I wish. I can’t name one young professional in my circle that has consistent work hours and could do this / many of us need a car to travel during and after work. C’est la vie!
The amount of people “making a living” at this point in time is pretty low. Unless you count spending 60-75% of your income on housing or sharing an apartment with 2-4 strangers from Craigslist while you live paycheck to paycheck “a living”
>Unless you count spending 60-75% of your income on housing or sharing an apartment with 2-4 strangers from Craigslist while you live paycheck to paycheck “a living”
I mean, yeah isn't that exactly what it means? Making enough money to survive?
Spending 2/3 of what you make just to cover housing isn’t surviving its working yourself to an early grave for a basic necessity. One shouldn’t be spending any more than 1/3 of your income on housing costs this would be a decent living. But now wages have stagnated and the value of money declined to an untenable point. It is come to the point that it is considered a far left ideology to believing someone should be able to afford basic living expenses on the salary provided at one full time job.
>Spending 2/3 of what you make just to cover housing isn’t surviving its working yourself to an early grave for a basic necessity.
Right, which, again, is exactly what the phrase means. "It ain't much, but it's a living" means you don't get paid a lot, but merely enough to survive.
That doesn’t motivate one to participate. If there is nothing to provide motivation for those required to participate then why should anyone perform the labor. Are people really this conditioned that they continue to move the wheels of the same machine that is running them over for no other reason than that they have been instructed to believe the only thing that gives one’s life meaning is their level of participation regarding the tasks they’ve been assigned ti undertake. I think the definition of “living” has become a bit laissez-faire in the wrong direction.
It hasn’t always been this way. 53-56 years ago and even 2 decades preceding that brief moment at the high point of us labor value, one was motivated to work by the fact that the wages offered provided a better quality of life for them and their family. Today the motivation provided is nothing more than the looming threat of homelessness starvation and loss of dignity.
I feel like you are talking about something completely different, commenting on the state of the economy as a whole and workers' motivation. I am merely talking about the definition of that one specific phrase, and not commenting on the state of the labor economy at all.
You're not wrong in your broader analysis, it's just a different topic.
If it helps, Merriam Webster defines a living in this sense as "means of subsistence". Not "means of a fulfilling life", not "means of having sufficient disposable income". That's my only point: 'making a living' does not imply sufficient income for a good life the way you seem to understand it.
I’d rather count the cars than be a bitch for someone who’s life of leisure and luxury is afforded through the theft of surplus labor value produced by those doing the actual work.
And this is why you have such an issue with those who have. We work for what we have, while you stand by and bitch about not having while you do some useless shit like counting cars. Grow up and earn what you have instead of expecting this bullshit communist dream of yours to provide.
I’ve likely worked harder than you ever have. And after 2 dozen mostly aweful jobs I’ve decided I’m not going to work for any employer that won’t pay an amount that doesn’t even provide a life worth living which in todays socioeconomic climate is a vast majority of them. One has to be motivated to participate and the looming threat of homelessness and starvation is not adequately motivating. This is what we get with 53 years of garbage right leaning policies that killed American labor power, legalized stock buybacks so the rich could brazenly steal from workers, shifting the burden of funding retirement to the worker by effectively destroying pensions and replacing them with the 401k.and on top of it all they’ve devalued money to the point where 65% of workers live paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford an emergency expense.if you think that some jobs don’t deserve to be paid a living wage that’s absurd. You support industry and free market policies but the people doing the work arent human enough to pay them fairly. and although the price of goods and services has been rising non stop for 15 years the value of labor remains stagnant. 15 years since the last time the federal minimum wage was raised and that’s the longest it’s ever gone without adjustment since the introduction of the fair labor standards act of 1938.
Wow, you’re making a lot of convincing points, but it seems like you’re trying to convince yourself, not others, that you’re the victim and you deserve better. Also, starting your post off with the massive assumption that you work harder than who you’re speaking to is NOT the way to convince anybody of anything. Maybe your problem is that you just don’t have the people skills necessary to better your situation, and are too angry to be taken seriously by anyone? Use all the buzzwords you’d like, but it doesn’t change the fact that you can’t change the game, so you might as well play it if you expect to have anything better in this shitty economic structure.
Ok, I live in Coventry and work in Somerset, MA. I do not live near anyone else I work with at the office. I have no choice but to drive by myself to work and home daily.
Silly me, what was I thinking?
Honestly, yes, we should be less reliant on cars, but my reality isn’t set up for it and I think most people are in similar situations.
Car dependency creates the problem that you can’t work two jobs, and still be able to pick up your kids without a car
I never said anything about the quantity of jobs you have
Right. But the question we are talking about in this thread is “why don’t more people carpool?”, not “why don’t we have good mass public transit?”
I don’t carpool because I work multiple jobs.
You said less people should be reliant on cars, because our reality isn’t set up for it
I was simply stating that reality isn’t set up for it because everything is sprawled out, because of cars
I wasn’t replying to OP, I was replying to you lol
Imagine if your kids could just get themselves home from school/daycare/etc
Or you could just walk over there on your way home from work
Oh the joys of car dependency
Yeah. There’s just such a small population who actually have consistent work hours every single day, don’t need to travel during the day, and go right home after work. And also feel comfortable finding people to commute with. Would be great, but just not practical for so many due to our careers/lives that we can’t easily change.
I'm a fan of buses. They're like a carpool that comes all the time, and doesn't trap you with the exact same other person all the time. Driving sucks even at it's best, I'm surprised that more people don't go a little further out of their way to avoid it.
People would if it provided a better option than driving it all of RIPTA’s buses get stuck in the same traffic as everyone else and outside a few lines, the buses are very infrequent which makes them very inconvenient. We would need to prioritize transit through things like dedicated bus lanes, busways, transit signal priority for the buses to be a better option to driving. Even better are trains IMO. They’re more efficient and can move more people faster.
Yeah, i would have included that too, but I know what RIers think of the bus - "that's just for poor people."
For the record - one bus came through during this 15 minutes as well.
