Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

fastcoexist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 345 posts

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#91

Post by FilterSweep »

rar_ram wrote: post #63

How about they fix the public transport system first ? The bay area (united states in general, except for a few places) has the worst public transportation system. The VTA light rails and buses are nothing compared to new york or even boston for that matter!

> The bay area (united states in general, except for a few places) has the worst public transportation system.

Living in small tech enclaves in the South (e.g. Atlanta, Chattanooga, Raleigh) would make you eat those words. You might be surprised to find these areas are attractive because there is lots of room for leasing out data centers.

MUNI, BART, CalTrain are (albeit, sadly) leagues ahead of anything these cities have to offer.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#92

Post by tyrust »

Pxtl wrote: post #86
TulliusCicero wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The unfortunate situation is that if you are over 10 miles to your office ( which many are ) you will have a hard time making that commute in a acceptable amount of time, unless you actually make an effort at going fast. OR, unless you get an eBike. Which, while more expensive than a regular bike, are still vastly cheaper to purchase and operate than a car. A good pre-built eBike will probably sell in the $1000-200…

I think it's tragic that ebikes have become the domain of drunks and losers. We have the perfect solution to global warming and urban intensification right there, and no self-respecting person will use it because it's a tool of the underclass.

I've never heard of this stigma in the US. Where is this coming from?

edit: I see in your other comments you mention Ontario, interesting. Seems so strange that a mode of transportation could carry such a stigma.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#94

Post by Pxtl »

tyrust wrote: post #92
Pxtl wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's tragic that ebikes have become the domain of drunks and losers. We have the perfect solution to global warming and urban intensification right there, and no self-respecting person will use it because it's a tool of the underclass.

I've never heard of this stigma in the US. Where is this coming from? edit: I see in your other comments you mention Ontario, interesting. Seems so strange that a mode of transportation could carry such a stigma.

Must be local. I live in Hamilton, Ontario, and you'll see e-bikes frequently in the rougher parts of town.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#95

Post by odiroot »

hyperion2010 wrote: post #62

Based on the photo at the bottom they are going to fail the same way that many other US cities have failed when trying install bike lanes. You MUST put the parked cars between moving traffic and bikes. If you do not bikers are going to get hit and doored and will obstruct turn lanes. Pretty much everywhere in Europe gets this right. Traffic -> parking -> bikes -> peds. How did the US get everything completely backwar…

I wouldn't say pretty much everywhere. Probably only in Amsterdam.

In Berlin it's mostly: cars | bikes | parking | pedestrians (raised sidewalk).

In Warsaw (for example) it's: cars | parking | bikes (part of the sidewalk) | pedestrians (raised sidewalk).

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#96

Post by TulliusCicero »

praneshp wrote: post #79
TulliusCicero wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two things: Remington & Homestead don't connect to Stevens Creek Trail, and Mary & Bernardo aren't East-West streets. You said they were adding protected bike lanes, are any of those protected? Off the top of my head, I can't think of any protected bike lanes I've seen in Sunnyvale.

Wolfe has protected lanes all through, I used to bike on that. Same with Fremont/Sunnyvale-Saratoga, etc. When I rode a bike to work because I had to bike 500m on El Camino, which is 500m more than what I want to on that road. The alternate was quite longer. Edit: first para incorrect, I had "protected bike lanes" and "dedicated bike lanes" confused.

> Wolfe has protected lanes all through, I used to bike on that.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I bike across Wolfe on Evelyn all the time and have seen no protected bike lanes on it. I just checked Street View on a handful of different parts of Wolfe and I see zero protected bike lanes, and it says the data is from this year. You're talking about Wolfe Rd that crosses Caltrain and goes next to Vallco right?

> Same with Fremont/Sunnyvale-Saratoga, etc.

Checked these on Street View since I don't drive on them that often, same deal, zero protected bike lanes. Unless they've done some very recent construction, I think you may be confused about what protected bike lanes are: http://www.peopleforbikes.org/green-lane-project/pages/prote...

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#97

Post by natrius »

trhway wrote: post #40
erjiang wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mountain View and most of the other SV cities want to maintain their quiet suburban image, nevermind that they are home to some of the biggest tech companies in the world. Until residents start voting the other way, housing will continue to be in very short supply.

until people learn how and, more importantly, willing to build good urban space, as a resident of MV (or of SV in general as i lived in other near by cities before) i am even against current 3 story "barracks" being actively built all over the place. For example, one can build 30 story (plus 10 underground for parking/storage/etc...) towers with enough green space around it instead of covering all available space wit…

Towers surrounded by green space has been tried, with mostly negative results.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier#Criticism

Good urban space is mostly about how nice it feels to be on a street. You want a comfortable amount of walking space, destinations that are close together, and that's pretty much it. Surrounding buildings with parks makes walking harder and less pleasant.

There's probably enough demand for taller buildings, but it's illegal.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#98

Post by ryandrake »

dkhenry wrote: post #14

I applaude this effort. I think many people discount how capable they are of making the switch to commuting via bike to work. Almost any commute less then 10 miles can easily be done via bike, and making a "safe" route to connect the metro area is a great first step. The unfortunate situation is that if you are over 10 miles to your office ( which many are ) you will have a hard time making that commute in a acceptab…

And if you're over 30 miles from work, forget it unless you're in fairly good shape. My 45+ mile commute to Silicon Valley laughs at any attempt to get me on a bike. Better to support improved mass transit.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#99

Post by Florin_Andrei »

lorenzhs wrote: post #57
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a hybrid with fat tires, which I used to ride on trails like that. It makes the ride somewhat more bearable, yes. But the point is - no pavement, no speed, regardless of what kind of bike your using. Pave those things, and your average speed on a bike would double at least.

Double? I doubt that. Typically, I ride ~20km/h on gravel and ~23km/h on well-paved roads at commute speeds (i.e., no sweating). Maybe the gravel roads are terrible in SV, but around here, it hardly makes a difference in speed as gravel roads are well-maintained.

The trail right along the shore is hard dirt, not quite asphalt, but passable. So that one is okay-ish.

But the connecting trail from SJ downtown along the creek towards the bay at some point changes from asphalt to literally a trough full of gravel. You'll lose a lot of speed there, no matter what kind of tires you're using.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#100

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

Pxtl wrote: post #93

Good luck. I'm an avid bike-commuter, but I live in a dense old industrial city, not a sprawling suburb. Modern transit infrastructure like bike-lanes and LRT lines and the like are very challenging in suburbia.

I wouldn't necessarily argue with you, but what's funny is that exactly the opposite argument is used in London. Oh, people say, we can't put protected bike lanes in, it's a dense historic city and there isn't enough room.

Turns out (hooray) there is room, and the first major ones are going in as we speak. Where there's a will there's a way.

Post reply on HN