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Not Just Bikes / r/fuckcars / Urbanists / New Urbanism / Car-Free / Anti-Car - People and grifters who hate personal transport, freedom, cars, roads, suburbs, and are obsessed with city planning and urban design
All of this reminds me that some of the sweetest milk will probably be found around the subject of electric cars, especially now that there are mass market pickup trucks coming out.
I understand for some of these people, it's about the climate, but it's not though. Just like with nuclear power, when you actually come up with a solution that doesn't create an Ewok village fantasy world, they reject it.
It doesn't help that Autistic African Man produces the most electric cars.
A power outage occurred today because a wire designed for 60 amps or so (serving five houses) was pulling 125. The guy mentioned it was mainly an electric dryer (they have to bring in a new transformer and split some houses off) and so I said “yay but aren’t they the best” and the power guy was like “I don’t know how they’re gonna make the electric cars work, the grid can’t take it”.
However pozzed France might be, if you're not in the north of Paris or Marseilles or other jungle areas, it's perfectly car friendly. There are suburbs outside of Paris that have—gasp—big box stores.
Oh yeah, Auchan and Carrefour are both based in France. One of the reasons why they failed in America (both chains) was that the stores were literally too large for American consumers.
I understand for some of these people, it's about the climate, but it's not though. Just like with nuclear power, when you actually come up with a solution that doesn't create an Ewok village fantasy world, they reject it. It doesn't help that Autistic African Man produces the most electric cars.
The stuff about the climate is just a cover for them to try to appeal to normies so they don't have to reveal their true underlying reason.
Their actual more autistic belief is that they fundamentally hate the concept of the car and personal transport all together. But they feel like if they hide it behind the veil of "Muh Environment" they can pass it off easier.
But it will never work because what they fail to realize is the one thing normies will not tolerate is inconvenience. They may virtue signal about the environment, but what they actually want an action that requires no actual sacrifice or significant change on their part. Aka saying "I recycle" when it means throwing a can into a different colored bin a few feet away. Even most middle of the road liberals do not want to get rid of car infrastructure. In reality what they really want is an electric F150 George Floyd edition.
Cow crossover: Jason Slaughter (and American Fietser) announce they are leaving Mastodon, notorious open-source sperg Drew DeVault (has appeared several times in the Open Source Software Community thread) tries to persuade him otherwise. source (a)
It's worth noting that just like Jason, Drew also moved to Amsterdam. (a) Jason Slaughter's latest video is cheering on the closure of the Weesperstraat, a major street in Amsterdam.
"Amsterdam Just Closed Their Busiest Road" (video ID ymcBC7MFRIk)
(ghostarchive, Invidious archive)
Sidenote, for notes I just used the transcript provided by the subtitles (also attached) because it's quicker and I don't have to listen to his awful smug voice for 9 minutes (6 minutes at 1.5x speed).
We're off to a good start because he complains about this street being built during the 1960s, which was "not a good time for cities" and people's houses were bulldozed to build it. I guess houses are never needed to be bulldozed for, say, railroads?
So basically they've put up this "knip" (literally "cut", in English called a modal filter) and he says the modal filter allows people walking and cycling through, as well as public transit, emergency vehicles and sometimes delivery vehicles.
Notice anything missing from that list that he just casually omits and never addresses?
That's right, taxis!
nltimes.nl said:
Taxi drivers have recently protested against the plan. According to them, the municipality’s traffic policy makes their work impossible.
Opposition parties also sent an urgent letter to Van der Horst calling on her to quickly amend the street closure because special public transport vehicles used to pick up and drop off people with disabilities have also been blocked from reaching their clients. It has especially impacted people using wheelchairs and personal mobility scooters, as well as the elderly, the politicians said.
Next up he goes on his usual bullshit about the distinction between a "street", "road" and a "stroad" and says that it's unusual for a modal filter to be put on the Weesperstraat because it's a "road", not a "street". Even though the "straat" in Weesperstraat means "street"? I will never understand why urbanists have to take two interchangeable terms and assign vastly different meanings to both of them.
So anyways they placed these flower planters in the median, which he calls ridiculous but blames it on there only being so much you can do to make a "car sewer" look pretty.
