Mastodawn

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 14, 2023

@JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

While true, this commonplace #Green thinking ignores the needs of the many handicapped or frail elderly people or stressed-out parents with several younger kids who already feel guilty about spending too little time with their family.
Using public transport in off-peak times often doubles or triples travelling times + involves quite some walking.
Furthermore, in rural areas, #PublicTransport is mostly too rare and often too expensive due to low population density.

Badtux the Snarky Penguin Jan 15, 2023

@HistoPol @JessTheUnstill @[email protected] In short, your observations about the handicapped and public transit are totally divorced from the reality. Public transit is the most friendly form of transit for the handicapped, and that has been true for decades.

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 15, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

Interesting observation.

A longer time ago, I was managing a driving service for the handicapped. All of our clients would not have shared your opinion. In particular, as almost all would not have made it even to the next bus stop half a mile away by themselves.

The ones that might have made it would still mostly have preferred a cab/taxi.

Most of the people I know aged up to 80/85 who are not nursing-home residents still manage to drive...
1/2

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

2/3
...however, many would not manage more than walking to a bus station and back 600m/half a mile (and back) and then still go shopping downtown.

Also, someone merely having an injured foot would not make it out of the unfathomable undergrounds in the #CityOfLondon when the #escalators are out of order.
...

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 15, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]
3/3
...Oh, and if you are not #CrocodileDundee, taking an underground train in metropolises like #MexicoCity might prove too much adventure, in particular at night. 😉

So, all I am saying is that while #PublicTransport might be the best, often only solution in urban areas, it is not for a significant number of people.

Also, an e-bike, for many, is an even faster solution for short and medium distances if there are bike lanes.

Badtux the Snarky Penguin Jan 15, 2023

@HistoPol @JessTheUnstill @[email protected] An e-bike is useless to my mobility-impaired mother and visually-impaired brother. Furthermore your person riding an e-bike is not going to handle snow and ice very well, which is over 25% of the population of the United States during the winter. Here, tell me how well an eBike is going to do in this weather:

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 16, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

Abysmally, in general, though I have an acquaintance using #Spikes, prohibited for cars im most countries. 😉

Many countries and #US regions do not experience snow on the ground.

But this is not really the point.
A well-designed #PublicTransport system will provide oeople with alternative means of transport infrastructure, too, like bike lanes and rental bikes/cars.

Buses and metro trains/subways will not be the panacea for all people/regions/climates.

Badtux the Snarky Penguin Jan 15, 2023

@HistoPol @JessTheUnstill @[email protected] The fact that a third world nation has an unsafe mass transit system is of supreme disinterest to me. The fact that the United States lacks a functional mass transit system in 99% of its cities -- by functional, I mean any address no more than 2 blocks from a stop, and buses/trains run every 15 minutes -- makes life excruciatingly difficult for those who can't drive cars for whatever reason.

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 16, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected] @badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

(1/n)

Agreed.
I was trying to have an international perspective.

People complain about public transport in most places.
In fact, my feeling is that it is one of the goods where demand is by far greater than supply almost anywhere.

As I heard on the radio today, the richest one percent have accumulared two thirds of wealth-gains since before the Pandemic (e.g...

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 16, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

(2/n)
...the #food and #energy sectors).

As trickle-down clearly could never work, it is high time to finally level the playing field for the people.

A #WealthTax, a steep #CarbonTax, in particular for private trips to space, and an #ExcessProfitsTax / #WindfallProfitTax / #WindfallTax of at least 50% would go a long way to pay for a state-of-the-art #PublicTransport and #HealthSystem...

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 16, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

(3/n)
...
A #WindfallProfitTax / #ExcessProfitTax / #WindfallTax has been introduced in several countries, including #Britain.

Cheap #PublicTransport would have a asymmetrically benefitial impact on low-income households. They would lower inner-city rents, as much more workers would be able to live in more distant suburbs (like in #SanFrancisco and #NYC).
The wealth of big home real-estate owners would be adversely affected, as prices would drop there...

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 16, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

(4/n)
...The effect on #GlobalWarming would be significant, too.

In the #US, however I fear that this will not happen in the next decade. Government, in particular #Congress and #SCOTUS have mutated into a #plutocracy ever since that fatal decision #CitizensUnitedVsFEC in 2010. What is even worse, it is not just #US #DarkMoney from national industry but increasingly from antagonistic,...

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 16, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

(5/6)
...#autocratic foreign countries like #Russia and #SaudiArabia that is skewing the US' and other western democracies (e.g. #UK, #France, #Hungary). At the beginning of this year, for instance, it turned out that #Qatar had bought the vice-president of the #EuropeanParliament.

I would like to have a more optimistic outlook, but I don’t. #VoterSupressionLaws including...

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 16, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

(6/6)
...#Gerrymandering, chiefly by #Republicans, have been trying to further cement the #US' #plutocracy.

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 18, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

https://newsie.social/@bespacific/109699156332229910

beSpacific (@[email protected])

A 5% tax on the world's multimillionaires could lift 2 billion people out of poverty The richest 1% have captured twice as much wealth as the rest of the world combined since 2020, according to a new Oxfam report. The world’s richest people have gained $1.5 trillion in the past three years. In fact, Oxfam’s findings show that the ultra rich have captured half of all new wealth created in the past decade. https://qz.com/oxfam-richest-people-pay-tax-poverty-hunger-wef-davos-1849986155 #Oxfam #Wealth #economy #billionaires #UltraRich #poverty

Newsie

Badtux the Snarky Penguin Jan 15, 2023

@HistoPol @JessTheUnstill @[email protected] The fact that the EU does not have handicapped-access laws is not my problem here in the United States. The lack of any functional mass transit at all in most US cities is my problem. There's basically only two cities in the United States where you can easily live without a car -- New York City and San Francisco. That's pathetic.

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 16, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

Yes, the #US has been too focused on the #CarIndustry since #WWII.

But wheelchair accessibility is a problem in most countries, also in the #US:

"A 2011 report from Amtrak's Office of Inspector General found that 48 of the stations used by the railroad met the requirements set by the Americans with Disabilities Act, while 434 did not."

Even if there R willingness + laws, the funding must B there as well. Upgrading platforms + bus stops is very expensive.

HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Jan 17, 2023

@badtux @JessTheUnstill @[email protected]

Source:
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/travel/2020/01/29/amtrak-trains-stations-pose-problems-wheelchair-access/4589972002/

After $25,000 fee, wheelchair users wait for better Amtrak stations, trains

Amtrak has been slow to make progress on improving accessibility of its stations and trains 30 years after the Americans with Disabilities Act passed.

USA TODAY