Quote:
Originally Posted by mhays
I'm not suggesting zero spaces. Every unit would have a space. That's urban-lite at most. Lots of cities do this.
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There is something that is going to make it harder to get Houstonians, and Texans in general, out of our cars: The miserable climate. Specifically summer.
We Texans are not quite as rugged as many here like to claim. One of the reasons we love our cars is that they provide movable climate-controlled bubbles to take us from our climate-controlled homes to our climate-controlled destinations. What exacerbates the problems of replacing those cars is the fact that our cities have developed around the ease of traveling longer distances, so that if we were to choose public transit instead of cars, we generally have farther to walk to get to that transit than people in older cities have. We can't walk 3 blocks and duck into a subway and out of the elements like many can in older cities. We have to walk farther to then wait outside in the heat (or torrential rain) for the transit.
I'm not saying this is insurmountable, but a lot has to be done...and spent...to create neighborhoods where the miserable climate is less of an issue. More transit to create shorter distances. More density to create shorter distances. And infrastructure to MAKE WALKING LESS MISERABLE! If not actually pleasant. Some of that is happening now, actually.
People often like to point out that there was a time when Texans were not so dependent on cars...and even had no air conditioning in there homes. I like to point out in return that the population then was minuscule compared to now. I truly believe A/C is what made Texas viable for so many people.
Again, none of this is insurmountable, but the alternatives to automobile transport are going to have to be VERY attractive, comfortable and easy if people are going to trade what they have now. And none of this will happen quickly.