People want to wake up in a moderately priced home, get into their comfortable car, drive in it on a freeway for 20 minutes or so to get to their moderately well paid job.

Also, many Australian's are openly hostile to anyone who does not behave in this way, particularly people who favor any other mode of transport like bikes or buses.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's both. People will do whatever is most convenient. If our cities are built to be convenient for cars, people will use cars. And this has the effect of people seeing cars are more convenient than other options and being unable to imagine another way, so they are hostile towards ideas which would improve the city planning.

People in the Amsterdam or Tokyo are not more virtuous than Australians for choosing to ride or take public transport. They do it because their cities are just designed around these things being the easy option.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Are you really talking about cloistered small mindedness though ?

I've never visited Amsterdam or Tokyo but I can imagine, without any difficulty, that planning could make cities more navigable without cars.

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 1 points 1 day ago

Tokyo still needs some cars. Neither trains nor busses run 24/7. For deliveries and accessibility reasons, some people can't use the trains (at least not all of them nor all stations). In this heat we're having trouble with people, particularly the elderly, collapsing in the streets both rural and urban (my wife found an old guy collapsed last week and had to call emergency services :/)

Some of those problems could be solved (more accessible stations and carriages, more accessible busses, etc.) but there are other problems. Bus driver shortages, the number of trains running on a line already at capacity (maintenance and cargo trains run on the same tracks as commuter tracks at night when the commuter trains don't run), and the costs associated with trying to squeeze any more out. Building new lines and stations in the world's largest metro is also eye-wateringly expensive and difficult (see the depth of the Oedo line).

[–] biscuitswalrus@aussie.zone 6 points 1 day ago

People like to conflate two problems together.

Lots of Australia is small and far away from metropolis.

Lots of metropolis could happily exist with wonderful multi modal transport options like trains bus bike and walking.

Between the two, cars grant autonomy outside public planning for individuals to still be individuals to get between families and economy between remote to remote and metro to remote even when there's no feasible public transport.

The devil in the detail is the problem at it always is anything when you look into it.

Yes there's big opportunity to improve mass transit. Yes there's a place for long range individual and small scale transit. Yes there's a place for last mile delivery.

But the average Joe doesn't really and shouldn't really need to know, or care. Why does it take a nation, that is every individual, to understand and vote for what is nuanced and specific? Why can't bold moves be made and results be explained?

Anyway that's enough drunk reply

[–] Psiczar@aussie.zone -1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

“Many Australians are openly hostile…”

Since when? Last time I checked nobody in the office abused someone for riding or catching public transport to work. Are people picketing train stations? Do they throw eggs at bike riders? Please share your sources for this bold statement.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 20 hours ago

Sorry chief, anyone who rides regularly experiences this hostility.

[–] Ilandar@lemmy.today 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Last time I checked nobody in the office abused someone for riding or catching public transport to work.

It is common knowledge that many Australian motorists are overtly and irrationally hostile towards cyclists. So much so, that there is a running satirical joke in dashcam communities where people jokingly blame cyclists for accidents that didn't even involve one. Anyone who rides regularly, or knows people who ride regularly, is aware of this hostility.

[–] Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Not saying you're wrong, the driver road rage mentality is definitely a thing, especially when it comes to cyclists.

But i've been surprised at the difference the 1 metre separation, etc laws have made to drivers general behaviour to cyclists. I think it really set a tone for better behaviour.

Since those laws were introduced i've seen one aggressive driver to cyclists. So thats a cool bit of annecdotal progress.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Geez, I think I've had at least one bus driver alone, per year since I started working professionally who tried to run me off the road. And that's despite mostly working from home since COVID, and ignoring all the car and ute drivers.

The one metre rule has made a difference for sure, but only against the marginal idiots. No difference with the complete morons or the actively hostile.

[–] Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone 1 points 9 hours ago

The bus driver bit is very surprising. Got some aggressive drivers out there in brisvegas hey?

But i'm not in the Perth city much, the roads are quieter where I am, pretty sure your inner suburbs brisbane so maybe theres a difference in that.