this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2024
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Instead of just electrifying vehicles, cities should be investing in alternative methods of transportation. This article is by the Scientific Foresight Unit of the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS), a EU's own think tank.

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[–] AlexS@feddit.de 0 points 7 months ago (11 children)

Bicycles and trains are hundreds of times more efficient than cars in terms of energy and space…

A fast train like TGV, ICE or Shinkansen needs 10 kWh per passenger per 100 km. This includes infrastructure like heated railway switches, train stations, etc.

This is not much more energy efficient than an electric car.

And bike crashes don’t kill over a million people per year globally.

Compare the passenger-kilometers done by car and by bike.

[–] hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (6 children)

Those trains are not comparable to cars, they're comparable to airplanes. The metros and light rails that are intended to replace cars are overwhelmingly more efficient per potential passenger. Comparing a vehicle that is usually run near capacity with a vehicle that almost never has more than one passenger is obtuseness almost to the point of deception.

Bikes don't replace cars. Bikes+trains replace cars. For comparable miles traveled, cars are insanely dangerous. It is utterly unhinged to argue that bikes and cars are equally safe but for the miles traveled, especially as higher bumper heights and decreased visibility are driving pedestrian deaths from cars through the roof.

And none of these touch the fact that cars simply don't fit in cities. You also completely ignored the literal tons of carcinogenic and heavy metal laden microplastics from tires that end up in our oceans. Every human being carrying around multiple tons of metal with them can't possibly be efficient. Large heavy machinery constantly interacting with soft swishy humans can't possibly ever be safe.

Arguing otherwise requires either an epic level of car brain worm or a pay check from the auto industry. I don't know which is worse: people desperately trying to ignore obviously reality, or people willing to sell out their fellow humans and even their future for a few more years of something that was never a good idea to begin with.

[–] AlexS@feddit.de 0 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Those [fast] trains are not comparable to cars, they’re comparable to airplanes. The metros and light rails that are intended to replace cars are overwhelmingly more efficient per potential passenger.

Local public transport needs about twice as much energy than high-speed trains.

Source: https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/479/publikationen/texte_156-2020_oekologische_bewertung_von_verkehrsarten_0.pdf

Comparing a vehicle [train] that is usually run near capacity

The average capacity utilization is more like 20%. See the source above or https://www.zeit.de/mobilitaet/2019-02/nahverkehr-oepnv-bus-bahn-zahlen-preise-statistik

Every human being carrying around multiple tons of metal with them can’t possibly be efficient.

Explain to me how a train with 2 metric tonnes per passenger can be efficient?

[–] hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Are you able to cite something that's not locked behind a pay wall?

[–] AlexS@feddit.de 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

None of these three links is behind a pay wall. (You have to accept the GDPR-banner thou.)

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