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The authors are calling on national and local governments to set targets for the proportion of trips made on foot, by bicycle and by public transport, including national targets of:
- Doubling the proportion of trips walked to 25 per cent by 2050.
- Doubling the proportion of cycling trips in each of the next decades, with the ultimate goal of 15 per cent of all trips being on bicycles by 2050.
- Increasing the proportion of all trips by public transport to 15 per cent by 2050.
The report's authors further recommend:
- The government develop a national promotion and education campaign to persuade people to walk or cycle to schools and work-places
- That investment is made in liveable cities and creating urban environments designed for people, rather than cars
- That new regulations are introduced to make walking and cycling safer
The report prominently cites health concerns as a key reason to not drive, because people need to exercise more. Is it a tacit acknowledgement of electric vehicles' (EVs) imminent takeover of global car fleets?
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Urgent Action Needed to End Our Love Affair with Cars, Report Finds
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There will be big changes for you but you will be happy.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MostCynical on Tuesday April 30 2019, @03:12AM (24 children)
TFA is not arguing for evs to replace ICE.. They want people to "Walk or ride... safely", in "livable cities"
They have a point, when some cities don't even have footpaths, safe pedestrian crossings, let alone dedicated, separated bicycle paths.
Obese people in vehicles, or fit people walking and riding safely?
"Forced radical shifts are unnecessary "
How else do you get missing infrastruture and changes to behaviour?
Likely many disliking this also dislike plain packaging for cigarettes and bans on tobaco sponsorship of sport..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 30 2019, @03:35AM (6 children)
There is apparently a very specific agenda being promoted here and voices of reason are just "the man" or "the enemy."
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 30 2019, @05:10AM (5 children)
Fuck you! Just, well, Fuck you! Fuck you and the gas-guzzler you rode in on! Fuck your Republican Lifestyle! Fuck your trophy wife, and your trophy (soon to be wife) Mistress! And I am not talking to you, Newt Fiinckgrinch! How long does it take for these "Reagan Democrate members of the Conservative Citizens Council (see? CCC, just like KKK, since there is no K in Latin!) to try to get us all to support major Petrochemical Corporations like khallow and the Cock Bros, with their billions of dollars of life destroying monies. . . . So, Fuck you again, AC! Fuck you in the brain stem! Fuch you in your orifice! Fuck you in your wallet! And, most importantly, fuck you in your bitcoin. Ha. That really happened, didn't it? Want to talk about it? Soylentils can be an extremely supportive community, once you quit the shit for which you should be fucked. So Fuck you, again, most inappropriately.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday April 30 2019, @05:21AM (4 children)
Aristarchus, did you forget to take your pill again?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Tuesday April 30 2019, @06:33AM (3 children)
Wot? I would never post so much profanity, at least not under my username, which needs to be curated and cultivated to preserve a certain "gravitas". So, no, I don't take pills. What was your point again, oh Benefactor in my name?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday April 30 2019, @01:28PM (2 children)
It certainly sounded like you. If it wasn't then you've attracted imitators. There's your happy thought for the day: you have groupies!
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 30 2019, @02:15PM (1 child)
I see only one groupie, you.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday April 30 2019, @04:24PM
Well I grope only one AC, so there!
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by The Shire on Tuesday April 30 2019, @03:44AM (15 children)
It's government over reach. Remember that this was part of the "Green New Deal" to take away everyone's cars and put them on public transportation. They're just looking for new ways to wrap that pig.
What we're talking about is the government mandating when and where you are allowed to drive along with how much exercise you should get. In a nutshell, the government wants to manage your life for you, because apparently they are better at it than you are.
The very title instantly conveys their own smug hubris: "Urgent action needed to end our love affair with cars" ? Give me a break. I can't speak for NZ but the US was built on the automobile and the freedom of movement it granted. It allowed people to work in places inaccessible by foot or bike, and it still does. Governments should focus on improving much neglected infrastructure not taking the lazy approach of legislating cars off the road so they don't have to repair them. Sure, go ahead and build the pedestrian walkways and the bicycle paths, we already have them in the US - I assumed they did in NZ as well. But that's not what they're saying here - they're looking for the government to restrict peoples right to use their own car "for the greater good".
The bottom line is we have a couple guys, not even tenured professors - the lead author is only an associate professor, deciding that the NZ government should mother their citizens and make them eat their vegetables and get outside and exercise. You think I'm going to walk 10 miles to get my groceries just so some SJW university snob can feel good about themselves? Yea, no. Screw that. The world works best when everyone takes personal responsibility for themselves. Sink or swim. If your lifestyle results in premature death then so be it. It's not the place of bureaucrats to tell you how to live or die.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 30 2019, @04:53AM
The government doesn't want to manage your life for you, they just want to have a loving conversation with you about it.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday April 30 2019, @05:25AM (6 children)
The US was built on the railroad and its ability to haul people and freight great distances at speed. Before that it was partly built on waterways comprising coastal waters, lakes, rivers, and canals. It was not until after WWII when Eisenhower wanted to copy the autobahn he had seen in Germany that America built its interstate highway system, but America was quite completely industrialized, modern, and atomic powered by then.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 30 2019, @08:46AM
And like a typical American, he can't even copy something that is well designed already. In Germany, you don't have highways down middle of the city and no way to get through the city in some other way. In German cities, you can walk to a store. In a German city, you have access to bike paths... actually in Germany in general. In Germany, the roads are smaller and almost everyone rides a bike.. so drivers respect cyclists. In Germany, no one makes "suburbs" with no services or sidewalks.
