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this post was submitted on 12 May 2026
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Fuck Cars
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Bus lanes and trams are a symbol of “communism” and car is a sign of “freedom” until you realize that the ultimate freedom is choosing to walk, bike, take transit, or drive to your destination.
Well, that’s a fucking problem. Don’t take a job in which you are expected to use a personal vehicle for work purposes. Work provided vehicle and submit receipts for gasoline. Insurance company won’t like it. You won’t like how fast your car goes through tires and then dies. Etc.
I feel like the legality of not reimbursing him for using his personal vehicle for work purposes is fairly dubious though I'd be lying if I said I knew the specifics of the laws there.
Employer: taps head They're a contractor and I don't pay then enough to live.
I think in his case he's salary as a regional manager. Contractor is a whole other thing.
I can only see so much of the article so I don't know where he's based, but I know in some places the reimbursement is mandatory. Per IRS mileage reimbursement is currently $0.725/mile. Working in hospice I drive to patients homes with my supplies full time, which cuts me a check for about $300-450 mo, which more than covers gas.
I actually just switched to a hybrid so since reimbursement stays the same, it'll start paying for the car a well.
Given the cost of fuel, a bus pass for me (if I still had to commute, I work from home now) for a month is now just over $800/mo.
6 years ago, that was $375/mo.
I don't think the issue is limited to car drivers, I suspect more than a few folks who took public transit with me are looking at a pretty impactful monthly cost.
Trains. Overhead wire. Green energy. Build it now or suffer later.
I agree.
That does nothing to address the current (rapidly rising) commuting costs happening now, though.
Buy a bike. Carpool. Work from home.
Militarize against police for eviction defense?
I think you missed the part where I pointed out that I do work from home.
I'd also point out that riding a bike for the commutes I'm mentioning is a non-starter, its too large of a distance for a daily commuter ride.
Again, the point is that this is not a car commuter exclusive problem, and its going to impact people who use mass transit. There are plenty of train lines that aren't powered and require dual electric/diesel engines. Infrastructure installation to extend lines takes time, not to mention the lack of rail infrastructure in the first place that impacts the overwhelming majority of the US.
You didn’t mention this: what distance did you have in mind?
The current average commute for my state is about 15mi, but that number (annoyingly) includes WFH which skews the numbers.
Mine, for example, would be a 60mi commute if I still had one.
Edit: And I don't think I should have to really mention that the overwhelming majority of commuters are leaving their town for work....
Well, that’s the core problem. No one should be commuting for an hour by car.
Yes, obviously its the fault of the individuals who were living somewhere and got a better job further away.
Clearly the problem is that, and nothing else.
Also, at no point was I discussing driving a car.
Edit: Actually, I did mention driving further away to a bus or train and parking there, so yes, I did mention driving a car. But not for the commute itself.
You found blame that was not there. The fault is with the car-centric design of our society and the false convenience of driving, not with the people taking jobs where they can get them.
No I was saying everyone should quit their impractical far drive jobs and build rail lines outside their front doors on spec with their savings instead of paying rent don't put words in my mouth!
When you put it to "no one should be driving an hour by car" in a discussion about the more than doubling price of bus fare for bus commuting, I'm going to find it very hard to understand what youre trying to say.
And considering you commented on a person driving for an hour, rather than on the rapidly increasing commuting costs for all commuters, or the larger issues driving those increases, I'm going to find it real hard to believe youre doing anything but putting blame on an individual.
That’s fair. I’d have perhaps phrased it more clearly as “society should put no one in a position where they feel that they must travel 60 miles [an hour by car] twice daily for work” but that feels a bit unwieldy.
I'd say thats generally more of a larger issue, yeah.
But just to mention, in the NYC area, just 3 miles outside of NYC can take an hour all by itself.
Either way - fuel costs are impacting mass transit riders too. Saying "just take the bus instead" helps no one when those bus costs are rapidly rising as well. And the same goes for trains when not all of them are electrified for the full run.
The effect of fuel costs on mass transit is much smaller than on personal motor vehicles though. So yeah, “just take the bus” is a pretty big step in the right direction, relatively speaking.
Yes I did where was it
That's a hell of a take
You pissed in your bed America. I was telling you to stop now you're too tired to stand and complaining about all the piss.
