Columbus is special. It's a 15 minute city by car outside rush hour. But gods help you if you don't have a car. The bus comes like every hour.
I spent years there trying to convince people that it needs light rail
this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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Looks like you had a really good light rail system up until the late '70s?
https://allcolumbusdata.com/rail-transportation-history/
I'm assuming Judge Doom got involved at that point and paved over the lines
That looks more like they had a role in the national rail lines and trams, before proposing a really good light rail system and continuously changing their minds to oppose it. Which is exactly what I'd always heard. "Rail is too expensive and difficult and it doesn't work, we've tried and it keeps getting proposed and shot down"
Cars (like any technology under capitalism) are meant to keep people dependent, desperate, and exploitable.
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This is naiive and dumb (like a lot of posts in this community).
If you drove to the grocery store, then you almost certainly have more groceries than are going to be comfortable to carry back by hand.
I mean if you can walk to the grocery store in a reasonable amount of time you'll be able to divide those groceries over multiple visits and not have to deal with this.
Not to mention, cargo bikes are a thing.
Not just cargo bikes. I've got a folding bike (small apartment) with two panniers and a backpack. Sure it's not car level but its pretty good for grabbing groceries.
And it should be noted, Columbus has a pretty bad food desert problem.
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I live next door to a grocery store, and a 2m walk from multiple green grocers. I live the walking grocery lifestyle.
But there are still situations where I have to drive to the store to pick up a large amount of supplies. Like say, when hosting a birthday party, or wanting to pick supplies up at a grocery store that doesn't have exorbitant prices.
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There's a big difference between what's "comfortable to carry back by hand" and "what's feasible to carry to a bus stop 100 metres outside the store, and then 400 metres from where the bus drops you off to your home". That's if we're assuming a situation where you did drive to the store, planning to drive home, but an emergency means you can't drive the return leg.
But also, if you do have good public transport, it becomes much easier to adjust your schedule to more frequent, smaller shops, where it's not just feasible but easy to carry the groceries. Or in a good city for cycling, to drop the groceries in your paniers, basket, or even full-on cargo bike.
Nobody in NYC can buy groceries because they don't have cars. Cars are the only way to get groceries home.
We use rolly carts in NYC and make more frequent trips. It's also not uncommon to stop by Trader Joe's or the supermarket on your way home. The best carts are those with the weird tri-wheels that go up and down stairs.
Love the rolly carts. Lil old ladies pushing them home all over the outer boroughs. They're actually what I was thinking about when I made the above sarcastic reply. I think most supermarkets sell them for like $10 or something.
They're a little more expensive. Cheap ones are $20 or so at dollar stores, but the nice ones are $80+. It's worth the small investment though
Sure. It's definitely that, and not that most North American cities are designed expressly to force you to drive even if you want a single cup of coffee or a sandwich or something.
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Pffft. Amateur. Everyone knows if you can't carry every bag you bought in one trip you are a failure.
Fair enough. Of course with public transit you could send some of you home with some of the goods while one person waits for the tow truck.
Hell, just needing a jump start becsuse your battery died can be a PITA if you have to rely on strangers.
Out of interest did you see the rest of the story? Looks like OOP deleted the tweet.
I did, it was a lovely little story about how the kid thought OP was a lot younger than she actually is, I think
You can call literally call anyone you know we all have cars here. If you don't know anyone at all you can taxi or Uber. In smaller towns you may even be able to call the police non emergency number and get help from a community officer type employee who has a car and does minor non police related stuff. Many many many things would have to fail before you need to ask a stranger and even in that case you would be hard pressed to not find help within the first couple people you ask.
My point is that this entire situation is a massive systemic failure. You shouldn't have to find yourself in a situation where your car breaking down means you're stuck at the grocery store with no way to get home unless someone deigns to come and get you -- hell, you shouldn't even need to drive to get groceries, any well-designed city would have multiple grocery stores within a few blocks regardless of where you live, and a dense public transit network and/or cycling infrastructure so you can get to the ones that are farther away.
Living in London all my life, we grew up in a car-less household and my dad would do nearly all of the food shopping for our family of 6 himself (7 for a while when my uncle lived with us while he was studying), carrying it all home on the bus. I am still car-free and can get my shopping home using the bus or my bike on the way home from work. If you can't do that in your city, then that's the fault of your city's planners. It's a failure of providing good public transport.
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Your car will not break down, if you just walk to the grocery store.
I'm confused whats the alternative here? Even in Japan you'd hire a taxi if you have a full load of groceries you're not taking the train.
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aT lEaST iT'S lEsS CrOwDeD tHaN PuBlIC TrAnSpORT
In my country, most people who own a car are also members of a drivers' club where you pay a membership fee in exchange for being able to call them for assistance in situations like this (they might repair or tow your car). Is that not a thing in the US?
It is, but they're expensive, and since owning a car is already a pretty expensive necessity not everyone has it.
OK, in my country it's about 100 euros for an entire year, ie much less expensive than many other expenses that come with owning a car.
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