this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2025
743 points (98.8% liked)

Fuck Cars

14097 readers
337 users here now

A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

Rules

1. Be CivilYou may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.

2. No hate speechDon't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.

3. Don't harass peopleDon't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.

4. Stay on topicThis community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.

5. No repostsDo not repost content that has already been posted in this community.

Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.

Posting Guidelines

In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:

Recommended communities:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

"Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani could make driving in the Big Apple hell on wheels." -- as if traffic isn't already hellish in NYC and in every other major city on the planet.

Source

The article being referenced

top 27 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] StitchInTime@piefed.social 96 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I’ve made the mistake of driving in manhattan once, and it taught me two things. How to maneuver within gridlocked traffic, and why you take the subway in NYC.

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 61 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

When they want to visit NYC, my in-laws will take a train for hours to avoid driving in the city and I absolutely don’t blame them. It’s the speed of a mall parking lot on Black Friday and the same stress as highway driving. I’d much rather deal with the fairly low chance of seeing a dude whip it out on the subway.

[–] Zidane@lemmy.ca 36 points 3 weeks ago

I’d much rather deal with the fairly low chance of seeing a dude whip it out on the subway.

So true. And the chance two of us whipping it out? Astronomically low!

[–] mcv@lemmy.zip 29 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What Amsterdam did for visitors to the city, is put big parking lots at the edges of the city where you can park for really cheap on condition you combine it with a public transit ticket into the city. Much better than getting stuck in traffic and paying a small fortune to park in the center of the city.

Or of course you can take a train straight into the heart of the city.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

We do have a lot of park and ride situations in the us as well, although struggle to make the transit part compelling in most places.

I assume nyc has them as well but it has several extensive rail networks so you’re likely to park in your own town to ride in. For example I parked in Massachusetts, LoL

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Me too. I just went there this past weekend: hopped on Acela near my house, got off at Penn Station, walked to my hotel. No driving anywhere near Manhattan.

I am somewhat disappointed that everything was walkable this time, and I had no use for the subway. It may be loud, dirty and chaotic, but it’s functionally outstanding

[–] somethingsnappy@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I'm not sure about this. After driving in the DC area, it was refreshing in Manhattan to know exactly what everyone was going to do. But, you do need to be an assertive, maybe aggressive driver.

[–] TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 weeks ago

I like to use the expression "Assertive but predictable" when talking about city driving.

[–] StitchInTime@piefed.social 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Chicago is very much like this too. When not gridlocked, I don’t mind driving in cities since the drivers are very predictable and polite (although impatient of you don’t commit). If convenient I’d still rather take a bus or train and not worry about it though.

[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 60 points 3 weeks ago

Billionaire Mayor Mike Bloomberg closed down a lot of streets and encouraged bike rental kiosks all over the city. He was also a fan of congestion pricing. [I'm not a fan of Mike, but credit where it's due]

De Blasio created a system of fast ferries around the city.

Every NYC Mayor tries to improve traffic.

[–] xlf42@feddit.org 44 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

In carbrains… well… brains, it’s the car haters fault that traffic jams exist in the first place. YoU jUsT wOuLd NeEd To BuIld ThIs OnE aDdItIoNaL lAnE!!!

[–] zurohki@aussie.zone 30 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] obsoleteacct@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That's part of what makes this tweet confusing to me.

If EMS response times in NYC were really hamstrung by traffic (they're generally not, the biggest bottle neck is actually staffing) that would be an instance where the "one more lane" types would have a point.

NYC has America's best public transit options, probably the strongest anti-congestion policy in the country, and the steepest financial penalties for driving in. But their EMS response time is like 2 minutes slower than LA which has more cars, more lanes, newer roads, and less public transit.

[–] TheMinister@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago

We do, but our busses are actually slowest in the world. So, yes and no

[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

I logged in just to upvote your link thinking it was this

have one ayway

[–] letsgo2themall@lemmy.world 25 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

that sounds great! I'll trade places with any NYC billionaire that is fleeing that communist hell hole! You can take my place in Tennessee where everyone drives an F950 apartment on wheels.

[–] 33550336@lemmy.world 22 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

i am for the limitation of the city car traffic, but this ambulance has no lights blinking, so maybe there was no emergency

[–] SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 13 points 3 weeks ago

Plot twist: they turned it off seconds before the photo was taken, cause the guy inside died, cause they could not get through traffic

[–] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Correct. This rig is not running "hot".

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 weeks ago

10min before this pic:

Dispatch:

EMS THREE-FIVE, MOVE UP TO STATION ONE-SEVEN.

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 19 points 3 weeks ago

And 2 vans on the bus lane.

[–] Bongles@lemmy.zip 17 points 3 weeks ago

I already refuse to drive in NYC. You cannot make it any worse for me because it's already beyond my threshold of "I won't do it".

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

You know this might be a false assumption but my assumption has always been that New York City is probably the most sympathetic place for car haters you'll find in the continental US.

I hope they cut back on traffic in the city because I’m tired of gridlock.

[–] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That ambulance is not blocked by traffic. It's not in Emergency mode.

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

Wouldn't make a difference in NYC. Half the cars don't give a shit about anyone but themselves, and the other half have nowhere to go