[CP19360]

Is it true that Europeans are less dependent on the car than North Americans, and if so, what are the reasons for this difference?

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Name : CP19360, Gender : F, Age : 22, City : Montreal, Quebec, State : NA Country : Canada, 

[Augustine23594]

That is true. Gasoline is far more expensive in Europe, and mass transit is highly developed and relatively cheap. Also, the distances generally speaking are not as great, so it is less difficult to build and maintain a mass transit infrastructure to begin with. It would be awesome to have that level of mass transit in North America, but distances, and perhaps more importantly, the 'love affair with the automobile,' will probably keep that from happening unless automobile-related costs and popular attitudes change dramatically.

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[Mike]

That's very true. Mass transit is cheap, efficient and plentiful for the most part over there. The United States was headed that way also, until the early car companies coralled the government's interest (and subsidy) away from trains. Also, the way most of Europe is 'spread thicker' encourages maximizing available space. You are either in the country or the city; not much suburban sprawl. So they never really developed a mass love affair with the car as an 'independence identity machine' like we have.

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[Chris32192]

Another reason is the age of the cities. Since London, Amsterdam, Athens... all were built centuries ago and were built with the horse in mind, there is nowhere to park a car never mind drive it. I owned a car in London, but rarely drove it during the week as the tube (subway) was much quicker and a lot less stressful. If parking at home was bad, it was MUCH worse at the office. New York is similar to most big European cities, the car is really not a viable commute vehicle.

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[Rocío Fuentes C.]

I believe there is another reason. This one has culutral origins: North Americans have a highly individualistic culture, while Europeans don't. Maybe, it's uncomfortable for most North Americans, having the means to buy a car and travelling alone, than going to work inside a crowded bus or train, where the body contact is all over.

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[Jacqueline-C21011]

Many Americans are resistant to mass transit. Americans love their cars. Cars are much more than mere modes of transportation. Cars are status symbols, as well as a symbol of freedom. With a car you can go anywhere at anytime without relying on anyone else's schedule. In most parts of the country kids can't wait until their 16th birthday because then they can get their licenses. Its a rite of passage, a symbol of freedom. This is a tough mind-set to change. But as traffic conditions worsen and people get fed up with dealing with it everyday, like I did, they will be more receptive to mass transit. I still have my beloved car, but it stays in the garage most of the time. I take the bus to work and drive my car on the weekends. I never realized how stressful it is to fight traffic everyday until I started taking the bus. I really saw a difference in how I felt at the end of the day.

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[Sylwia-W]

Europeans are not so dependent on their cars. Most Europeans in big cities don't even have a car, simply because they don't need one. Public transportation in Europe is much better than in the United States. Even in Eastern Europe where I lived, you have no problem traveling whenever and wherever you want.

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Name : Sylwia-W, Gender : F, City : Lamoni, State : IA Country : United States, 

[Oisin]

I live in London and have never needed a car. Public transport is available 24 hours a day. Most Londoners will purchase a flat-fee monthly Travelcard that can be used on buses, the tube and the train. And we consider ourselves to have the worst public transport in Europe. It is certainly the most expensive. However, it is still superior to most of the rest of the world. One reason for superior transport is that the cities are so old. You can't knock down a 500-year-old building just to extend the road. Many streets in London have been there for almost 2,000 years and aren't designed to take six-lane highways. Good public transport is necessary. The public transport systems are also old. The tube has 150 years of history. It was built at a time when labor was cheap. Also, there are cultural differences that explain Europeans' like of public transport. There is often a preference here for communal solutions over individual ones. Green issues are more important. European governments tax highly polluting industries and vehicles. Petrol is expensive. Meanwhile, the United States produces 10 percent of the world's greenhouse gases, largely because the motor lobby manages to portray global warming as a myth. Trivially, the English drink a hell of a lot when they go out, so public transport is convenient. European cities are also much safer than their U.S. counterparts, so there isn't that fear factor, but that's another issue.

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[Ted]

I agree that an important reason that cars are used more in North America than in Europe is the lack of good public transportation here on this side of the pond. Only in the major U.S. cities (New York, Boston, Chicago, etc.) do you find public transportation systems that even come close to rivaling the excellent systems in Europe. If you live anywhere other than a major city here, you need a car. There's no way around it, unfortunately. Let me propose another theory. In North America, especially the U.S., we have a love affair with our cars because of the freedom they represent to us. This is a huge country that was settled by pioneering people who had to travel thousands of miles to create new lives for themselves and their families. We drove wagon trains into the great unknown to make things better for ourselves or to escape tyranny and hardship. Modern Americans still have some of that pioneering spirit left inside and we like thinking that we can just pull up stakes and move across the country if we want/need to do so.

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