#and decrease the city's dependency on cars

I think it's a way more interesting concept than just "he just wants money for money sake" because it interacts with how Cyber City has been shaped to be as a very capitalistic world. The only dark world where homelessness is even used as a literary device, or maybe even the only one where homelessness even exists.

I really think Spamton being willing to discard this upperclass position he is in for Tenna is a change from aiming for freedom within the system, to seeking seeking freedom outside of it. Which would be real freedom... Of course, you can't exactly opt out of capitalism, but I feel that choice could at least be representative of how you can seek real freedom.

Did we share a braincell for a second there, because I was literally just thinking of Spamton in relation to capitalism, and specifically how, despite Spamton commonly being presented as someone who loves capitalism/embodies it/would be committed to it/whatever, he's not actually someone who benefits from the system or even does okay under it (the Addisons fit the "greedy little capitalist" kind of vibe better).

Spamton is also a critique of how capitalism harms disabled people in particular. Ableism is ingrained into capitalism. The idea that you have to "earn" resources essential to survival (by being useful in profit-making) is ingrained in the system, as is competition for said resources that are artificially made scarce. A system like this inherently mandates that there are "losers" who get less or nothing at all, and it claims that those "losers" deserve to be there and should've just worked harder if they wanted better; if they're disabled and can't grind, well, sucks to be them, "survival of the fittest", etc. Profit is valued above all else (including the survival of the planet), and caring for disabled people who can't support themselves isn't profitable.

I'd guess Cyber City doesn't have any sort of disability benefits, but even if it did, disability benefits are often minuscule and hard to qualify for (certainly in the USA, which is where Deltarune takes place), and they eagerly get slashed whenever the government wants to cut spending, instead of perhaps taxing the wealthy to fund disability benefits and other such things; they'd rather let disabled people suffer and die than even slightly decrease profits.

Spamton didn't have disability benefits and was instead relying on the charity of others - charity that, as evident in his current situation, was pretty flimsy. The Addisons probably just gave him enough to make ends meet, but not enough to really enjoy life. If my read on his "little sponge" lines being about himself is correct, he was also made to feel like a burden for needing support (disabled people are treated like a burden to the people around them and to the system). Back then, he saw becoming successful at his purpose as his only path to freedom. In TV World, he found an alternative path to freedom (and one that brought him more happiness) with Tenna, who would've embraced him and cared for him even if he wasn't "useful", so he risked and sacrificed the thing his success depended on to pursue that path instead.

In any realistic scenario, not by much? Oil usage is diverse, and while transport is the number one usage personal car transit is mixed in there with shipping & industrial applications. Meanwhile, people like cars and like living in the suburbs. We undersupply urban living vis a vis the demand for it, but not by such crazy numbers; and people in cities will still drive cars, transit is often about optionality.

(The following is just a list of things I personally feel should be included or considered if one makes a character of Australian nationality, descent or heritage. It by no means is a hard and fast ruleset, but just things that can be done to enhance a character’s flavour or add a little authenticity)

Shortened nicknames for fellow characters that follow Australian Shortening Conventions: multi-syllablic names are condensed down to one, and an -a/ah, -o, -zza, -y, or -sy is added, eg: McKenzie (or and Mc name) > Macca, Damien > Damo (Day-mo), Jeremy > Jezza.

Swearing. This is actually a common trap I’ve seen, with some Australian characters being less reserved in their language than others. This will depend on the specific background of your Aussie, as vulgarity is moreso a commonality in smaller cities and rural spaces, and less so in larger built-up cities. That said, we do tend to through the more vulgar words around with greater frequency than other cultures, with f### and c### being thrown around more freely.

Slang. Again another trap, especially with older “stereotypical” Australian slang that I personally hear more from my grandparents and older uncles and aunts and less so my own peers + 10 years. That said, some terms are still used very frequently and have no generational boundaries, including but not limited to: ute (pickup truck), bottle-o (liquor store), servo-o (service/petrol station), “the shops” (any centralised marketplace from your general stores to large malls), booze bus (roadside randomised breath testing/DUI checkpoints, some which do both alcohol and drug testing), hoon (reckless driver, typically young males in cars too powerful to handle at their skill level).

Weather tolerances. This varies based on a character’s geographical background, but you’ll find that most Australians have higher than normal levels of tolerance to extreme heat. However, those that live around the Brisbane latitude and north have decreased tolerances to cooler temperatures, decreasing the further north you go. (Personally I find myself pulling on long sleeves and hoodies after it hits 20 or cooler.)

DON'T CHARGE MONEY FOR TICKETS.

