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It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

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Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#81

Post by _delirium »

Isinlor wrote: post #75
afarrell wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does someone do if they twist their ankle badly and are on crutches for a month?

You could use "electric mobility scooter"; In Netherlands they are widely available for people with the need. https://www.google.com/search?q=electric+mobility+scooter+di...

I saw these all the time when I lived in Copenhagen as well. NYC needs to make its subway be more accessible for this to be a proper solution, though. In Copenhagen it's easy to take your scooter on the Metro or S-Train for longer distances, and then drive in the bike-lane network for shorter distances. But many NYC subway stations are ancient and don't have accessible entrances, so you can't get a mobility scooter from the street onto the train and back up to the street.

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#82

Post by Thlom »

Isinlor wrote: post #75
afarrell wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does someone do if they twist their ankle badly and are on crutches for a month?

You could use "electric mobility scooter"; In Netherlands they are widely available for people with the need. https://www.google.com/search?q=electric+mobility+scooter+di...

We see the same thing in Oslo, Norway where the local government is trying to reduce car use in the city. The main concern is from people with disabilities who fear for their disability parking. I believe it is because the main mobility device they have been provided is a car, so they have been used to moving about with a car. That they can use electric mobility scooters, electric trikes and a number of other mobility devices and also public transportation like everyone else doesn't seem to cross any ones mind.

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#83

Post by dehrmann »

djsumdog wrote: post #27

NYC needs to dump a lot of work into their rail system, and not slack off in the good times. They keep flipping from having one of the best systems in the US to being plagued by terrible issues, every decade. Chicago hasn't expanded in a while, but they maintain their tracks, buy new stock and renovate stations. I don't think people appreciate how incredibly important all that maintenance is to the city. I hope Chica…

It's cute to talk about banning cars from Manhattan, but the Second Ave. line only has three stations uptown. And like parent said, ongoing maintenance. How's the L doing, these days?

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#84

Post by 4ad »

afarrell wrote: post #56
acd wrote: post #52

I think cars should be banned from most densely populated city centers in general. There is a word describing it "Pedestrianization" Reasoning: Cars pollute the air which makes the people living and walking in the city centers sick. Cars pollute with noise. Cars cause pedestrian and bicycle accidents. Its nice for peoples health to be able to walk and run in open areas. Streets which previously was used by cars can b…

What does someone do if they twist their ankle badly and are on crutches for a month?

The same thing they do in Europe, where cars are banned from almost every city center. We manage just fine.

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#85

Post by bluescrn »

mattmanser wrote: post #65
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #64

Cars work because they solve for the first and last mile (50yards) problem. Public transport is great - but it is coarser than private cars. Even timetabled buses cannot drive down every road The "right" solution is presumably "sharing" car stack (no not Uber style sharing). But boy I am not sure the politics or even economics stack up.

Your legs also solve the first and last mile problem.

Not everyone has a fit and healthy pair of legs

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#86

Post by ThomPete »

Thats the most selfish idea ever. As a single you can live in on manhattan without any cars sure, but got a family, need to do summer camps in jersey but live in brooklyn.

It would make life so much more difficult, and for what? Some wellmeaning but regressive environmentalists who dont need a car. In copenhagen its a disaster imo, and thats a small city.

Big cities are big for a reason, a lot of activity. If you want less car exhaust there are many amazing areas less than 30 minutes from manhattan.

This honestly sounds like political overreaching. We dont need it, especially when there is no actual alternative.

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#87

Post by ThomPete »

capableweb wrote: post #76
nightfly wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but they still need roads. Lots of these plans seem to include re-purposing the roadways, without considering the remaining vehicles that still need roads.

No, not at least what I have seen. Even in the thread you are now answering in, there is examples ( https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/18/paradise-life... ) where a mostly-car street turned into a mostly-pedestrian street, with still the option for vehicle to travel if they must. Same if you take a look at the Superilles (Superblocks) in Barcelona ( http://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/superilles/es/ ), they stil…

Manhattan is different in that it connects New Jersey and Brooklyn into a super region, they are dependent on each other to thrive. Banning cars would be an absurd nightmare at least in this situation.

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#88

Post by markvdb »

gmueckl wrote: post #49
godzillabrennus wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lug around about 6/7 bags of video equipment around from time to time for interviews I do. I could never manage it on the subway. It would otherwise be awesome to have less cars on the roads.

Pedestrian zones in German cities habe exceptions for transportation to or from locations inside them. Otherwise, stores in these areas couldn't get their wares etc. This just prevents regular car traffic and creates a safe space for walking. I don't know if the concept can scale tonan area the size of Manhattan. Just the necessary level of traffic would probably add up to to a lot of vehicles entering and leaving. I…

The Velove Armadillo is a containerised last mile delivery cargo bicycle especially appropriate for dense city centers.

Its use is being expanded in Germany and the Netherlands, by DHL, the big German carrier.

https://www.velove.se/news/dhl-express-taking-the-next-step-...

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#89

Post by mobilefriendly »

ThomPete wrote: post #87
capableweb wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, not at least what I have seen. Even in the thread you are now answering in, there is examples ( https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/18/paradise-life... ) where a mostly-car street turned into a mostly-pedestrian street, with still the option for vehicle to travel if they must. Same if you take a look at the Superilles (Superblocks) in Barcelona ( http://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/superilles/es/ ), they stil…

Manhattan is different in that it connects New Jersey and Brooklyn into a super region, they are dependent on each other to thrive. Banning cars would be an absurd nightmare at least in this situation.

This isn't an actual argument against severely limiting cars. Most of the people traveling the super-region already use the subway or buses. That will become easier and more efficient without private cars.

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#90

Post by mobilefriendly »

ido wrote: post #71
gambiting wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Electric vehicules are usually better than thermal ones, but they're still a big carbon emitter My argument here is always that even if all electricity was produced from coal power plants(it isn't) surely it's much better to have one big carbon emitter far outside of the city, than thousands of smaller carbon emitters in the middle of the city. Yes, it is just externalising the emissions, but I think it's important…

Sure, but it's even more important to make a dent in how severe the incoming climate apocalypse will be. (I'm not against electric vehicles, I'm for aiming most subsidies towards mass transit and cycling infrastructure & most externalities taxation at carbon emitters).

If you have a large single source you can go to work on carbon reduction and carbon capture schemes that make more sense at scale.
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