Those people still exist, its just that the democratic party has to cover a way, way more varied base than the Republicans. A republican will vote for a republican no matter what they say/do (Trump is anything but a fiscal conservative/small government type, but he's still approved of by 90%+ of Republican voters), the democrats don't have it that easy. They are largely comprised of neo-liberals/centrists (HRC, Obama, etc., people who seem to love going to war, do little else to make large progressive change) but also attempt to appease liberals (probably the people you're speaking of, though I think at this point most liberals don't want guns because they're being used to kill way too many folks), socialists, communists, etc. (they always fail to appease these groups). That's a flaw of the two party system/electoral college, to get to 270 EC votes you can really only have two parties competing, get rid of the EC and maybe we can have more parties & actually represent the interests of a lot more folks.

That's probably a bit rambly/stream of consciousness-y.

It is being worked on. I sat in on a graduate level course at a school I'm considering (a large, well-respected research based state school) & the whole semester project is based on changing policy/planning around autonomous vehicles. It is happening, just behind the scenes for now, until true autonomous vehicles are ready for the spotlight.

 

Agree!

There is also a group working on legislation to ensure the rights of people that wish to continue driving themselves vs solely autonomous travel. I hope both parties succeed.

 

Aww yiss.

I hope they succeed, but I don't think it is something we'll have to worry about too much in our lifetimes. Non-autonomous vehicles can't be banned until it is economically viable & it will likely be quite some time before those vehicles work themselves down into affordability for those on the lower end of the economic spectrum. I hope they succeed, AV would be great for cities, limiting need for parking and hopefully making cities places where people walk, rather than drive.

But yeah, cars should be around for a while yet as we know them.

 

In my dreamworld, I see some kind of system where the Interstates are basically autonomous. Like you drive your otherwise self driven car onto the entrance ramp and then a "system" takes over and pilots your personal vehicle at HIGH speeds with every car being controlled by a central system. Get the "system" right and cars could travel and a much higher speed safely.

They would then disconnect from the "system" at the exit ramp to allow freedom of travel to anywhere.

Maybe I watched too much Jetson's as a kid.

 

Jetsons good/bad future. Didn't they basically destroy the planet to need to live in space? lol

https://www.curbed.com/a/texas-calif...nto-california

I wholly recommend this read.

 

I have this same thought as well! My vision involves using a large magnetic to "hold" the car to a conveyor belt platform along the highway. When you reach your exit, reverse polarity and shoot the car off.

That is a great read, for me especially as it centers on Sacramento and mentions Davis. I spent many years at UCD for college and always thought it was an anomaly for being so bike-centric (having grown up in SoCal). A lot of great points brought up, especially regarding the lower-income areas that use several vehicles due to lack of a reliable mode of transportation.

 

These articles always forget how people ACTUALLY USE their cars. Primarily, the fact that you leave stuff in your car!

I live in a 3rd-floor condo and have to park a couple of blocks away. So I leave things in my car, such as: Golf clubs. Umbrella. Extra pair of bowling shoes. Sometimes, bowling balls. Folding music stands (2). Tripod. Stuff like that.

If I don't own my car and just take one of these fleet vehicles, that means I can't leave stuff in my car anymore, and have to carry it all back to my condo every time I use it. (Even if it's dropping me off at the door, I still have to unload and take the stuff upstairs.)

Your mileage may vary, but tell me: Do you leave stuff in the car, or do you take every last thing back home with you every night?

Urb

 

Thanks for posting this article. I regret taking so long to read it! I lived here in Sacramento when there was practically NO bicycle infrastructure around (mid 80s) . Yes there was some shoulder area around for biking, but nothing like there is today! They turned around the downtown area of Sac (they call it Midtown) with very little money. Currently it's very easy getting around via bicycle. They put in a bicycle infrastructure and did some things for traffic calming and it has REALLY paid off. The before and after is rather amazing. I remember some streets were like raceways. Three lanes going one way. Now the neighborhood is rather welcoming to get around via walking and riding.

The article mentions reducing vehicle miles traveled—what transportation planners call VMT. The target is daily average of 1.6 miles. They sited one example of dropping off the kids via bicycles or having them be able to ride their bikes as opposed to driving them to school. I don't have kids, but I always suggested riding a bike when you go see your doctor. I'm a diabetic, so I see my doc regularly. Whatever is found, walk or bike for example, it's probably going to be more healthy for the person.

(BTW, if you're wondering, I lived here in Sac from about '75 to '90 and came back '17. I've always been into bicycling too. The last 9 yrs getting around via bicycle and subway system down in the LA area. The last year or so I've been getting back into the car ownership thing.)

 

The only thing in my car right now is a broken TV I have to take to an electronics recycling area.

If you walk more, you'd just carry the umbrella when you leave your place.

I'm glad to read it works nicely for actual residents & that the changes noted in the article can be so clearly seen & felt. I think that's where public projects fail a lot, if locals can't feel a change, they won't support further work especially when the stuff is expensive.

I live in Milwaukee & they're about to open a 'streetcar' that they've spent millions of dollars & years tearing up the roads. Every suburban doofus who NEVER goes into the city is stoked about it (per my anecdotal sample size of my exurban coworkers), every person I know in the city that isn't one of the few wealthy people right along the streetcar's extremely limited path (it only covers the richest parts of the city) is completely against it. That money should've been spent on improving pedestrian/pedal traffic safety, Milwaukee's footprint is tiny and that should be taken advantage of.

 

Holly crap! That system is 2 miles long and costed over 60 mil per mile! Granted you might have some pretty bad winter weather, but seems like it would have worked better going another route? I guess if there's plans on expanding greatly, things would work out. I'm hoping they did something for a bicycle/ped infrastructure.

 

They tried the street car thing in DC too and it's also been a colossal waste of money.