The Absurd Primacy of the Automobile in American Life

[whatthehey]

3. You missed the part where I can't walk to the end of the street?

I have a 200yd max range and can't handle stairs due to hemiplegia from a spinal cord injury. With a car I can contribute economically, without one I could not. Buses with huge entry steps and tiny narrow aisles you have to turn sideways to walk down? Can't do either of those things. Subways with crowded steps? Can't do that. And that's not counting how far from my destination they drop me off. I work in manufacturing, which tends to have massive buildings set back a long way from the road (and incidentally not often in your dream cities where land prices have pushed large operations into the exurbs). If a bus with some kind of access device picked me up right outside my house and dropped me off at my employer's driveway I could still not get to work. But I can sit in a seat and walk a few yards from the handicapped spots.