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133 sats \ 1 reply \ @nullcount 9 May \ on: Why Are 92% Of Weekday Trips In USA And Canada Made By Car ? charts_and_numbers
Basically its because North America is owned by "Big Oil".
Some lobbying from oil tycoons in the 1950's led to Zoning rules that still require any new commercial building to include a ridiculous amount of parking spaces.
There are currently 4x parking spaces for every registered automobile in USA.
This zoning regulation had the side effect of creating asphalt oceans everywhere which only makes cities more "unwalkable".
These zoning regulations mean companies have to buy 20-80% more land to supply "adequate" parking. Obviously, this makes prices higher since the company will just pass this "free parking" cost to the customer.
In some ways, owning a car is expensive in USA (registration fees, tax, mandatory insurance premiums, fuel, maintenance, etc.)
But in other ways, NOT having a car is even more expensive. You still pay the "free parking" tax on all your groceries whether you parked your car there or took the bus.
same lobbying and resultant zoning also led to restrictions on commercial activity close to peoples homes, so now you can't walk to the gym or shops. have to drive everywhere.
there's a YT channel Not Just Bikes that has some good posts on this topic
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