this post was submitted on 12 May 2026
7 points (100.0% liked)

Fuck Cars

15779 readers
1042 users here now

A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

Rules

1. Be CivilYou may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.

2. No hate speechDon't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.

3. Don't harass peopleDon't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.

4. Stay on topicThis community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.

5. No repostsDo not repost content that has already been posted in this community.

Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.

Posting Guidelines

In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:

Recommended communities:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
toaster@slrpnk.net
grue@lemmy.world
Toaster1@lemmy.world
7
‘It’s literally going to break me.’ Commuting is now unaffordable for some American workers (edition.cnn.com)
submitted 6 days ago by Valuy@lemmy.zip to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
top 23 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Bus lanes and trams are a symbol of “communism” and car is a sign of “freedom” until you realize that the ultimate freedom is choosing to walk, bike, take transit, or drive to your destination.

his employer won’t reimburse him for mileage once he fully transitions into his new role next month

2018 Chevy Silverado, which he uses to carry equipment and supplies for the hotels, this year.

Well, that’s a fucking problem. Don’t take a job in which you are expected to use a personal vehicle for work purposes. Work provided vehicle and submit receipts for gasoline. Insurance company won’t like it. You won’t like how fast your car goes through tires and then dies. Etc.

[–] Stern@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I feel like the legality of not reimbursing him for using his personal vehicle for work purposes is fairly dubious though I'd be lying if I said I knew the specifics of the laws there.

[–] SolacefromSilence@fedia.io 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Employer: taps head They're a contractor and I don't pay then enough to live.

[–] Stern@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

I think in his case he's salary as a regional manager. Contractor is a whole other thing.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Given the cost of fuel, a bus pass for me (if I still had to commute, I work from home now) for a month is now just over $800/mo.

6 years ago, that was $375/mo.

I don't think the issue is limited to car drivers, I suspect more than a few folks who took public transit with me are looking at a pretty impactful monthly cost.

[–] youcantreadthis@quokk.au 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Trains. Overhead wire. Green energy. Build it now or suffer later.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 0 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I agree.

That does nothing to address the current (rapidly rising) commuting costs happening now, though.

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

We need Americans to feel the pain hard enough they screen for trains

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Would be wonderful.

Unfortunately the time to do it was years ago. Obviously the next best time is to start now, but it will be years before results and that doesnt help those impacted now.

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net -1 points 6 days ago

We need to Americans to come to psychologically distrust driving.

[–] youcantreadthis@quokk.au 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Buy a bike. Carpool. Work from home.

Militarize against police for eviction defense?

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I think you missed the part where I pointed out that I do work from home.

I'd also point out that riding a bike for the commutes I'm mentioning is a non-starter, its too large of a distance for a daily commuter ride.

Again, the point is that this is not a car commuter exclusive problem, and its going to impact people who use mass transit. There are plenty of train lines that aren't powered and require dual electric/diesel engines. Infrastructure installation to extend lines takes time, not to mention the lack of rail infrastructure in the first place that impacts the overwhelming majority of the US.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

too large of a distance for a daily commuter ride

You didn’t mention this: what distance did you have in mind?

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

The current average commute for my state is about 15mi, but that number (annoyingly) includes WFH which skews the numbers.

Mine, for example, would be a 60mi commute if I still had one.

Edit: And I don't think I should have to really mention that the overwhelming majority of commuters are leaving their town for work....

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Well, that’s the core problem. No one should be commuting for an hour by car.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Yes, obviously its the fault of the individuals who were living somewhere and got a better job further away.

Clearly the problem is that, and nothing else.

Also, at no point was I discussing driving a car.

Edit: Actually, I did mention driving further away to a bus or train and parking there, so yes, I did mention driving a car. But not for the commute itself.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You found blame that was not there. The fault is with the car-centric design of our society and the false convenience of driving, not with the people taking jobs where they can get them.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

When you put it to "no one should be driving an hour by car" in a discussion about the more than doubling price of bus fare for bus commuting, I'm going to find it very hard to understand what youre trying to say.

And considering you commented on a person driving for an hour, rather than on the rapidly increasing commuting costs for all commuters, or the larger issues driving those increases, I'm going to find it real hard to believe youre doing anything but putting blame on an individual.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

That’s fair. I’d have perhaps phrased it more clearly as “society should put no one in a position where they feel that they must travel 60 miles [an hour by car] twice daily for work” but that feels a bit unwieldy.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'd say thats generally more of a larger issue, yeah.

But just to mention, in the NYC area, just 3 miles outside of NYC can take an hour all by itself.

Either way - fuel costs are impacting mass transit riders too. Saying "just take the bus instead" helps no one when those bus costs are rapidly rising as well. And the same goes for trains when not all of them are electrified for the full run.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The effect of fuel costs on mass transit is much smaller than on personal motor vehicles though. So yeah, “just take the bus” is a pretty big step in the right direction, relatively speaking.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Here is the title of the post:

‘It’s literally going to break me.’ Commuting is now unaffordable for some American workers

Here is my first comment:

Given the cost of fuel, a bus pass for me (if I still had to commute, I work from home now) for a month is now just over $800/mo. 6 years ago, that was $375/mo. I don’t think the issue is limited to car drivers, I suspect more than a few folks who took public transit with me are looking at a pretty impactful monthly cost.

So no, its not. Its a massively increasing cost that is continuing to trend upward.

Its about as helpful to folks who are being impacted by this as "Just don't go to work!" or "Ride a bike for 50 miles each way every day, problem solved!"

What "just take the bus" does is shift the blame onto the individual being impacted, made worse by the fact that many of those impacted by these rising costs are already taking mass transit. This isn't a "car" problem. This is a "commuter" problem.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world -1 points 6 days ago

Given the cost of fuel, a bus pass for me (if I still had to commute, I work from home now) for a month is now just over $800/mo. 6 years ago, that was $375/mo.

And you think that the fare increase there is driven by fuel costs alone? Or even that fuel cost is in any way a significant portion of the change?

Not. A. Chance.