Good afternoon,
There doesn't have to be a contradiction: a city can be transit dependent and still have room for cars; it's just a matter of priority: public transit must be expanded, incentivized and encouraged.
Cars should have a place because they offer qualities that neither public transit nor active transportation can match, and therefore they fulfill needs and fill gaps.
Now that we know the problems that the personal automobile presents, we are able to design properly for it and keep it under control... because the problem was never the car itself, but the way we perceived it.
It's almost always the fault of the human perception of a certain (x), not the fault of that certain (x) itself.
I see (x) as something novel and become enamoured with it, skewing things in favour of it and rolling the red carpet for it over all else. Then, when I discover that (x) was not perfect -- just like everything else in this world -- or that (x) was manipulated by human agenda, I rebel wholly against it and try my best to debase and shut it down, painting it with one broad, sweeping brushstroke. There is no middle ground.
Let's stop this polar and emotionally-invested, pendulum-swing approach where we either go to one extreme trying to excessively indulge and accommodate something on the expense of everything else, or we go to the other extreme trying to monolithically ban and punish it on the expense of everything else. This pendulum approach is an overarching human characteristic so EDIT m̶u̶l̶t̶i̶d̶i̶s̶c̶i̶p̶l̶i̶n̶a̶r̶y̶ interdisciplinary /EDIT and pervasive, it permeates all aspects of life and applies equally well to a mode of transportation as it does to an economic system or an entire religion. And I gladly confess to possessing it.
I see some careless drivers killing people, and I emotionally dash to label the automobile as an evil killing machine with no place in the future.
I see some irresponsible corporations engage in deceptive marketing, and I rashly stamp Capitalism as an immoral system with no place in the future.
I see some devious priests molesting children, and I vociferously generalize Catholicism of being an abusive cult with no place in the future.
I see some brainwashed terrorists carry out a suicide attack, and I readily bolt to pigeonhole Islam as a violent dogma with no place in the future.
This is facile and naive.
There are, in my opinion, certain (x)'s that we have the right to categorize as absolutely bad and worthy of outlaw... that we are undoubtedly better without and must dispense with and evolve past... like nuclear weapons, fossil fuels, smoking, gambling, and pornography, to name a few... and I know we shall... just like we have rid ourselves of slavery, restricted suffrage, and absolute monarchy in the past, to name a few. But this is done with the low simmer of time and consensus cooking slowly all the way through, not with the quick boil of a revolutionary ban, scorching the surface and leaving the inside raw. We've tried that before with a little thing called science, and it didn't end well... so let's not repeat the same mistake with the car.
