I spend a lot of my time trying to make places where we need to drive less, and I lose sleep over the labor practices of TNCs, but I admit that I am terrified of losing the social space; nothing else comes close to replicating driving around in a stranger’s car. 1/11

Here’s an example from two year ago today: 2/11

On Wednesday, we had a big family dinner out (where @Gigawonk was nice enough to come up and introduce himself). We’d all gotten there via transit, but the kids were beat and we’d been drinking, so we agreed to take a lyft home. There were 6 of us so we got an XL. 3/11

I ended up in the passenger seat, so I got to strike up a convo with the driver. He explained his mother’s Salvadoran recipe for turkey, and described their family traditions since having immigrated to Seattle 12 years ago. 4/11

“Why Seattle from El Salvador?”, I asked. He first considered Reno, due to a relative there, but then an old buddy who was in Seattle told him “you love rock music and we have great rock music here in Seattle!” 5/11

He moved here and worked at a Cheesecake Factory and rose to being the restaurant manager, but now appreciates the schedule flexibility of driving. 6/11

And here’s the thing: you just can’t have that same conversation on a bus or a train. I’ve tried. 7/11

There are lots of reasons. People are preserving their limited personal space. You don’t have any protections if it gets weird. Other people are listening, which makes 1-on-1 hard. All good reasons. 8/11

But cars are a different social space. It’s what makes the “road trip” and American cultural touchpoint. But it also makes it easier to strike up a conversation with a taxi or TNC driver. 9/11

I don’t have an answer here, I just want to raise a lament I have about a future I’m working towards. We aren’t getting there very fast + we have a lot of restructuring to take care of people who currently drive in our economy. The time is maybe needed if we use it right. 10/11

And I guess I’m also saying that I will keep paying money until my dying day to hear people’s good stories, so I hope we invent another way to do it.
11/11