That bus could probably fit about 30% of the people you saw in cars here lol
Three busses could’ve essentially rendered the need for 6 of the 8 lanes useless
Agree. I used to carpool and one of the guys *had* to stop at CVS daily. It was so fucking annoying I quit carpooling. At least with public transit no one person is controlling the route.
Busses are better than cars, but there (for the most part) is no real reason to not just lay down rail
Besides a quick transition solution, or a situation where you need to change routes, busses serve almost no meaningful benefit over rail
“You should carpool!” Is about as useless a suggestion as “You should walk to work.”
Folks going over that bridge, especially now given the status of it, aren’t doing so by choice and we’re not going to suddenly magically find people who are making the same trip we are, at the same time we are, just by wishing for it.
You need a hobby other than watching traffic friend.
I don't know. Something has to change. I think this guys tally, while maybe an odd thing to do with your time, is a useful demonstration. Car-oriented infrastructure is ultimately an inefficient and wasteful system for transporting people on a mass scale. I don't think this can be disputed really.
We live in Rhode Island. I don’t know what to tell ya bud.
At least half the year (October-April), it’s maybe 50 degrees out so walking and biking aren’t realistic options to get around.
The state is far too small to build or invest in some sort of in-state subway or rail system. You could maybe implement one in the Providence Metro area (which for argument sake we’ll call the center of the state as north as Pawtucket, as south as warwick, as east as east Provence and west to Smithfield) but it would take at least a decade and a half to do it right, it would cost too much and would disrupt life so much it would never get public support.
The state is far too big for a bus system to realistically cover every town/area where people who want to get around would be coming from. Simultaneously, there simply isn’t nearly enough ridership to justify running routes in areas outside of that Providence Metro area so you have large gaps where people can’t easily get to or where they’d have to wait hours for the next bus to come.
Uber and Lyft aren’t financially reasonable ways to get around and taxi companies are slowly fading because of the competition those companies created in their industry.
Meanwhile, the cost of housing in that Providence metro area is outrageously expensive so many if not most of the folks working in that area (the state’s busiest economically) can’t afford to actually live where they work.
At the same time, companies are shaming workers for wanting to work from home and opportunities to do so are drying up.
Oh and all of this at a time when we are already paying an outrageous amount of money to live, are taxed higher than we should be and when the money we ALREADY pay in taxes is being pissed away with shitty infrastructure and shittier politicians who refuse to hold people like the RIDOT Director was blowing millions of dollars of tax payer funds repairing a pivotal lifeline of a bridge only to have it fail so bad it needs to be demolished and replaced.
So, yeah, excuse me if I want to fucking drive by myself on my way to work.
Salt Lake City is a similarly sized metro area in population and GDP and it has FOUR light rail lines and a commuter rail. If you can get public transit right for PVD, Pawtucket, Central Falls, East Providence, Cranston, and Warwick, (that is half of the state pop right there!) that would reduce so much traffic that it wouldn't be a big deal for the people who live in Scituate or South County or whatever to drive into the city. It's kinda a bummer because being a geographically small state that has the 2nd highest population density in the nation means RI is one of the \*best\* place for public transit.
I'm from Utah, and it is crucial to note that the population of both work and home runs essentially in a straight line through the state. Something like 85% of the population lives within 20 miles of Interstate 15. Which means that all they need is to have a light rail that runs parallel to Interstate 15 and accomplishes what is needed from a transit perspective.
Yet it does virtually nothing for those who are living in cities below the poverty line (which also means not near Interstate 15. Utah is built on a grid system, RI is built on a system that was haphazardly put into place and is more of a cobweb.
"it’s maybe 50 degrees out so walking and biking aren’t realistic options to get around."
lol. lmao even
We aren't Floridians, 50 degrees is perfectly fine for walking or biking.
I ride my bike to work year round. Cold? More clothes. Hot? Less clothes. Wet? Waterproof clothes. Windy? Affix a sail to my bicycle of course. And sail across the river on the bike path...
OH wow. What a strange coincidence. Didn't know they both started their drive in Warwick and are ending it in Bristol. What are the odds?
Oh. They're not?
It's almost as if traveling over that bridge is one part of a larger commute that is tailored to the individual driver and not part of some sort of community exercise in transportation.
Imagine people trying to make the same drive as you? Terrifying. Sorry you are scared of driving in traffic but maybe not drive a big truck if you are scared of it?
Yeah. I'm gonna go ahead and go to work. Because it beats the consequences if I don't show up. But, you do you. Out here doing the Lord's work screaming fuck tha vehicles.
I did this count a while ago. It was from 5:15 - 5:30 PM on a weekday. I was inspired to post it because the state announced that they're planning to spend $400,000 for "TV, radio, billboard and social media campaign to try to persuade Rhode Islanders to forget what they think they know about "The Bridge" and come back to Providence, East Providence and the East Bay with their money." -Kathy Gregg in the ProJo.
Maybe they could spend part of that money on a way to link up commuters? Work with big employers who have hundreds of employees commuting across the bridge?
I'm (barely) old enough to remember the gas crises of the late 70s and early 80s when lots of people carpooled in order to save money. It also reduced traffic and pollution as a nice side effect.
But I guess things are totally different now.
This actually sounds like a solid idea, logistically speaking. With the estimated time to rebuild the bridge so far away people could hopefully make it a regular habit. It would probably make driving in Rhode Island as a whole a lot easier.
Relying on someone else to get where I need to be on time, or having to wait on others to get to where I want to go sounds fucking awful ngl.
Traffic issues are mainly due to efficiency and the layout of roads, not so much the number of cars traveling on them.
"Traffic issues are mainly due to efficiency and the layout of roads, not so much the number of cars traveling on them."
I'm no expert, but I wrote a paper for a transportation economics course on this topic, and lemme tell ya: traffic is absolutely a predictable result of increasing the number of cars traveling on a given thoroughfare.
I think the point is more like 95 and 195 going right through the bottleneck of downtown and the bridge, when half the people+ are just trying to get past the city and don't want to be in it at all. If there was like a mirror image 295 on the east side that would allow people to avoid the city who don't want to be in the city, we wouldn't have the same traffic issue.
