>> All this is good and well for people living in the suburbs or the >> countryside. But what about us city dwellers? Most people in Europe live >> in urban appartments and we have no roof to put our PV systems and no >> garages or driveways to charge our cars. We can't just dangle a cable >> out of a window on the 3rd floor because that would require finding a >> spot for parking below said window. Might work once every two or three >> years... >> >> I'm afraid our future will be one without owning cars. We already have a >> number of car-sharing companies around and they look like the solution >> for the mid-term future. I've had a look at their prices and they'd be >> acceptable if I restricted my driving to the bare minimum, i.e. no more >> shopping trips to neighbouring Belgium and no more leisurely drive >> across the countryside. Then again, sooner than later we won't be able >> to afford any of this. They're currently discussing a CO2 tax that would >> double or triple our fuel prices and that would be the end of it anyway. >> >> Being from a generation that has grown up with cars and individual >> mobility, I'll be 65 in a few weeks and I must say the idea that I won't >> be around in 10 or 20 years has lost a lot of its horror recently. >>
Cars really have no place in towns and cities, especially the older places whose street layouts are medieval or earlier. I haven't owned a car for over ten years, and on the very rare occasions that I need one I use Zipcar. It's very, very cheap for me as I was a founder member of their predecessor here in the UK, and only pay for the car when I use it - I don't have to pay a monthly subscription or anything; when Zipcar took them over they tried very hard to make me switch, but my terms of membership last forever, so I told them to go away. In the last 3 or 4 years I have only used it about 3 times, to take stuff to the dump; if my local council thought about it they could find another way of dealing with it. I have just turned 62 and am planning my retirement, which includes moving out of London, and I intend to live in places where I don't need a car. I don't feel any reduction in individual mobility; having a car in London was a nightmare and I feel much freer and more mobile using bicycles, buses and trains to get around. I used to love driving when I was young, but even without the pollution aspect of it, conditions these days have removed all the pleasure from it. I think for the majority of young urban people over here car ownership is dead, at least according to the stats I've read. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
