When Your Car Battery Dies...

fucking hell, my girl's battery dies 2 weeks ago while we're stuck at a restaurant. my dad's dies last week while stuck at work. today, mine dies and now i am stranded at the office til someone comes to get me.

It was an inside job!

cars are obsolete at this point. i know it takes time for these contexts to change, but we seriously need alternatives to this selfish, polluting, complex means of transportation.

it takes me about 40 minutes to make my way to the uni, everyday early in the morning - not during the busiest period of the morning - which in normal conditions i make in about 7 or 8 minutes. people using the public transportations usually gain some time, but not always, because buses and taxis don't have special lanes in every main road. secondary roads can't even dream of public transportation roads. they weren't thought before, now it's too late. and i live in a very small city.

transportation is so fucked up where i live at.

it's kind of not related to the op. but cars really have become an expensive fantasy nowadays.

Public transpo in Europe is fucking decades ahead of the US, our antiquated road systems were designed in the 1950s when everyone had a hard on for a gas guzzling pollution factory.

never been to the us, so i can't talk by actual experience.

but i am aware of the problems that driving a car there can bring. i have this tv image of 4 or 5 lane roads completely full of fuel eating beasts that just can't move. i am sure there are different situations and cities wiling to change, but overall, u.s. is just horrible when it comes to transportation.

europe might be ahead of the u.s., but it's definitely not there yet.

we need to target our eyes and minds to sweden's and other scandinavian countries - specifically stockholm, because it is the capital and one of the most developed european cities - transportation scheme, because it really is an image of the future. it is just wonderful... for everyone.

but like i said, these situations take generations and generations before little actually starts changing.

and money still is the #1 priority, which really doesn't help.

  On 9/21/2010 at 11:31 PM, kaini said:

it could be worse

capitalism is lovely

agreed that some places in the US are terrible for public transportation.

it makes Burton-on-Trent (renowned for having shoddy bus services) look like it has regular buses!

The worst thing about this thread is that I'm sitting here at work trying to type up a motion to file tomorrow, and "cannot stop the Bat-ter-y" has been rattling around in my head for the last hour or so. It sucks ever so much.

Time to break out the jump leads brah

  On 9/21/2010 at 11:25 PM, ruiagnelo said:

i have this tv image of 4 or 5 lane roads completely full of fuel eating beasts that just can't move.

I think that really only happens in the really really big/highly populated cities, like Los Angeles or New York. I've never seen that happen in Kansas City unless it was due to construction or a massive car accident.

Though honestly, just because of the drain on money that a car is (insurance, gas, maintenance), I've considered buying a bike and selling my car, but now I live in the suburbs, a ten minute car drive from anything on small roads that don't lend well to bikes, and winter is coming.

  On 9/21/2010 at 11:34 PM, oscillik said:

it makes Burton-on-Trent (renowned for having shoddy bus services) look like it has regular buses!

I see what you did there.

  On 9/22/2010 at 12:32 AM, Sprigg said:

  On 9/21/2010 at 11:25 PM, ruiagnelo said:

i have this tv image of 4 or 5 lane roads completely full of fuel eating beasts that just can't move.

 

I think that really only happens in the really really big/highly populated cities, like Los Angeles or New York. I've never seen that happen in Kansas City unless it was due to construction or a massive car accident.

 

Though honestly, just because of the drain on money that a car is (insurance, gas, maintenance), I've considered buying a bike and selling my car, but now I live in the suburbs, a ten minute car drive from anything on small roads that don't lend well to bikes, and winter is coming.

it's like i said, there are exceptions. that 'image' is stereotyped.

i dream of making the bike my main means of transportation, but:

a) i live about 6 or 7 km from uni, which you can consider to be my city's center.

it's not really a big distance, but

b) it is a city of very irregular terrain, making it unpleasent to ride a bike and even dangerous at some point.

c) there are no bike lanes or whatever. it's a complete automobile jungle.

d) also i am studying architecture, so i often have to carry my models and big paper sheets.

bus seems to be a very nice alternative, especially when you think of a small city like mine, but:

a) from beyond 5 or 6 km from the city center, it has been established that it is not city anymore.

not that some smart ass got that idea, but because everything seems to end there.

private transportation companies hold the municipal transportation services by the balls, just because they arrived earlier.

it's sad, but when contacted by the inhabitants about a possible extension of the municipal transportation network - since the suburbs are quickly spreading - the city council goes 'sorry. private companies own those routes. can't do anything'.

that's how transportation works around these parts.

  On 9/21/2010 at 10:05 PM, Rubin Farr said:

today, mine dies and now i am stranded at the office til someone comes to get me.

well get back to fucking work!

keep some jump-leads in your car

  On 9/22/2010 at 12:50 AM, ruiagnelo said:

  On 9/22/2010 at 12:32 AM, Sprigg said:

  On 9/21/2010 at 11:25 PM, ruiagnelo said:

i have this tv image of 4 or 5 lane roads completely full of fuel eating beasts that just can't move.

 

I think that really only happens in the really really big/highly populated cities, like Los Angeles or New York. I've never seen that happen in Kansas City unless it was due to construction or a massive car accident.

