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Cambridge's Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law

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Re: Cambridge's Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law

#311

Post by btrettel »

celestialjeu wrote: post #258
btrettel wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If there are problems at intersections, that means that the bike lanes aren't protected enough. Amsterdam for example doesn't have these kinds of issues because their design (and especially light signaling) is better. I agree. The problem is that I have never seen those sorts of lanes in the US. The choice is between semi-protected lanes which may be worse or no lanes. I don't know precisely which is better, but I…

We also have a few of these kinds of lanes in Austin. There are a few downtown and a few in East Austin.

Where specifically? I'm not aware of bike lanes that have a special light for vehicles turning across the bike lane in Austin.

Re: Cambridge's Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law

#312

Post by atoav »

wtetzner wrote: post #241
teddyh wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most people can't use a bike. Huh? What kind of people are you referring to? In my simple observation, most people can indeed use a bike. And in some countries, like Denmark, or China, it is my impression that most people do use a bike.

I think he means most people don't live close enough to the city that they could reasonably ride a bike to get where they need to go.

That is why you have park & ride concepts and trains. In many european cities you have places just outside the city where you can park your car or hop of and take your bike and take the last mile by bike or public transport.

Having all your commuters drive their car into the city is not at all a good idea. I lived for years at one heavy intersection in one of Germanys biggest cities and I can tell you, if you watch the traffic for half an hour you will see maybe one or two cars with more than one person in them.

I moved from their because the dust and the noise were having a huge impact on my health.

I don't think it is about banning cars from city centers totally. It is about finding acceptable solutions that work without forcing people. Encourage them. Have a working public transport system. Make it cheap. Make it so cheap that driving a car will cost you. Include all problems cars cause in a urban space in some kind of toll or tax.

Re: Cambridge's Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law

#313

Post by wozniacki »

bobwaycott wrote: post #220
rayiner wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Atlanta is a great example of where it makes no sense to have bike lines. I lived in Atlanta for eight years. It’s a commuter city. The only people biking are relatively privileged yuppies living in the fancy new apartments and condos that have sprung up recently. Why spend public money, and inconvenience drivers in the process, for their sake? If we’re going to use up a lane, let’s do it in a socially responsible wa…

> Why spend public money, and inconvenience drivers in the process, for their sake? Because the cyclists, too, are part of the public? It's not like that public money is solely sourced from automobile drivers. Many people I know who live and work and pay taxes in Atlanta cycle and drive, depending on where they're going. Are you really suggesting auto-drivers are more important citizens whose convenience matters more…

  Because the cyclists, too, are part of the
  public? It's not like that public money is
  solely sourced from automobile drivers.
Then, would you be not opposed to requiring bicycles to be registered, bicyclists to be licensed & taxed just like cars & vehicular traffic does?

If you want a lane all to yourself isn't only fair that you pay your fair share toward the building, maintenance and repair of the lanes? Why should you get to use them free of cost?

Re: Cambridge's Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law

#314

Post by blasdel »

mkoryak wrote: post #233

I found a "simple trick that makes all drivers around me nice". I put a pigeon on my helmet 8 years ago[1]. Everywhere I go I see smiles. I really makes every ride fun. One of my friends recently started also doing it, so its starting to catch on. Pigeonriding transforms me from an awkward software engineer into an interesting person who people want to talk to. I have only had a handful of bad experiences[2] with dri…

5 years ago after a princess tea party I ended up with some tall silver tiaras full of sparkly gems, and I started wearing them on my bike helmets. A tiara fits perfectly into the spot for roadies to park their sunglasses.

The constant feeling of "hey my eyes are down here buddy" in public proves that it works!

Re: Cambridge's Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law

#315

Post by wheelie_boy »

techsupporter wrote: post #255
callinyouin wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I hope you get hit!" This, to me, signals the general attitude people have towards bicyclists in the US. The average person either doesn't care or, for some misguided reason or another, actively hates bicyclists. I've been yelled at by drivers for no apparent reason so many times I've lost count. I've had so many friends hit by cars. My partner was struck by a car last fall and broke her leg in two places. She's s…

> This, to me, signals the general attitude people have towards bicyclists in the US. The average person either doesn't care or, for some misguided reason or another, actively hates bicyclists. I've been yelled at by drivers for no apparent reason so many times I've lost count. My experience as a pedestrian (I don't ride a bike on the street so I can't speak to that experience) mirrors this. More than once, I've been…

The only place I would cycle regularly is the Netherlands, because of the infrastructure and the attitude of drivers.

