The Urban Richmond blog provides a great visual on how much space cars take up compared to buses and bicycles. Truly a case where a picture (or, in this case, three pictures) are worth a thousand words.
Space Hogs
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Now tell me that Fundamental Change is human settlement pattern will not make a difference in energy use and the overall scale and use distribution of urban agglomerations.
We first saw an earlier version of these pictures in drawings by Joe Passonneau done in the 70s and in urban design books from Europe in the 80s.
Why these photos are not on the front cover of every report on transport is beyond logic.
You will hear more of this in “The Problem With Cars.”
Also today, Tata anounced a $2,500 dollar car. Check it out at http://www.bbc.com
EMR
eanau
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The frightening thing is that 20% of India’s population may be in a position to buyone of these: about 200 million people. That’s more than the number of drivers in the entire U.S.!
Or perhaps it’s more frightening that nearly 80% of India (about 800 million people) will never be able to afford a motor vehicle in their lifetime.
Critics of the Tata car have asked how a car that prunes thousands of dollars off regular prices can possibly comply with safety and environmental norms. The answer may be that the car comes at a particular moment in India’s development, when the country is affluent enough to support strong demand for automobiles but still less regulated than developed countries.
They may be giving up environmental quality, but driving one of these has to be much, much safer than piling into that anarchic traffic on the bicycles they are probably riding now.
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The pictures are compelling, but obviosly they don’t tell the whole story. It’s another one of those half-truths.
RH
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I guess it would be in bad taste to say that I like those Ta Ta’s.
as far as safety is concerned, people ride bikes, scooters, motorcycles, rickshaws, etc… in countries that don’t prioritize/bias their mobility infrastructure to gas guzzling behemoths enclosure with steel cocoons.
So.. the Ta Ta may well give 3rd world places – a seat at the mobility table…and at the same time a huge straw into the oil supply.
Next, I can see in this country those size cars with a emissions-certifiable 4-cycle Honda that already are in use on outboards and ATVs – given preference in urban areas.
The parking spaces will be Ta Ta sized and the cordon tolls will be quite a bit heftier for the bigger autos.
Then… take a Ta Ta.. make it a plug-in electric, outfit it with a GPS and and wi-fi and have them easily available to rent.. just find an empty one and slide your credit card and “instant cab”.
GPS and WiFi are an example of a technology that is going to transform transportation.
Want to know where the nearest parking is and whether any slots are available? The cheapest gasoline? the best route during rush hour from where you are to where you want to go?
The price of oil may at $100 may seem a bargain in a year or two.. especially if we decide to start shooting bullets in the Straits of Hormuz… and the price of oil will accelerate many of these trends…
Gasoline at $5 a gallon and tolls at a dollar a mile.. might be the ultimate solution to location specific costs… no?
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$5 gas would raise the cost of transportation, and there would proably be less demand for higher cost transportation.
How that changes the relative costs of different locations isn’t so clear.
We can postulate that over time people would elect to try harder to live closer to their place of work. That would raise the cost of living in those places and they might still have to drive to qualify.
GPS and Wifi supply information: they don’t move stuff or people.
We are going to see some smaller cars in the U.S. It’s about time.
Emissions certifiable small engines work at a big disadvantage, and we can bet that the certification requirements will grow more and more stringent.
RH
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