Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Coronavirus has caused a bicycling boom in New York City

grist.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 160 posts

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

#121

Post by thawaway1837 »

cochne wrote: post #114
jeffadotio wrote: post #112

> it was uncertain whether New Yorkers who aren’t used to cycling on the city’s inconsistent network of bike lanes —which are frequently clogged by parked or idling cars and trucks — would take the mayor’s advice The notion that New Yorkers use bike lanes is funny. I live on a major Manhattan avenue with a bike lane and there is at least three times as much bicycle traffic on the sidewalk right next to it. Even motor…

Which avenue is that? Whenever I am cycling I see most people in the bike lane if there is one available.

Yeah, that’s never been my experience. You may see some scooters on the sidewalk. Bicycles are far more likely to be on the road than sidewalks.

Note that kids under a certain age are allowed to bike on the sidewalk.

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

#122

Post by watwut »

Alex3917 wrote: post #25
thedance wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the whole problem with American bicycle culture summarized in a single post. There’s way too many carbon-fiber sports bikes and not anywhere near enough step-through town bikes with panniers, fenders and lights.

The basic issue is that in Amsterdam most trips are only a mile or two, whereas in NYC it's often a 10 or 15 mile commute between home and work. But yeah if you're only going a couple miles on mostly flat terrain then no question a commuter bike is a better choice.

Amsterdam has humidity and weather in which parts corrode. And bikes get stolen often. It just does not make sense to buy expensive bike that gonna get damaged fast or stolen fast.

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

#123

Post by watwut »

zck wrote: post #99
microtonal wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My commute would be almost six miles by bicycle. I'm not especially looking to replace the subway with a bike trip. We cycled 8 miles to high school every day (so, 16 per day). Cycling 6 miles is not a lot, unless you have to stop every minute at a traffic light. Up till 1.5 year ago (when I wasn't working remotely), I cycled 7 miles to work every single day (also through rain and snow). For good measure, I'd take an…

> Cycling 6 miles is not a lot... If you say so. It is for me. It's not only a long distance (google maps says 35 minutes, which I suspect is an underestimate), but also would be significantly inconvenient -- do I shower at work, and when I get home? What if I want to go somewhere after work -- leave the bike and come back for it? I love the idea of biking, but I don't see it being useful for my commute.

> do I shower at work, and when I get home?

Observation: those who bike fast and get sweaty or live far shower at work. It is typically quick shower. No idea what they do at home.

Slow people who dont sweat dont shower at work.

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

#124

Post by MiroF »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #24
Scoundreller wrote: post #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 pla…

There has been barely any snow this year in New York. Certainly none was on the bridges before the corona thing. It hasn't regularly been freezing even for most of February. Which was mostly the same as last March. While it's probable that the warmer weather probably has had some effect, I doubt it can explain the whole increase.

I think you likely missed the part where it is a 50% increase compared to last years March, not February 2020.

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

#125

Post by kevstev »

crazygringo wrote: post #95

As another commenter mentions, last March was freezing cold and this March has been relatively warm. (I went jogging last night in Brooklyn in 63°F weather!) But the article also doesn't mention that Citibike finally rolled out the e-bikes for good. I'm not sure how much of a difference that's making, but I wouldn't be surprised if that also accounts for an extra increase on the bridges specifically, since getting up…

Those e-bikes also have special cheaper pricing for trips that start or end outside of Manhattan, in order to stimulate this type of trip.

Something correlation... causation... can't remember the rest... :)

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

#126

Post by dvdkhlng »

drocer88 wrote: post #47
peteradio wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the wrong interpretation. It is a shift in the date of the turn on curve, not a bump in the plateau of 5-10C, that would be end of days bro.

FYI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesozoic#Climate The climate of the Cretaceous is less certain and more widely disputed. Probably, higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are thought to have almost eliminated the north-south temperature gradient: temperatures were about the same across the planet, and about 10°C higher than today.

FYI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faint_young_Sun_paradox

Solar radiation intensity has been increasing gradually since the earth was formed. Current sun intensity may not allow for the same CO2 concentrations that earth tolerated in prehistoric times.

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

#128

Post by closeparen »

sashk wrote: post #18

...if only there were dedicated bike lines. most of my commute on a bike takes those, but most of them are blocked by parked cars.

I can pass parked cars in relative comfort, but stopped buses are way beyond my risk tolerance, and those are ~80% of the bike lane obstructions I meet in SF. Why bother cycling if you’re going to be limited to the bus’s schedule anyway?

Well, I guess COVID-19 is a reason.

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

#129

Post by peteradio »

throwaway5752 wrote: post #49
peteradio wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the wrong interpretation. It is a shift in the date of the turn on curve, not a bump in the plateau of 5-10C, that would be end of days bro.

"that would be end of days bro." That is why climate scientists have been trying to change the phrasing to "Climate emergency". It is not a shift in seasonal changes, summers will get warmer, also.

Do you honestly believe that the cause of a 5-10C average in Feb/March is not due to a shift, but will actually materialize into +10-20F average over this Summer?

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

#130

Post by btgeekboy »

CydeWeys wrote: post #6
quantdev wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The handlebars are also out in the sun. I'd think that subjects them to the UV light needed to kill any of the nasty stuff; but I could be wrong.
Post reply on HN