Very first sentence.
Also, don't make shit up and fake quote because you misread and want to be shitty about it.
Okay so you don't have a problem what ate you complaining about
Ride that bike 20 miles to work. Easy!
I do know a guy who rides his bike everywhere and he is HOT. Saw him in a suit and he has the kind of body that suits were designed to flatter. Wow.
Some people do they're in great shape from all the biking and don't need gym memberships
You want infrastructure the nerds have been shouting about since it was torn up 81 years ago and infrastructure to make this not happen again or not matter takes time which is why we didn't want it torn up and then wanted to build it back maybe listen to us next time
You ignored my last suggestion of quitting the job and joining with your neighbors to ban evictions in your community.
We need Americans to feel the pain hard enough they screen for trains
Would be wonderful.
Unfortunately the time to do it was years ago. Obviously the next best time is to start now, but it will be years before results and that doesnt help those impacted now.
We had electric buses with overhead wires in São Paulo in the 80s.
The US had electric interurban railroads in the Rockies a hundred years ago.
It can happen very fast.
No I'm sorry I'm informed that trains do jot ql4eady exist and so cannot exist
Yeah. I feel very lucky to have moved to a place where I have an electric train and an electric bus system powered by hydroelectric.
Oh wait, climate change means our glacial flow is 12% of the typical rate and the province is announcing a datacenter construction plan?
Well fuck me too I guess.
Wait. Where are you that a bus pass changes price based on fuel?
Northeast US.
Costs go up -> price goes up.
Commenting for update on response ^
?
What update are you expecting here?
Your response to that comment. I wanted to know, so I used a comment as a bookmark.
This is basically it.
I saw a post the other day that argued to the conservative mind there must be an underclass. There must be poor people whose lives suck. If you try to make things good for everyone, you're going against nature and will just make things bad for everyone.
Thus good public transit is bad. If different classes of people all mingle then it's like mixing your food up on the plate and that's just wrong!
They really are like children
But but the oil and car companies DESERVE our income! Corporate rulers are just born better! /s
I still don't get truck culture.
I grew up kinda out in the sticks, fair number of religious nuts and racists.
You know what they'd say about trucks, in the late 90s?
If you need a truck, like, really actually need a truck, you get it and use it only for actually hauling shit, or towing something.
Then you have a sedan or similar for everything else.
Like, ... the yokels of 20/30 years ago would all be laughing at the yokels of today.
I don't get how these people can be this aggresively stupid, its literally an insult to their 'heritage', fucked up as that heritage may or may not be.
They would! I remember my gear head uncles scoffing and laughing at the extended cab in the 90s.
They would absolutley laugh at these yuppies. Now some of them are the yuppies.
its wild.
Yep I remember that too, specifically
Extended cab? Ridiculous. Like 'hwaaaak ptooie' ridiculous.
Whatchu gonna do with that?
Take your wife down to the feed and seed, ask her for help liftin bags into the bed?
Ahhahahahah!
Swear to god I heard nearly exactly that at some point.
This implies your wife is so large she couldn’t just sit in the passenger seat to one’s right.
... correct.
Multi-stage / trap joke, they want you to walk into that one so they can start making fun of you and her from that angle too.
It's masculine insecurity. Our culture doesn't produce men who are secure in their gender identity so they have to constantly proofs it to themselves and others all the time. Once you see it, you realize it's the root cause from everything from truck nuts to looksmaxxing
Right but like, I'm basically from them.
And I am a guy.
And I have been insecure.
I addressed this via self reflection, learning about myself and others, finding things I wanted to become good at and then becoming good at them.
Like I totally agree with you that trucknutz are literally gender affirming care, but I... I don't get it.
I can't relate to or understand such people beyond pathologizing them and basically treating them as an NPC sub type.
Your description of the 80s and 90s lines up with Charleston SC, but not with backcountry SC, or anywhere I went in Alabama or Texas.
The default is a pickup, sedans are for posh people.
EXACTLY. GIVE A CHOICE!!
I myself am a car person but still. Give us a choice. I would be ALL FOR banning cars in our downtown area and just having to bike walk or bus to get there from farther away. Cars ruin cities.
We need them in rural. But thats far fewer people.