 

Though honestly, just because of the drain on money that a car is (insurance, gas, maintenance), I've considered buying a bike and selling my car, but now I live in the suburbs, a ten minute car drive from anything on small roads that don't lend well to bikes, and winter is coming.

 

it's like i said, there are exceptions. that 'image' is stereotyped.

 

i dream of making the bike my main means of transportation, but:

a) i live about 6 or 7 km from uni, which you can consider to be my city's center.

it's not really a big distance, but

b) it is a city of very irregular terrain, making it unpleasent to ride a bike and even dangerous at some point.

c) there are no bike lanes or whatever. it's a complete automobile jungle.

d) also i am studying architecture, so i often have to carry my models and big paper sheets.

 

bus seems to be a very nice alternative, especially when you think of a small city like mine, but:

a) from beyond 5 or 6 km from the city center, it has been established that it is not city anymore.

not that some smart ass got that idea, but because everything seems to end there.

 

private transportation companies hold the municipal transportation services by the balls, just because they arrived earlier.

it's sad, but when contacted by the inhabitants about a possible extension of the municipal transportation network - since the suburbs are quickly spreading - the city council goes 'sorry. private companies own those routes. can't do anything'.

 

 

that's how transportation works around these parts.

Yeah, I'm a few miles away from anything as well, so driving a bike would be less than fun. And the whole bike lane thing, yikes. Out here in the suburbs they don't exist, and they only seem to be in a few places in KC.

Ever thought about a mo-ped (sp?) or a scooter or something?

just buy a new one. that was hard.

  On 9/22/2010 at 7:38 PM, Sprigg said:

  On 9/22/2010 at 12:50 AM, ruiagnelo said:

  On 9/22/2010 at 12:32 AM, Sprigg said:

  On 9/21/2010 at 11:25 PM, ruiagnelo said:

i have this tv image of 4 or 5 lane roads completely full of fuel eating beasts that just can't move.

 

I think that really only happens in the really really big/highly populated cities, like Los Angeles or New York. I've never seen that happen in Kansas City unless it was due to construction or a massive car accident.

 

Though honestly, just because of the drain on money that a car is (insurance, gas, maintenance), I've considered buying a bike and selling my car, but now I live in the suburbs, a ten minute car drive from anything on small roads that don't lend well to bikes, and winter is coming.

 

it's like i said, there are exceptions. that 'image' is stereotyped.

 

i dream of making the bike my main means of transportation, but:

a) i live about 6 or 7 km from uni, which you can consider to be my city's center.

it's not really a big distance, but

b) it is a city of very irregular terrain, making it unpleasent to ride a bike and even dangerous at some point.

c) there are no bike lanes or whatever. it's a complete automobile jungle.

d) also i am studying architecture, so i often have to carry my models and big paper sheets.

 

bus seems to be a very nice alternative, especially when you think of a small city like mine, but:

a) from beyond 5 or 6 km from the city center, it has been established that it is not city anymore.

not that some smart ass got that idea, but because everything seems to end there.

 

private transportation companies hold the municipal transportation services by the balls, just because they arrived earlier.

it's sad, but when contacted by the inhabitants about a possible extension of the municipal transportation network - since the suburbs are quickly spreading - the city council goes 'sorry. private companies own those routes. can't do anything'.

 

 

that's how transportation works around these parts.

 

Yeah, I'm a few miles away from anything as well, so driving a bike would be less than fun. And the whole bike lane thing, yikes. Out here in the suburbs they don't exist, and they only seem to be in a few places in KC.

Ever thought about a mo-ped (sp?) or a scooter or something?

never really considered scooter or other bike as a possibility. plus, like i said, i often carry a lot of stuff with me, so i need space.

about 6 months ago i got my car, a citroen c3, for a ridiculously low price, considering it was almost new and has a very favorable relation price/fuel consumption/co2 emissions.

about 100 g/Km co2 and 4 litres per 100 km.

of course in the commercials everything looks beautiful and green, but in the end they all are polluting machines and cost us way more than just the buying and fuel expenditure. but if we all buy the cheaper and economical cars, even if they are small and ugly, it can be a good starting point.

in my country i can see already how co2 emission taxes are making pressure on people's wallets, but i still see the old mercedes benz consuming 10 or 11 litres per 100 km and expensive cars being driven by one person only.

i have been looking for some of those share your car programs, where you meet people that have similar daily routes and get to share your car/costs with them. but it's not easy.

people still see the automobile as kind of a status defining and ultra personal object.

why does ur car need a battery why cant u just use gas hippy

lol

  On 9/22/2010 at 8:05 PM, sup said:

why does ur car need a battery why cant u just use gas hippy

today's daily bit of knownledge

thanks but i already drived a car before dummy

  On 9/22/2010 at 8:12 PM, sup said:

thanks but i already drived a car before dummy

well, you clearly didn't know what was causing the motion or what constituted the car.

driving isn't hard, but it's easier if you know what you are actually driving.

it was a toyota

I'll sell you a battery that won't die.