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+--- Thread: Dear Americans: (/showthread.php?tid=1816)
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 18th April 2004
There are gas stations in some Super Walmarts?
Dear Americans: - Great Rumbler - 18th April 2004
Yeah, all the ones around here have gas stations. You can only buy gas there if you buy a gas card at the Wal-Mart, though.
Dear Americans: - Geno - 18th April 2004
Yup. All the ones I've seen have them.
Dear Americans: - Fittisize - 18th April 2004
What's a Super Wal-Mart? How does it differ from a regular Wal-Mart?
Dear Americans: - Weltall - 18th April 2004
Fittisize Wrote:What's a Super Wal-Mart? How does it differ from a regular Wal-Mart?
The difference is vast. Super Wal-Marts are like friggin battleships.
The big difference is that Super Wal-Marts have groceries, and regular ones do not.
Dear Americans: - Geno - 19th April 2004
This is why the Wal*Mart company has the market in a huge stronghold wherever it does business. It has a little of every category cheaper than everyone else.
Dear Americans: - alien space marine - 19th April 2004
Mine have groceries.
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 19th April 2004
We have a Super Walmart here but it doesn't have a gas station... unless it's hidden in the back or something.
Dear Americans: - Great Rumbler - 19th April 2004
The gas station is at one end of the parking lot at the Wal-Marts I've been to.
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 19th April 2004
Huh. Is it cheaper than most gas stations?
Dear Americans: - Great Rumbler - 19th April 2004
It's usually a few cents cheaper, but it's not really worth the effort unless you're already going to Wal-Mart to get something.
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 19th April 2004
Hmm...
Dear Americans: - Geno - 20th April 2004
They have gas stations at most of their Sam's stores too. Like Wal*Mart's gas stations, it's usually a few cents cheaper than other ones, but as GR said, they're not really worth it unless you're already headed to Sam's to get something.
ASM: If your Wal*Mart has groceries, it's a Super Wal*Mart. Any Wal*Mart that says "Supercenter" on it is a Super Wal*Mart.
As a matter of fact, I think there are Super Targets too. I saw one in Oklahoma once. Didn't go inside though; it's probably just like Super Wal*Mart. In an oligopoly, all the big names have to keep up with the competition, hence why when Nintendo lowers their prices, Microsoft and Sony usually follow.
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 20th April 2004
The average gas price in Colorado right now is over $1.80 a gallon. :(
Dear Americans: - Great Rumbler - 20th April 2004
It's about $1.70 around here.
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 20th April 2004
:(
Oh and this thread is idiotic, and whoever agrees with Fittisize is stupid. Yes gas prices are far worse and Europe, but those guys actually have good public transportation no matter where you go (not just in big cities like in the U.S.). They don't have to drive nearly as often as we do, so the comparison is definitely not a fair one. I'd much rather have higher gas prices and a better system of public transportation than what we have right now.
Dear Americans: - A Black Falcon - 20th April 2004
But America decided to build our massive highway network, not work seriously on public transportation on a nationwide scale...
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 20th April 2004
Yes, America is stupid.
Dear Americans: - A Black Falcon - 20th April 2004
We actually did the opposite. We tore up the streetcar rails and relaced them with nice, wider roads...
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 20th April 2004
Yes, it was a genius plan.
Dear Americans: - A Black Falcon - 20th April 2004
... for the Ford family.
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 20th April 2004
Yes.
Dear Americans: - alien space marine - 20th April 2004
Canada in alot of places has crap public transportation , Were I used to live the Bus drivers smoked crack and never even went through the stops just skip along to were ever they wanted.
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 20th April 2004
You should see the cab drivers in Israel. It's madness!
Dear Americans: - Great Rumbler - 20th April 2004
Having wide roads instead of good public transportation makes about as much sense as giant, animorphic space-beetles from Texas, which actually DOES make sense when you think about it enough [and are from Texas].
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 20th April 2004
Does not!!
