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Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

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Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#4
post #2

I wonder if it's better to take the subway, or use a citibike. With the shared bikes, you're farther away from other people, but you're physically touching the shared bike all the time.

You can sanitize a bike pretty easy, or just wear gloves, you only really touch the handlebars. More control over whose air you breathe. I can understand the choice.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#5
post #2

I wonder if it's better to take the subway, or use a citibike. With the shared bikes, you're farther away from other people, but you're physically touching the shared bike all the time.

The primary transmission route in inhalation in close proximity to an infected person. Yes, it can persist on surfaces, but this hand-washing meme is mostly a result of (1) it costs nothing and may help, so we should try and (2) masks are supply limited and the healthcare industry doesn't have enough. In reality, if we had an abundance of masks, masks would be more important than hand washing. As it stands, we reserve them for HC workers and infected persons. The point being, subways are worse.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#6
post #5
post #2

I wonder if it's better to take the subway, or use a citibike. With the shared bikes, you're farther away from other people, but you're physically touching the shared bike all the time.

The primary transmission route in inhalation in close proximity to an infected person. Yes, it can persist on surfaces, but this hand-washing meme is mostly a result of (1) it costs nothing and may help, so we should try and (2) masks are supply limited and the healthcare industry doesn't have enough. In reality, if we had an abundance of masks, masks would be more important than hand washing. As it stands, we reserv…

If you take the hand washing and not touching your face, then you're at almost zero risk from using shared bicycles. Even if someone gets some rona on the handlebars, if you don't transfer it to an orifice in your face you won't catch it. It's not gonna re-aerosolize off the handlebars.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#7
post #2

I wonder if it's better to take the subway, or use a citibike. With the shared bikes, you're farther away from other people, but you're physically touching the shared bike all the time.

Because the bike industry is currently switching over from rim brakes to disc brakes, you can get some pretty good deals on older (but still brand new) road bikes if you look around. A few months ago I bought a carbon road bike for less than $1,500 including tax. Granted expect to spend at least as much on accessories, but if you live somewhere where you can use it for both commuting and exercise then it still pays for itself pretty quick.

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#8
I've definitely noticed a decline in the number of people on the streets of Manhattan and riding the subway. It's been a breath of fresh air. It's easier than usual to get a seat on the train, so I've been taking full advantage of the opportunity.

I haven't really noticed a change in the number of cyclists, but the weather has gotten much better recently so it makes sense that people are biking again. It might be the virus, but it's probably just the good weather (correlation != causation).

Re: Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

#10
> The city’s Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday that it’s seen a 50 percent increase in bike traffic on bridges connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn and Queens compared to last March.

It's also been regularly 5-10C warmer than average each day so far in March:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/new-york/10007/march-weath...

Almost entirely above freezing means no snow either.

And bridges are the first place to melt their snow/ice.

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