To build a fully climate-neutral transport system in the Netherlands, many citizens will have to give up their cars, Jan Willem Eirsman, the government’s new chief climate adviser as chairman of the Scientific Climate Council, told the AD.
Dutchman here. Our government has been systematically gutting funding for public transport. I have to extend my commute from 40 minutes to 2 hours if I want to take public transport. It’s also unreliable and outrageously expensive since they run it through the “free market”.
Fuck cars but there’s also no way in hell I will sell my car before they introduce some massive changes to our public transport.
Our government has been systematically gutting funding for public transport.
silent privatization
The one thing the EU is fucking up, forcing the free market where we don’t want it
Its only doing that because it has been told to. We should tell it to stop.
I used to live there back in 2015. What’re the prices for intercity trains these days? I remember NL trains being very cheap (€20 Amsterdam to Mastricht). Here in the UK is £50 from Cambridge to London (roughly a ⅓ the distance) so I hope you’re still doing better than here
With that said, I hope you get some more green/left types in government this time around. I’m watching your election closely from here!
Amsterdam to Maastricht will set you back 30 euros these days.
Yes of course long term we will need to get rid of privately owned (but not shared) cars, but time is far in the future. Even here in NL the infrastructure just isn’t there for it. Yet.
And we have no real government at the moment, and god help us with the elections coming up.
I enjoy driving, sightseeing, going on mountain roads. I don’t see public transport ever offering that.
Which is why shared cars as opposed to everyone or every household owning one makes sense. You’ll be more thoughtful of when you need it rather than using it because it’s always there.
This creates availability issues for me and demand of cars issues for the market which translate immediately in loss of jobs for those who work in the sector, even mechanics and the ones who change your tires. Also the sentence “you’ll be more thoughtful of when you need it” doesn’t make sense. If I need it and it’s not there what am I supposed to do? Oh, well I should have thought about it. How could I know when I needed it? And I’m not too fond of people in general. Having some stranger drive my, ehm, our car? No.
I love statements like this. It’s basically someone just deciding that gravity is inconvenient, so it won’t apply to them.
The world is on fire dude, and the only way it doesn’t get worse (we’re not even talking about fixing it at this point) is to dramatically change the way we live. Private car ownership is a big part of that. Your preference for living in a way incompatible with life on the planet does not entitle you to it.
But here’s the good news: you can still have a private car. You can even live in a distant suburb and the car can run on gasoline… but you’re going to have to pay for it. And you’re going to pay the actual cost to society for that preference, so it’s going to be very, very expensive.
Or you know, you can just take the train and plan your roadtrip holidays in advance.
Let’s share everything then: PCs, pianos, houses. No, a car is something too personal to be shared. I smoke, the stranger doesn’t what happens? Or vice versa. He breaks the car who pays? Legal disputes. I need the car he’s using it, what am I to do? It can work for workers from the same office. One car brings 4, it’s ok. Other than that, forget about it. Not to mention the economics at play. A whole industry would collapse. If there’s something I learned in this life is that money comes before everything else. Trying to save this planet as I watch more and more people install AC in their house is hilarious. Colder for you, hotter for everyone else. And the planet. We’ll never save ourselves. There’ll be harsh selection. And lastly, if even EVs are a problem I dunno what else to try. Public transport doesn’t get everywhere, it never will, so it’s not a solution. Oh, and we’re not talking about gravity.
Mechanics are going to be downsized with all the EV sales anyway. They just don’t need as much maintenance. I have had a Chevy Bolt since 2018. I haven’t had any routine maintenance, and I’ve just had to take the thing to the dealership once for a major recall, where they just flashed the BIOS. Admittedly, I don’t drive near as much as I used to, I’ve only put 60,000 miles on the ODO so far.
That leaves out a ton of people from dealerships to engineers, from body repairs shops to carwashes, from manufacture to after market components. And we’ve got two cars per household. Let’s see how it goes with a quarter or less that. No.
The sharing concept is more like a Uber type deal, there is always a car available sort of thing. It’s not really a sharing with a neighbor or family member type thing where you are SOL if the shared car is not in your driveway.
That brings the same economic collapse to the automotive industry and deprives you of the fun of driving while jacking up the prices.
What do you mean about no real government? Did they all go on holiday/vacation?
There’s an interim government until the elections as there was some drama causing the previous government to fall.
They already cry when you suggest eating a little bit less meat.
Why would you care what anyone chooses to eat?
For example, the earth only has so much of the precious metals needed for electric car batteries.
They’re largely found in China too
They already bike everywhere.
I wish :( The city centers are very walkable and there’s plenty of safe bicycle infrastructure, but cars are still very clearly the dominant mode of transport. Every weekend there’s queues to the parking garages in every part of the city.
