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Twike

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Re: Twike

#61

Post by dkdbejwi383 »

adflux wrote: post #24
nondave wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had to do all of those things, and still agree that towns and cities being designed with cars as the default mode of transport is insane

I'm just curious if you grew up in a very large city and haven't been to other countries? Because public transport as a primary form of transportation simply isn't feasible in many places. And I was responding to the statement about cars being the worst invention of the 21st century...

Public transport is feasible in smaller cities and towns too. Freiburg im Breisgau is a great example. 230,000 people, pedestrianised centre, 5 tram lines, very low car usage. When I lived there, everyone I knew either walked, cycled or used the tram.

Re: Twike

#62

Post by dkdbejwi383 »

raverbashing wrote: post #25
adflux wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spoken as someone who hasn't ever driven a person to a hospital, or had to travel to work by car, or had to be driven to school by a school bus etc etc etc

For real, I'm all for alternative modes of transportation, but some people seem to really do think that their groceries and the stuff they buy on a pedestrianized high-street appear there by magic.

The way this works in many places with pedestrianised centres, is that it is open for goods traffic from 05:00 - 07:30 for example. Or, there will be some loading bays for goods vehicles to park nearby, with cycle wagons to take the goods the last 100 metres or so to the actual storefront.

It's all about reducing the impact of motor vehicles. They do have benefits, nobody is arguing that all motor vehicles should cease to exist. But we should limit the pollution, noise, danger, space used up.

Re: Twike

#63

Post by jtwaleson »

frereubu wrote: post #3

I love this in principle, but the one thing I always wonder about recumbent bicycles is how visible they are to lorries / trucks. I've seen some with a tall aerial-like stem and a flag on top of it, but knowing how bicycles can be pretty invisible to cars even when wearing a reflective top at their eye height, I think I'd always be anxious about being crushed from behind. I suppose that says a lot about cycling infra…

Wow, that is expensive for such a simple design.

I live in the Netherlands and these are too fast for bicycle paths and too unsafe for regular roads. Love the idea, but we would need much cheaper mass production and a completely different road infrastructure.

Re: Twike

#66

Post by petruil_p »

Having such cars in the city would solve the traffic problem. But why are not selected from the car industry holders? Does the customer not prefer them? Is the marketing that is missing? A good example of transition in the car industry is the massive use of the electric cars which I think that it began with Tesla cars. Tesla cars did the break through for the electric cars from my point of view. There is a need for another break through for using such cars.. or an evolutionary part of the community to start using and search such solutions

Re: Twike

#67

Post by usrusr »

el_nahual wrote: post #12

Another example of how, if you had to design a vehicle for passenger city/suburban use, you would never ever ever come up with an ICE sedan, or to be honest even an electrical vehicle of "normal" proportions. Pretty sure the car is the most harmful invention of the 20th century. The damage it has done to the environment, our health, and social fabric is hard to grok. A couple edits for clarification: - I'm talking ab…

> Less obvious is the damage to social fabric. It's not just a distance thing: it's an estrangement thing.

Anecdotal data point: pre-pandemic I was insisting on going to work by subway instead of cycling despite the bike being almost twice as fast. Because on the subway, I see people, whereas on the bike I only see cars. The people on the subway I'd only ignore, hard, (being a somewhat unsociable person in a somewhat unsociable region of a somewhat unsociable country), but that's still a far more human interaction than coexisting with cars. There are people inside, but the only time you notice is when they are at being a particularly bad driver. All other times it feels more like being in a herd of large, sluggish steel beasts.

Re: Twike

#68

Post by bserge »

frereubu wrote: post #3

I love this in principle, but the one thing I always wonder about recumbent bicycles is how visible they are to lorries / trucks. I've seen some with a tall aerial-like stem and a flag on top of it, but knowing how bicycles can be pretty invisible to cars even when wearing a reflective top at their eye height, I think I'd always be anxious about being crushed from behind. I suppose that says a lot about cycling infra…

Ah, so they just multiplied the ridiculous cost of bicycles by the ridiculous cost of electric cars. Brilliant.

Re: Twike

#69

Post by bmn__ »

faeyanpiraat wrote: post #43
nondave wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had to do all of those things, and still agree that towns and cities being designed with cars as the default mode of transport is insane

It's fine, the main problem is that 90% (imaginary data) of the cars in cities are not used. If all "normal" people used car sharing services or taxis, then a lot of roads could have 1 more lane (where parking normally occurs), which would increase the throughput of the streets. All the peak hour traffic circling around their destination struggling to find a parking spot would also disappear. This would reduce the ov…

> the main problem is that 90% (imaginary data) of the cars in cities are not used

Reality is even worse than your imagination.

https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=cars+are+parked+*+of+t...

Re: Twike

#70

Post by LightG »

Helmut10001 wrote: post #56
el_nahual wrote: post #12

Another example of how, if you had to design a vehicle for passenger city/suburban use, you would never ever ever come up with an ICE sedan, or to be honest even an electrical vehicle of "normal" proportions. Pretty sure the car is the most harmful invention of the 20th century. The damage it has done to the environment, our health, and social fabric is hard to grok. A couple edits for clarification: - I'm talking ab…

Add to this list: The estrangement that happens when people drive with their SUVs. A car built like a tank entails a certain behavioral or interaction with other people that is detrimental to social cohesion and empathy.

100% this.

I live near a school and witnessing the quality of social interactions from Mums* , encapsulated by their SUV-tanks as if controlling a Gundam, is a sight to behold.

* Sorry, it mainly is Mums in this situation. And I'm fully cognizant of ejut Dads/Men driving madly in other situations.

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