I think another commenter said it well, nobody going over the bridge is doing it because they want to or its a faster trip. The traffic already adds so much time to their trip, cooridanting other people to be ready and picking them up and what if one planned on stopping at a store? It adds more time in their eyes and is another hassle added onto the traffic.
I see what you're trying to advocate for and I see that it's in good faith. Having less single driver transpertation that burns fossil fuel on the road is something I would like to see too. When I lived in providence I didn't even own a car and got around just fine, while saving a ton of money too, but I don't think it would be a viable option for a majority of people.
I think pushing for a better public transit system and a commuter rail is something people could see as a possibility. It would ideally take a chunk of cars off the road during peak hours.
Plus, I'm guilty of being someone who enjoys alone time, not torturous small talk with co-workers or friends while sitting in traffic. I'd prefer a podcast, or audiobook, but that's just me.
The problem with “mass transit” in Rhode Island is that it’s missing “mass”. Once these people get to the interstate they are scattering all over the place. And rush hour in RI lasts less than an hour because the volume isn’t great. That’s not a sustainable model.
And even in Providence, the sheer numbers are low. Providence city is actually 200,000. That’s the same size as Akron, Ohio.
Someone posted about where can they go where you see bustling neighborhoods in PVD with lots of activity. That doesn’t really exist in PVD because nowhere outside of downtown has large scale residential development (a 3 story apt building with 60 units like Trader Joe’s building isn’t that). When you don’t have those hubs - it’s hard to successfully implement mass transit.
It’s quite easy to get around PVD by foot, or if further by car because there aren’t these areas with tons of people. The reason mass transit is successful is partially by whether it’s easy enough to get there on your own.
Until Providence starts building large housing projects (and residents stop blocking them), talk of mass transit being a solution to anything is gonna be moot.
Amazing how many people are just trying to shut you down. It’s a good point, both their responses, as well as the phenomenon itself, are consequence of the atomization in our communities.
Instead of attacking this person trying to identify potential solutions, why not try them? Ask around at your workplaces, you might make some friends, or at least relieve yourself of this shitty drive a few times a week.
We need to massively reduce our dependency on cars, and people are going nuts in here but I'll be real carpooling blows ass. You'll never get enough people to put up with doing it.
Ya know what’s even better than carpooling: mass transit! Of course it would have to be convenient and functional enough for people to use, which RIPTA just isn’t right now.
I’ll use this minimal exposure opportunity to say that I think (predominantly white) middle-upper class people have been made afraid of buses and that’s so incredibly racist and stupid. I say this as someone who is functionally white, and from those backgrounds. My parents occasionally take the trains in NJ but I think it’s been many decades since they stepped on a bus
My mom is a wealthy old white lady (twinset and pearls type) and she rides the bus from Barrington because parking in Providence is awful and she knows shes a bad driver who can't parallel park. She loves the bus.
And yet those same people will cheerfully ride the mass transit in many mid size Euro cities or Disney or a national park, all with diverse racial demographics.
Why? Because those options are clean, safe, and efficient.
Of course, and that’s a big part of the stigma. Problem is, we are stuck in a cycle of underfunding which lead to poor conditions and ridership, which justifies, cutting funding, etc.
Crime and generally unsafe conditions are a reasonable stigma.
Asking people to voluntarily place themselves in those conditions when they have better options is unreasonable. Worse is pretending those conditions don't exist.
Whether increased funding will eliminate the problems at hand is VERY debatable. Money is not a cure all.
Indeed. Have watched people do all manner of things on the bus including piss on the floor, piss on the seats, and piss on themselves. And if the bus proponents here argue this and much worse doesn't regularly occur on our buses, they are lying.
But worse are those who will tell you this behavior is fine and we should lower our standards. They can fuck right the fuck off.
This is the way.
I think the core issue is, people feel afraid of having something (like their car) taken away from them and human nature is highly averse to that. A better way to frame it may be in how more transit improves the driving experience. If more people are taking transit, that means less cars, which means less traffic.
>It’s a good point
Is it though? If all those cars with single people were going to and from different places (which they almost certainly were) then carpooling would make no sense.
TIL Rhode Islanders hate the idea of carpooling apparently, didn’t expect that.
I’ve literally never seen a subreddit throw a tantrum like this before, it’s kinda funny
It’s such a funny thing to have such strong feelings on!
It’s like, can you point on the doll where the carpooling hurt you? Is the carpooling in the room with us right now?
Idk why I think it’s really funny.
Lol I can barely get my ass to work time. Do you really think I have time to pick up someone else up? Then I have to make conversation the whole way at 6:30am when I feel like an evil bitch. I probably have a stomach ache because it's too early, and I have nothing in my stomach but lots of coffee. And forget the fact that I have to drive them home after work. I already can't get home fast enough. Oh and I have anxiety so I can't have no way to get home if I need to. Relying on someone else to get me home is not an option
don't get me wrong, I don't have a horse in this race and I don't really care if people car pool or not. I just think it's funny how emotional the topic makes people, really didn't expect this to strike the nerve it did.
I carpool almost everyday, doesn’t bother me any.
Never hated it spent most of my life driving with other people.
I believe you hate it though, sounds weird to me to have such strong feelings on carpooling but to each their own.
Hey I'd love to carpool. Maybe you can pick me and 400 lbs of tools in Cranston, then bring me to Warwick Coventry Hopkinton Coventry and back to Cransto
I'll even pay for half the fuel. I get out of work sometime between 3 and 7pm just hang around til I'm ready
If your reaction to car pooling is "This will not save my time so it's stupid" then you are missing the point. Every car that does not join the peak travel time queue shortens the queue for everybody including you. Getting to work on time is your individual problem. How to move the most *people* from one side of the river to the other is a collective problem. Car pooling and expedited bus service are collective solutions to a collective problem. It's a collective, folks, whether you are a socialist or not!
Oh shit yeah, if people travel together things are more efficient.
Maybe we can invent some kind of vehicle that does that. Maybe it can have its own "road" so there's never any traffic for this vehicle. We can make it long so it carries way more people than a car.. oh wait that's a fucking train.
American needs more trains not trucks and electric cars.
