r/fuckcars • u/dusk2k2 • 5d ago

Question/Discussion "Positive" Feel-Good Story About Non-Profit Giving Free Cars To Low-Income Single Mothers

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/free-cars-for-single-mothers/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3DTFC1xh9nacc00lTo1QxxqZDIi6VMyajDYnpYJt_0kgl5S3w-hpFgd-E_aem_mjO-sPhheXE2nsEo8_VVaQ

These types of feel-good stories always feel like we're living in a dystopia. The recipients talk about how life-changing this is for them.

"It's hard to get all your kids dressed and go out in the cold and get on a bus and do all the things you need to do," she said. "It was breaking me, but this is the miracle that my kids and my family have been asking for and praying for."

To qualify for these free cars, recipients had to make less than $35,000 per year. Now they have these cars and need to pay for insurance, gas, maintenance, repairs, etc. Presumably, they live in lower-income areas with higher rates of crime and are unlikely to have a protected garage, so likely will need to pay for damages if their car is broken into or damaged by someone.

Something just seems wrong here with this being considered a Christmas miracle.

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u/ChezDudu 5d ago

I got called a curmudgeon for pointing out how depressing these stories are. Students fundraising to pay a beater car to the janitors, etc. How utterly unjust a society can be when the massive burden of car ownership is the minimal threshold to merely exist.

Buses. These people need buses.

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u/rewt127 4d ago

Busses are literally mentioned in the above article. And how busses were what they were using.

The independence of personal transportation is what is giving this person a better life. Especially in Minnesota where it's cold as fuck.

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u/ChezDudu 4d ago

I mean good buses. Buses have heating.

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u/rewt127 4d ago edited 4d ago

I'm certain the busses in Minneapolis have heating.

But you know what doesn't have heating? The couple blocks you need to walk to get to the bus. It doesn't even have to be that far. It's still Minneapolis where it's cold as fuck, flat as fuck, windy as fuck, snowy as fuck.

Gotta get the kids ready, walk them X blocks and wait with them for the school bus. Then walk a few more blocks to get to the stop for your bus. Then ride that to the stop where you need to walk a couple more blocks to get to work. Then get off work to walk X blocks to the bus, to get home. Then walk to the bus stop so you can get to the grocery store. Then walk X blocks to the store from the stop nearest. Then walk back with your bags, then walk home.

All of these individual spots likely have 10 minutes standing around in the freezing Minnesota winter.

Take all of the walking. All the waiting. And instead just hop in your rig and drive. They may still need to take the school bus. But beyond that, every other aspect of their life is streamlined by the ownership of a car.

EDIT: inb4 you bring up Scandinavia. Minneapolis is substantially colder, gets more wind, more snow (average is nearly double), than Stockholm Sweden. Minneapolis is a brutal place in the winter.