If There Were No Cars

Just imagine a world without cars. None. Zero. The most radical revolution in the planet.

Easy?

Hard?

Communist?

I don’t like this idea either, but just imagine a world that at the same time that has no cars, has a perfect transportation system.

We can keep all other transportation methods; trains, buses, bikes, metros, trucks, and baby cars (for the babies).

Well, since we are already taking away ALL the cars, we might as well imagine that public transportation works perfectly well. Trains are always on time, the bus drivers are cautious, and the trucks stay on the freeways.

Do you think it would be nice? There is a train station 10 minutes away from your place by bike, small communities have communitary shuttles and there are bike lanes everywhere, You and your bike are free to go wherever you want, when you want.

Need to go a little bit farther? Take the metro.

Gotta get to your vacation house on the other side of the island? Take the train.

Work? Bike.

In a world without cars, there would be no traffic, less stress. No need to worry about gas, repairing costs, washing it, etc etc etc.

It sounds too good be true.

What would we be missing?

Privacy? Sure. It’s pretty nice to take your car at night and drive around the town, stop by a scenic view and just enjoy. But you might be able to do the same with your bike. So the point here is that there is always a “solution” or “replacement” for not having a car. So let’s go to the main point.

Freedom.

One should have the freedom to roam, get access to wilderness and therefore go wherever one wants as long as it is not inside a home.

So if everyone should have access to go wherever they want, shouldn’t everyone have the freedom to choose how they want to get there?

Like by car.

But what if that car interferes with other’s stress, noise and visual pollution and air quality?

Aren’t you taking away the freedom of others?

A car crash kills a pedestrian. One is taking away someone’s life away to exercise the freedom to roam.

Okay, that example might have been extreme. But I do believe that owning a car does take the freedom of others away, and while our technology doesn’t improve, it kills the planet.

If the whole LA stopped using cars for 3 days, would the air quality improve?

Would people be less stressed and therefore kinder to others?

How much of a positive impact would reflect on the nature?

I don’t know. I have no clue, and no one will ever know. But I would definitely be interested on the positive impacts that it would create.

For now, we can just strive to improve public transportation and make it look more appealing to everyone. Afterall, how do some countries get their congressman to bike to their work while in other places a politician requires a private driver?

Is it a safety issue? Status?

Perhaps both. But a safer environment would definitely stimulate people to bike.

The fresh air makes one feel much greater than being stuck on traffic.