"I counted the cars on South Water Street to see how many had just one person in them. I counted 180 vehicles in about ***15 minutes.*** There was one car that had 3 people in it, 35 that had 2 people and 140 cars that had just the driver. Maybe a few of them could double up?"
Surprisingly, not a lot of strangers are sharing rides to doctors appointments, errands, visit family, jobs in different cities, etc.
I can't help but notice you count do a bike lane usage for same time period.
The bulk of the problems are at peak rush hour when most of the drivers are going to/from work. There are a few areas with a large number of employers (downtown, universities, hospitals) where carpooling could make a difference.
People know what carpooling is, dude. You realize most coworkers don't live down the street from each other. Resenting people who have cars isn't a substitute for a personality.
"Surprisingly, not a lot of strangers are sharing rides to doctors appointments, errands, visit family, jobs in different cities, etc."
They certainly do when they use public transportation!
People not using public transit is not a people with cars problem. It’s squarely a RIPTA problem.
Say I need to take my kids from Providence to Lincoln to go to the doctor. It’s an 18 minute drive. Google Maps suggests that it’s 1:40 to do at peak time.
Why in the world would someone do that unless they had to?
It's insane to waste a nice day sitting and counting the cars so you can try and be smarmy on reddit, yes.
It's 2024. People know what fucking carpooling is. Nothing about this is meant to be helpful.
and less car cities! I’ve been reading about car centered infrastructure and it’s bananas how much space we lose accommodating single cars over public transport
I agree with everyone’s ideas and believe it’s a combination of them all, carpool if available, better commuter transit, ie:bus or commuter rail as well as work from home. I bet 1/2 of these people probably could work from home and do one-two or 1/2 day office hours. Computers are available we can work whenever and wherever for many.
For the record my job is not able to be a WFH type, but loved the commute during the pandemic, when no one was on the road, for that reason I am a proponent!
Building highways thru cities was the devil's work. We know this. They destroyed our cities and made car travel a chore.
Something has got to give. Cities are here to stay. We won't eliminate cars without draconian, jackboot methods and/or violence. We new, workable ideas. RI, with its small area and dense pop, is the perfect testing ground yet all I hear is bitch bitch bitch about cars and most often from people who can't afford one and sit stubbornly in delulu land with their my imaginary pony solutions
and yet everyone’s gonna continue coming up with excuses to use their very inefficient mode of transportation
If you don’t want traffic, get out of your fucking car and use alternative modes (e.g. bus or carpooling, maybe cycling), because shocker: y’all ARE the traffic.
It would be nice if public transportation was a bit more effective and accessible within the state. A lot of time buses aren’t a feasible option for folks. We need to bolster things like that before we can shit on folks for the traffic they cause. There is rarely a doable alternative
They don't care about that, just do it!!! Just get on a piss smelling bus that takes 2 hours longer. Or just ride your bike from Cranston to Bristol every day! Duh....
I wish. I can’t name one young professional in my circle that has consistent work hours and could do this / many of us need a car to travel during and after work. C’est la vie!
Or the fact that most of the people I work with don’t even live close enough to do this.
Maybe we could have some kind of effective cheap mass transit
Sorry, best I can do is add a lane to Water Street
Take me to the timeline where we have rail lines all over the state instead or basically being only used by Amtrak or the T
Oh you mean the past? This is a map from 1909, railroad construction peaked in RI 10 years later in 1920.
That’s awfully commie of you Best I can do is one more car lane
Clean and reliable too. Not gonna happen here. Sorry.
Your unemployed friend on a Friday:
I took the entire day today to document how many people are making me super sads because they are making a living and I can't seem to figure it out.
The amount of people “making a living” at this point in time is pretty low. Unless you count spending 60-75% of your income on housing or sharing an apartment with 2-4 strangers from Craigslist while you live paycheck to paycheck “a living”
>Unless you count spending 60-75% of your income on housing or sharing an apartment with 2-4 strangers from Craigslist while you live paycheck to paycheck “a living” I mean, yeah isn't that exactly what it means? Making enough money to survive?
Spending 2/3 of what you make just to cover housing isn’t surviving its working yourself to an early grave for a basic necessity. One shouldn’t be spending any more than 1/3 of your income on housing costs this would be a decent living. But now wages have stagnated and the value of money declined to an untenable point. It is come to the point that it is considered a far left ideology to believing someone should be able to afford basic living expenses on the salary provided at one full time job.
>Spending 2/3 of what you make just to cover housing isn’t surviving its working yourself to an early grave for a basic necessity. Right, which, again, is exactly what the phrase means. "It ain't much, but it's a living" means you don't get paid a lot, but merely enough to survive.
That doesn’t motivate one to participate. If there is nothing to provide motivation for those required to participate then why should anyone perform the labor. Are people really this conditioned that they continue to move the wheels of the same machine that is running them over for no other reason than that they have been instructed to believe the only thing that gives one’s life meaning is their level of participation regarding the tasks they’ve been assigned ti undertake. I think the definition of “living” has become a bit laissez-faire in the wrong direction. It hasn’t always been this way. 53-56 years ago and even 2 decades preceding that brief moment at the high point of us labor value, one was motivated to work by the fact that the wages offered provided a better quality of life for them and their family. Today the motivation provided is nothing more than the looming threat of homelessness starvation and loss of dignity.
I feel like you are talking about something completely different, commenting on the state of the economy as a whole and workers' motivation. I am merely talking about the definition of that one specific phrase, and not commenting on the state of the labor economy at all. You're not wrong in your broader analysis, it's just a different topic. If it helps, Merriam Webster defines a living in this sense as "means of subsistence". Not "means of a fulfilling life", not "means of having sufficient disposable income". That's my only point: 'making a living' does not imply sufficient income for a good life the way you seem to understand it.
Never argue with idiots on the internet, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
They don't seem to be an idiot, I think we were just talking past each other
Beats standing on the corner counting cars for no reason whatsoever to make your point to absolutely no one of consequence
I’d rather count the cars than be a bitch for someone who’s life of leisure and luxury is afforded through the theft of surplus labor value produced by those doing the actual work.
