In countries where public transport/bicycling are popular, how do people address their "extra needs"?
Transport is needed not only for getting to/from work. People have other needs, like getting small kids to school or kindergarten, bringing groceries back home, solving their other business after work, transporting items (e.g. small furniture) between places, helping out old parents, slightly sick, injured or tired family members, going to remote/rural destinations that are difficult to reach by public transport or biking? Hiring taxis or delivery services probably isn't cheap, also makes time planning a bit more complicated. How does such population cope with these needs?
Posted Jul 30, 2022, 2:07 AM UTC
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The kids walk to school.
Groceries are carried in bags or put on a bicycle.
Large items can be delivered.
Rural destinations are reached by train/bus/taxi/walking.
Sick family members can walk to the clinic, take a taxi, or go on the train. An ambulance can be called if it's serious. They are free.
Can you always let a kid go to school by themselves? I walked and used public tranportation to go to school, got mugged more than once. And that was when I was older. I wonder how safe it is for 6 year old, for example.
Groceries on a bike are not always an option. When I was a student and didn't have a car, I would help out my mom with bringing week worth of groceries via public transport or on foot. It was not easy even for two, and we never looked back at this option since I got my car.
Not all remote destinations can be reached by transport and walking, unless you live in a small country, or are ok with making a day's hike. Even worse if you have things to transport there. Which bringsto the last point - if every time I need to transport one of the things like a chair, table, a bigger lamp, music equipment, gardening tools, desktop computer, I would hire a taxi or delivery service, or my animal to the vet, it wouldn't be practical financially, and more exhausting in terms of planning.
Yes, it's pretty safe. Most kids go to school by themselves. It's also not unusual to see kids going to school by themselves on the train.
Groceries on a bike are not a problem at all because most people buy them more than once a week. There are at least four big supermarkets and dozens of smaller grocery shops within walking distance of my house. It's easy to pick up a bag or two each day. No need to stock up for a week in one go.
Most people simply don't need a car when everything is within walking distance. On the rare occasions you do then you can get a taxi or just rent a car. It's still far cheaper than keeping and maintaining your own. I know a lot of people who have cars and only use them a couple of times a month.
But not everybody has 4 big supermarkets close to home. Many cities (in Europe) only have big supermarkets away from the city center. You can buy things from small grocery stores in the city center, but the supply there is minimal and the prices somewhat higher.
For some people, including me, "stocking up in one go" is actually desirable rather than avoidable. What I definitely want to avoid is visiting a store everyday (an rare visit for something unexpected is ok, but if it happens too often, its annoying). This way I save time, mental energy and avoid temptations of pastries.
That is what I do - I have a luxury to work from home, as work is within walking distance. But I need the car on weekends and occasionally evenings badly. When I lost mine last year, I ran into many issues before I got a new one.
Most people around here DO have lots of options for food shopping. It isn't an issue.
Personally, I'd rather walk 10 minutes down the road every few days. It's far faster than driving to a supermarket several miles away.
Cities with good transit tend to have more liberal zoning laws.
You don’t have to get on a highway and drive miles just to go to the store in Amsterdam. There will be a shop right next to your house that has everything you need.
Outside of the United States, supermarkets aren't really so much of a thing. There are much more likely to be a lot of small shops than a large store where you can buy everything, and there's so many that it's probably within walking distance of you. In early Socialist theory, they pioneered the idea of a "walkable city" and that has informed a lot of city planning (outside of the US), again, and zoning isn't like it is in the US either. Your school, work, and home could be, and often are, within a reasonably short distance.