this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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That's completely unrelated.
Cheap gas makes longer commutes and wasteful cars more attractive. If it were as expensive as Germany, your average commute would be significantly shorter.
You seem to misunderstand density. In my town in Germany I can walk to anywhere I need to go in 30 minutes, and in 50 I can walk from one end of town to the next. I'll pass dozens of bus stops and 3 train connections.
If I walked that same distance where I grew up in the US I'd be at a gas station, a church, or the woods. None of these offer adequate pay for me to live. I'll pass 0 bus stops, nearest train station would be about 20 miles away still.
This is why Americans freak out about gas prices. There are no other options in many places. Some people will read that and say "just move", but that fails to acknowledge the ongoing housing crisis.
You seem to misunderstand their point, without cheap gas the US would have developed differently
America's transit issues is a problem 80 years in the making and covers everything from a post WW2 economic boom to intense lobbying of congress by car manufacturers. Gas is one part of the function, but seems pointless to make up a hypothetical about undoing 80 years of history when we're discussing current events
If you make gas expensive today it doesn't shorten anyone's commute. Maybe it applies pressure to build public infrastructure, but it's going to take decades to restructure the US. In that time the people suffer and have no other option but to endure the cost
In the long run sure, but in the long run we're all dead.