|
|
|
|
|
|
by GaryNumanVevo
1237 days ago
|
|
|
Sure, as you mentioned lobbying and money in politics is probably the biggest hurdle as it basically maligns most projects for social good with profits for the biggest lobbyists. Local governments have a lot of power in this regard, they're able to set parking minimums and potentially zoning for denser residential areas. Regional support would be needed for a more comprehensive public transit options, railways, bus routes etc. Also at the regional / state level we would stop subsiding suburban communities. States often foot the initial bill for roads / water / sewage and suburbs are usually not able to self-fund for repairs needed in 10/20/30 years respectively, so they rely on denser areas taxes (mostly commercial tax) to make up for it. [1] The financial incentives are there, denser urban areas already provide much of the tax income needed to make public services feasible and make up for the sprawl around a city that it's residents can't pay for. [2] To your point about "detours" we've taken, sure it will be a multi-decade project but places like Amsterdam / London have a pretty good roadmap for regulating car-centric infrastructure. EVs really only exist to extend the life of an industry that's already extracted billions in profit by lobbying that car based transit was the only way to go. ICE vehicles are a massive liability in the face of an energy crisis, and the US heavily subsidies gasoline prices. In other countries this is already priced in, and that incentivizes alternative forms of transit and better designed cities. [1] - https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/8/28/the-growth-pon...
[2] - https://urbexsolutions.com/city-revenue-geographies-categori... |
|
|
That's just silly, since EVs don't burn those fuels. They exist to prolong the life of a road and housing infrastructure, which has both positive and negative aspects to it but is in any case unavoidable during what is sure to be a long transition. Again, bashing them for not being the perfect quantum leap to an ideal state is not productive. Small improvements are still improvements.