Yes, he called a formerly two-lane road, now one-lane, a "car sewer", for whatever reason.
He complains about the gates in the first image existing because he says it's only there because of "entitled motorists" (???)
If you only let some traffic through, then of course you need a gate! That's what gates are for. They're gates, not walls.
He also complains about Oslo installing gates with licence plate camera readers because the camera readers are "expensive".
Also repeats his spiel about cities not being loud, cars are loud and says this place is quieter now because of the knip.
He says the backlash to this has come from "right wingers" and "$8 blue checks" who have been "loose with the truth".
As an example he shows this tweet of a Google Maps route:
And claims that it's false because the author added a stop in the tunnel to force Maps to take that long circuitous route along the A10.
Ok Jason, I will go to Google Maps and pick two points without putting a stop in the IJ-tunnel. I'm sure you will be proven corr- source (a)
Huh. Weird. That goes through the A10 and IJ-tunnel too.
Now in the next part he almost admits the same thing but doesn't:
Jason Slaughter said:
It should be noted that the city is not off-limits to car traffic due to the knip, but only to through traffic. All areas accessible by car before are still accessible now. but if you want to go from the North to the South, or vice-versa, you have to take the highway instead of driving through the middle of the city.
Basically it's only if you go between the north and the south (over the river) that you have to take the A10 (so the Google Maps screenshots are wrong because they should ignore the road closure since both points are in the south?). The only problem is how the fuck do people know if you're going through the city or are "in" the city itself?! I can easily imagine a scenario where you start in the south and try to go through the Weesperstraat but the people at the gates think you're going through the city, not in it, and vice versa.
Then he laughs at people pointing out this causes more pollution because, according to him, they only care about their pollution when they're not allowed to drive anywhere they want. But if they do in fact care all the time then...? He doesn't consider that. It's really hard to not see this defense as a cheap way for urbanists to dismiss when their proposals cause pollution.
Then once again, he says Amsterdam has too many cars and, according to him, most people in Amsterdam want a car-free city. So let's look at some people who disagree:
(ghostarchive, page archive)
I won't go over the whole video but it's worth a watch. Here's one really funny part though:
To finish off NJB's video, he says he'll make a followup video when the 6-week trial is over and the data is in. Then he goes over the "right-wing politicians" calling to cancel the experiment over the bad traffic, and says the traffic that was moved to the side roads isn't so bad enough that it justifies canceling the experiment (he visits one of them, Kattenburgerstraat, and says the traffic jam cleared up after a few minutes). So how bad is the traffic?
nltimes.nl said:
As a result, traffic has been jammed up frequently along Panamalaan, Kattenburgerstraat, the IJtunnel, Prins Hendrikkade, and parts of Amsterdam-Noord. Just on Friday evening alone, traffic jams have caused an extra 60 minutes of travel time for those riding bus 22, which runs between west and east via Central Station. Anyone wanting to take bus 35, 36, 41, or 43 could also expect a 30 minute delay. A shorter 10-minute delay on bus 34 was also confirmed by the GVB, the city's public transport operator.
And then ends the video by saying the right-wing politicians (lumping them in with "car lobbyists") aren't scared of traffic jams, and actually are scared that this knip "might actually work", with no evidence of them being car lobbyists or that they think that way.
Attachments
Amsterdam Just Closed their Busiest Road [ymcBC7MFRIk].en-CA.txt
Oh yeah, Auchan and Carrefour are both based in France. One of the reasons why they failed in America (both chains) was that the stores were literally too large for American consumers.
You got a source for that? Maybe they are smaller in the country I live in, but they don't seem any bigger than Wal-Mart or Target. America has quite a few supermarket and hypermarket chains so it seems more likely that competition smothered Carrefour before they can get established.
then ends the video by saying the right-wing politicians (lumping them in with "car lobbyists") aren't scared of traffic jams, and actually are scared that this knip "might actually work", with no evidence of them being car lobbyists or that they think that way.