Dear Americans: - Geno - 20th April 2004
Gas in Alabama is better than in most places in the US. It usually ranges around $1.20-$1.30 on a good day, and $1.50-$1.60 on a really bad day.
Dear Americans: - Great Rumbler - 20th April 2004
That's dumb.
Dear Americans: - Geno - 20th April 2004
Despite our low gas prices, even we have people complaining, perhaps because everyone's used to paying less than a dollar for a gallon of gas.
Dear Americans: - Weltall - 20th April 2004
Public transportation sucks. I would hate having to go by other people's schedules and crowd onto smelly, packed trains or buses everytime I wanted to go somewhere.
Dear Americans: - Geno - 21st April 2004
We here in Montgomery, AL arrest old black women for not giving up their bus seats to young white men.
...well, okay, not anymore, considering the last time we did that, we caused a big Civil Rights Movement.
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 21st April 2004
Weltall Wrote:Public transportation sucks. I would hate having to go by other people's schedules and crowd onto smelly, packed trains or buses everytime I wanted to go somewhere.
Yes the smell is usually there (especially in Europe), but it's much more economical than every single person having their own car. And in Europe there would be a bus or tram every few minutes, so you don't need to work around other people's schedules.
Dear Americans: - A Black Falcon - 21st April 2004
Public transportation in the US only works if you live in one of the major cities with a good network... which is far from all of them. See places like Phoenix and Atlanta with virtually no public transportation system except for a underused bus network, and LA with its amazing two-block subway...
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 21st April 2004
Welly, you've been to D.C., right? Well picture a transportation system even bigger than that, and above ground so the smell isn't so bad, and you'll have a pretty good idea of how it works in Croatia. And Croatia's public transportation system isn't great by Western European standards.
Dear Americans: - Great Rumbler - 21st April 2004
My only experience with public transportation is I rode the DART [Dallas Area Rapid Transport] train, it was okay except for the fact that a lot of weird people rode on it too.
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 21st April 2004
All Texas people are weird.
Am I right or WHAT! Eh? EH??
*high fives GR*
Dear Americans: - alien space marine - 21st April 2004
Subways systems are pretty dirty and even scary at times.
Montreal has the cleanest subway by far.
Dear Americans: - Fittisize - 21st April 2004
I've never even been on a subway! And I've only rode a bus three times in my life. It wasn't bad...I guess.
Dear Americans: - Dark Jaguar - 21st April 2004
Face it, England's system is far superior to New York's. This is sorta required due to the fact that New York was way ahead in making one, but never updated it after the fact. A computerized system prevents crashes and also allows for a much higher load of traffic, but a total overhaul is what's needed. Japan, once again, has it's own plans to take other people's ideas and make them better, cleaner, and with a pink cat robot mascot.
Dear Americans: - Great Rumbler - 21st April 2004
Quote:All Texas people are weird.
Am I right or WHAT! Eh? EH??
*high fives GR*
GR: You know it! *attempts to high-five OB1* *accidentally hits DJ*
DJ: I'm gelatinous!
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 21st April 2004
GASP!
Yes, England's and Japan's systems of public transportation are shining examples of how it should be done in the states.
Dear Americans: - Fittisize - 21st April 2004
Public Transit is just plain old un-American, though
Dear Americans: - Dark Jaguar - 21st April 2004
I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not, so I'll assume it's not to stay happy.
Dear Americans: - Weltall - 22nd April 2004
Well, America is gigantic and Japan and England are, in relation, tiny islands. Because of this, a much larger percentage of their landmass is urbanized as compared to us. Same deal with Europe, though obviously not to the same small degree; Europe is smaller and more closely-packed. Therefore, scale is one thing that prevents public transportation from being so widespread here.
Dear Americans: - Dark Jaguar - 22nd April 2004
I was actually talking more of the big cities. Anyway, that's about right. MOST of America is completely human-less. The only reason people think humans are absolutely everywhere is their own experience. The average person, wherever they have ever travelled, there has always at least been a road under them. That incredibly limited viewpoint is of course going to convince most people that there are no more completely human-less regions. Try driving between towns and just walking off the road for a while. Weeks will pass and you'll die before seeing any signs of civilization, and you'll likely never be found, if you did a good job of walking away from that road the whole time anyway.
