Responding to a recent blog post of mine, a reader made this comment:

This raises an essential point about retrofitting our cities and suburbs for low-energy transportation. I've often thought that trying to make American / Canadian cities and suburbs less car-dependent simply by adding more buses, streetcars and light rail is like trying to make a bowl of chicken soup vegan simply by picking the chicken out. Dependence on private vehicles powered by gasoline is ingrained in nearly everything we've built over the last sixty years -- like the chicken broth in my chicken soup, car dependence is an inherent property of our settlements...

That said, it's not necessarily impossible to quickly scale up public transport across the US and Canada. Cities and, yes, suburbs throughout Western Europe have proven for decades that many people will opt for a mix of walking, bicycling and public transit over personal cars if the price is right and, especially, if the trip quality is superior. For local buses and rail, that means headways well under fifteen minutes, and a whole experience that is safe, reliable, fast, and clean. For bicycling that means extensive networks of dedicated, wide, uninterrupted paths with minimal stops, and secure, covered parking at destinations...

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This is an excerpt from Daniel's blog. Read the full post, plus comments, at:
www.postcarboncities.net/blog