wow you do hold an ignorance on fuel sales taxes and how they are collected in the states
first it is a federal racket
also when you register, inspect, insure, or even simply repair your vehicle those costs are taxed as well
then like here toll roads are becoming more normal than ever and even when they are paid off they still fucking cost
there is one the westpark tollway that is "easy pass" only
and i do pay for public transport
we pay a tax for the elderly and disabled to have a van to pick them up because we live in a very rural area and its not ok to ask the elderly or handicapped for money for a ride to appointments
but my overall tax bill per month is well above what you could imagine and about 1/2 of a low income workers salary per year
we are forced to pay for bio-fuel permits and mileage taxes as well as an excess fee for the farm use tags

 

Thank you for clarifying, ridgerunner, and I take back what I said about you not paying for public transport, but I still submit that there is a reason why you pay taxes to help get people around. Not everyone can drive, but everyone needs to get places for the services they need.

I appreciate that you have taught me something, but you have not convinced me that vehicle drivers should not pay for public transit. In major urban centres, frankly, cars are a nuisance. In some cities cars with certain license numbers are only allowed to drive on certain days. Such restrictions would not occur if cars really were a benefit to all, in every circumstance. Be thankful you can use your vehicles, even it the cost is high - and imagine what sacrifices you would need to make if you were too elderly, or disabled, to get around without a vehicle.

 

i have never contended that we should not provide funds for the public systems only that those who do rely on said systems need to cut the smug bullshit attitude and understand that even those that cannot benefit from them pay for them and more
thats like the asshole in the prius that wants to lecture me for my diesel burning trucks while hes eating the meat i sell and wearing leather from the hides we produce and recharging his eco-mobile on my photovoltaic array

 

If we're still talking about the original topic.

I grew up with mainly public transport, it wasn't very good. Now I have a car, I prefer to use it in most circumstances. There are times when using public transport makes sense, and we will. We even took the trolly last time we were in LA. The car is king in LA of course, it also has the worst traffic I've ever known.

We'll tend to take public transport in European Cities, I hate driving in London, the tube is great, same in most other European cities. There are sometimes even in Europe when hiring a car makes more sense.

 

Fortunately where I'm from the public transit system is amazing, no real problems at all, and I live in a crazy mountain city. Time effective,not expensive and fairly clean. The only downside is the bus drivers are insane with the lack there of driving skills they somehow obtained. So I don't use it much. Mainly car, bike or long board.

 

Oh. So now I understand. You just don't like people who drive when they can use public transit.
Not that it's any of your damn business, how I get around.

 

I am interested to know just HOW can a non-automotive means of transportation (walking or bicycle riding) be subsidised?

Would it mean that bicycles are given away free, or each person gets a free pair of shoes every few months.

Non-rhetorical question D.L. so there is NO reason for you not to answer.

 

How you choose to get around is obviously YOUR business, just as how I choose to. What I am asking those who see driving as a Right is to think about the true cost to our communities and our planet from driving and constructing roads and dealing with accidents when they occur.

Think about a city which is certainly a very major focus of American life - NYC - there is far more emphasis on public transit and taxis than almost any other city in the world - even though the American dream is to drive almost everywhere. Not all of NYC is transit-oriented, but the parts which are the most densely populated certainly seem to be. Similarly, Toronto, in Canada, has a transit focus.

You may be able to choose how you wish to transport yourself, but you also should have an awareness that there are costs car drivers seldom consider when it comes to driving their cars.

 

charlie heres a small fact for you to ponder
the most greenhouse gasses emitted by motor vehicles in the world are by taxis, busses, commuter trains, and cars under 10 years old
the people that own classics and vintage cars tend to take much better care of them than the short term owners or lessees of cars
fortunately most cities are now building recharging stations for electric cars that use solar power as the primary power source because the busses and other municipally owned vehicles that run on either gasoline or natural gas are the largest contributor of emissions of all motor vehicles
and that beautiful black smoke from the stacks on a diesel is just pure carbon

 

Thank you for your information. Remember, though, it was GM who got Los Angeles, and I believe many other cities to get rid of street cars (tram cars), in the 1940s and 1950s. I was lucky to grow up with street cars, and the city I grew up in, actually expanded their network in the 1980s and 1990s.

