i’m here complaining how it’s hard to walk to a big shopping mall or an ikea and you’re out there without even a small grocery store around most corners? how do you lot do that? i’d seriously just starve to death if i couldn’t get up, walk for 5min, and buy food for a whole meal (or a frozen pizza)
As an American I need you to understand that what you’re saying sounds like a deep parody here. We have some major cities that are comfortable to live in without a car, but they’re few and far between.
To us a grocery store is a place you go to rather than swing by real quick. Its changing in some cities, and I’ve even lived in a suburb with walkable groceries, but its really not the norm.
In a way that can’t really be described to Europeans. If you live in a suburban area, people think you’re weird if you do anything other than use your car to get anywhere for any reason. Almost everywhere in the US is designed around the idea that you have a car and you use it every day.
Oh yeah I can confirk Columbus is a fucking nightmare for bus transit. Its kinda bikable in some parts, and by that I mean possibly safer than Kyiv. But I’ll say this about it, its definitely better than a lot of other places in America. I will never understand its resistance to light rail.
There are parts of America that are reasonable. Cities like New York, D.C., and Seattle have people who can afford a car choosing not to own one. But then you’ve got places like Houston and most small cities where even Columbus looks walkable.
This does exist in major US cities, especially the older (by US standards) ones. I’m in San Francisco, in a “good” neighborhood, and restaurants, groceries, bars, and multiple forms of public transit are all a short walk away. This is very different in car centric suburbs/cities though.
The contrast between eg Manhattan and Los Angeles is wild. First time in LA I went out walking, looking for a restaurant. The footpath vanished and suddenly I was on the edge of what seemed like a freeway. Relatives in Santa Monica were horrified to learn that I had taken a bus from my hotel downtown to visit them (it was perfectly fine).
They all want to live in a detached single home (is that how you call it?), so not enough density for a store to make profit. Glad I don’t live there tbh.
I’m starting to think I need one myself because Americans are generally such loud fucking wankers that you need both a detached house and yards to get any peace.
Another thing is that the US is so car brained that nearly all attached homes (even townhouses in the city) have a garage somewhere. In my current condo, there’s alleyways with garages that face each other. The amount of fucking noise coming from the garage alleys make it impossible to sleep for lighter sleepers.
Probably doesn’t help that a lot is wood and panels, instead of brick or concrete. If you live near a busy street with insulated windows you can almost completely block out the noise nowadays (Although you’re still stuck with the pollution and can’t really open the windows), but technology can really counter some of those problems. But i wouldn’t fight the system on my own, so I probably would do the same in your position.
hi European here!
what the fuck?
i’m here complaining how it’s hard to walk to a big shopping mall or an ikea and you’re out there without even a small grocery store around most corners? how do you lot do that? i’d seriously just starve to death if i couldn’t get up, walk for 5min, and buy food for a whole meal (or a frozen pizza)
As an American I need you to understand that what you’re saying sounds like a deep parody here. We have some major cities that are comfortable to live in without a car, but they’re few and far between.
To us a grocery store is a place you go to rather than swing by real quick. Its changing in some cities, and I’ve even lived in a suburb with walkable groceries, but its really not the norm.
We drive
Everywhere
In a way that can’t really be described to Europeans. If you live in a suburban area, people think you’re weird if you do anything other than use your car to get anywhere for any reason. Almost everywhere in the US is designed around the idea that you have a car and you use it every day.
This is about my city:
[full article]
And it’s absolutely true. Our buses are mostly useful for driving to a Park & Ride/Transit Center and then to work and back. That’s about it.
Oh yeah I can confirk Columbus is a fucking nightmare for bus transit. Its kinda bikable in some parts, and by that I mean possibly safer than Kyiv. But I’ll say this about it, its definitely better than a lot of other places in America. I will never understand its resistance to light rail.
There are parts of America that are reasonable. Cities like New York, D.C., and Seattle have people who can afford a car choosing not to own one. But then you’ve got places like Houston and most small cities where even Columbus looks walkable.
This does exist in major US cities, especially the older (by US standards) ones. I’m in San Francisco, in a “good” neighborhood, and restaurants, groceries, bars, and multiple forms of public transit are all a short walk away. This is very different in car centric suburbs/cities though.
The contrast between eg Manhattan and Los Angeles is wild. First time in LA I went out walking, looking for a restaurant. The footpath vanished and suddenly I was on the edge of what seemed like a freeway. Relatives in Santa Monica were horrified to learn that I had taken a bus from my hotel downtown to visit them (it was perfectly fine).
I live in the EU but used to live in the US. In a nice part, too!
I lived like 400m from a small store. Never drove once. Insanely dangerous to walk on such a busy road with no sidewalks, no crossings, etc.
I walk a ton and bike ~80-100km/week now and don’t think twice about it.
They all want to live in a detached single home (is that how you call it?), so not enough density for a store to make profit. Glad I don’t live there tbh.
Single family home is the common term here.
I’m starting to think I need one myself because Americans are generally such loud fucking wankers that you need both a detached house and yards to get any peace.
Another thing is that the US is so car brained that nearly all attached homes (even townhouses in the city) have a garage somewhere. In my current condo, there’s alleyways with garages that face each other. The amount of fucking noise coming from the garage alleys make it impossible to sleep for lighter sleepers.
Probably doesn’t help that a lot is wood and panels, instead of brick or concrete. If you live near a busy street with insulated windows you can almost completely block out the noise nowadays (Although you’re still stuck with the pollution and can’t really open the windows), but technology can really counter some of those problems. But i wouldn’t fight the system on my own, so I probably would do the same in your position.
We tend to shop for days worth of food at a time.