In the US, I have heard that the statistics around biking to work every day is that the median lifespan is higher, but the variability is much higher.

I barely feel safe around other drivers when I'm in my own car, a marvel of technology designed to keep me safe.

Re: Cambridge's Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law

#316

Post by tomjakubowski »

gatherhunterer wrote: post #175
justinator wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what you actually see in The Netherlands. Huh? In the city center, speeds are greatly reduced for cars and bikes, but getting between metropolitan areas, both speeds can climb. You do know there's a whole bike highway system in the Netherlands, right? I think the, "bikes as fast pedestrians" model is a bit outdated. I don't want to be seen as a very fast person on foot, while on my bike. I can hit 30+mph in a…

I think the comparison was about personal safety in the event of a collision, not a slight at your cycling ability.

A cyclist, particularly on a heavy bike, going even 10-15 mph is pretty dangerous for an unaware pedestrian. When people collide on foot at walking pace, it's not too bad.

Re: Cambridge's Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law

#318

Post by zymhan »

wozniacki wrote: post #313
bobwaycott wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why spend public money, and inconvenience drivers in the process, for their sake? Because the cyclists, too, are part of the public? It's not like that public money is solely sourced from automobile drivers. Many people I know who live and work and pay taxes in Atlanta cycle and drive, depending on where they're going. Are you really suggesting auto-drivers are more important citizens whose convenience matters more…

Because the cyclists, too, are part of the public? It's not like that public money is solely sourced from automobile drivers. Then, would you be not opposed to requiring bicycles to be registered, bicyclists to be licensed & taxed just like cars & vehicular traffic does? If you want a lane all to yourself isn't only fair that you pay your fair share toward the building, maintenance and repair of the lanes? Why should…

We do pay our fair share, over half of the road funding in Georgia comes from general revenue, i.e. taxes everyone pays regardless of vehicle.

Don't act like my bike puts as much wear and tear on the road as your 3 ton SUV or the 18-wheelers and delivery trucks.

Re: Cambridge's Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law

#319

Post by wozniacki »

wool_gather wrote: post #253
rayiner wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm suggesting that it's not right to inconvenience the majority (drivers), for the sake of a relatively privileged minority (folks who can afford to live within cycling distance of their jobs downtown).

Before going too far down the road with this argument, you also need to figure out how many of those drivers would use something other than a car if it were feasible . The majority is not necessarily the majority by choice in this case.

It also is useful to bear in mind how small a slice of the larger society people who frequent HN represent.

It is easy to get carried away with these hyper arguments in favor of public transit, bicycling everywhere and for everyone, high density living and removing parking wherever possible.

It is helpful to bear in mind that just because a small canal-ridden city of 800,000 people ( Amsterdam has an area of 85 square miles while even NYC is 302 and Chicago is 234 ) has a high density of cyclists doesn't mean we shape policy for much of the Western world based on that small city of homogeneous people with homogeneous values and neighborhoods.

Re: Cambridge's Ambitious Protected Bike Lane Law

#320

Post by [deleted] »

viburnum wrote: post #123
just_steve_h wrote: post #61

I've lived in Cambridge or neighboring Somerville every year but one since 1989. The cycling infrastructure is much improved and still deadly. Just yesterday, I approached an arterial Street from a side street at 6pm. Cars on the arterial were moving about 8 MPH. I dismounted my bike, and began walking across the arterial in the crosswalk. As I re-mounted on the other side and resumed riding, a white man in a mid-siz…

The thing about cycling is that it’s basically fast walking. In places where cycling dominates people only ride as fast as a quick jogger (10 mph is a 6 minute mile). The correct model for cycling isn’t space on the road, it’s an extra sidewalk with an accommodating turning radius. This is what you actually see in The Netherlands. People think of public spaces as roads and as roads as places for cars to drive and par…

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