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Car-Free Streets Will Soon Be the Norm

citylab.com

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Re: Car-Free Streets Will Soon Be the Norm

#101

Post by throw0101a »

srhngpr wrote: post #61
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do those work in winter? We had electric scooters, but they were all scooped up by their parent companies in October ahead of the coming months of hell.

You must be from Calgary! Unfortunately, scooters and bikes won't work when there is so much snow during the winter.

Is Calgary any worse than Finland?

* https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/never-mind-the-plo...

> Oulu in Finland and Winnipeg in Canada are two winter cities with remarkably different stories. Oulu is just like Winnipeg – except for the bike paths stretching for miles in every direction and the thousands of people riding bicycles in the snow – says Winter Bike to Work Day founder Anders Swanson

* https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/feb/12/ice-cycles-no...

Re: Car-Free Streets Will Soon Be the Norm

#102

Post by teucris »

sandworm101 wrote: post #44
benrbray wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

America is certainly decades (if not centuries) behind in public transportation. However, these CityLab articles are doing a great thing by highlighting our unhealthy dependence on cars and making it a part of everyday conversation. If we're ever going to change we need to start by agreeing there is a problem and discussing realistic solutions. I don't quite understand your point about the "technological and class di…

They are like a doctor complaining about my i unhealthy dependency on water. I just had to drive 40km between cities for a meeting. There is no train, no bus, no electric skateboard alternative. Sure, maybe we could do the meeting remotely and implement digital signatures on the documents, but that isnt a legal option at the moment. The car-free utopia lies on the other side of countless other revolutions in how soci…

Again, this feels like a strawman argument. Nobody is advocating that we outlaw cars altogether! Urban reform advocates are (correctly) pointing out that car-centric cities promote a self-fulfilling prophesy. In my book, changing that is revolution “A”, and very few people are advocating the nationwide ban on cars revolution “C”.

Re: Car-Free Streets Will Soon Be the Norm

#103

Post by Majestic121 »

ghaff wrote: post #82
dahfizz wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU is over 3x as population dense as the USA. Any plan to make the USA transportation system to look like the EU's is doomed to failure from the beginning. You need to be realistic. You are never going to win hearts and minds by railing against cars - Americans love their cars, and for good reason. A bus is not going to pick you up at your front door the second you walk out, and it's not going to drop you directl…

And most people I know in Europe--especially those who are not just out of school--have cars. Europe is hardly some carless utopia even if public transit is, on the whole, better than in the US.

YMMV. Most of the people I know in Paris either don't have a car, or use it very seldomly (think once a month)

I think it's more about city vs countryside than europe vs US

Re: Car-Free Streets Will Soon Be the Norm

#104

Post by wcarron »

tomtheelder wrote: post #40
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do those work in winter? We had electric scooters, but they were all scooped up by their parent companies in October ahead of the coming months of hell.

Mostly fine, sometimes a problem. It's pretty much like regular bikes (or cars for that matter): some might not work well if there is significant snow/ice, but then you will just need one that is suitable for those sort of conditions. The scooter companies are putting out very low end models that aren't designed for any sort of adverse conditions, and they are scared of lawsuits/blowback from accidents. This sort of…

I hope e-scooters never make it out of infancy. Bikes are infinitely more practical and capable. They are more stable at all speeds. They can have significantly more cargo carrying capacity. Bikes can be fitted (for the most part) with different tires/wheels to handle adverse conditions more easily than a scooter can.

I hope for the infanticide of e-scooter transportation. It's a grotesque, subooptimal solution than exists in spite of a superior low-cost offering that is faaaar more mature.

Re: Car-Free Streets Will Soon Be the Norm

#105

Post by timerol »

everdrive wrote: post #15
monknomo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

80% of Americans live in an urban area

Dense urban areas are harmed by cars, but where do you draw the line? Suppose I can drive through the suburbs of Philadelphia, but not the city center. What happens to the area around the restricted-driving zone? Does it become an crowded parking lot as people trade their cars for transit? I'm not suggesting that there are no solution here -- I'm genuinely asking what the solutions are.

Ideally there would be expensive parking lots right at the edge of the area, and cheaper parking lots further out. So you could park and walk right at the boundary, or park near the Broad Street Line and take that in. Or you could park at a Regional Rail stop even further out and take the train all the way in. Or you could Uber right to the boundary. Depending on where exactly you live and how much you value time vs. money, different options will make sense for different people. But considering that the people who will be getting dropped off right at the boundary would have otherwise been driving to the city center, it doesn't make traffic any worse.

The car-free zone makes sense if it's smaller than the area that has public transit. Note that even in the complete absence of public transit, you can still comfortably implement about a quarter-mile radius of car-free area, since a quarter mile walk is only 5 minutes.

In the US what we're mostly talking about is closing individual downtown streets to through traffic (like, say, Market between 5th to 13th, ignoring the City Hall death circle). On NYC 14th street, any car is allowed, as long as it turns off within 2 blocks. This greatly limits the usefulness of the street to through traffic, (and therefore makes it a much better pedestrian and bus environment) without changing the parking situation at all.

Re: Car-Free Streets Will Soon Be the Norm

#106

Post by metalliqaz »

onreact wrote: post #90

Yeah, I live in Berlin and we have an increasing number of car free zones here where people can move around without being afraid of getting killed. Even children play outside again in such areas without risking their life. Not to mention the lack of noise, pollution and clogged up space with parking cars. Cafes thrive and people stroll around to spend their time and money. Businesses return from the outskirts etc. It…

i think crime rate has little to do with "drug dealers driving through". drug dealers live in the cities too, and most of the ones that interact with users don't have cars. i think falling crime rates are more likely due to improve economic vibrancy

Re: Car-Free Streets Will Soon Be the Norm

#108

Post by ramshorns »

allovernow wrote: post #47
ogre_codes wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the technological and class divide will only widen. Car friendly infrastructure widens the technological and class divide. They create a base state where you are required to own and maintain an expensive piece of equipment in order to be an equal member of society. You are required to have parking for those cars, both at home and at your work. Forcing people to pay thousands of dollars per year to participate in so…

>Car friendly infrastructure widens the technological and class divide. They create a base state where you are required to own and maintain an expensive piece of equipment in order to be an equal member of society. Great, so if we can't all have something, none of us should have it! Forget the fact that the vast majority of families own and benefit from personal transportation, the important thing is that we're all e…

> Is it also repressive to "force" people to hold down jobs to participate in society?

Yes.

> To "force" people to commute to work?

Yes.

> What about the fact that some people have the luxury of working from home? Should we make that illegal as well?

No, that reduces traffic making places more livable.

Re: Car-Free Streets Will Soon Be the Norm

#109

Post by ghaff »

Majestic121 wrote: post #103
ghaff wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And most people I know in Europe--especially those who are not just out of school--have cars. Europe is hardly some carless utopia even if public transit is, on the whole, better than in the US.

YMMV. Most of the people I know in Paris either don't have a car, or use it very seldomly (think once a month) I think it's more about city vs countryside than europe vs US

That's probably fair. Most of the people I know in Europe are a bit older and mostly don't live in e.g. central London.

Re: Car-Free Streets Will Soon Be the Norm

#110

Post by dashundchen »

sdenton4 wrote: post #35
telchar wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parking lots at the border is, in my opinion, much better than parking garages in the center. At least that way the city streets won't be clogged by people coming from out of town. After they get to the city they don't need the cars, so leave them at the edge.

And there's (3 times the change in radius) more space to put the parking lots at the edge... That seems fine!

With lower costs to acquire and build in these areas to begin with, freeing up space to build and densify the core (lowering real estate costs there).
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