New urbanists will tell you that
2012-06-29 15:41:11.741042+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments
New urbanists will tell you that parking is a huge part of automobile cost. Is this why special purpose (ie: commuter) cars don't catch on?
2012-06-29 15:41:11.741042+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments
New urbanists will tell you that parking is a huge part of automobile cost. Is this why special purpose (ie: commuter) cars don't catch on?
[ related topics: Invention and Design Automobiles ]
comments in descending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2012-07-02 18:46:43.505496+00 by: markd
In my past i had a car that I'd trust for short jaunts, but not to hold together for longer trips, For the occasional "hey, gotta go farther" we'd just rent a better car.
#Comment Re: made: 2012-07-02 18:02:44.885054+00 by: Dan Lyke
Yeah, the flexibility has always been the issue for me, too, but with people spending $40-60k on SUVs (most of which is pure profit for the auto manufacturers) I've often wondered about the details of why they don't buy a smaller cheaper car, because I think you can often make an economic case based on energy costs.
There's a lot about the modern urbanism movement that I'm trying to make sense of, but a lot of the transportation optimization stuff comes down to parking. They're big fans of car shares and shared capital investment for vehicles and things like that.
Tying those two notions together seems like it deserves a little more thought.
#Comment Re: made: 2012-07-02 17:13:57.906046+00 by: petronius
The problem with commuter cars is that they lack flexibility. My current car is often used just for short trips, but at very short notice I could drive 300 miles to St. Louis in it. Some micro-mini-electro couldn't do that.
#Comment Re: made: 2012-07-01 04:02:47.142356+00 by: Mars Saxman
Ah, the idea being that it's too expensive to park two cars, so you just have one general-purpose car instead of getting a second one for commuting?
I suppose I have a "special purpose" car in my motorcycle, and ease of parking is one reason I prefer it. There's always a gap big enough for it somewhere.
#Comment Re: made: 2012-06-30 05:27:37.772382+00 by: Dan Lyke
There's been much pitching of things like electric cars with commute range. One or two people in Petaluma have golf cart like things for in-town trips. But if the urbanists are right, then part of the reason people by general purpose automobiles is parking.
#Comment Re: made: 2012-06-30 02:45:41.244628+00 by: Mars Saxman
What is a special purpose car, and why would parking cost affect it?