America after WWII was designed for the car, not a human. Germany, seems mostly opposite.
(Score: 2) by The Shire on Tuesday April 30 2019, @03:00PM (4 children)
The West was settled by rail, the industrial powerhouse of the US was built on the interstate highway system and the automobile. If you think the US was anywhere near the industrial giant it is today without roads you are sadly mistaken. The car allowed the people to move freely and easily to wherever their skills were needed. This was an enormous cultural shift that changed the country fundamentally.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 01 2019, @03:35PM (3 children)
The US was fully industrialized before the highways were built and Americans had a car culture. Rail and water transport carried most of the freight, and still do. The Interstate highway system and the car culture and the development of the American suburbs all came after WWII. That's not to say that trucking and cars aren't now a substantial part of the economy, because they are, but they were not necessary for industrialization. Given trends now in information technology and consumer buying habits (eg. Millenials are not buying cars) and additive manufacturing, it's possible that the car culture and trucking system will become a thing of the past.
It is understandable for people who drive to work everyday, whose main interaction with shipping is the semis that they have to maneuver around on the highway, to believe that's what makes America's economy run, but it isn't. It's like people who work in sales believing that the world would come crashing down without them, or how journalists scream that the sky will fall unless people give them more attention and money. That is, they can only see the world through their own lens.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by The Shire on Wednesday May 01 2019, @08:03PM (2 children)
You're a utopian dreamer. Car automation may be coming, but the layout of the US will always require personal transportation. You will never see a day in your lifetime where that is not the case.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday May 01 2019, @08:23PM (1 child)
It has already been reported that millennials and younger generations are not buying cars. It is already reported that cycling, e-bikes, and ride sharing are eating away at car ownership. In new york city 70% of residents already don't own cars. Is it utopian to base a scenario on empirical data?
It may remain necessary for some places and people to drive cars. Others may solve their transportation needs in other ways. But if current trends continue mass car ownership could well be a strange anachronism for kids well before we have passed from the earth.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by The Shire on Wednesday May 01 2019, @09:01PM
The funny thing about "ride sharing" is it requires a "ride", ie someone is doing the driving.
As for statistics about the large percentage of people in NYC not having a car, it's because they live in one of the most densly populated cities in the country. It's in no way representative of the nation as a whole which has to travel significantly farther to get food or go to work. Suburban and rural areas make for highly inefficient and impractical mass transit locations. The car makes such areas workable.
You have to stop thinking that this country only exists in densly populated cities, the REAL work of the nation never takes places at those locations - that's primarily paper pushers and the service industry to feed and entertain them. Actual industry doesn't take place there, it takes place in areas that need cars. Cars are a fixture. I'll say it again, they may become automated, but they will not go away in our lifetime.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by lentilla on Tuesday April 30 2019, @05:36AM (1 child)
The summary of the report made no mention of taking people's cars away.
"The Government" is well aware that people are not getting enough exercise and would like to reverse this trend. Now, are they going to be standing behind us with a whip whilst we run on a treadmill? No, don't be daft. There is absolutely personal responsibility involved, but Government still has a role, and that is...
... Governments need to make sure that people are able get about their daily lives without relying on a car. It's as simple as that.
"Urgent action needed to end our love affair with cars" is not smug hubris - it is the simple truth. Our addiction to cars has caused:
Worst of all, because it is either impossible or unsafe to travel without a car - due to everybody tearing around in their cars - now everybody needs to have a car. (To address your statement regarding the United States: yes, the car did do great things in the middle of the Twentieth Century - but in giving freedom it also took much freedom away - the golden handcuffs of becoming slaves to the automobile.)
Absolutely our love affair with the automobile needs to change. It needs to change to the point that people are able to make the choice to drive because they have other options available. Government most certainly has a role to play in this - not by taking away people's cars - but by designing infrastructure in a human-centric fashion and an understanding that people come before cars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 30 2019, @10:35PM
Don't forget the other reason to keep getting in wars in the Middle East: to take out / reduce the threats to the Jewish State known as Israel.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday April 30 2019, @07:45AM (1 child)
How's that freedom?
https://xtown.la/2018/09/24/the-slowest-commute-in-la-just-got-slower/ [xtown.la]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by The Shire on Tuesday April 30 2019, @02:44PM
And yet California in general and LA in particular are heavily radical left when it comes to policy. They are the first to lay down bike paths and sidewalks and to tax people to death for infrastructure that never gets built. It's a shining example of what happens when a state is left under blue control for a lengthy period of time. Very poor business decisions get made about how to layout infrastructure, where to build communities, and how to plan transportation. California, LA, and SF are signature examples of how NOT to run state and city governments.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday April 30 2019, @08:04AM (1 child)
Funny how you see in this a conspiracy to take our cars away, but you don't see all the pro-car and pro-oil conspiracies. Things like automobile manufacturers and oil companies working to destroy public transportation, designing roads to make walking and biking extremely unsafe or impossible-- a favorite is the bridge that has no sidewalk and no shoulder-- getting the public on board with footing the massive bill for the public highway system, and even going to war to ensure a supply of oil.
