this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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Solarpunk Urbanism

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A community to discuss solarpunk and other new and alternative urbanisms that seek to break away from our currently ecologically destructive urbanisms.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My US city put one in in downtown. It would be fine should they have their own lane that bypassed traffic, but no thoughts were given to it's actual implementation. They picked a loop path that goes from two lanes to one frequently. They simply placed the track on the road and kept car street parking on the other side. So you get the pleasure of waiting in traffic on the tram and the tram getting stuck because someone poorly parked their monster truck. Top that off with it was open 10am til 6pm when it first started, but downtown doesn't have much going on during the day. They've changed times now but it barely scratches the surface of use issues. As someone fully for public transportation, this has been so poorly done it's very frustrating. I do hope they have more fixes in the future.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I wish my city would have trams, they're one of the best means of transit

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That photo is from Helsinki. Around Eira I think?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was thinking Vallila but you're probably right!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You are right. This is in Vallila, I tracked down the red building on the right, it is Mäkelänkatu 19.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

We have very similar trams here, they are quite neat when they travel in their regular 10 minute interval. But once they go into night mode e.g. every 30 minutes it makes them a lot less useful further outside of the city. But thats critique on a high level, they perform really well and in 95% of cases I don't have to check a timetable to catch one to work or uni.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I like trains because if I notice I forgot something important 20 minutes into a one hour commute it will set me back two hours and forty minutes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why would you go the whole way to your destination and not exit the next stop to return home?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago

I take the express train. I don’t want my one hour commute to be a two hour commute because they stop for five minutes every 8 minutes and have to get back up to speed. I already have to wake up ten minutes earlier to take the light rail, change trains to a local, take that three stops to a hub, and change to the express train. I should just buy a car.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

That's the dumbest argument for cars I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot of dumb ones.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Don't forget things.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

If your commute is an hour by train, it's gonna be like >2 hours by car in traffic. But sure, if you ignore all the benefits of trains and only look at the downsides they look bad.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Living in Europe I completely don't share that sentiment.

Cars should be used only when necessary and actually save significant proportion of time, otherwise cities become inhospitable hellholes and everyone loses (including cars now stuck in traffic).

But then again, I don't forget things too often, and in other post I saw you said that you regularly need to make a 3 part jurney. This would be a good situation to get a car.