the 1920s post war programs decentralised urban living so much that we never intentionally built anywhere for foot traffic until recent decades. America also being bigger than the size of the entire european continent also helped give the idea that we had room to spare, of course. But as it is now, the damage is done and cars are unfortunately irreplaceable for medium and small american towns- they are simply too spread out. And cost of living is so high in the cities that only rich or well-off people live there, and they have cars anyways of course.
it would take decades of intentional policies to enrich the people, encourage population centralization, and provide high-quality/far-reaching alternative transportation to reduce the reliance on cars.
City near me has 3 university and 2 non university hospitals.
Pretty much every town and city in my province has direct lines to and from these hospitals.
You can also easily access them from anywhere in the country by going by rail and then having a short 5 minute shuttle ride from the train station to the hospital campuses, shuttles that drive twice every hour.
And yes, if you take a bus here, it's very often old people either going to the hospital or visiting someone in the hospital (or one of the many elderly homes in the area).
Maybe that's what the judge meant when he said "You really are what America is all about." Because, as everyone knows, in non American countries we just leave our sick family members to die.
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u/Endorkend Feb 27 '25
Over here that's not a problem, since we have vastly connected public transport and bicycle paths next to nearly every road.
In the US, losing your car is losing mobility almost entirely.