That doesn’t work if the grocery store is too far to walk or for larger grocery hauls (which often go hand in hand - the further away, the fewer trips you’ll want to make). I’ve been told that some places just genuinely don’t have a grocer within 20min walking distance, because some construction planning apparently prefers huge zones of housing without any kind of commercial usage allowed - no baker, no grocer, no hairstylist, no doctor - making it effectively impossible to have any of those amenities in range.
Obviously, that is a planning issue and ought to be fixed. You’ll have to contend with NIMBYs, but you’d have to do that with any changes anyway. Alternatively or additionally, you could install a usable network of bus lines and trams (though they shouldn’t be run for profit, so it’ll be a tough sell too).
There is also the issue of accessibility, but I think that would be trivial to solve as a side effect: If the streets are less crowded with cars, it’s easier to offer special accommodation for people with limited mobility or anxiety issues.
Bikes are faster than walking and you can attach a trailer. I know a lot of people do that in denmark. Suddenly your cargo capacity is larger than a lot of cars, of course not for weight. As for people with mobility issues, where i live they have a dedicated branch of the public transit for them. On train you can go with wheelchair and if you need extra help in the city they can send you someone with minibuss to help you. Same if youre not in a wheelchair but limited because of your age. Of course these arent cheap to solve but putting out the la fires that were caused by global warming that was in part caused by cars isnt cheap either.
That doesn’t work if the grocery store is too far to walk or for larger grocery hauls (which often go hand in hand - the further away, the fewer trips you’ll want to make). I’ve been told that some places just genuinely don’t have a grocer within 20min walking distance, because some construction planning apparently prefers huge zones of housing without any kind of commercial usage allowed - no baker, no grocer, no hairstylist, no doctor - making it effectively impossible to have any of those amenities in range.
Obviously, that is a planning issue and ought to be fixed. You’ll have to contend with NIMBYs, but you’d have to do that with any changes anyway. Alternatively or additionally, you could install a usable network of bus lines and trams (though they shouldn’t be run for profit, so it’ll be a tough sell too).
There is also the issue of accessibility, but I think that would be trivial to solve as a side effect: If the streets are less crowded with cars, it’s easier to offer special accommodation for people with limited mobility or anxiety issues.
Bikes are faster than walking and you can attach a trailer. I know a lot of people do that in denmark. Suddenly your cargo capacity is larger than a lot of cars, of course not for weight. As for people with mobility issues, where i live they have a dedicated branch of the public transit for them. On train you can go with wheelchair and if you need extra help in the city they can send you someone with minibuss to help you. Same if youre not in a wheelchair but limited because of your age. Of course these arent cheap to solve but putting out the la fires that were caused by global warming that was in part caused by cars isnt cheap either.