Op-Ed: Recognizing Nondrivers Can Spur a Revolution in Transportation and Housing - The Urbanist

Transportation equity is not a discrete problem. It poses a barrier to accessing everything that constitutes a good quality of life; healthcare, fresh food, public Wi-Fi, friends, education, jobs, and voting. If everything is brought within a 15 minute radius, not only does car ownership become widely unnecessary, prompting the provision of a criti... See more

Among the many challenges in a capitalist society, it’s hard to imagine a way to profit from a car-free future. Governments don’t profit from providing public transportation to citizens. It’s a service, a reflection of our commitment to the social good. Private transportation — cars — are a different animal: hundreds of industries profit from it, f... See more

It would be a massive cultural and behavioural shift to radically recast the automobile as a symbol not of freedom, but of restriction.

The challenge is not a technological one really, though ride-sharing apps, electric bikes and such all have their place. There are policies to change, zonings to reform and dollars to reallocate, but ultimately the real obstacle is a psychic one. We need to hear from a ‘bunch of mothers’ — and a bunch of other folks, too. We’ve imagined our futures... See more