To explain my question, and why I’m asking it:
I’ve had this debate in the past with someone who was anti-car but didn’t really know why other than that it was popular in his social circle.
I’m distinctly curious what a solution for unusual travel habits would be without cars.
My situation is thus; I rather frequently do cross-country, round trips. Simple enough, right? Well, it gets more complicated than that. I show dogs. I need to take myself, potentially a friend or two, and on average 4 dogs several hundred miles, along with all the equipment.
For a fun experiment, this is the details of the show that I’m currently planning this month:
- 4 hours from my house by car
- 2 humans, 4 dogs
- 10 36" dog crates
- 1 36" folding grooming table
- Extra equipment that would fill a large suitcase, roughly speaking.
- two small containers of clothing
- cooler of dog food (frozen)
- vault of dog food (kibble)
I drive a Honda CRV for reference, 31mpg average.
Being anti-car is more about being pro-infrastructure-that-does-not-rely-solely-on-everyone-needing-cars. It’s not even completely opposed to using cars/trucks for situations where nothing else will do.
My solution for this sort of arrangement would be to take the dogs and equipment for a walk down the street where a bus or light rail network would arrive every 2.5 minutes to take you to the train station. There, you play with or groom your dogs in a personal cabin on a bullet train that would take you to a similarily networked train station in the destination city.
Much of the required equipment would likely not be needed, since you could entertain your dogs on the trip rather than locking them away while you drive. If you still need a good deal of equipment, you could rent a car to get the station or hire a taxi cab.
Really unless you are making such trips daily, it wouldn’t make sense to need to own a car to transport a lot of stuff to the station in a nation with proper infrastructure. Just like you don’t buy a moving van because you plan to move at some point.
Out of curiosity, why do you take 10 dog crates for 4 dogs?
Exactly my thoughts. It’s not so much about removing all cars and highways, just reducing so we aren’t solely dependent on cars as the only method we have. Transporting light cargo makes sense with a car in a lot of situations; commuting to a job with just a backpack does not.
I would like to trains be more reasonable - even if not every 2 minutes. I’d be okay with 30 minutes, if I could get on one with the dogs in tow 😞 It is not pleasant driving 5-12 hours and a train would let me rest.
We have to have a set at the Airbnb and a set at the show; it’s much easier to transport extra crates than it is to break them down and haul them back and forth every morning and evening (and takes a distinct amount of time to do). Why 10 and not 8 then? I’m loaning a pair to a friend coming to the same show!
The after parties.