Car lobbyist feels like a complete new speak term, I hate it. The "right wing" politicians are upset because their constituents use cars. Hell some of them drive F150's and RAM 1500's, which DO have Euro variants. Yes they think this is fake and gay, first the Farmer's strike, now this, which is the last thing they want
A power outage occurred today because a wire designed for 60 amps or so (serving five houses) was pulling 125. The guy mentioned it was mainly an electric dryer (they have to bring in a new transformer and split some houses off) and so I said “yay but aren’t they the best” and the power guy was like “I don’t know how they’re gonna make the electric cars work, the grid can’t take it”.
Oh, don't worry. The whole "charge at home" thing will die. You'll be forced to use a "safe" charger at a place that just happened to be a gas station before. Only a bunch of hackers will be self-charging in the future. It will be like having a Pinephone or a gas pump at your house.
Because as you say, we have neither the transmission, the grid capacity, or the last-mile infrastructure for everyone to have an electric car that actually has any range and can charge in less than a month.
Oh, don't worry. The whole "charge at home" thing will die. You'll be forced to use a "safe" charger at a place that just happened to be a gas station before. Only a bunch of hackers will be self-charging in the future. It will be like having a Pinephone or a gas pump at your house.
Because as you say, we have neither the transmission, the grid capacity, or the last-mile infrastructure for everyone to have an electric car that actually has any range and can charge in less than a month.
Electric cars are just a trap for regulating the average man out of a car. That simple. Even when you have one, you'll be in a small gay Nissan leaf, the pleb car. No more will the average man be able to have Ford Mustangs or entry level luxury cars like Chrysler 300's, only ZOG buggies the urbanists plan. And you better be grateful they give you electricity at all, could just take the cars away entirely
Here's some more residents who love that their city is more livable:
De Jong, who also manages conference centre Tivoli De Doelen on Nieuwe Doelenstraat, has had to cope with “furious guests who have missed meetings or events. We had an event planned for next week but that has now been cancelled because of the lack of access.”
In order to avoid people taking shortcuts via the surrounding streets, locals are also being hard put to reach their own homes. And some report their own once-quiet streets are now being clogged with traffic jams for most of the day.
Yolanda Moleman, who lives in one of the affected streets, said she had expected to be exempt from the rule and “given a pass of some sort”. “I live there for goodness sake!”, she told Dutch News. “I can be on Sarphatistraat, which is five minutes from my house, and be told that I need to take the IJtunnel which takes me at least half an hour longer.”
Moleman said she had witnessed several angry outbursts from drivers who were being told by traffic wardens which routes they should take.
A small business owner who needs their van to reach customers and suppliers said they are being forced to make huge detours to get to work. “I have no choice but to use a van but the council is making it much harder for me to do my job,” he said. “I can now serve fewer customers in a day and I am driving more kilometres.”
Of course, the politicians don't care. They want to ban cars no matter what:
Despite the criticism, council traffic chief Melanie van der Horst (D66) said the experiment is going “exactly as expected” and, depending on the outcome of the trial, the city will follow it up with more closures to limit through traffic.
“If we don’t take measures now we will all be stuck in traffic,” she told the Volkskrant.
The capital is set to house another 300,000 people in the next 25 years, and the number of people working in the capital will also grow, she said.
Why will Amsterdam have 300k more people in 25 years? The Netherlands has a below replacement birth rate. They should naturally have a decrease in the number of people living in the city over the next 25 years.
The article linked there has a quote showing what urbanists actually think about the free market:
Moreover, the measures the city has taken so far have had too little effect. 'Car traffic in Amsterdam has only increased', says Ploos van Amstel. Take the parking costs, for example. To keep the car out of the city, these have been raised and the number of parking spaces has been reduced. 'But the result is that more parking spaces have been added, thanks to private parties.
So the city reduced municipal parking and jacked up parking fees, and in response, people built more private garages to fulfil the demand. That's the free market working as planned, but it's bad because people didn't pick the alternatives to driving that the planners wanted them to use. Urbanists are not libertarians and do not want a free market because in a free market, people choose to drive and live in houses.
The Dutch aren't actually anti-car like Jason says; only their politicians and activists are. Urbanist politicians do not care about how long they make your commute or how expensive they make your housing, all they care about is their crusade against cars and houses.
Source(Archive) Jason's response to being criticized for calling everyone opposed to this cut a "right winger":
If it's just to gather data, why is the politician who championed the cut talking like it's a permanent thing? It's only been one day, shouldn't she be quiet and wait for the results of the pilot? People aren't dumb Jason, they know what you and your pals in government are trying to do.
