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[deleted] t1_j9uarh1 wrote

[deleted]

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apatheticwhiteguy t1_j9ubha9 wrote

Sucks that you need a car in the transit desert that is fishtown. If only there was like a train, or a bus, or something?

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[deleted] t1_j9ud859 wrote

[deleted]

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apatheticwhiteguy t1_j9ukp6p wrote

And so attracting more people with cars to your neighborhood that is already congested is a good idea?

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OnionBagMan t1_j9v5kxw wrote

Yeah he probably thinks a parking garages would reduce traffic or something. Also Fishtown was never meant to be a suburban car town that people commute from. People used to walk to the other side of Front and work in the factories.

With things like WFH I do not think Fishtown should be trying to attract car owners as residents. I’d rather more business density to offset the need to travel outside the hood.

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owenhinton98 t1_j9vedyo wrote

I tried to start leaving my car at my moms house 20 miles away in the suburbs, and honestly it’s been working great. Luckily I don’t have a job that requires one at the moment (but there’s a chance I do end up getting such a job in the near future so it may change) but living in fishtown and only using septa and sidewalks has been going well thus far.

It would definitely nice to densify business around the neighborhood a little more, it would be nice to not have to either walk 7 blocks or take a 2 minute $2 bus ride every time I had to get groceries or go to a drug store; otherwise I can’t complain and I implore other car owners/users in fishtown to try this if you have the means. You may find it pays off well 🤷‍♂️

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patchworky t1_j9uieta wrote

Bro is being a dick for no reason. I live in the area and don't own a car and even I know how horrendous parking is

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OnionBagMan t1_j9v52da wrote

We are in a densely populated city where perhaps cars aren’t important?

We’ve been learning for the past few decades that building more parking and roads doesn’t help the downtowns of cities. Parking sucks in Manhattan but who cares? This isn’t Atlanta after all, it’s a pedestrian city.

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patchworky t1_j9vcj3l wrote

Look, I am not arguing that everything should be car-centric, I don't own a car myself because I much prefer to walk and use public transportation. But I think anyone who lives in Fishtown can readily admit that parking is fucking horrendous. There aren't even any paid publicly available garages anywhere near me, like I don't need everything to have amazing parking but it is pretty frustrating when I want to have friends over and I have to tell them to park 20 minutes away.

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mdperino t1_j9uhmm4 wrote

Sucks that public transit doesn’t reach up the same corridor of 95 to get to my office :)

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owenhinton98 t1_j9uuzdk wrote

Not to be that guy, but literally the entire 95 corridor within pa is covered by septa routing, whether the Amtrak line (which carries two septa rail lines) that follows 95, or the plenty of city and suburban bus lines that roughly run along 95(/295) all the way from claymont to Trenton (and then dart Delaware and nj transit continue along said 95 corridor from there)

You most likely could take septa to work, it just might take a little longer

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nowtayneicangetinto t1_j9vfjaj wrote

For me to get to my office by car takes 40 minutes, to get there by SEPTA would take 1.5 to 2 hours including a paid interchange in a less than friendly area, early in the morning. The associated costs and the time spent are not worth it.

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hitplay225 t1_j9uyea1 wrote

"parking in the area" = free readily available parking within a block of where you live. The city/ housing shouldn't suffer to ensure drivers are never inconvenienced.

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dandykaufman2 t1_j9un3ma wrote

Maybe the neighborhood will attract more people who don’t have cars.

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215illmatic t1_j9veaf5 wrote

I live 3 blocks from here. I find a spot in front of my house (well on the same street) 90% of the time I get home and the furthest I’ve ever had to park is maybe 3 blocks. Get a permit and you’re fine

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GoldenMonkeyRedux t1_j9uejel wrote

It's going to be a real issue. I used to head over to Standard Tap for an easy meal with my family, and now it's a good 20 minutes of driving around waiting for a spot to open while we're all getting increasingly annoyed. In other words, we don't do it anymore.

(We're coming from W Philly).

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DonQOnIce t1_j9unrf3 wrote

Try Septa (or don’t if Standard Tap isn’t that important to you).

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GoldenMonkeyRedux t1_j9uxh35 wrote

Sure, instead of a nice diversion for the family after work, I'll collect my child from their after-school activity, attempt to coordinate with my spouse, meet up randomly at a junkie/piss-filled station, and take three different SEPTA vehicles to get to an area where we can all walk blocks and blocks to eat burgers.

What kind of a bubble do you live in?

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DonQOnIce t1_j9uxsdb wrote

Damn, you sound pressed. I live in a bubble where I see families on Septa all the time. Like I said, don’t if you don’t want to.

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William_d7 t1_j9vj9mj wrote

I’m pretty convinced the vast majority of the “just walk/bike/Septa everywhere” posters don’t have kids, take care of elderly relatives, have a physical disability, work a job that requires tools or supplies, regularly need to travel an hour+ long Septa route (excluding RR), have hobbies that require equipment or aren’t close by, etc.

Walk/bike/Septa is a much easier lifestyle if everywhere you want to go is reasonably close to a stop and when you’re young, single, with all the time in the world.

Once you have the sunk costs of a car that you need for any such reason it’s hard to justify spending time, money, and psychic energy on bringing a large family somewhere by Septa.

Or maybe some people really do like to stretch a 25 minute round trip car commute into a 2+ hour odyssey?

Anytime you do present a logical reason for needing or wanting a car, expect a “why don’t you just move to the suburbs?” reply.

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DonQOnIce t1_j9vkz8m wrote

There are plenty of logical reasons to have a car but not always an excuse for using it for every single thing you do living in dense a city. “Try septa” is not a ridiculous response to someone who just wants to have a meal in Fishtown coming from West Philly and didn’t indicate any mobility issues.

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owenhinton98 t1_j9xd9hr wrote

Even conservative nimby people in the suburbs take septa in with their families, my dad is the worst kind of trumpy and he comes from an area that never has nor will ever see a transit system or even Amtrak/greyhound service, but even he always would take my siblings and me into the city via septa instead of driving, while we were very young I might add. If snotty suburban people can take their kids on the train, families in the city certainly can.

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William_d7 t1_j9zi7hr wrote

Hey, my dad took us to the city on the train too. From much of the suburbs going to Center City it’s clearly the easiest way. I even made an exception in my post for Regional Rail because it’s not a totally unpleasant shitshow like the MFL.

However, that’s not something we ever did if we wanted a quick dinner after school like the thread starter was talking about, rather a special occasion, all day downtown kind of thing (I suspect it would be the same for your family).

OP is saying he’d like to spend $$$ at a local business in the short time available after school and before bedtime but that increased density in that area has turned an easy 15 minute drive into a 10 minute walk+10 minutes on a train platform+20 minutes on the zombie train+10 walk and then do the same thing on the way home. Frankly, if you had kids you’d realize how daunting that is.

That’s business a place like Standard Tap could use midweek but could lose out on because of a lack of comprehensive city planning.

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owenhinton98 t1_j9zkd22 wrote

I wouldn’t exactly call densifying and urbanizing “lack of comprehensive city planning”…if the casualty of this is a more transit- and pedestrian-friendly area, then so be it. You simply can’t live in a city and expect everything to be accessible by car; it’s a give and take

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owenhinton98 t1_j9vez48 wrote

The el will get ya there from west…so will the 43 bus and 15 trolley/bus. The first mistake anyone visiting fishtown/NoLibs makes, is not using septa (or even driving to septa and sept-ing the rest of the way).

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