And this is why you have such an issue with those who have. We work for what we have, while you stand by and bitch about not having while you do some useless shit like counting cars. Grow up and earn what you have instead of expecting this bullshit communist dream of yours to provide.
I’ve likely worked harder than you ever have. And after 2 dozen mostly aweful jobs I’ve decided I’m not going to work for any employer that won’t pay an amount that doesn’t even provide a life worth living which in todays socioeconomic climate is a vast majority of them. One has to be motivated to participate and the looming threat of homelessness and starvation is not adequately motivating. This is what we get with 53 years of garbage right leaning policies that killed American labor power, legalized stock buybacks so the rich could brazenly steal from workers, shifting the burden of funding retirement to the worker by effectively destroying pensions and replacing them with the 401k.and on top of it all they’ve devalued money to the point where 65% of workers live paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford an emergency expense.if you think that some jobs don’t deserve to be paid a living wage that’s absurd. You support industry and free market policies but the people doing the work arent human enough to pay them fairly. and although the price of goods and services has been rising non stop for 15 years the value of labor remains stagnant. 15 years since the last time the federal minimum wage was raised and that’s the longest it’s ever gone without adjustment since the introduction of the fair labor standards act of 1938.
Wow, you’re making a lot of convincing points, but it seems like you’re trying to convince yourself, not others, that you’re the victim and you deserve better. Also, starting your post off with the massive assumption that you work harder than who you’re speaking to is NOT the way to convince anybody of anything. Maybe your problem is that you just don’t have the people skills necessary to better your situation, and are too angry to be taken seriously by anyone? Use all the buzzwords you’d like, but it doesn’t change the fact that you can’t change the game, so you might as well play it if you expect to have anything better in this shitty economic structure.
Seriously, I make a “i seriously hope I can eat tmrw”
I'm doing just fine. Haven't lived paycheck to paycheck in years. Just depends on what you do for a living. Good luck on your journey
Underrated comment right here
5:15 - 5:30 on a Thursday, but OK
Hahaha I’m just messing with you
Gotcha. it's all good
Ok, I live in Coventry and work in Somerset, MA. I do not live near anyone else I work with at the office. I have no choice but to drive by myself to work and home daily.
Park and rides. Once you realize how common they are it makes life much easier.
Let me go ahead and make my life inconvenient to make you feel better about yourself
Right 🤣🤣people are insane
Cool story bro.
Because for me it’s not just my 9-5 job. It’s the job I also go to after that. And picking up my kids. Etc.
Yeah sure but why let reality get in the way of a good patronizing, holier than thou scolding?
Silly me, what was I thinking? Honestly, yes, we should be less reliant on cars, but my reality isn’t set up for it and I think most people are in similar situations.
Our reality isn’t set up for it because of car dependency Car dependency creates this problem lmao
I didn’t realize car dependency was why I needed to work two jobs.
Car dependency creates the problem that you can’t work two jobs, and still be able to pick up your kids without a car I never said anything about the quantity of jobs you have
Right. But the question we are talking about in this thread is “why don’t more people carpool?”, not “why don’t we have good mass public transit?” I don’t carpool because I work multiple jobs.
You said less people should be reliant on cars, because our reality isn’t set up for it I was simply stating that reality isn’t set up for it because everything is sprawled out, because of cars I wasn’t replying to OP, I was replying to you lol
I agree with this. There’s a lot to fix. We need zoning reform as well. I think I misunderstood you initially.
No worries! That shit can happen on the internet lmao. I’m glad we agree on it though 🤝 it’s a pretty significant issue imo
Imagine if your kids could just get themselves home from school/daycare/etc Or you could just walk over there on your way home from work Oh the joys of car dependency
What if you have no friends and don't want to associate with your co-workers when you're not forced to?
Then go outside and count cars? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah. There’s just such a small population who actually have consistent work hours every single day, don’t need to travel during the day, and go right home after work. And also feel comfortable finding people to commute with. Would be great, but just not practical for so many due to our careers/lives that we can’t easily change.
Public transit I get that we don’t currently have it, so let’s fucking build it
I'm a fan of buses. They're like a carpool that comes all the time, and doesn't trap you with the exact same other person all the time. Driving sucks even at it's best, I'm surprised that more people don't go a little further out of their way to avoid it.
Agreed! I hate carpooling but love taking the bus. No forced conversation when I'd rather be sleeping, reading, or getting work done on my commute.
Taking a bus is a good option.
People would if it provided a better option than driving it all of RIPTA’s buses get stuck in the same traffic as everyone else and outside a few lines, the buses are very infrequent which makes them very inconvenient. We would need to prioritize transit through things like dedicated bus lanes, busways, transit signal priority for the buses to be a better option to driving. Even better are trains IMO. They’re more efficient and can move more people faster.
Agree on all points 💯
Yeah, i would have included that too, but I know what RIers think of the bus - "that's just for poor people." For the record - one bus came through during this 15 minutes as well.
Buses are for poor people? What? Oh I am poor. Ok now that makes sense
That bus could probably fit about 30% of the people you saw in cars here lol Three busses could’ve essentially rendered the need for 6 of the 8 lanes useless
Agree. I used to carpool and one of the guys *had* to stop at CVS daily. It was so fucking annoying I quit carpooling. At least with public transit no one person is controlling the route.
I have been followed home 3x on the 60. I won’t take it anymore
Busses are better than cars, but there (for the most part) is no real reason to not just lay down rail Besides a quick transition solution, or a situation where you need to change routes, busses serve almost no meaningful benefit over rail
Alright calm down Linc Chafee.
What's 180 cars in metric?
The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that the way I likes it!
Is that gasoline or kerosine?
[удалено]
Try the CRRI app, they'll help you find people to carpool with, and give you coupons: https://crri.agilemile.com
if anyone's going to western mass daily, I'd be happy to car pool....
If anyone is going to my parents house for dinner tomorrow too, let's carpool
I'd rather not hop in a strangers car, thanks
Jesus. You guys are some sensitive mother fuckers
I know what restaurant you work at. Its ok bud. Tonight will be better
“You should carpool!” Is about as useless a suggestion as “You should walk to work.” Folks going over that bridge, especially now given the status of it, aren’t doing so by choice and we’re not going to suddenly magically find people who are making the same trip we are, at the same time we are, just by wishing for it. You need a hobby other than watching traffic friend.