You got a source for that? Maybe they are smaller in the country I live in, but they don't seem any bigger than Wal-Mart or Target. America has quite a few supermarket and hypermarket chains so it seems more likely that competition smothered Carrefour before they can get established.
When Carrefour showed up in America in 1989, it was 330k square feet, I think the second one was closer to 200k. Auchan was also 230k when it showed up in America. Meanwhile, most Walmart Supercenter stores are closer to 150k, though they can go higher.
There is size flexibility, one of the reasons why Walmart succeeded was that the 200k+ stores were hard to be profitable, and of course there's smaller Carrefour and Auchan stores. But they are comparable and can be larger.
Of course, the politicians don't care. They want to ban cars no matter what:
[snip]
Why will Amsterdam have 300k more people in 25 years? The Netherlands has a below replacement birth rate. They should naturally have a decrease in the number of people living in the city over the next 25 years.
You only ask because you consider cars as things that contain people. Urbanists don't. They complain about there being too many cars in Amsterdam, but not that there are too many people in Amsterdam, even though the root cause of there being too many cars is that there is too many people. After all they always chant "make cities for people, not cars".
I think Drew will earn himself his own thread very, very soon. Mostly likely because he announces his "transition." Look at that passive aggressive Stack Overflow-like response moving the goalposts. Wanna know why there's no Year of the Linux Desktop? It's because of the autistic community, like him. The same thing will happen to the fagiverse, but Droon can't seem to understand that reaching normies is the fucking point. Also, Drew, since I bet you lurk here, that's a RABBIT NOT A HARE.
The underlying theme connecting people like this and bikefags is that they just cannot believe that not everyone will go along with their Super Intelleckshual Persuasive Argument.
The underlying theme connecting people like this and bikefags is that they just cannot believe that not everyone will go along with their Super Intelleckshual Persuasive Argument.
Urbanism is to city planning as Linux is to Windows and Mastodon is to Twitter. The alternative (urbanism/Linux/Mastodon) may be better in some cases but you're not winning anyone by refusing to admit its faults.
There have only been 11 posts to /r/fuckcars in the last 24 hours and most of them are about how stupid the mods' protest is. The sub is essentially dead.
I love that the /r/antiwork user "mis"gendered the mod.
When Carrefour showed up in America in 1989, it was 330k square feet, I think the second one was closer to 200k. Auchan was also 230k when it showed up in America. Meanwhile, most Walmart Supercenter stores are closer to 150k, though they can go higher.
There is size flexibility, one of the reasons why Walmart succeeded was that the 200k+ stores were hard to be profitable, and of course there's smaller Carrefour and Auchan stores. But they are comparable and can be larger.
But that doesn't mean that size was the issue though. From what I looked up it was more just they were poorly advertised so there wasn't any hype for the French stores and they really didn't understand American shoppers very well on top of the very competitive market in the US. Nobody in America was complaining that the stores were "too big".
Jason's response to being criticized for calling everyone opposed to this cut a "right winger":
If it's just to gather data, why is the politician who championed the cut talking like it's a permanent thing? It's only been one day, shouldn't she be quiet and wait for the results of the pilot? People aren't dumb Jason, they know what you and your pals in government are trying to do.
But that doesn't mean that size was the issue though. From what I looked up it was more just they were poorly advertised so there wasn't any hype for the French stores and they really didn't understand American shoppers very well on top of the very competitive market in the US. Nobody in America was complaining that the stores were "too big".
I know that I read somewhere that the size was too large, even Walmart cut its prototype size down after Hypermart USA to the more conventional Wal-Mart Supercenter, but I'm not petty enough to have some mod split off the thread with "Debate [username] over the death of European-style hypermarkets in America", though.
Also, learn to archive all articles, you've been here for like 18 months.
There have only been 11 posts to /r/fuckcars in the last 24 hours and most of them are about how stupid the mods' protest is. The sub is essentially dead.
Most likely not, the CityNerd retardation was just to "protest" Reddit. AFAIK no protests have been organised for Discord even though they have some shitty changes too (username changes / "Pomelo", for example)
