15 minute cities and the conspirators

[ivykaty44]

15 minute cities being organised to mean that you don't have to rely on a car to get to everything and can easily walk to many places therefore only have to use the car for longer journeys

the conspiracy theories im seeing on social media are suggesting its a world wide control formula and we will be fined for moving from one district to another.

www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2023/02/08/15-minute-city-conspiracy-theories-insane-says-15-minute-city-creator/?sh=121378916156

I'm wondering if the car manufactures are behind the conspiracy, as they would have a lot to lose if people live in places where they don't need a car and can just ave one family car or hire a car. Billions of sales could be lost if this takes off.

Some cities have gone car free - theculturetrip.com/europe/spain/articles/the-car-free-spanish-city/ and found after much objection, that it works well - especially for the elderly

@QuertyGirl DH and I do the kind of low paid jobs that support well paid people who live in Oxford. People will just take work elsewhere.

I think that's the idea. The country is set up wrong.

You again. Name change from the Oxford thread?

They really need to sort out safe cycling routes.

Imagine not having to chauffeur teenagers around everywhere.

Sums up the problem nicely:

@LauraIAm

Oxford has had a park and ride for many years, its easy to use, there are in fact 5 park and rides around the city - I've never driven into Oxford, use the bus or bike - there are segregated cycle lanes into the centre

There are four at the moment. Water Eaton is now just a car park without a dedicated bus service. Pear Tree is difficult to access as there are major roadworks going on on the approach road. The road into Oxford from Seacourt park and ride is about to be closed for 6 months this year and another 6 months next year for railway station works. Thornhill is exceptionally busy with commuters accessing the Oxford Tube to London. Redbridge is fine, except that there isn't a bus lane along the Abingdon road so the bus sits in traffic.

Buses from most of them are every 15 minutes with major traffic delays at various points due to the lack of bus lane.

More bus lanes and buses would help. At the moment services are being cut.

We have a massive housing shortage in this country, basic life stuff like getting to work has to work whether people ‘set their life up like that’ by which I think you mean live rurally, or not

Thanks I know. The issue is it’s too slow for many people to get to work after school drop off in a village in Oxfordshire - see the Oxford thread. As I said above, at least a congestion charge would raise money to improve bus services. The gates idea Oxford want to bring in makes driving impossible without providing a workable alternative and it’s particularly bad for working parents.

I could well be mixing my miles and my KMs. Though I am far from fit and can walk a mile in 15 mins.

The issue is it’s too slow for many people to get to work after school drop off in a village in Oxfordshire

then it’s a childcare issue, I couldn’t do drop of and get to work so had to get childcare so I could get to work on time.

How dystopian.

I mean, I'm all for rationing flights as they are really damaging, but you seem to be suggesting rationing any journeys out of your immediate neighbourhood.

The whole point of the infrastructure projects such as HS2 is that people will be able to travel hundreds of miles with very little pollution at all. A Eurostar trip to Paris generates only 4kg of CO2 compared with 57.8kg on a flight, or 46.47kg by car + ferry (divide by number of occupants).

Way back mums would walk and drop kids off in the playground early on their way to work. If you have to hire a childminder because of a 20 minute walk rather than dropping kids at the school gate, people will not be happy. It means a direct expense.

I hear so much against HS2 on mn but this stands out as a positive to me.

ExistenceOptional This isn’t for a walk, it’s for a rural commute

We have been locked up in our homes
The push to go vegan, starve and give up most foods is relentless
Some people have felt coerced into vaccination

Not sure about the rest or the car industry

@EsmeSusanOgg Whether you can is beside the point. 4 miles an hour is a fair pace and not the speed most people walk around cities. You have to be realistic when making these kind of plans and look at the speed people actually walk in cities rather than the speed you think they should walk. I have read research on this and the average walking speed in cities is less than 3 miles an hour and it says elderly people walked less than 1 mile and hour on average. So your 3 miles is a 50 minute walk for elderly people, or a 100 minute round trip.

But the rural commute is fine if you drive. It is adding the extra 20-30 minutes (minimum) to walk or cycle a child to school and go on to work that it becomes unmanageable.

MarshaBradyo Hs2 will be for freight, it will take millions of HGV trips of the roads

passengers will use it, but in the main the advantage will be freight trains on the tracks

Which frees up capacity on the other lines which currently carry freight.

There is a plan to adopt a 15 minute city like zone system in my local city. The concept is great for new cities, but retrofitting it onto a city without also providing any infrastructure like safely lit and wide bike lanes is ridiculous.

Good to hear re taking HGV trips off roads

Driving buys you time.
When you're a busy working mum with kids and elderly parents, you can get so much done in one day.
I could drop dc off at school, go to work, pick up groceries to take to in-laws on the way home, drop in, take them to the gp, pick up dc, take them to after school activities and so on.
Yes, I know we'd just have to organise our lives better but it's at an inconvenience and probably a cost to my time. It would mean I'd have less time for myself.

The concept is great for new cities, but retrofitting it onto a city without also providing any infrastructure like safely lit and wide bike lanes is ridiculous.

how many cities in the U.K. were built after the invention of the motorcar?

as for wide cycle lanes, they aren’t any wider than a row of parked cars, they seem to fit

Driving buys you time.

then why do drivers constantly complain about traffic congestion?