Well car culture is because cars are better, from an individual person’s standpoint. You have a few cubic feet of private space, just for you and no one else. Its safety and security and comfort. Sure its slow sometimes, but cars simply feel better.
If it were up to me, I’d make a non-idiotic version of the Peel P50, a single person electric go-kart, fully enclosed, with AC and heat. Limit it to 25 mph or something, and limit it to crowded urban areas. The details can be figured out later, but thats the jist.
Japan has Kei cars, this would be a smaller version of that.
Speaking of small vehicles, I’ve noticed more people using electric scooters. Stand up scooters that is, not mobility scooters. Even old people. This is in Denmark where there’s bicycle paths everywhere. These people wouldn’t ride a bike, but the scooter seems to be a decent alternative for the same (city) distances. The legal framework isn’t really in place so they ride them on the bicycle path but also the pavements. Weather is a big issue for those.
However, cabin scooters also seem to be popular. I’ve always associated those with old handicapped people, but it seems that the younger generation don’t care about that. It’s a license thing, they don’t require a drivers license here. I’m not sure if those actually help on congestion, but at least they do take up less space and use electricity instead of fossil fuels.
Anyway. It’s difficult to use alternative vehicles if there’s no space for them on the road. The bicycle path sort of helps (as long as it’s legal).
Well car culture is because cars are better, from an individual person’s standpoint. You have a few cubic feet of private space, just for you and no one else. Its safety and security and comfort. Sure its slow sometimes, but cars simply feel better.
If it were up to me, I’d make a non-idiotic version of the Peel P50, a single person electric go-kart, fully enclosed, with AC and heat. Limit it to 25 mph or something, and limit it to crowded urban areas. The details can be figured out later, but thats the jist.
Japan has Kei cars, this would be a smaller version of that.
Speaking of small vehicles, I’ve noticed more people using electric scooters. Stand up scooters that is, not mobility scooters. Even old people. This is in Denmark where there’s bicycle paths everywhere. These people wouldn’t ride a bike, but the scooter seems to be a decent alternative for the same (city) distances. The legal framework isn’t really in place so they ride them on the bicycle path but also the pavements. Weather is a big issue for those.
However, cabin scooters also seem to be popular. I’ve always associated those with old handicapped people, but it seems that the younger generation don’t care about that. It’s a license thing, they don’t require a drivers license here. I’m not sure if those actually help on congestion, but at least they do take up less space and use electricity instead of fossil fuels.
Anyway. It’s difficult to use alternative vehicles if there’s no space for them on the road. The bicycle path sort of helps (as long as it’s legal).