Speaking of EVERYONE in Amerca owning their own car, it's not exactly like most Americans have an option. I know in New York having a car is considered as much a luxery as having air conditioning :D, but everywhere ELSE it's just plain needed or you die alone. Also, go to a lot of the lower-middle to low class neighborhoods, where driveways are small anyway, and these days you will find that the streets are filled with cars that couldn't fit in the driveway. These neighborhood roads have all gone one lane, and people have to drive really slow and keep watching in case someone comes the other way so they can try and pull into SOME safe spot to give room for the other to pass or whatever. Obviously something like this, more than anything, shows that we as a society need to change SOMETHING so we stop NEEDING so many vehicles. The roads just can't possibly handle them, and no the solution is NOT just making more roads. A temporary solution to that would be some sort of neighborhood parking lot right at the corner of every block. Long term though, something needs to be done. MAYBE a new form of public transportation that even medium size cities and small towns could find useful, or maybe they just need to invent wormholes already (holding one open that a human could shimmy through requires a jupiter sized mass of dark matter).
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 22nd April 2004
I was not being sarcastic, DJ.
Believe it or not Weltall, not every inch of Europe is packed with a hundred smelly people. If you're in a small rural town then public transportation will be sparse. I'm not suggesting that we have an elaborate tramway system in the middle of Nowhere, Oklahoma, I'm suggesting that there be good public transportation in cities and relatively large towns, such as Fort Collins. Fort Collins is a prime example of people not willing to take the public transportation route even though you can't find a single damn parking space almost anywhere you go. This is especially bad at the University. You can't get around town on foot or even on bike and the public transportation is near non-existent, so if you need to get to work and/or school you have to have a car (like you said, DJ). So there are dozens of thousands of students going to CSU, each one having their own car. And how many parking spaces on-campus? Half a thousand is my rough estimate. Unless you get to school several hours before it opens, you're going to have to park several blocks away, and the campus is so spread apart that you'll be spending more time walking to classes than you will spend inside the classes (which, while being a great exercise, sucks if you're a busy person). It's a huge mess, and the only solution is to have decent public transportation, which will never happen since everyone in U.S. suburbs are huge xenophobes and could never imagine taking a (GASP!) tram to school. Public transportation in regular-sized towns do work, I have seen so myself. And it makes life a hell of a lot easier.
Dear Americans: - Weltall - 22nd April 2004
Would it work for me? I don't think so. I get in my car, drive to work in ten minutes, park, done. I can go to five different places, whenever I want, without having to wait for a bus. I can transport things too big to fit in a bag. I can drive faster than a bus can. I can get from point A to point B without stopping at fifty other places along the way.
Frankly, I don't see the advantage. In downtown areas, yeah. But if you live in the suburbs, you might have to walk a mile or more to get somewhere populated enough to warrant a bus stop, and it would be fun toting $80 worth of groceries a mile home on foot.
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 22nd April 2004
No, it would not be advantageous for everyone, or for every town in America. However, most of the places I've been to in Virginia desperately need a good tram or bus system. Ah, I forgot the exact name of the town where my sister lives, but you cannot go anywhere in that town without a car. You can't even hop on a bus to go to the mall. It's that bad.
Buying large amounts of groceries is a valid point, but how often do you buy $80 worth of groceries? In Croatia we'd just have to walk a block to get to the nearest grocery store and get some bread and cheese or whatever to last us a few days. That would be impossible here in Fort Collins since there are only huge super markets every few miles rather than small stores every few blocks. So you would need a car to buy groceries. But for everything else, going to work and school, a nice tram system makes a huge difference. Don't knock it 'til you've experienced it.
Dear Americans: - Great Rumbler - 22nd April 2004
Public transportation wouldn't help me much.
Dear Americans: - OB1 - 22nd April 2004
That's because you live in Nowhere, Oklahoma. :p