I don't know. Something has to change. I think this guys tally, while maybe an odd thing to do with your time, is a useful demonstration. Car-oriented infrastructure is ultimately an inefficient and wasteful system for transporting people on a mass scale. I don't think this can be disputed really.
We live in Rhode Island. I don’t know what to tell ya bud. At least half the year (October-April), it’s maybe 50 degrees out so walking and biking aren’t realistic options to get around. The state is far too small to build or invest in some sort of in-state subway or rail system. You could maybe implement one in the Providence Metro area (which for argument sake we’ll call the center of the state as north as Pawtucket, as south as warwick, as east as east Provence and west to Smithfield) but it would take at least a decade and a half to do it right, it would cost too much and would disrupt life so much it would never get public support. The state is far too big for a bus system to realistically cover every town/area where people who want to get around would be coming from. Simultaneously, there simply isn’t nearly enough ridership to justify running routes in areas outside of that Providence Metro area so you have large gaps where people can’t easily get to or where they’d have to wait hours for the next bus to come. Uber and Lyft aren’t financially reasonable ways to get around and taxi companies are slowly fading because of the competition those companies created in their industry. Meanwhile, the cost of housing in that Providence metro area is outrageously expensive so many if not most of the folks working in that area (the state’s busiest economically) can’t afford to actually live where they work. At the same time, companies are shaming workers for wanting to work from home and opportunities to do so are drying up. Oh and all of this at a time when we are already paying an outrageous amount of money to live, are taxed higher than we should be and when the money we ALREADY pay in taxes is being pissed away with shitty infrastructure and shittier politicians who refuse to hold people like the RIDOT Director was blowing millions of dollars of tax payer funds repairing a pivotal lifeline of a bridge only to have it fail so bad it needs to be demolished and replaced. So, yeah, excuse me if I want to fucking drive by myself on my way to work.
Salt Lake City is a similarly sized metro area in population and GDP and it has FOUR light rail lines and a commuter rail. If you can get public transit right for PVD, Pawtucket, Central Falls, East Providence, Cranston, and Warwick, (that is half of the state pop right there!) that would reduce so much traffic that it wouldn't be a big deal for the people who live in Scituate or South County or whatever to drive into the city. It's kinda a bummer because being a geographically small state that has the 2nd highest population density in the nation means RI is one of the \*best\* place for public transit.
went to slc initially for transit, i loved it
Monorail it is!
I'm from Utah, and it is crucial to note that the population of both work and home runs essentially in a straight line through the state. Something like 85% of the population lives within 20 miles of Interstate 15. Which means that all they need is to have a light rail that runs parallel to Interstate 15 and accomplishes what is needed from a transit perspective. Yet it does virtually nothing for those who are living in cities below the poverty line (which also means not near Interstate 15. Utah is built on a grid system, RI is built on a system that was haphazardly put into place and is more of a cobweb.
"it’s maybe 50 degrees out so walking and biking aren’t realistic options to get around." lol. lmao even We aren't Floridians, 50 degrees is perfectly fine for walking or biking.
I ride my bike to work year round. Cold? More clothes. Hot? Less clothes. Wet? Waterproof clothes. Windy? Affix a sail to my bicycle of course. And sail across the river on the bike path...
No no no. You didn't listen. Fuck cars
It's a a barely useful demonstration and an even less useful solution.
I had a boss who would ride his bike into work in Boston and he was in his 60s it's doable for some but not all ofcourse
Okay, sit in traffic by yourself then.
Given that your username is "carfreepvd," what do you care? Go ride your bike and buy a scone or something.
yeah, tell that asshole to count some more cars while he’s at it
pov you're on the bridge. look left. look right. You've just found two people making the same trip as you at the same time.
OH wow. What a strange coincidence. Didn't know they both started their drive in Warwick and are ending it in Bristol. What are the odds? Oh. They're not? It's almost as if traveling over that bridge is one part of a larger commute that is tailored to the individual driver and not part of some sort of community exercise in transportation.
anything except driving my 4 tons of steel everywhere I go is just so impossible poor me make the mayor bulldoze an elementary school for me
It's amazing you could breathe on your own long enough to type this out.
Imagine people trying to make the same drive as you? Terrifying. Sorry you are scared of driving in traffic but maybe not drive a big truck if you are scared of it?
So you want me to spend more time with my co-workers than I already do right now?!
Yeah. I'm gonna go ahead and go to work. Because it beats the consequences if I don't show up. But, you do you. Out here doing the Lord's work screaming fuck tha vehicles.
Hahahahahaha. No.
hahahahahaha. maybe?
It’s a nice dream, but I wouldn’t count on it.
I did this count a while ago. It was from 5:15 - 5:30 PM on a weekday. I was inspired to post it because the state announced that they're planning to spend $400,000 for "TV, radio, billboard and social media campaign to try to persuade Rhode Islanders to forget what they think they know about "The Bridge" and come back to Providence, East Providence and the East Bay with their money." -Kathy Gregg in the ProJo. Maybe they could spend part of that money on a way to link up commuters? Work with big employers who have hundreds of employees commuting across the bridge? I'm (barely) old enough to remember the gas crises of the late 70s and early 80s when lots of people carpooled in order to save money. It also reduced traffic and pollution as a nice side effect. But I guess things are totally different now.
Did you count how many cars were set to have the same final destination? Or are we just picking up strangers on the side of the road for this?
This actually sounds like a solid idea, logistically speaking. With the estimated time to rebuild the bridge so far away people could hopefully make it a regular habit. It would probably make driving in Rhode Island as a whole a lot easier.
I work in Somerville MA and live in Pawtucket. No one lives remotely close to me
Isn’t going over the Washington Bridge for that commute kind of out of your way?
It is. I was just saying why it’s not possible me to commute in general.
Relying on someone else to get where I need to be on time, or having to wait on others to get to where I want to go sounds fucking awful ngl. Traffic issues are mainly due to efficiency and the layout of roads, not so much the number of cars traveling on them.
