The times I've lived in the US I have, partly instinctively, tended to as much of a "European lifestyle" as feasible, given the environment and income.
Krugman goes to Berlin and sees the future
I suspect he is right, and I suspect the transition will involve some significant dislocation for many communities - lot of sunk costs will be written off.
My personal immediate ambition is that by autumn the Little Munchkin will have the stamina to walk to pre-school, which will cut our mileage by 30-40%; and that we get off the waiting list for our local co-op farm - since my travel schedule is somewhat erratic and unpredictable we waited too long this year to sign up and were surprised to find they were sold out.
Now if they had only put the good grocery store (Wegmans) in the great big empty space in the mall closest to us, rather than 5 km out, life would be still further simplified. Maybe Whole Foods or TJs will move into that space...
But paying up front to be able to walk to work really was worth it. In so many ways.
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But paying up front to be able to walk to work really was worth it. In so many ways.
I also made this choice, and have no regrets about it.
The freedom of the automobile quickly becomes the tyranny of the automobile. I realize that in most of the US living the way we do is not an option, but why do so many Americans choose to live that way? A one-way driving commute of more than 15 minutes or so would quickly drive me nuts. It's not that I don't like open-road driving (I enjoy it as much as the average American), but I hate being stuck in traffic.
I have neighbors who commute to Boston, about 100 km away. There is a train, which is not so bad if it matches your schedule. You couldn't pay me enough to drive that distance as a daily commute.
Interesting - I agree with Lund that "...the freedom of the autombile quickly becomes the tyranny of the automobile". But, given the economic dynamics (is there such a term?) of many places in the usa, and especially where I am (Northern California), to buy a home such that you can walk to work (I'd love to do that!) you need to (a) be very lucky or (b) be very rich. So I have to get in my car and drive to work; for the record, my commute is about 45 minutes with traffic and/or 25 minutes with no traffic (as occasionally I need to get to work at, say, 3:00 am or other ungodly hour). So you do the best you can inside the car, like listen to good musi c on the way (that new song from death cab for cutie is good). Having said that, there are people I know who are willing to get a huge house *very far* from their job, such that their commute is something ridiculous like 2 or 3 hours
Public transport. Bicycle. Or both, either in stages of a journey, or as alternatives.
Or maybe carpooling?
Public transport - not available.
Bicycle - not practical; too far.
Carpool - sometimes.
My commute is one hour and fifteen minutes, one way. Bicycle to the station, train, then a short bus ride. On the way home I skip the bus and walk the four kilometers instead; it's great for my back after a day at a desk.
Yes, I could afford a car (though just the monthly parking and toll charges would be more than my commute costs), but I don't want one. The time in the train is extremely valuable to me. It is my buffer time between work and home; my alone time. I spend it either reading a novel or studying (Japanese, in my case). No distractions and no have-to's. Sometimes I feel it'd be nice to have a job within bicycling distance, but I'd really miss the train time.
If Berlin is the future, does that mean we will all have to put up with those evil German toilets?
it is those, or the California low-flush ones - you choose, the future is yours
It's not just a big-city problem in the US. Towns of almost any size have the same problem: residential areas are too far from work and shopping, and there is no public transit system to speak of. The alternative, as pointed out above, is to have enough money to live in town, and that's not feasible for a very large segment of the population. If the US ever shifts away from the car as a routine means of personal transportation in any major sense, it will be as big a social change as the introduction of the car was in the first place, and it will take as long.
By the way, every new toilet sold in the US is low-flush. The ones in my house work at least as well as the 5-gallon flush toilets in my mother's 40-year-old house. There may be some ultra-low-flush models that use less than 1.6 gallons, but I am not familiar with them.