Car-dependent culture only seems sane to people who have been inured to it by years of exposure. If you leave a livable city & move to a place like LA, it's a severe culture shock.
RT @MLS_ZONE@twitter.com
LA Galaxy midfielder Riqui Puig is having a difficult time adjusting to life in Los Angeles. He prefers cities that are not as dependent on car travel. His life off the field has been boring since arriving last summer. (Rut Vilar, Catalunya Radio) #LAGalaxy
No lie has hurt the US more than the idea that cars = freedom.
This is a silly & somewhat cliched anecdote, but what the hell: the first time I had any extended experience with a walkable, transit-rich city was on my honeymoon in Paris, way back in the mesozoic era. It's been decades but I still remember the exact moment ...
... when I walked out of the hotel and thought, "we can go anywhere we want! We can change plans on the fly. We can be spontaneous, because anywhere we go, there's a transit stop ready to take us anywhere else." No worries about traffic, parking, getting a car back home, etc.
@drvolts I don't understand how people in the US cope with drinking alcohol in areas without public transit - do you all just get taxis? Doesn't that cost a fortune? Presumably you have to plan everything really carefully and can't spontaneously go for drinks after work?
@davidmschell @drvolts well that sucks :(
@afewbugs @drvolts The rise of Uber has helped, but essentially people either plan for a designated sober driver for a group outing, or more commonly just drive drunk, everyone believing they have superior judgement about how drunk is too drunk. Most cities even have minimum parking requirements for bars so people can drive to and from them!
@afewbugs @drvolts people largely just drive drunk and kill people, or they'll ask one friend to not drink and be the "designated driver."