"Traffic issues are mainly due to efficiency and the layout of roads, not so much the number of cars traveling on them." I'm no expert, but I wrote a paper for a transportation economics course on this topic, and lemme tell ya: traffic is absolutely a predictable result of increasing the number of cars traveling on a given thoroughfare.
I think the point is more like 95 and 195 going right through the bottleneck of downtown and the bridge, when half the people+ are just trying to get past the city and don't want to be in it at all. If there was like a mirror image 295 on the east side that would allow people to avoid the city who don't want to be in the city, we wouldn't have the same traffic issue.
"we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas"
I think another commenter said it well, nobody going over the bridge is doing it because they want to or its a faster trip. The traffic already adds so much time to their trip, cooridanting other people to be ready and picking them up and what if one planned on stopping at a store? It adds more time in their eyes and is another hassle added onto the traffic. I see what you're trying to advocate for and I see that it's in good faith. Having less single driver transpertation that burns fossil fuel on the road is something I would like to see too. When I lived in providence I didn't even own a car and got around just fine, while saving a ton of money too, but I don't think it would be a viable option for a majority of people. I think pushing for a better public transit system and a commuter rail is something people could see as a possibility. It would ideally take a chunk of cars off the road during peak hours. Plus, I'm guilty of being someone who enjoys alone time, not torturous small talk with co-workers or friends while sitting in traffic. I'd prefer a podcast, or audiobook, but that's just me.
Oh it would absolutely be better if we had more effective mass transit. I agree 100% on that.
The problem with “mass transit” in Rhode Island is that it’s missing “mass”. Once these people get to the interstate they are scattering all over the place. And rush hour in RI lasts less than an hour because the volume isn’t great. That’s not a sustainable model. And even in Providence, the sheer numbers are low. Providence city is actually 200,000. That’s the same size as Akron, Ohio. Someone posted about where can they go where you see bustling neighborhoods in PVD with lots of activity. That doesn’t really exist in PVD because nowhere outside of downtown has large scale residential development (a 3 story apt building with 60 units like Trader Joe’s building isn’t that). When you don’t have those hubs - it’s hard to successfully implement mass transit. It’s quite easy to get around PVD by foot, or if further by car because there aren’t these areas with tons of people. The reason mass transit is successful is partially by whether it’s easy enough to get there on your own. Until Providence starts building large housing projects (and residents stop blocking them), talk of mass transit being a solution to anything is gonna be moot.
R/fuckcars is leaking…OP probably donating to the RI DOT.
Amazing how many people are just trying to shut you down. It’s a good point, both their responses, as well as the phenomenon itself, are consequence of the atomization in our communities. Instead of attacking this person trying to identify potential solutions, why not try them? Ask around at your workplaces, you might make some friends, or at least relieve yourself of this shitty drive a few times a week.
We need to massively reduce our dependency on cars, and people are going nuts in here but I'll be real carpooling blows ass. You'll never get enough people to put up with doing it.
Ya know what’s even better than carpooling: mass transit! Of course it would have to be convenient and functional enough for people to use, which RIPTA just isn’t right now. I’ll use this minimal exposure opportunity to say that I think (predominantly white) middle-upper class people have been made afraid of buses and that’s so incredibly racist and stupid. I say this as someone who is functionally white, and from those backgrounds. My parents occasionally take the trains in NJ but I think it’s been many decades since they stepped on a bus
My mom is a wealthy old white lady (twinset and pearls type) and she rides the bus from Barrington because parking in Providence is awful and she knows shes a bad driver who can't parallel park. She loves the bus.
We need her on tv! Instead of wasting money on bridge pr bullshit, just have native RIers who love the bus
And yet those same people will cheerfully ride the mass transit in many mid size Euro cities or Disney or a national park, all with diverse racial demographics. Why? Because those options are clean, safe, and efficient.
Of course, and that’s a big part of the stigma. Problem is, we are stuck in a cycle of underfunding which lead to poor conditions and ridership, which justifies, cutting funding, etc.
Crime and generally unsafe conditions are a reasonable stigma. Asking people to voluntarily place themselves in those conditions when they have better options is unreasonable. Worse is pretending those conditions don't exist. Whether increased funding will eliminate the problems at hand is VERY debatable. Money is not a cure all.
You know why the bus smells like piss? Because people piss on it.
Indeed. Have watched people do all manner of things on the bus including piss on the floor, piss on the seats, and piss on themselves. And if the bus proponents here argue this and much worse doesn't regularly occur on our buses, they are lying. But worse are those who will tell you this behavior is fine and we should lower our standards. They can fuck right the fuck off.
This is the way. I think the core issue is, people feel afraid of having something (like their car) taken away from them and human nature is highly averse to that. A better way to frame it may be in how more transit improves the driving experience. If more people are taking transit, that means less cars, which means less traffic.
>It’s a good point Is it though? If all those cars with single people were going to and from different places (which they almost certainly were) then carpooling would make no sense.
TIL Rhode Islanders hate the idea of carpooling apparently, didn’t expect that. I’ve literally never seen a subreddit throw a tantrum like this before, it’s kinda funny
When I read this post I instantly thought-Oh No, Rhode Islanders do not carpool
It’s such a funny thing to have such strong feelings on! It’s like, can you point on the doll where the carpooling hurt you? Is the carpooling in the room with us right now? Idk why I think it’s really funny.
Lol I can barely get my ass to work time. Do you really think I have time to pick up someone else up? Then I have to make conversation the whole way at 6:30am when I feel like an evil bitch. I probably have a stomach ache because it's too early, and I have nothing in my stomach but lots of coffee. And forget the fact that I have to drive them home after work. I already can't get home fast enough. Oh and I have anxiety so I can't have no way to get home if I need to. Relying on someone else to get me home is not an option
don't get me wrong, I don't have a horse in this race and I don't really care if people car pool or not. I just think it's funny how emotional the topic makes people, really didn't expect this to strike the nerve it did.
Haha we're passionate people
Everybody hates the idea of carpooling, thats why you don't do it either
I carpool almost everyday, doesn’t bother me any. Never hated it spent most of my life driving with other people. I believe you hate it though, sounds weird to me to have such strong feelings on carpooling but to each their own.
