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When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

toddwschneider.com

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Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#171

Post by ZeroGravitas »

e40 wrote: post #95
dkhenry wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I have found is there is a tiny minority of people who _hate_ bikers. They tend to pop up and make wild claims about how dangerous bikers are, or how much they dislike how bikers use the streets since streets are for cars, and bikes are for children. What I have found in actually talking to people is most people support and encourage bikes, and would love to bike, but don't feel safe. Bikes make everything about…

What I have found is there is a tiny minority of people who _hate_ bikers. I walk 4 miles a day on city sidewalks. The number of times I have to yield to bikers on the sidewalk is disgusting[0]. And some of these bikers are going fast . I once saved a child that was about to run out of a store. I could see, from my vantage point, the biker and the child set for a collision course. I stepped in front of the biker, doi…

A woman killed a few years ago by a bike? That's terrible.

Not quite as terrible as one pedestrian being killed every 1.6 hours by cars though. (2015 figures for the USA)

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#172

Post by Ntrails »

dkhenry wrote: post #59
verelo wrote: post #20

Not much love for biking here; You'd almost think that most of the people on Hacker News are from Californian suburbs... Seriously though, biking in cities is great. It's one of those critical mass problems where the more people that do it the better the infrastructure gets, the more aware drivers become and there is a herd mentality where bikers tend to flow together making them more predictable and therefore safer…

What I have found is there is a tiny minority of people who _hate_ bikers. They tend to pop up and make wild claims about how dangerous bikers are, or how much they dislike how bikers use the streets since streets are for cars, and bikes are for children. What I have found in actually talking to people is most people support and encourage bikes, and would love to bike, but don't feel safe. Bikes make everything about…

> Bikes make everything about traffic better, and most bikers observe the traffic laws.

Anecdata time.

Practically every single day I'll see bikes casually going through red lights, usually moving between pedestrians crossing. Now, I'll freely grant that they're usually paying enough attention to be safe - but you can bet motorbikes (and even cars) could make those very same judgement calls - except they'd get done by cameras/police.

Bikes are not obviously safer than a car to me as a pedestrian. They're less predictable, less regulated, and typically less careful of pedestrians. Heck, they also probably travel faster than cars most of the time in central london since the speed limit is 20mph everywhere on the rare occasion there's no traffic.

Then of course there's the idiots riding along on the pavement because they can't easily filter through traffic and why should they have to wait in line to move on etc etc.

I'm actually pretty solidly pro properly segregated bike lanes, but if I had to rate drivers vs cyclists in a "most likely to have a collision with as a pedestrian" I would easily go with the cyclist.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#173

Post by kazinator »

antisthenes wrote: post #110
kazinator wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can definitely kill someone with a bicycle. And a punch. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/gay-basher-ge... http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/10/stanley-park-pedestrian-d... This is just recent local news from my neck of the woods, off the top of my head.

Just because you can do it, doesn't mean it has anywhere the same likelihood of happening. Not even sure what argument you're trying to make. This is why concealed guns are banned in most states and fists aren't.

The fist cannot be banned because it is a configuration of the human hand.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#174

Post by kpmariner »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #87
dkhenry wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I have found is there is a tiny minority of people who _hate_ bikers. They tend to pop up and make wild claims about how dangerous bikers are, or how much they dislike how bikers use the streets since streets are for cars, and bikes are for children. What I have found in actually talking to people is most people support and encourage bikes, and would love to bike, but don't feel safe. Bikes make everything about…

>most bikers observe the traffic laws Not in Philadelphia, at least. I walk everywhere, and racking my brain for bike encounters I can only recall one of maybe 20 instances in which a bike actually stopped at a red light. I can recall at least a third of those instances where bikes were travelling the wrong way on a one way street, and another third with bikes on the sidewalk. That being said, I still think biking is…

As a biker in Philly - I'll start following the rules of the road when the cars do. I've lived in other cities where I obeyed every traffic law, just like I was in a car. If you do that in Philly, you get run over by a car or hit a jay walking pedestrian.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#175

Post by calt »

Chathamization wrote: post #68
verelo wrote: post #20

Not much love for biking here; You'd almost think that most of the people on Hacker News are from Californian suburbs... Seriously though, biking in cities is great. It's one of those critical mass problems where the more people that do it the better the infrastructure gets, the more aware drivers become and there is a herd mentality where bikers tend to flow together making them more predictable and therefore safer…

> i probably drive more than bike, depends on the weather and somewhat the mood i'm in A lot of bikers won't bike when the weather reaches a certain point (too cold, too much rain). This means that even if you build infrastructure for bikes, you're still going to have to build just as much throughput for other modes of transportation as you did before (they have to handle situations where no one is biking).

I ride my bicycle all winter. When the weather gets bad, I go a longer route with better bicycle infrastructure where it's safe to go slowly and I'm not being tailed by a car. If I lived in a city where no such route existed I would resort to other means of transportation.

