The German government is again causing trouble in the EU - this time, it is not Transport Minister Wissing but the Chancellor himself. Olaf Scholz is said to have intervened in the dispute between the EU and China over raising tariffs for Chinese EVs with a compromise offer.
That works in small rich countries. There’s just so much area outside of big cities that we need to address as well.
Naah. Not really:
re: rich countries: Car infrastructure is very, very expensive and the additional car infrastructure between every building also makes life in cities much more expensive. Also, cars themselves are very expensive. So, no, you don’t need to be rich to build public transit and bike lanes. It actually makes most sense when you’re not.
re: small countries: For one, “small” doesn’t make any sense — “densely populated” makes a bit more sense. However, when you look at it, the vast majority of humanity lives in cities today and their commutes are short, even in the US. And these commutes would in fact on average become shorter with more public transit and biking.
Cars have a place but right now, any industrialized nation has several times more cars than it would need, especially if city planning were more sensible.