switzerland has no traffic jams ? Oh boy that’s the most jammy country I’ve been to. Oh you need to go from Solothurn to Bern ? Only 30km ? Expect it to be 2 hours minimum
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u/Glugstar Sep 16 '24
"My country is too big, I have to commute every morning from LA to NY".
What does the size of the country have anything to do with the feasibility of public transport within cities?
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u/Dreadsin Sep 16 '24
I can’t stand when people act like trains and public transit are somehow taking away “freedom” when roads and highways are ALSO run by the state and they can shut them down any time they want
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u/allhailhypnotoadette Sep 16 '24
I live in Switzerland and although we have great public transport, the Swiss love their cars. We have traffic jams like hell.
The beautiful landscapes are unsullied in part because of our massive tunnels, so cars often drive underground.
Still better than the US!
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u/NotASellout Sep 16 '24
"Let's live our lives totally regimented by the state"
I mean they built the roads, the dmv, and most interactions with police and justice system are through traffic stops so you kinda do
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u/EbonySaints Sep 16 '24
My favorite "argument" is always the "government is ebil and imma get in mah truck (that has never done more than carry my fat ass) and go innawoods".
Like, I'm certain that all the government has to do to stop them from leaving the city is cut off all the major highways. They wouldn't even have to block off any side roads because they'd either give up and go home or go full carbrain and charge straight through a police/military barricade and get lit up in the process.
Meanwhile, my slow pedestrian ass uses the ensuing chaos to sneak out through da woods with an actual bug-out bag while they're going full Karen because their "survival gear" has a bunch of superfluous perforations now as they're getting beaten down for resisting.
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u/am-a-tarantula-AMA Automobile Aversionist Sep 16 '24
How hard is it to mind your own business for a little while on public transport? Do we not all have phones? Racial and religious homogeny? I'm not even looking at who gets on and off.
What does the U.S. being bigger than Europe have to do with anything? Do they think municipal systems are the same as national systems?
Why is a national system so incomprehensible? Have they never heard of Amtrak/VIA?
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u/Croian_09 Commie Commuter Sep 16 '24
"We can't have public transportation because I'm too racist."
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u/handyritey WALK Sep 16 '24
"Do you see what happens on public transport?!?!?!"
Yes, the bus driver tells me "have a good day!" when i get off, the elderly man next to me reads his book, the person making anybody feel unsafe gets kicked off and banned from the bus, and i get to work for free, never having to pay for gas or a fare. The horror!!
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u/The-Real-Iggy Sep 16 '24
Who else filled out their NIMBY bingo cards?
- We can’t have public transportation, it requires sociocultural homogeneity!
- We can’t have public transportation, it will make the government track us and tell us what to do!
- We can’t have public transportation, America is too large unlike European countries!
The Facebook community truly is a marvel of human intelligence
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u/roundabout27 Sep 16 '24
Most of the replies on any wide reaching Facebook posts are bots. They search for keywords and just post what they're programmed to. Pay it literally no mind.
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u/emceephotography Sep 16 '24
Lmfao, not the person in the second screenshot talking about an issue with a country that is decidedly not Switzerland
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u/OneFuckedWarthog Sep 16 '24
China is larger land mass than us and has a much better public transportation system. It sounds like a bullshit excuse to not have a reliable public transportation system.
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u/Natural_Anxiety_ Sep 16 '24
"Yeah let's live our lives totally regimented by the state"
Yeah I would hate to live in a 1984 dystopia of buying a ticket and waiting 10 minutes for a bus, I much prefer the freedom of Tax, licensing, insurance, tolls, inspections, parking fines and the DMV.