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In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)

nytimes.com

21–30 of 206 posts

Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)

#21

In other words, I should come into work completely drenched in sweat? In many parts of the USA, it is very humid and temperatures can easily reach 90 and above. How do you expect people to bike in such conditions? In addition, many people commute long distances to work, which may take up to an hour just by car. Bikes are great, but not very practical.

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Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)

#22

In other words, I should come into work completely drenched in sweat? In many parts of the USA, it is very humid and temperatures can easily reach 90 and above. How do you expect people to bike in such conditions? In addition, many people commute long distances to work, which may take up to an hour just by car. Bikes are great, but not very practical.

In Europe there are good public transport in each city, so you don't need car at all.

I use to commute 35 miles each way without owning car, it was taking quite a lot of time, so I moved closer to work, but I still don't own car.

Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In other words, I should come into work completely drenched in sweat? With enough training (build up the habit) and if you don't exert yourself too much (it's not like you have to go 20mph all the way), you shouldn't sweat too much. Add in a pair of showers on work site and you're golden. > In addition, many people commute long distances to work, which may take up to an hour just by car. That's an issue of brain-de…

All great solutions, but the infrastructure just isn't there (as already mentioned). Blame it in "brain-dead urban planning", or "stupid housing considerations", but that doesn't change the fact that biking to work is simply not possible for most people. If you live in the suburbs of New York, biking to Manhattan to work just isn't practical. If you live in the middle of the country, biking to work can be a nightmare…

You hit the real root of it there. Detroit auto bought out the passenger rail system in LA in the late 40s, then shut it down (true story).

Oil drives concrete & consumption. Crack in a US sidewalk? Break it up and pour a new pad. Euro sidewalk? All pavers. Pull 'em up, fix a sewer line or whatever and put the same ones back down.

Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)

#24
21st Century, that anybody can argue against (in this thread or elsewhere) that going by bike to work is way better, healthier, more humanly fulfilling, than by car leaves me speechless. Vote for mayors pro bike roads or ask for showers at work, there is always a solution.

Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)

#26

In other words, I should come into work completely drenched in sweat? In many parts of the USA, it is very humid and temperatures can easily reach 90 and above. How do you expect people to bike in such conditions? In addition, many people commute long distances to work, which may take up to an hour just by car. Bikes are great, but not very practical.

Do you realize that millions of people bike to work everyday right here in the good ol USA?

Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes absolutely. I used to live in a suburb of Stuttgart, and that was around the first time I really tried biking. It was definitely worth it, the well maintained bike lanes, the free burning of the fat, lovely relaxing scenery and off course a few extra bucks saved per day. Biking lanes, is in my book a top investment a city can make, wonder why not many keep it high on their priorities.

Boulder, CO in USA has done a LOT for putting in bike lanes. Very bike-friendly city. Up there with Portland, OR and Austin, TX

I've lived for two years in Austin, now in Amsterdam (the one in Europe). Amsterdam (and actually, most of Europe) is infinitely better for biking than Austin. Actually I almost never rode my bike in Austin. Always cars passing at high speed right next to you. I think USA cities have still a lot more to do to be real bike-friendly.

Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)

#28

In other words, I should come into work completely drenched in sweat? In many parts of the USA, it is very humid and temperatures can easily reach 90 and above. How do you expect people to bike in such conditions? In addition, many people commute long distances to work, which may take up to an hour just by car. Bikes are great, but not very practical.

If this argument was in favor of cars, for me it would be the same: Where am I supposed to park? You expect me to pay $400 a month just to park a car at home and another $400 to park it at the office? Cars are fun, but not very practical.

It all depends on the environment you are in, which is not a static unchangeable monolith. You have choices. Maybe living somewhere where biking is practical would involve making choices that go against your priorities, but those are your priorities.

Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)

#29
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It gets humid in Europe, too. They survive.

Most of Europe is far drier than the US. I don't know of any place in Europe which would be similar to Japan or Florida (consistent high heat and very high humidity during months on end in Summer), though they might very well exist.

What's your point exactly? I bicycle to work in the heat and humidity you are describing, every day. As someone else said, if you just cruise at a conservative pace, you don't even sweat very much.

Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)

#30
post #3

I lived in Münster, Germany for a few years. Münster is THE bike town in germany. Statistically every citizen has 1.8 bikes. And i begann to love biking there. A lot is done in that city to make biking the #1 way of transportation. Now I am living in Cologne, Germany and see the difference. I miss the good bike lanes but I kept biking in cologne. Nothing is better for your head than biking a few miles home after a ha…

Nice to see another Köln-resident here. Meet up at some point?
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