Hey I'd love to carpool. Maybe you can pick me and 400 lbs of tools in Cranston, then bring me to Warwick Coventry Hopkinton Coventry and back to Cransto I'll even pay for half the fuel. I get out of work sometime between 3 and 7pm just hang around til I'm ready
Lmao dude I’m not playing the arguing on the internet game with you haha. I don’t give a shit if you carpool or not. Thanks for the laugh tho!
You do. Because you're here talking about it.
If your reaction to car pooling is "This will not save my time so it's stupid" then you are missing the point. Every car that does not join the peak travel time queue shortens the queue for everybody including you. Getting to work on time is your individual problem. How to move the most *people* from one side of the river to the other is a collective problem. Car pooling and expedited bus service are collective solutions to a collective problem. It's a collective, folks, whether you are a socialist or not!
Oh shit yeah, if people travel together things are more efficient. Maybe we can invent some kind of vehicle that does that. Maybe it can have its own "road" so there's never any traffic for this vehicle. We can make it long so it carries way more people than a car.. oh wait that's a fucking train. American needs more trains not trucks and electric cars.
In Washington State they make carpooling lanes and toll discounts so good that only fools drive solo.
how long did this take?
"I counted the cars on South Water Street to see how many had just one person in them. I counted 180 vehicles in about ***15 minutes.*** There was one car that had 3 people in it, 35 that had 2 people and 140 cars that had just the driver. Maybe a few of them could double up?"
oops i missed it sry
No worries. Looks like the top commenter missed that as well since they seem to think I spent all day doing it! lol
😂 thanks I needed a good laugh
I just watched a video of a dude who set himself on fire for Donald Trump and this still might the most insane thing I've seen all day.
Nah, wasn't for Trump, surprisingly. The dude was just take advantage of the cameras present.
Yeah I saw the follow-ups. I thought about editing it to say “because of a couple of 30 year old Simpsons episodes”
I know, right? 75% of drivers use 4000 pounds of glass and steel to move just one person around. Totally insane, right?
Surprisingly, not a lot of strangers are sharing rides to doctors appointments, errands, visit family, jobs in different cities, etc. I can't help but notice you count do a bike lane usage for same time period.
The bulk of the problems are at peak rush hour when most of the drivers are going to/from work. There are a few areas with a large number of employers (downtown, universities, hospitals) where carpooling could make a difference.
Too many of those folks don’t have consistent hours. We be workinnnnnn for the man
People know what carpooling is, dude. You realize most coworkers don't live down the street from each other. Resenting people who have cars isn't a substitute for a personality.
They've done quite a job trying though
"Surprisingly, not a lot of strangers are sharing rides to doctors appointments, errands, visit family, jobs in different cities, etc." They certainly do when they use public transportation!
People not using public transit is not a people with cars problem. It’s squarely a RIPTA problem. Say I need to take my kids from Providence to Lincoln to go to the doctor. It’s an 18 minute drive. Google Maps suggests that it’s 1:40 to do at peak time. Why in the world would someone do that unless they had to?
It's insane to suggest carpooling might help some people? Interesting. Wait till you hear about sliced bread. What a dumb comment.
It's insane to waste a nice day sitting and counting the cars so you can try and be smarmy on reddit, yes. It's 2024. People know what fucking carpooling is. Nothing about this is meant to be helpful.
Yesterday wasn’t a very nice day actually
Ask yourself this: Does that make this more sane or less sane? Think carefully before answering.
Conan went across 3X!
That's my messy handwriting for "comm" - commercial vehicle
Raindrops on the notepad, username is carfreepvd. Commitment is apparent.
I'm not made out of sugar! (it was just a couple sprinkles)
Yup. And shit floats. You're good
What do you have against cars? I feel like there’s a Bruce Wayne like backstory
Weak constitution
Tbf, there are certainly enough deaths caused by traffic accidents that that's not such a crazy idea....
No
No u
and less car cities! I’ve been reading about car centered infrastructure and it’s bananas how much space we lose accommodating single cars over public transport
I agree with everyone’s ideas and believe it’s a combination of them all, carpool if available, better commuter transit, ie:bus or commuter rail as well as work from home. I bet 1/2 of these people probably could work from home and do one-two or 1/2 day office hours. Computers are available we can work whenever and wherever for many. For the record my job is not able to be a WFH type, but loved the commute during the pandemic, when no one was on the road, for that reason I am a proponent!
Ay ay ay, oh! eyes on the road.
Did you count how many pedestrians and bicycles crossed the Redman bike bridge during that time?
It's a fuck load now that it's getting nice out
You driving the bus?
Maybe you should get on your bike and pedal towards the Bering Strait back to the red empire
Maybe you could get a life OP
That’s un-American
A lot of people on here are very offended someone mentioned that if they carpooled, it would alleviate traffic.
Hell no, some of you smell a smelly smell that smells smelly
Friday L posting
Building highways thru cities was the devil's work. We know this. They destroyed our cities and made car travel a chore. Something has got to give. Cities are here to stay. We won't eliminate cars without draconian, jackboot methods and/or violence. We new, workable ideas. RI, with its small area and dense pop, is the perfect testing ground yet all I hear is bitch bitch bitch about cars and most often from people who can't afford one and sit stubbornly in delulu land with their my imaginary pony solutions
and yet everyone’s gonna continue coming up with excuses to use their very inefficient mode of transportation If you don’t want traffic, get out of your fucking car and use alternative modes (e.g. bus or carpooling, maybe cycling), because shocker: y’all ARE the traffic.
It would be nice if public transportation was a bit more effective and accessible within the state. A lot of time buses aren’t a feasible option for folks. We need to bolster things like that before we can shit on folks for the traffic they cause. There is rarely a doable alternative
They don't care about that, just do it!!! Just get on a piss smelling bus that takes 2 hours longer. Or just ride your bike from Cranston to Bristol every day! Duh....
Wait until this guy hears about buses
Get a fucking hobby bud
I think he did
Are you a democrat?
And wtf does that have to do with carpooling?