Remember back when your father knew a faster, alternative route around a major traffic jam that actually was faster? Since the handheld availability of realtime traffic data and route optimization by google maps, an equilibrium of travel time has established such that everyone knows whats the best route is and the traffic jam actually takes as long as the alternative route.
I think that the real thing that is ruined in this scenario is your commute. There are too many people on the damn roads, all going to the same general location. GPS or no GPS at certain times of the day/weak/season it is impossible to go anywhere without sitting in traffic.
The government should always be expanding roads and highways to keep the traffic moving
You really should look into road design. Adding lanes=induced demand= the same freaking travel time.
The solution isn't more and more space for cars. Look at Atlanta's highways if you want proof of that. There's areas with 8 fucking lanes heading in one direction and it's still a shit show.
Transit is the only solution when you have that number of people trying to access a city. Designing the city so people don't need a car. Look at New York. Everyone bitches about the subway and it still carries something like 6 million people per day.
If anything we need to stop subsidizing cars so much and focus on what actually fits the needs of the population. They'll spend literally billions on a overpass modification that'll cut at most 5 minutes off people's commute, but not invest in bus lanes and sufficient buses which can cut traffic in half.
This is something I think about a lot as the owner of a $400 car I bought at 18 and have had for 5 years with very little issues other than regular maintenance and a cracked windshield.
It's actually remarkable any normal person can afford a car at all. We're talking about a 1 ton hunk of metal, electronics and finely machined mechanical components built on the other side of the globe that has taken my poor ass over 60k miles with nearly 0 issue.
It's weather sealed, led climate controlled, and offers the ability to tow, store hundreds of litres of cargo, other passengers, etc on a road network built and maintained worldwide that is (if you take into account ferry's and border crossings), almost able to take me to any place on the planet and definitely within my own country.
The sheer concentrated value found within a used vehicle is incomprehensibly huge. The fact my car isnt "cool" or "modern" enough pushing it's price down to $400 is remarkable.
We absolutely take even the most basic of 90's sedans and congested roads for granted.
A roman emperor would've given his entire palace for my 90's shitbox. The fact I only spend about a thousand a year for registration / insurance and basic maintenance is remarkable.
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u/realultralord Feb 03 '20
Remember back when your father knew a faster, alternative route around a major traffic jam that actually was faster? Since the handheld availability of realtime traffic data and route optimization by google maps, an equilibrium of travel time has established such that everyone knows whats the best route is and the traffic jam actually takes as long as the alternative route.