Why is the Secretary of Transportation Begging Americans to Take More Road Trips?
Why is the Secretary of Transportation Begging Americans to Take More Road Trips? — Streetsblog USA
Very good article
Maybe because the automotive market is doing poorly at the moment, and gas demand is down as well.
I think it’s the economic cratering rather than simple preferences at work here.
Because the Department of Transportation is now a wholly owned subsidiary of ExxonMobil.
Now?
Yes.
Corrupt as it was, it still maintained some degree of independence. It does no longer.
Think of it as something akin to the difference between the period when two separate corporations were part of a cartel in which the larger of the two was by far the dominant partner, and the situation after the larger one has bought out the smaller, fired the entire C-suite and most of the employees and sold off most of the company assets.
Road trips are great, I just prefer to take them by bus.
Train* when available.
Bring a bike with you and you can basically go anywhere on your trip
WOW
As for why the Department of Transportation wants people to drive to all these places — rather than to travel there by the many other means of transportation it theoretically oversees — Sean Duffy's answer was, essentially, 'because America.'
Capitalism
Bike touring beats "road trips" by car any day of the week.
Except in terms of speed, safety, convenience, and comfort.
Great exercise, very green, and an experience though.
except in terms of speed
Is... Is that the point, on a vacation? Id want to see stuff.
safety
Yeah, drivers try to kill cyclists all the time. They're a menace.
convenience
On amtrak, i can go to the cafe car, get wasted, eat salty snacks, drop some acid, stare out the window for a couple hours, then nap. All without stopping.
The internet doesnt break. The bathrooms always work. The seats are comfier. What the fuck am i missing?
comfort
Citation. Fucking. Needed.
Except in terms of speed
Exploring isn't meant to mean zooming through communities as fast as you can. You can cover over 100km a day by bike, and truly experience the areas you're passing through.
safety
Probably safer than driving. People in cars make cycle touring unsafe, but you don't have to bike alongside them in many cases.
convenience
This is a matter of perspective. Some people, like myself, enjoy planning, gearing up, and executing the plan way more than "what's the easiest way to do this?".
comfort.
Debatable. I find sitting in a car for hours at a time to be excruciating. But I can sit on my bike and ride for 10+ hours at a time, and still want more. And if you're in traffic? Good luck.
If you are doing a proper cycle tour or bikepacking adventure, there's going to be a lot of opportunities to stop, visit local spots, eat, etc.
To me, a "road trip" is about the experience. Everything that comes after that is going to be about how you get to enjoy that experience. And I'd rather be doing it outside of a metal cage. I think most people who've experienced more than just driving would probably agree.
Said like a true european or someone who lives in a huge city with biking infrastructure.
More importantly, why is he sportin' the double denim?
Why does this administration do anything?
Corruption. Someone is receiving money off it, somehow.
Why can't they ever be corrupt in a way that's good for the environmental? Have a conflict of interest that leads to more trains or solar or something.
Because environmentalists don't have any money. Hard to corrupt the system when you don't have the money to do it with.
It doesn't even make sense. Theoretically it could be a good thing, but considering they want to destroy the national parks and forests, I'm not sure what people would even be traveling to see.... A copper mine? A logging operation?
Donald trump, before he got his R branding, was kiiiiind of like this on 'trans women are women' via extreme misogyny and geberally being a creep.