![f4f378fbeadd880b7c8dec1b77b28bef[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/SoN6g8R.jpg "f4f378fbeadd880b7c8dec1b77b28bef[1].jpg")
Was the automobile the worst thing to happen to American society? America would be a much better place today if we didn't scrap all of our streetcars and interurbans for highways.
>>60019
no
>>60019
Fuck, some anon posted a great link to this a while ago, but now I can't find it.
Anyway, the Eisenhower Highway System, while officially for defence purposes - was primarily to increase consumption and usage of cars, before that there existed a pretty good public transportation system.
The public transport was also bought up by several car manufacturers at the same time - when we also see a rapid decline in it's usage. While this was later considered a cartel agreement - the one who confiscated it was the same Eisenhower.
>>62528
You're probably thinking of the "great streetcar conspiracy," which was actually proven to be a legitimate conspiracy by GM to end existing streetcar service in major cities and replace it with buses (made by GM, of course) and highways.
There's a good thread about this on /n/, the transportation board.
>>>/n/872507
Absolutely yes. North America had/has absolutely everything going for it - space, natural beauty, wealth, peace - but fucked it up totally by utterly destroying almost all its cities through sprawl.
If I could go back in time and change one thing, it would no-joke be to ban the personal ownership of automobiles.
>>60019
car culture is the ultimate expression of autonomy
man traded the horse for communal transport like trains and ships during the industrial era
theres just a natural pressure individual car ownership in a society rich enough for this to be affordable to regular folk
This could be your future, America - but no.
>>64971
This post doesn't make any sense.
>>64971
Fuck you, the Shire sucks.
America after WWII became shit.
>>63898
The only time car culture can express autonomy is through massive public investment in free-to-use infrastructure.
Which removes autonomy from everyone who has not yet bought into car culture. Wow, such autonomy.
It's a pretty terrible ideal of autonomy. Urbanism does it better.
>>60019
They are inefficient, dangerous and pollutive.
Look at your typical strip mall. Parking lots are at least 2 times the area of the stores they serve. I wish I lived in he horse and buggy days living in a compact city with people out on the street instead of boxed off in a tinted car.
>>66253
>Urbanism is autonomous
Are you fucking serious?