In the early 1920s, most automobile roads were private, and the owners of these roads were not above milking and cheating travelers with such stunts as deliberately neglecting incorrect signage, and directing travelers on roundabout routes, to increase the profits of the businesses and towns along the roundabout route at the expense of the travelers. The AAA was formed to fight back against such shenanigans. Another thing the private roads did was simply charge massive tolls. But mostly, their funding came from the towns along their route. Towns that balked at paying got bypassed.
The main competition was passenger rail, and being private, they had similar issues with abusing their monopolies on travel. They went too far, and today, there is very little passenger rail in the US, really only Amtrak for intercity travel. And Amtrak is a notoriously bad way to travel. Extremely expensive, even more costly than flying, stunningly shabby at timeliness (an hour late? Ha! A day late is all too possible), slow (no TGV bullet trains), and lacking in routes. Amtrak is a political football, with special interests constantly working to make sure Amtrak continues to suck. They'd rather just kill it dead, but there continues to be enough support for passenger rail that they can't. For years there's been talk of making high speed passenger rail links between major cities, such as a San Francisco to Los Angeles connection, or Dallas to Houston, but somehow nothing ever comes of those schemes.
And so, there are only 2 practical ways to travel in much of the US: for longer distances for the well-to-do, flying, and driving for all else. Yes, those special interests absolutely do conspire to mess up all other forms of travel. Often, they don't have to work at it, the public unwittingly does the work for them.
So why aren't you up in arms about these very real and ongoing conspiracies to maintain the car as the only practical way for local travel?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by The Shire on Tuesday April 30 2019, @02:38PM
Ok, let me address some of those points. First point - that roads used to be private. I spend a fair amount of time in Colorado and I can tell you that the 470 here is privately owned. This is a major highway loop around Denver, all of it privately owned and well maintained. So it's not like that setup isnt possible, it's simply not always practical. And more to the point - had the government not created the interstate highway system this country would probably not be nearly as prosperous as it has become. Maybe NZ has all the shenanigans you speak of, but as someone who has traveled coast to coast by car several times (and even up beyond the arctic circle), I have yet to encounter any deliberately incorrect signs and I can't even imagine how they could increase business traffic unless you're a gas station.
As for passenger rail... it sucks, it has always sucked. I had to take the Chicago Northwestern everyday into work for a year and I hated it. You had to drive to get to the station, you had to bus from the station to wherever you needed to get. It was always a case of "hurry up and wait" for the next link of your journey. It chewed up huge chunks of your day just standing and waiting. And then there are the parking fees at the station and the ever present risk of someone breaking into your car while you were gone. No, rail failed because it wasn't practical. As for taking rail cross country in lieu of flying, again you're talking about chewing up huge segments of your time. America is a working country, if you're moving around its because you need to get things done, and you can't waste your time taking slow rail to get where you need to be.
Time is money friend, and the US is in a big hurry to get things done. Of course, other countries are much more laid back and maybe they can be convinced to sit on their butts in a train for a day, but that doesn't wash here.
Cars drive the economy, the are the single most productive tool ever created by man.
As for your conspiracy theory that the auto and oil industry blocks the creation of sidewalks and bike paths let me point out that unless you're living in a heavily congested city that has stores at every corner, it's impractical to get groceries on foot and if you're buying for your family, it's impractical to haul it all on a bike. Additionally, most people work 10 or 20 miles away from where they live. Do you really expect anyone to walk that far every morning and evening, in rain or snow? Of course not.
The second factor is this - here in the US at least, we have sidewalks EVERYWHERE and bike lanes almost everywhere. Very few people use them because again, it's just not practical to cover that much distance that way. Your claim that the car and oil industry has conspired against sidewalks and bike lanes clearly falls flat in the face of the fact that all major cities have them.
As for the greenhouse gas emissions refered to in the article, cars in the US already have very strict polution controls and new cars are moving towards electric as the infrastructure permits. This paniced handwaving about "URGENT NEED" is like yelling fire in a theater when there isn't one. It's the same overblown rhetoric you hear from the far left every day - the end of the world is coming in 12 years! These people are better suited to street corners holding carboard signs. They can't be taken seriously.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 30 2019, @08:59AM
Fine, just stop using public money to build roads, go ahead and build your own.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 30 2019, @08:32AM
bike paths are not safe. I ride a bicycle and much rather do it on the regular roads which by the way are designed for all types of vehicles not just motorized.