Of course, the push to gas engines was fairly early in the game, when the oil and gas interests chose to make it impractical to manufacture electric cars.

Even so, though, space considerations for cars do make individual vehicles more expensive when the quantity of vehicles exceeds the volume of the roads to accommodate them.

Do we have enough public transit? Well, the answer is fairly obvious as we see the volume of vehicles in the rush hour create gridlock in some situations. We need more public transit, but properly planned to serve the greatest number.

 

A pipe dream. The cost of meaningful public transit exceeds by far our economic ability to fund them. The math has been done many times.

But I like how you demonize oil and gas interests without any proof.

 

Are you suggesting that the public transit system of NYC is a pipe dream? I am not talking about a transit system with no walking, but a transit system which can deal with most of the needs people have to travel.

I am not trying to demonize the oil and gas interests, but to point out that in an urban environment we are far too dependent on the gas engine. Obviously, if you live in a rural area, access to some way of private travel is important. Frankly, I feel the development of the suburban lifestyle has been the biggest cost we have inflicted on ourselves. It is interesting that urban areas are far more dangerous than they used to be. Maybe we should seriously ask ourselves why.

 

i do remember reading that in 1899 90% of all taxis in new york and approximately 1/3 of all cars nationally were electric
i found the article again so that you can read it yourself
*not_secure_link*www.todayifoundout...-york-citys-taxi-cabs-were-electric-vehicles/

 

Thank you for finding the article about electric vehicles. I know that the ways we choose to look into technology can be "influenced" by personal interests. It is my contention that the gasoline interests did their best to delay the development of electric vehicles. I have no idea if electiric vehicles would have been very possible in non-urban areas of various countries, but I expect we would have found ways to use electric vehicles more effectively had we put the level of development into them that we put into gas cars.

Thank you for the article. I will read it and find out more.

 

Funny thing about the buying public, they seem to flock to those things that serve them best.

EVs have been around for as long a gasoline powered ones have, they initially had an extreme disadvantage because of the cost of storing the energy to propel them, this problem is still there. The battery component is the highest single cost of the system, in gasoline powered vehicles, the fuel system is one of the lowest cost components. Add to that the very short comparable range between fueling/charging, and the relatively long time to accomplish the refill, many, if not most, of the drivers today would be grossly inconvenienced with the EV.

EVs have there place in the scheme of things, but they are only capable of satisfying a small segment of the market.

 

since the first road vehicle ever was a 3 wheeled tractor that was 2.5 horsepower built in france in 1769 for the military that was powered by steam followed by robert anderson in scottland who designed and built a powered carriage in 1832 that was electric powered but used non rechargeable batteries, there were a few other electrics in the years between that and the first gasoline powered car built by karl benz in 1885
in 1865 a frenchman invented the first rechargeable battery
the first electric car in america that was successful was in 1891 from des moines iowa

so far not a single manufacturer has tried adding an inline generator to an electric car mainly because there are laws that strictly regulate evs

 

If you don't mind me asking, are your legs fully functional? If so, do you go to the gym or own a treadmill? I'm curious on knowing how do you keep your legs healthy if you "never walked anywhere"

 

Such a simple, but obvious, question.

 

As you have not yet answered the question I asked, I will repeat it for you.

NON-RHETORICAL question so there is no reason for you NOT to answer it,

Please give examples of what you determine to be "non automotive means of transportation" and how they can be subsidised?

 

Lets see, how do I explain this without coming off like some pretentious twat?

Only chartered jets, private and chartered helicopters, secure limousines, and if I'm really lucky I sneak out and take my Harley or I steal one of the cars/trucks form the house here (though haven't in a while because I promised and never had a drivers license)......ONLY because my husband makes me and because I'm not suited for general consumption (what my husband says.....what he means is to protect the rest of humanity from me).

Hush....an alias