Seriously, that essentially makes it NOT public transit because it operates under the assumption that ALL members of the public have access to money, which is just not true. Working class people are continuing to loose access to stable income and denying people with no income the ability to navigate the city is only going to make our ability to find income more difficult, especially for disabled people.

"But Scout..." you might say, to which I would say, "We are not on a first name basis, call me Ms. Forester. Now, what was your question?"

"But Ms. Forester, how is public transit supposed to get money for regular maintenance and necessary expansion? The only solution I can see to this is hiding access to a necessary service behind a paywall."

Well sugarpants, the answer is simple. We already pay for it.

If you are currently paying taxes, some of that money is already going to that public transit infrastructure. Like, it's already in the city's budget. It's paid for. And if they legitimately need more money in their budget, we don't even need to raise taxes! The city just needs to move the budget from another area to public transit. Perhaps some other department that tends to have a bloated budget and little to no use for the public go- oh wow how did this article about city policing budgets get he-

So, if it's already paid for most of the time, why are we paying for it again? Well, it's simple. Most public transit in the US is run by private for-profit companies that are contracted by city and state governments to provide this service. These companies are out to make a profit from running their business, and chargingfor fares and tickets is the best way to do that. This has been the case in the US for pretty much the entirety of the history of public transit and has led to multiple infamous examples of corruption and poor quality service, for some great examples of this, look up the history of electric street car companies in the US and the history of railroad companies in the US.

So, what is the solution here? I think it's pretty obvious.

MAKE PUBLIC TRANSIT PUBLICLY OWNED

Seriously, just remove the profit incentive from public transit. It doesn't make the services better in any way, while actively inhibiting access and decreasing the quality of the service. Public transit isn't public until it is owned by the public and accessible to the public. ALL of the public.

This is only one of many issues with the US's public transit system, but it's one I don't see talked about a lot, which is so weird to me, because it seems so obvious. And I think a lot of the reason is that most of the people designing and funding these systems have never used them and have no intention of using them. And even if they did, the money taken from them in fares would be unnoticeable to them.

But, people with much less money than them, or even no money at all, are the people that need these services and depend on them, and we need to impress that upon them going forward. By any means necessary.

(realized i misread this originally lol) good lol. i love cars but hate car dependent infrastructure. we really need an extensive commuter rail system, better public transit options, and people-centric city planning - the fact that so much of america is nigh impossible to safely exist in as a pedestrian and impossible to get around in without a car is a huge problem. where i live now it’s a 2-3 hour bus ride to work. it’s a 20 minute drive. that’s a problem

Located alongside the Ohio River, The Banks is the oldest neighborhood found in downtown Cincinnati.  Originally the epicenter of freight rail for the western portion of the United States, The Banks have always been central to Cincinnati's identity and image.  Only recently has it been renovated due to the Ohio River flooding in 1997.  After this tragedy that left all buildings in The Banks unusable, the movement to completely refresh this area of Cincinnati was finally put to work.

Pictured above is the original draft for The Banks presented in 1997.  If you are familiar with The Banks you will notice that the original draft presented is almost identical to how we see this area today.  Most of the reasons why is due to its clear inspiration from the City Beautiful movement, found in Chicago and Paris most notably.

Railways and Roadways: Cincinnati’s railways and train stations are not present in the downtown Cincinnati Banks area. Originally the Cincinnati Union terminal, built in 1933, held traffic over World War II and saw a decline over the next decades. This decline caused the train concourse to be demolished in 1974 and was then reoperating in 1991 as the Cincinnati Museum we know and love today. Union Terminal’s purpose was to bring together the railways to decrease congestion in the city and the poor conditions the tracks were kept in prior to the construction of the Union Terminal. Today the benefits of a train concourse would bring connectivity to other cities allowing more visitors to move smoothly through the area and bringing in more social and economic connections. 

As seen above, Cincinnati houses the Great American Ballpark for the Reds and Paycor stadium for the Bengals, introducing visitors from states all over the US. With this incoming traffic, railways and train stations would be more effective in reducing congestion on highways and roadways. Cincinnati has a higher car dependency than other cities due to limited transportation options, with the increase in public transportation in the Banks, less congestion, aging of the roadways, and maintenance problems would occur. Ways Cincinnati can emulate Haussmann’s designs is to designate walkable areas and travel areas. This would enhance the city's community as well as the city's public spaces. Haussmann’s boulevard design in Paris can be emulated in Cincinnati today with the development of pedestrian-friendly spaces and more road width to reduce the backed-up traffic. Hausmann’s boulevard design improved traffic flow as well as pedestrian flow which Cincinnati is currently lacking. Cincinnati is also known for hosting various festivals and events. These events are usually hosted on roadways which harms the traffic downtown. Grant Park Chicago, which echos Haussmann’s advances made in Paris’ green spaces, hosts similar events that can be replicated on the Banks with their green spaces. With more public green spaces and areas these events could be moved to, it would be more efficient on the traffic as well a more efficient use of space for pedestrians. 

