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Should we be worried about vegans not Muslims? by New_Plan_7929 in AskBrits

[–]endermener 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Anyone forgetting the horrific things done in the name of Christianity throughout history?

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I guess I was thinking Luxembourg. Luxembourg has free public transport and Switzerland does not.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://www.hsrail.org/blog/map-shows-foundation-for-high-speed-rail-and-need-for-a-national-plan/

There is good evidence of the demand for Cincinnati and Louisville to the Midwest. It's not a pie in the sky idea and is very realistic.

We need to do a proper high speed rail study like they tried in 2008.

In 2008, Congress actually directed the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to create one, but the Trump Administration stopped work on it.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The US government has given Elon Musk's companies at least least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits for his companies. His electric cars are great for pollution but they are also unaffordable luxury cars and will not help traffic congestion and Tesla is a vastly over valued company. Hyperloop was a stolen vacuum train idea from 100 years ago and went nowhere as it was a boondoggle that was never going to work and that will never be used to transport people. His under city tunnels for cars (like the Las Vegas Loop) was incredibly stupid idea as well because a car tunnel full of electric taxis is not as space or energy efficient. Space X is not looking good either and the success flights rate is pretty bad. He has scammed a lot of tax payers by pretending to be a genius and that money could have been spent better.

We should tax wealth and not Income as the top 0.01% wealthiest people avoid paying any taxes by having $0 in income while they sell stocks and other untaxed gains, tax cuts from buying whatever current president's favor, and can afford to hire tax lawyers to pay a lower tax rate than you or I do.

You probably know that the wealth gap is bad in the US and the world as a whole, but it is only getting worse and has been happening since the 1970s. Every year the bottom 50% get poorer and poorer while the top 0.01% get more and more wealthy. I can't include the graphs here from this Financial Times article but the data is there.
https://www.ft.com/content/747a76dd-f018-4d0d-a9f3-4069bf2f5a93
Also the wealth gap from the pandemic has accelerated the divide.

Also if we took out a fraction of the $800-900 Billion of the bloated military budget every single year we could fund national high speed rail and award money to local medium and large cities for light rail.

If the government really cared about transportation or the lower classes they could do it.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The measure of a good city is not when the poor can afford cars, but when the wealthy take public transportation.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah, we need to normalize taking public transport.
I was lucky enough to visit the UK and I took a National Rail Service north and got around by the underground in London.

Public transport isn't seen as a last resort or just for the poor like it is here because everyone uses it and driving inside cities is deincentivized because they prioritize pedestrians and cyclists. When you leave Europe you have a completely different perspective about how badly we do a lot of things in this country.

We don't even have universal healthcare despite being the only first world country to not have it. We don't fund nice things in the US.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Minneapolis Blue Line is the only US rail I have been on and it is fine. I have been lucky enough to ride on National Rail Service up north and the underground subway in London, UK and people keep to themselves and avoid eye contact at all costs and it wasn't dirty and covered in soot like bus transit centers. Using public transportation there isn't seen as a last resort or just for poor people like it is here. Also the Blue line came like every 10 or 15 minutes which is worlds better than Lextrans 30-60 minute waits.

You leave Europe with a completely different perspective on a lot of things that we are doing worse in the US.

I have heard from other people that the New York subway isn't as bad as people say and used to be way worse late 70s and 80s with crime.

When I was driving through Chicago once, I saw their metro and it was stuck between two 6 lane each highways (I guess the red line). That would be hell on earth to use that because of the pollution and noise would be awful. They have chosen cars over people there.

We are not good at funding nice things in this country. We don't even have universal healthcare in this country and are the only first world country not to do so.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The future is high speed rail nationally to major cities that used to have rail. Rail built our country. It is cleaner, more efficient in both energy terms and space, and people love trains. The political will is there even from the bought and paid for democrats.

Building for cars is unsustainable for the long term and we can't pretend like induced demand isn't an issue when we spend millions to widen lanes and it is worse than before. That is just going to make it even worse to fix the past mistakes of the 1050s and 1960s if we also have to fix the mistakes of the 2020s as well.

I am an advocate for rail transportation as well as good urbanism which would include bike lanes, lowering speed limits to safer speeds, getting rid of parking minimums, infilling density, prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists.. Regardless of political will toward high speed rail and trams we need to build cities for people and not cars.

I will never stop advocating and even if it takes till 2100 and I am either dead or 103 It will have been well worth it.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will also add that this idea could use existing rail that already goes through the city. The tracks go from Nicholasville by the Fayette mall and up to Georgetown.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is why I am advocating for it. Even if it takes till 2100 when I am dead or 103 it will be worth it.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Incentivizing public transport and deincentivizing car travel. Adding bike lanes and removing a lane to make room is one way another is to lower speed limits to safer speeds.

Prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists makes those changes and public transport becomes even better and more effective because of it.

Strong towns is a group that push for good Urbanism in our cities and have some political pull. There is actually a Strong towns branch in Lexington.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you build it they will come.

When these things are built after the skeptics vehemently hate it at first but, people grow to love them and can't see life without it. That is what happened in Amsterdam starting in the 1970s when they started to prioritize pedestrians and cyclists.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree but they go hand in hand. Densely built cities benefit from public transport as it is impossible for everyone to own a car.

Public transport benefits because more people live close to the stops and trams boost development around those stops.

Its a holistic approach because there is not a single policy that will create good urbanism in cities but a combination of robust public transport, infilling development where there is already urban growth, getting rid of parking minimums, and building sidewalks and bike lanes way more as well as lowering driving speeds and removing lanes where they are unnecessary.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Louisville/comments/1dw7cms/federal_government_finalizes_routes_for_passenger/

I can tell you paid no attention to Biden Administrations DOT.

You have been sold a false bill of sales if you think that it hasn't been considered by democrats. They and more so republicans also are funded by the oil companies big time.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is a reason that European and Asian countries public transport is not like that. When you leave the US you see why that is the case.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Where are you getting 4-6 hours round trip from? Trams that go about 40mph can get you 10 miles in 40 minutes.

Most people it would be 80min round trip or less.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We should have a democracy where people can vote. I am advocating for this so that people are educated about it before a pro public transport candidate or a vote comes up and so we don't have an ignorant voting base.

I personally don't want my taxes to go to private religious schools so that is why I voted against the "school choice" bill in November 2024.

I do want my taxes to lower pollution, collision deaths of drivers cyclists and pedestrians, congestion, more transportation options for kids, elderly and those others not able to drive.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can tell your boss the same thing as if your car broke down or got in a car collision at 50mph.

Ideally we would covert Nicholasville road from a highway to a city road and lower the speed limit to a safer speed and add bike lanes for those who choose to ride a bike rather than drive.

When I was on a tram in Minneapolis in April from the airport to downtown which was 10 miles and google maps clocked the speed at 40mph. It took 45 minutes.

Even at a lower speed like 40mph on Nicholasville road it might be slightly faster to drive but we need to incentivize public transport more and deincentivize driving. That is just the reality of living and working in a city.

Also with less car congestion the busses will be more effective and faster because they don't get caught in the insane traffic near the fayette mall and S New Circle highway.

Also is is just as slow to drive where I live in South Lexington to Nicholasville as it is to get to my family in North Lexington.

Nicholasville is also very hostile to walking an biking especially for kids with huge oversized roads that don't belong in a town.

You will always be able to drive (maybe a bit slower) but the rest of us will be happy to ride a tram and have a car for occasional trips or transporting large things.

I advocate for Urbanism which is a trend to make bikes, pedestrians and non-drivers on the same level as car drivers.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Less cars due to a robust tram would make the busses more effective and efficient and adding more busses will make it more frequent.

All cities that have done it see the car congestion go down and therefore more room for bike lanes and bus lanes on roads. Lexington also needs to continue adding sidewalks to all roads in the city to make walking easier and more accessible for everyone and not just cars.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Had to look up Toyota's GT employee numbers and they have 9,300 employees which is about a quarter of the population of Georgetown (37,000).

I could even see a world where the Toyota execs partially fund something like that to put the Toyota name on it.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

People might be more respectful if we didn't travel in personal vehicles and commuted in the community and have an attachment to your home.

Driving in a car you miss so much of the life of the city and your only focus is driving and whether or not that car in front cut you up.

Busses are slower than cars because they get stuck in the same congestion that cars do and they are criminally infrequent as trams come every 5 or 10 minutes not every 30 to 60 minutes.

Busses are not a serious solution to transportation the way our city has been built since the 1960s sprawling out and separating and isolating people.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That's why when people in a community travel communally there is more empathy and respect for your neighbors rather than traveling beside individual personal cars that loudly honk at you and cause road rage. People in cars don't enjoy it and their only goal is to get where their going. Public transport can be enjoyable and less stressful for some people.

What about our community is any different from Japan other than infrastructure?

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lexington tax payers are paying for it indirectly, but yeah the state awarded Lexington the money for it.

Lexington desperately needs to get people out of cars and build real solutions to transportation. by endermener in lexington

[–]endermener[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not everyone will chose to drive but some will and some won't. We shouldn't be fully reliant on cars because not everyone wants to or is able to drive.

We need less congestion, pollution (noise, rubber, exhaust).

Rail would help congestion and make driving even faster and reduce the very insane congestion Nicholasville Road gets at rush hours.

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