[fatnoah]

> This is not true. Every city in the US used to have a robust public transit system. No cars or parking lots needed.

That WAS true, but that's not the reality that's shaping planning now. Further, many central business districts have been eroded by cars + big box suburbanization, so that many of those essentials are only obtainable in areas that never even had transit or didn't exist when transit was still a thing.

In the past, I had the good fortune to live car-free for many years in a US city with a working transportation system. Not having to account for the car was actually liberating, despite having to plan my adventures a bit more carefully to align with said transit systems.

[hughesjj]

> That WAS true, but that's not the reality that's shaping planning now

Yes, this is indeed a problem we need to fix, agreed. For now I'm open to reducing the comical over provisioning of parking spots in strip malls by removing minimum parking requirements and hopefully replacing the large car parking spots with smaller bike and motorcycle parking spots and even bus stops.