Why do you "have to" build more car infrastructure? If traffic gets worse when the weather gets bad then there's even more incentive to bicycle despite the weather. That's the whole point of cycle-first, transit-first, pedestrian-first city planning: Cars don't scale, so stop trying.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#176

Post by matthewowen »

Ntrails wrote: post #172
dkhenry wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I have found is there is a tiny minority of people who _hate_ bikers. They tend to pop up and make wild claims about how dangerous bikers are, or how much they dislike how bikers use the streets since streets are for cars, and bikes are for children. What I have found in actually talking to people is most people support and encourage bikes, and would love to bike, but don't feel safe. Bikes make everything about…

> Bikes make everything about traffic better, and most bikers observe the traffic laws . Anecdata time. Practically every single day I'll see bikes casually going through red lights, usually moving between pedestrians crossing. Now, I'll freely grant that they're usually paying enough attention to be safe - but you can bet motorbikes (and even cars) could make those very same judgement calls - except they'd get done…

They are obviously safer though, as evidenced by the differing rates of pedestrians injured by cyclists vs cars drivers.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#177

Post by kingbirdy »

jandrese wrote: post #151
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>most bikers observe the traffic laws Not in Philadelphia, at least. I walk everywhere, and racking my brain for bike encounters I can only recall one of maybe 20 instances in which a bike actually stopped at a red light. I can recall at least a third of those instances where bikes were travelling the wrong way on a one way street, and another third with bikes on the sidewalk. That being said, I still think biking is…

I obey stoplights on my bike, but it's really punishing sometimes. Bikes don't trip the sensors so the light will ignore you until a car pulls up behind you. This can require three or four cycles of the lights if traffic in your direction is sparse.

I've heard that if you get off and lay the bike on its side, it can help trip the sensor. Usually they're electromagnetic, so on its side the bike is a good inductor, but not in its normal position.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#178

Post by pcsanwald »

CydeWeys wrote: post #131
e40 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I have found is there is a tiny minority of people who _hate_ bikers. I walk 4 miles a day on city sidewalks. The number of times I have to yield to bikers on the sidewalk is disgusting[0]. And some of these bikers are going fast . I once saved a child that was about to run out of a store. I could see, from my vantage point, the biker and the child set for a collision course. I stepped in front of the biker, doi…

Where do you live? I'm in Manhattan, and people rarely cycle on the sidewalk here. There's simply no room to do so, as there's so many pedestrians. You end up going more slowly than if you stayed on the street where you belong in nearly all circumstances. Don't be too mad at the cyclists, though. Usually they're doing it because the city isn't providing the proper level of bike infrastructure. With more high quality…

I'm a longtime NYer who recently moved to SF. for the past 10 years I've commuted by running each way, ~3-5 miles each way. plenty of experience with bikes and cars in urban areas.

Biking on the sidewalk is WAY more common in SF than in NYC, especially in manhattan. In SF, there seems to be a few main reasons:

1 - Biking on the street would clearly be unsafe. An example here is 3rd st between portrero and soma.

2 - Biking on the sidewalk on the block where you are stopping. These are people that usually bike on the street, but pull onto the sidewalk when they are leaving/entering a building. I understand this, but wish it wasn't so common.

3 - ignorance of, or just not caring about, biking rules and conventions.

It's easy to assume that #3 is always the case and get angry about it, but it's frequently #1 or #2 and I do think some empathy is called for.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#179

Post by sireat »

e40 wrote: post #95
dkhenry wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I have found is there is a tiny minority of people who _hate_ bikers. They tend to pop up and make wild claims about how dangerous bikers are, or how much they dislike how bikers use the streets since streets are for cars, and bikes are for children. What I have found in actually talking to people is most people support and encourage bikes, and would love to bike, but don't feel safe. Bikes make everything about…

What I have found is there is a tiny minority of people who _hate_ bikers. I walk 4 miles a day on city sidewalks. The number of times I have to yield to bikers on the sidewalk is disgusting[0]. And some of these bikers are going fast . I once saved a child that was about to run out of a store. I could see, from my vantage point, the biker and the child set for a collision course. I stepped in front of the biker, doi…

When I am a pedestrian I would much rather take my chances with a inconsiderate biker than a inconsiderate car driver.

Bikers killing someone are extremely rare. Bikers getting killed by drivers is more common (citation needed).

When I am biking I'd much rather be riding slowly on a sidewalk than getting killed by a inconsiderate driver.

Where I live it is legal to ride on sidewalks in streets with no bike lines. So instead of taking my chances on a busy street I'd much rather ride slowly(10-15 km/h) on a sidewalk.

In an ideal world the cities would have specific bike only lines which cover all areas. I hear Copenhagen and Amsterdam are good with this.

Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City

#180

Post by TeamTeaTime »

jandrese wrote: post #151
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>most bikers observe the traffic laws Not in Philadelphia, at least. I walk everywhere, and racking my brain for bike encounters I can only recall one of maybe 20 instances in which a bike actually stopped at a red light. I can recall at least a third of those instances where bikes were travelling the wrong way on a one way street, and another third with bikes on the sidewalk. That being said, I still think biking is…

I obey stoplights on my bike, but it's really punishing sometimes. Bikes don't trip the sensors so the light will ignore you until a car pulls up behind you. This can require three or four cycles of the lights if traffic in your direction is sparse.

They sell magnets for motorcycles that are supposed to help trip the light sensor. Might be worth checking out?
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