[deleted]
When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City
191–200 of 294 posts
Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City
#192Not 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…
I love biking and I'm a cyclist myself. But I once lived in a small mountain town where it seemed like a big percentage of the cyclists there had an attitude of entitlement about how they cycled. I've never had so many unsafe encounters with bikes, and at slow speeds too (speed limit was 25mph). I think the point I'm trying to make is that there are probably cultural differences between locations and the people who hate bikers have probably had some awful encounters in the past.
I still love cycling and I think it's the best way to get around. It sucks because my city is extremely bike-unfriendly and I don't feel safe biking here.
Crappy humans are crappy, no matter the mode of transport they use.
Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
This attitude is exactly why some people hate bikers. It's not productive, if everyone takes this attitude then nothing is going to get better. Step up and be a model for the behavior you want to see around you.
I'd rather not die.
Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a cyclist yourself, I'm sure you're familiar with intersections where the sensors controlling the lights do not sense bikes. I think the best way forward is for more states to adopt Idaho's policy: cyclists can treat stop signs like yield signs, and treat red lights like stop signs. [1] If I'm riding toward a stop sign at a clearly deserted intersection, I would very much like to roll through at 10~15 MPH without…
> If I'm riding toward a stop sign at a clearly deserted intersection, I would very much like to roll through at 10~15 MPH without risking a ticket Surely that should apply for cars then int his case. If the intersection is clearly deserted, cars should be able to clear the junction too.
Cars aren't reliant on the driver's own power to get going again after an intersection and don't tend to fall over sideways if stopped.
Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City
#195Earlier 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…
>> 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.
I'd weight it by, well, mass and associated likelihood of actual harm, personally.
I'm a fairly keen (but casual) cyclist. I wouldn't cyclce in London by preference, and I have seen some terrible behaviour by cyclists in London.
One day at 9am in the City, I saw a cyclist swearing loudly at everyone and pushing through the crush as people tried to cross Liverpool Street, at a pedestrian crossing, when the lights were red for traffic.
Total arsehole. I thought to myself "this is why people think cyclists are all bastards, people like you".
Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If I'm riding toward a stop sign at a clearly deserted intersection, I would very much like to roll through at 10~15 MPH without risking a ticket Surely that should apply for cars then int his case. If the intersection is clearly deserted, cars should be able to clear the junction too.
I agree, and judging from the many rolling stops they undertake, so do drivers. When any vehicle has to come to a complete stop for absolutely nothing, they're just putting wear on their brakes and wasting energy. I'm happy to see 4-way stops (which people are terrible at) being replaced by more roundabouts. A roundabout features the desired intersection rules without having to wait for the state to enact Idaho-style…
> As a cyclist, I'm in a very good position to assess how empty an intersection is: no windows isolating me in a sound bubble; low speed
Also: your head is closer to the front of your vehicle and thus to the intersection.
You can assess the situation long before any part of you or your bicycle enters the intersection.
Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City
#197Earlier 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 traffic laws when it is safe to do so. There are some dangerous interections around here where the bike lane disappears then starts up again. If you ride with the traffic as you're supposed to, cars behind will try to pass in the middle of the intersection. In those cases, sometimes I will ride up on the sidewalk to bypass the dangerous part of the itnersection. I would feel better if there was a separate ligh…
This is the correct answer.
One of my safety heuristics is "clear the intersection". Sometimes that means jump the light, or follow a car thru a 4-way, or full stop (foot on ground) to clearly signal I'm waiting my turn.
Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City
#198I'm in Shanghai at the moment and it's definitely the same here, especially during peak hours. Lots of bikes for rent here too, you can see them on many sidewalks, not unusual to see a few hundred in a row. Students and office workers alike are using them. Ofo and Mobike are the big players here, they are also expanding to other continents now :)
Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But I've also had multiple encounters with bicyclists who feel they are entitled to switch back and forth between a wheeled vehicle moving significantly above normal walking speeds and a pedestrian who just happens to be on a bicycle. Usually with no notice and as is convenient for them. Not infrequently such enhanced-pedestrians can top 20 mph barreling down the sidewalk. because they can. trying to pigeonhole cyc…
Moving a 20-pound chunk of metal at 20 mph with a 100-200 squishy on top amidst a bunch of unsuspecting and unexpecting other squishies may be less than maximally safe for all squishies involved. We're talking about 40-some-odd times more kinetic energy than your average squishy walking at 3 mph. If you're forced to move into pedestrian space for safety from giant metal cages, the safest option is to actually become…
Yes, or at the very least, slow down to a reasonable speed instead of weaving in and out among the pedestrians. It's incredibly disorienting to have someone fly right by you at 20mph with zero warning. Scares the hell out of me every time.
Re: When Citi Bikes Are Faster Than Taxis in New York City
#200Earlier quoted context omitted.
This attitude is exactly why some people hate bikers. It's not productive, if everyone takes this attitude then nothing is going to get better. Step up and be a model for the behavior you want to see around you.
I'd rather not die.
Don't be so dramatic. Waiting at red lights isn't going to kill you, in fact it may do the opposite.