One of the many changes made to Paris and Chicago during the City Beautiful movement was to improve sanitation in the city by destroying infected alleyways and centers for epidemics.  While currently, The Banks does not have any infected parts of its streets, the Ohio River is not the clean blue river that it once was.  Many complaints for other states that the Ohio River runs through have been filed most notably by the state of Kentucky.  Kentucky filed a complaint against DuPont, a company responsible for creating a broad array of industrial chemicals, for the mass amount of chemicals that can be found in the river.  The most notable of which is the pre-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, which are known as forever chemicals.  It goes without saying that having these chemicals run through the heart of Cincinnati is absolutely not sanitary which does violate one of the four guiding principles of the City Beautiful movement.

Debate Question:

International Traffic Light Day

By 1914, there were more automobiles on the road than ever, and they  were still sharing the streets with streetcars, horse carriages,  merchant carts, and more. There was a need for regulations to make sure  traffic moved smoothly and that accidents would decrease. At the time,  traffic was controlled by the police. But traffic lights were about to  come along and make road navigation easier, safer, and more efficient.

On August 5, 1914, what is considered to be the first electric  traffic light was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, at the corner of East  105th Street and Euclid Avenue. It had four pairs of red and green  lights, one for each side of the intersection, and a warning buzzer that  indicated when the light was about to change. It had to be operated  manually by someone in a nearby booth. It was based on a design by James  Hoge. He had previously applied for a patent  for a "Municipal Traffic Control System," and his patent—#1,251,666—was  approved in 1918. The Cleveland Automobile Club thought that their new  traffic light might revolutionize the handling of traffic in crowded  cities.

There were other early traffic signals and traffic lights, both  before and after Cleveland's and James Hoge's lights. In 1868, a gas-lit  and manually-operated traffic sign was installed in London. It had two  arms: one said "stop" and the other said "caution." Tragically, less  than a month after its installation, it exploded and the policeman who  was operating it was injured.

In 1910, the first automated traffic control system was created. It  didn't light up, but it did display "stop" and "proceed." In Salt Lake  City in 1912, a traffic light of red and green lights was installed in a  wooden box on a pole. William Potts, a police officer from Detroit,  Michigan, invented the three-color traffic light to be used at four-way  stops in 1920. In 1923, Garrett Morgan invented a traffic signal with a  T-shaped design; he patented it and later sold it to General Electric.  Traffic lights have continued to improve over time. Lights first had to  be changed manually, then they could change automatically, and then in  the 1950s computers began being used to control them. Computers allowed  detection plates to be installed as well, which could sense when cars  were present. Traffic lights also expanded beyond the basic red, yellow,  and green lights, and began including other lights such as turn arrows,  and walk and don't walk lights.

Traffic lights control the flow of traffic and are placed at  locations such as road intersections and pedestrian crossings. They go  by many other names, which are sometimes dependent on where in the world  they are. Some common names include traffic signals, traffic lamps, and  signal lights. They are made of lamps or LEDs, and their standard  colors are red, yellow (amber), and green. A solid red light means that a  driver should not proceed, while a flashing red light is to be treated  like a stop sign. A yellow light indicates that a red light will soon  appear. In some areas, it may require a driver to stop if they can, but  in other areas, drivers may be allowed to pass through it if it is safe.  If a yellow light is flashing, it means it is a warning signal. A green  light means that a driver may proceed if it is safe and if there is  room on the other side of the intersection.

Traffic lights may be set to flash at times when traffic is sparse,  such as late at night. Sometimes a flashing yellow is set to a main  road, while a flashing red is set to the side road. Sometimes there is  flashing red in all directions, which is treated as a four-way stop.  Whether lights are green, yellow, or red, or whether they are solid or  flashing, we celebrate them today, on the anniversary of when the first  electric traffic light was installed.

How to Observe International Traffic Light Day

Today  is for stopping and thinking about the importance of traffic lights in  road safety. The best way to celebrate the day is probably to use as  many traffic lights as possible when driving. If you are up for a long  drive, you could drive to the intersection in Cleveland  where the first electric traffic light was installed. You could also  drive to Ohio's Small Town Museum, where what is believed to be the world's oldest traffic light is kept.