Sometimes, life tosses out a zinger so absurd that all one can do is laugh.
A recent post on the r/f***cars subreddit is just such an example. It concerns an advertisement for a parking spot listing for — get this — $167,500. That's not a typo.
The first response sums things up nicely: "Anyone who buys this has more money than sense." Preposterous parking spot sales aside, much of the Reddit post's responses revolve around the necessity of cars in the Boston area.
It's an interesting concept. According to the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, Boston is one of the toughest places to drive, with roughly 79 hours wasted per year. In fact, Boston is ranked fifth-worst in the Americas and 12th-worst in the world.
Based on that alone, without considering the volume of heat-trapping pollution, the idea of a carless city is worth discussing. When we do consider ozone factors, year-round particle pollution, and short-term particle pollution, California cities dominate.
However, that doesn't mean Boston is off the hook. A study conducted by the School of Public Health and the Institute for the Environment at the University of North Carolina concluded that vehicular emissions cause 342 premature deaths per year in the Greater Boston area.
If all of that isn't bad enough, Boston is often listed as one of the most confusing cities to navigate in the world. Add all of that information together, and it's a wonder that no one is making horror movies based on Boston vehicle traffic.
The ludicrously priced parking spot is just icing on the cake. Does that mean it's feasible that a carless Boston is somewhere in the future? Hardly. However, some of the responses offer some conciliatory suggestions.
"I'd like to see fewer cars in Boston, but I'd rather cars be put away in garages out of sight instead of clogging up our roads with street parking," one Redditor offered.
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Definitely 🙁 "Parking costing [$167k] is exactly what makes it a walker's paradise," another post added. Maybe that's not such a bad idea after all. Considering the traffic, it's probably faster to walk or ride a bike (not to mention more positively impactful for the local environment) within the city.
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