• mondoman712@lemmy.mlOP
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    9 months ago

    Car dependency punishes poor people. The solution is viable alternatives, for which having fewer cars is often very beneficial.

    • IIII@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Raising the gas prices 10x overnight won’t create those alternatives overnight, nor will it put petrol companies out of business because they pass the cost on to consumers who are mostly forced to buy gas at whatever the current price is with no other viable transportation method.

      Infrastructure takes time. Sadly the US govt isn’t even at the starting line for any meaningful public transit system in most cities.

      If gas prices went up 10x overnight, some higher earners could switch to working from home (a positive result), but other industries such as retail don’t really get that luxury… Contributing to more wealth inequality

    • heatofignition@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Yes, but that alternative infrastructure needs to be in place before you can start really discouraging cars with, for example, high gas prices. Raising gas prices to that extent right now in most places outside of a few major cities would just cause people not to be able to get to work.

    • Mac@mander.xyz
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      9 months ago

      So because you think alternatives that don’t exist should you would raise gas prices and obscene amount and put people on the streets?

      I live in a small rural town where everybody commutes to their factory job and is already barely scraping by. What do you think all those people should do to stave off being homeless when they can’t afford to drive?

      • mondoman712@lemmy.mlOP
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        9 months ago

        I think the alternatives should be good enough that raising gas prices isn’t a problem.

        • Mac@mander.xyz
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          9 months ago

          Please tell me your plan to collect all of the people spread across half of a state who commute to a central location.

          Mobility enables poor people. Not all poor people live in an idealistic 15-minute city.

          • mondoman712@lemmy.mlOP
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            9 months ago

            I don’t think rural living makes sense if you’re also commuting. Small towns can have good transport links to other nearby towns but I don’t think it makes sense to support those who decide they want to live beyond the practical reach of public services just for the sake of it.

            • Mac@mander.xyz
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              9 months ago

              I understand that you’re doing a thought experiment about futuristic utopias but I am talking about the current situation right now and a comment that started this chain.

              People live in rural areas whether you think they should or not and raising gas prices to reduce car travel disproportionately affects those people.

              Now, if there was some way for poor people to get fuel credits or something so that they’re empowered with mobility maybe that would work.

              We also should probably not make farming any harder than it already is.

              • mondoman712@lemmy.mlOP
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                9 months ago

                It’s not a utopia, it’s perfectly possible if we work towards it.

                And I said

                live beyond the practical reach of public services just for the sake of it.

                Specifically to exclude farmers

          • ComplexLotus@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            In 2020 according to statistics 82.66% of all americans lived in cities, not spread across half the state. Urban areas and country side should be developed differently of course.

          • SinJab0n
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            9 months ago

            Mobility enables poor people

            True

            Not all poor people live in an idealistic 15-minute city

            Dude, i live in the fucking state of mexico, we don’t even have rail. And even when we touch the city it’s at least half an hour to get to the city center of Mexico city.

            And yet, u know what makes it possible for me to come work every day to the city? Public transport.

            So yeah, fuck that idea about how it wouldn’t work, put some buses to work out there and even the traffic problem will be lessened since there will be less cars on the road, not to mention how it should be even cheaper since the cost of transportation its gonna be equally split in a bigger ammount of passengers.