Something special is happening in Barcelona • Hacker News Board

Re: Something special is happening in Barcelona

#41

Post by permalac » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 9:18 PM UTC

GekkePrutser wrote: post #13

I live there too, and traffic here is pretty busy. Personally I don't really understand why so many people drive. Because public transport here is extremely efficient and cheap. I don't even own a car here and I'm really happy to no longer need one. But if I had kids I wouldn't really let them participate. Even with the police escort, they might lose the group and be on their own in this busy city. I'm from near Amst…

Being in power thanks to Manuel Valls, who was running for a reactionary far right party, did not help on her reputation.

Also, she is leading the highest amount of council driven evictions, which does not help either. (for context she reached office on her first time thanks to the anti eviction associations.)

She is green, yes.

But she is over promising and under delivering.

Re: Something special is happening in Barcelona

#42

Post by carapace » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 9:21 PM UTC

throwawaysea wrote: post #21

Fargren wrote: post #4

Reminds me of Masa Crítica in Buenos Aires, a monthly event where lots (probably around a hundred, maybe two?) of bikers would pedal from the city center to the outskirts, to show support for the rights of people using bicycles.

Critical mass events are incredibly disruptive and are an offensively aggressive act to those who are just trying to go about their day and use the infrastructure for its funded intent - which is to say, cars and other motorized vehicles that move at higher speeds. It’s one thing to advocate for changes through proper political channels. It’s another thing entirely to hijack infrastructure, clog intersections by circ…

You're being little hyperbolic (in re: SF Critical Mass) but not by much. I live in SF, don't drive, and I used to commute by bike, but IMO the advocacy here can get a little, um, intense.

Re: Something special is happening in Barcelona

#43

Post by Muromec » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 9:22 PM UTC

throwawaysea wrote: post #20

This would be incredibly frustrating to me as a car driver. I don’t think having shared roads for a vocal minority of bikers makes sense. It basically slows down everyone to bike speed, which I realize is the unspoken strategy of bike activists, and it is also why I am against supporting bike-friendly policies in their current form. It makes more sense to have cities build raised biking/walking lanes outside of the t…

>Why aren’t cities exploring such strategies to accommodate those who like the fast point to point benefits of cars alongside those who are OK taking it slow or going out for a bike ride?

Because everybody wants to get from point to point fastest and safest way possible and doing it by car is not the answer which scales.

Re: Something special is happening in Barcelona

#44

Post by agumonkey » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 9:23 PM UTC

yawaworht1978 wrote: post #38

I used to live in Barcelona, the infrastructure is definitely anti car in every aspect, it's desired to be. For such a large city, the car traffic is minimal, there are not enough parking opportunities, especially at the beach. There would be space, but the government knows better, if you have ever been in a tourist destination in Spain during peak season you will know that there is no way to accommodate all the cars…

how did people react to reduction of cars ? in many places every step toward reduction of car use is met with a lot of rants if not anger.

Re: Something special is happening in Barcelona

#45

Post by SkeuomorphicBee » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 9:25 PM UTC

throwawaysea wrote: post #21

Fargren wrote: post #4

Reminds me of Masa Crítica in Buenos Aires, a monthly event where lots (probably around a hundred, maybe two?) of bikers would pedal from the city center to the outskirts, to show support for the rights of people using bicycles.

Critical mass events are incredibly disruptive and are an offensively aggressive act to those who are just trying to go about their day and use the infrastructure for its funded intent - which is to say, cars and other motorized vehicles that move at higher speeds. It’s one thing to advocate for changes through proper political channels. It’s another thing entirely to hijack infrastructure, clog intersections by circ…

That is a very clueless take. Cars disruptively and offensively aggressively hijack that infrastructure every single day, then cyclists claim back one single road for only two hours a month and you claim they are the disruptive ones? They are not clogging intersections, they are using them.

The intent of the infrastructure is to move people, cars and other motorized vehicles hijacked it and excluded other users.

And to claim that cyclists are violent towards drivers is the pinnacle of absurdity. Drivers using their 2 tonne heavy machinery as a weapon, driving towards people, and then you blame the victims for tapping on the bonnet of the aggressors weapon.

Re: Something special is happening in Barcelona

#46

Post by agumonkey » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 9:25 PM UTC

frereubu wrote: post #40

I had an idea similar to this, based on my experience of Critical Mass cycle rides in London: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass_(cycling) It was called "Cycle Pods", which would be mini-critical mass rides for commuters. You'd probably need between five and ten riders who cycle the same route each day at a roughly similar pace, so you could register with a route and see whose rides were similar to yours. Th…

damn I thinking about this for a while and found nothing, you're the first with links toward prior history. Super interesting.

Re: Something special is happening in Barcelona

#47

Post by frereubu » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 9:26 PM UTC

throwawaysea wrote: post #21

Fargren wrote: post #4

Reminds me of Masa Crítica in Buenos Aires, a monthly event where lots (probably around a hundred, maybe two?) of bikers would pedal from the city center to the outskirts, to show support for the rights of people using bicycles.

Critical mass events are incredibly disruptive and are an offensively aggressive act to those who are just trying to go about their day and use the infrastructure for its funded intent - which is to say, cars and other motorized vehicles that move at higher speeds. It’s one thing to advocate for changes through proper political channels. It’s another thing entirely to hijack infrastructure, clog intersections by circ…

I participated in London, and saw mostly the opposite. Most of the ride was well-behaved and didn't hold people up much, and there were drivers constantly behaving in really dangerous ways, like trying to drive into the mass. Like you and someone else who replied to you, I was uncomfortable with the deliberate blocking of intersections, but "participants should be arrested and charged" is way over the top for what used to happen in London - perhaps SF had a different vibe.

Re: Something special is happening in Barcelona

#48

Post by noobermin » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 9:32 PM UTC

throwawaysea wrote: post #20

This would be incredibly frustrating to me as a car driver. I don’t think having shared roads for a vocal minority of bikers makes sense. It basically slows down everyone to bike speed, which I realize is the unspoken strategy of bike activists, and it is also why I am against supporting bike-friendly policies in their current form. It makes more sense to have cities build raised biking/walking lanes outside of the t…

Traffic already slows everyone down, no need for bike activists to do that.

Re: Something special is happening in Barcelona

#49

Post by dgellow » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 9:35 PM UTC

Tomte wrote: post #25

Some towns in Germany have this concept for students walking to their schools. There are even improvised bus stop signs at the side of the road.

We called this Pédibus in my Swiss hometown when I was a kid in the 90s and 00s. We had signs where kids could wait for the “walking bus”, a group of kids going to school together, often lead by an adult.

Edit: that’s still a thing! https://pedibus.ch/

Re: Something special is happening in Barcelona

#50

Post by SkeuomorphicBee » Sat, Oct 23, 2021, 9:36 PM UTC

Fargren wrote: post #4

Reminds me of Masa Crítica in Buenos Aires, a monthly event where lots (probably around a hundred, maybe two?) of bikers would pedal from the city center to the outskirts, to show support for the rights of people using bicycles.

It also reminded me of Massa Critica here in Porto Alegre (Brazil). Unfortunately it also reminded me of the time a driver here purposefully plowed thru the whole peloton of cyclists, injuring dozens.