Is the automobile doomed?

[Devastatin Dave]

I'd be eating pizza with Gawain.

I think someone has a secret admirer!!!

To all those evil automobile owner, GET A HORSE!!!

[Steppe Merc]

To all those evil automobile owner, GET A HORSE!!!

I like them better than cars. They are nicer. But after you ride them, you have to shower, because they smell. Oh, and cars tend to scare some of them, and cars never keep enough distance.

[Geoffrey S]

It's pretty easy to speak about public transport in a good light here in Holland; sure, the Dutch constantly complain about the system, but it's generally reliable and can get you anywhere. Anyone can get pretty much anywhere with a combination of trains, busses and bikes. Combining public transport with bikes (your own or rented) means cars can be bypassed fairly easily.

[ah_dut]

The automobile won't be doomed till public transport is sorted out and only in cities. Oh and Prole, there are lots of traffic jams round here!

[Xiahou]

The automobile won't be doomed till public transport is sorted out and only in cities. Oh and Prole, there are lots of traffic jams round here!

And if I remember right, the tubes are usually packed like cattle cars too.

[ah_dut]

And if I remember right, the tubes are usually packed like cattle cars too.

Not during the hours I ride on tubes but in rush hours...I'd trade places with the cattle anyday

[Marcellus]

Not during the hours I ride on tubes but in rush hours...I'd trade places with the cattle anyday

At least it's not as bad as Tokyo - they employ people to push people onto trains (or at least they used to, I don't know if they still do).

I'm rather lucky with the underground, actually: the station that I would normally use if I use the train is Oakwood, on the Piccadilly line. It's only the second stop, so I can always get a seat, even in the height of the rush hour. Heading home is a different matter though...

But as I and others have said, I don't think that the car is doomed: it's advantages of convenience and privacy willl mean that people will have cars for years to come. However, as public transport improves and expands, I think that car use could decrease in favour of public transport, especially for commuter journeys.

[Idaho]

Good topic Gawain - and you can quote me

I'm a late convert to the private automobile. I didn't drive for the first 30 years of my life, mainly because I lived in cities and towns with good public transport and cars and their accesories and insurance, etc are pricey.

However now I live out on the periphery and have a family I rely on my car. I walk to work, but for fun we get in the car every weekend.

There must me a limit to private car ownership. Levels of car ownership in the UK in my lifetime have risen massively. I can remember in my childhood that residential streets were sparsely populated with cars. We played out in the street with our friends and the pavement (sidewalk) and road were both fine to play on. There were few parked cars and few cars driving past. Now I drive down those streets and cars are frequent and cars are parked bumper to bumper - often with resident parking areas to try and allieviate parking overcrowding.

Can this ownership continue? Of course there is the fuel issue - which overshadows the entire debate. But even if we ignore that there is the simple fact of physical space in our cities. Go to a small city/big town in the UK and see how much room there is for more car use - roads are packed to bursting. Traffic jams are a fact of life daily.

At some point we are going to have to learn to share a resource - space.

[Papewaio]

If the trainline went near my workplace I would take it.

Great way to get to work and get some reading or computer games done. Much better then dealing with other drivers.

[doc_bean]

Public transport is great in most big cities I've been to. Vienna had an especially great system of subways. But public transport outside of major cities is just inefficient. I've wasted years of my life waiting on busses and trains already.

Personal flying 'cars' won't be a likely solution, simply because you need to meet much harder criteria to be allowed to fly than to drive. Accidents will more often be lethal, and as Gawain pointed out, the danger to the surrounding people is pretty high.

[Tachikaze]

San Diego and Los Angeles are probably the personal car capitals of the world. Public transportation here is sparse and relatively poor, compared to the best ones I've seen. I own a small car (which my wife drives) and a small truck (for my big drums).

While I drive the truck for most errands and all music practices and gigs, I use the light rail train to go to work--and I love it! I look out the window at nearby traffic jams, glance at the gasoline prices and lay back with a contented smile on my face, continue reading/writing, or grading my students' schoolwork.

[Mikeus Caesar]

Accidents will more often be lethal, and as Gawain pointed out, the danger to the surrounding people is pretty high.

That's what they first thought about the Automobile when it was invented. Then again, they also though that if you went over 30mph your body would explode under the force...

[kiwitt]

Public transport will never be cheap enough for me to move to. Even free is too costly for me.

I use a car, and it takes me 15 mins to get to work in congested traffic. The same journey by bus is 1 hour. This means 1.5 hours a day is wasted (both trips); waiting more , sitting more , walking more. I value my personal time at 2 x my hourly rate ($50.00). So I am spending $150 per day on using the public transport.

Fuel would have to cost 5 times as much for me to consider an alternative.