The war on cars people know they’re completely ridiculous, right? Like there is no way they truly believe that there’s a campaign or a conspiracy to completely get rid of all the cars on the road. If they do, I feel sorry for them for having such a narrow perspective on society. They should travel more.
Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of being in some truly world class cities. These are places even Conservatives would have to admit are amazing. It’s an objective fact.
Vancouver. Geneva. Paris. Toronto. Montreal. Amsterdam. Hong Kong. To name some of them.
What I’ve experienced is no matter how great the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure is, or how incredibly developed the transit system is, there are still lots of cars. In a city where just about everyone was born on two wheels, I was in a traffic jam while taking a taxi from Amsterdam’s airport to my hotel. Hong Kong has incredibly aggressive drivers and pedestrians do not have the right of way. To be fair, there are so many pedestrians, drivers would probably never get to go if they had to wait for them to cross the street.
It’s sad how so many people have bought into this lie that gets pedalled around by some of our elected leaders that the building of bike lanes and bus routes means we’re replacing cars forever. I was thoroughly amused by a lady’s comments on an Instagram post by Councillor Nathaniel Schmidt where she is adamant that a family needs to have a car, maybe two, because how else can they go to Costco? Where does she even get the idea that every family needs to shop at Costco? Lady, you can have your car.
I wish your cars were smaller but that’s a whole other point.
But you can have your cars, and I can have my bike lanes and transit. Yes, there is, and should be, room for all of it. You get to drive safely, and I get to bike safely. You get to sit in a car and drive, and I get to sit on a bus or train and not think about driving.
This is the goal. It’s not you get to drive safely and I have to risk my life to ride a bike. It’s not you get to drive and I’m SOL if I don’t want to drive. Everyone gets to move around in whichever way is best for them in whatever given situation.
This is how they do it in the best cities in the world and that’s what we should strive for.
andrewng.media 