> Living in a suburb/rural area that is more than a half-hour drive from your place of work (in no traffic).
That this situation is so common is a symptom of the fact that our cities and towns have been designed around driving. The geography of the US is a comparatively small factor, since (as you mention) most people here live in cities or suburbs.
> When that happens, a car is typically the most sensible form of transportation.
For these sorts of occasional needs, car sharing services work well.
> I also find your enthusiasm for passing laws to legislate your cost/benefit analysis on everyone else to be deeply disturbing, but I'll leave that one be.
This assumes that the status quo doesn't already constitute legislating one group's cost/benefit analysis on everyone else.
> That this situation is so common is a symptom of the fact that our cities and towns have been designed around driving.
I live outside Boston. Which was most certainly not designed for driving. And yet, my analysis holds there too.
> The geography of the US is a comparatively small factor, since (as you mention) most people here live in cities or suburbs.
I think you've taken what I said out of context. I went on to qualify that by saying those people, due to the lower overall population density, have a decent chance of knowing people in suburbs/rural areas that they visit.
> For these sorts of occasional needs, car sharing services work well.
In urban areas, yes. In suburb/rural areas, no. My friend had a similar dilemma, and her solution was to rent a car. Plausible, but is of varying pain depending upon use cases. Her use case was "I need a car infrequently but for long stretches of time."
> This assumes that the status quo doesn't already constitute legislating one group's cost/benefit analysis on everyone else.
No it doesn't. I said nothing about the status quo. I didn't even argue in favor of the status quo.
Do you acknowledge that geography plays a big role in the viability of cycling as a primary mode of transportation? From your response, I can only assume that you don't. If my assumption is right, then I suggest we focus the conversation on that.
Your also assuming an ether or situation if you drive less having a cheaper car seems more reasonable. I bought a 30k car back when I spent 2 hours a day in it, now that I drive ~2 hours a week and kind of wish I had bought a Honda civic instead.
That this situation is so common is a symptom of the fact that our cities and towns have been designed around driving. The geography of the US is a comparatively small factor, since (as you mention) most people here live in cities or suburbs.
> When that happens, a car is typically the most sensible form of transportation.
For these sorts of occasional needs, car sharing services work well.
> I also find your enthusiasm for passing laws to legislate your cost/benefit analysis on everyone else to be deeply disturbing, but I'll leave that one be.
This assumes that the status quo doesn't already constitute legislating one group's cost/benefit analysis on everyone else.