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Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

forbes.com

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Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#291

Post by dsfyu404ed »

trgn wrote: post #122
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Bicycles are the best machine from the industrial revolution. Quiet, healthy, efficient, harmonious with our sensibilities. I think it is precisely these aspirational qualities that is enraging the morlocks in their cars (speaking for US only now, it's better in other countries). A bicycle is a shameful reminder of the virtuous path not taken. The power loom? The electrical generator? The steam engine? The telegraph…

lol way to miss the point. Hyperbole is a rhetorical device to emphasize a point. I'm so tired of the internet. Anyway, yes, let me revise, bicycles are the best invention, of ALL TIME! Power loom: ushered in capitalist mode of production, alienating us from our labor. Electrical generator: it's cool I guess. Steam engine: start of the fetishization of the engineering aesthetic. Awful. Only redeeming quality is that…

> lol way to miss the point. Hyperbole is a rhetorical device to emphasize a point.

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/738/025/db0...

Your "hyperbole" was solidly within the fat part of the bell curve of "what people of your bent say unironically". You don't get to say you were just pretending when it's called out for being absurd.

Also, poe's law is very relevant here.

>ower loom: ushered in capitalist mode of production, alienating us from our labor. Electrical generator: it's cool I guess. Steam engine: start of the fetishization of the engineering aesthetic. Awful. Only redeeming quality is that it gave us steam punk fiction 200 years later. Telegraph: instant communication is way overrated.

Once again, it's not whimsical hyperbole when there's no shortage of people saying more or less exactly the same thing unironically.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#292

Post by substation13 »

holoduke wrote: post #227
matsemann wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - might be impossible depending on work or children; The newer style of cargo bikes can for many families replace a car. Have two kids seated in the trunk of the bike and drop them off at kindergarten, then continue biking to work and pick them up on the way home. Those are a bit on the pricier side, though. Still cheap compared to a car, but people often look at them as something "extravagant" or "in addition" to…

You live in a city bubble. I have three kids and live in a suburban town about 40km away from the nearest big city. No way i can live without a car. I do have bikes and use them often to bring kids to school. But many friends and family are scattered arround the country. Many places i go to with my kids can only visited by car. And i find a car often very useful during a period of reconstruction of my house or garden…

This is why cities are better for the environment. I don't think rural car usage has nearly as much negative impact as driving in a big city though, so this shouldn't be a strong policy focus. Awesome that the kids can ride to school!

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#293

Post by scott_w »

bartread wrote: post #229
Xylakant wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What you say would only really be true if there weren't a portion of the population - even only a minority - who are, for want of a better word, massive dickheads (or simply very inattentive and situationally unaware). Isn‘t the same statement true for car drivers? But the major difference is that a car turns a dickhead into a mortal danger for other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists alike, while a bike doesn‘t.

> Isn‘t the same statement true for car drivers? In theory I agree with you, but in practice the behavioural differences are noticeable, at least in Cambridge. One example (admittedly anecdata from somebody who spends a lot of time on the road using different modes of transport, including foot): lots of cyclists blow through red lights, (relatively speaking) very few car drivers do so. Of course, the stakes of a car…

> What I'm contending against is not cycling as a mode of transport, but the assumption that with greater adoption of cycling comes greater safety.

The Netherlands has a massive cycling uptake and has some of the safest roads in Europe. What you say simply doesn’t hold water. Cyclists are simply not killing in the numbers that car drivers are.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#294

Post by rhaway84773 »

ghusto wrote: post #99

My main transportation vehicle for anything under 15km is a bicycle. I go through rain, ice, snow — doesn't make a difference to me, I'll be cycling. Yes, I've cycled through storms, can't see what the fuss is about really. I would still never cycle in London. It doesn't have proper cycle infrastructure, just some painted lines on roads designed for cars. You're taking your life in your hands there. The car drivers a…

Ice scares me. Rain and snow are not a problem.

But I usually bike in areas with shared infrastructure with cars. I wonder if I would be less worried about ice if slipping and falling wouldn’t mean I will potentially get driven over by a car.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#295

Post by chriswarbo »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #42
Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #3

Note that the "City of London" is not the whole of the London built-up area, but just the financial services district, slightly more than one square mile in area. Still, it's a remarkable statistic even then.

If anyone non-UK types are interested in this weird entity — technically dates back to Roman days, and predates the United Kingdom by hundreds of years — this podcast episode is quite funny and informative. Just an example of what a weird anomalous zone it is: the King (or Queen) of England is not legally allowed to enter without explicit permission from the mayor — not the mayor of London, the Lord Mayor of this squ…

> It's like if Wall Street could tell the President of the US to take a hike

An alternative take:

If it turns out, by some legislative fluke, that a particular square mile of the US is not bound by all of its laws, it won't be long until Wall St companies start moving their headquarters!

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#296

Post by ilyt »

afavour wrote: post #116
raphaelj wrote: post #36

Somewhat unrelated to the article, but I live in a mid-size EU city and dumped my car for an e-bike a few months ago. Surprisingly, it hasn't been that hard (my GF kept her car, and I have a car-sharing subscription): Pros: - Immediately stopped having insomnia. Better feel overall; - about €300/month in additional disposable income. That's basically a free lunch everyday! - significantly faster if parking is taken i…

I live in NYC and love being car free. But with two kids that within a few years will be attending two different schools the pull of car ownership gets stronger and stronger. It’s depressing, especially as there is so much the city could do to encourage bikers but never does.

It's weird dissonance, here in rural village I cycled a lot to school during reasonable weather (from like age of 8, around ~10km), and outside of that school bus. Of course not really a option in unsafe spaces or younger kids.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#297

Post by Zigurd »

bartread wrote: post #37
lscdlscd wrote: post #2

Amazing news! More cyclists (and fewer motorists) on the streets creates a safer, less polluted city environment for everyone.

Whilst I'm overall in favour of promoting cycling as a way of getting around, in preference to motor vehicles, I'm not sure I entirely agree with "safer". I live in Cambridge and have lost count of the number of times I've had to contend with cyclists blowing through pedestrian crossings on a red light (or zebra crossings at any time) when I'm trying to walk over them, or cycling the wrong way down a one-way street -…

Half of road deaths worldwide are pedestrians. The number killed by cyclists is so small it is under the significant digits of the total.

Cyclists violating traffic rules is frequently cited in anti-cycling astroturf, of which you can find current examples and a deep archive at StreetsBlog.

This "Overall it constantly shocks me how little responsibility cyclists take for their own safety." just screams "I'm a dickhead driver likely to hurt someone and I want a defense."

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#298

Post by scott_w »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #168
Xylakant wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What you say would only really be true if there weren't a portion of the population - even only a minority - who are, for want of a better word, massive dickheads (or simply very inattentive and situationally unaware). Isn‘t the same statement true for car drivers? But the major difference is that a car turns a dickhead into a mortal danger for other drivers, pedestrians and cyclists alike, while a bike doesn‘t.

People who dick around like that in a car find themselves in jail really quickly. People who do it on a bike wave self-righteously at the police while flagrantly violating the law, and get away with it.

I watched a car drive straight into someone yesterday. The police refused to come out.

I don’t see how that squares with your statement at all.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#299

Post by judge2020 »

ArcticLandfall wrote: post #266
holoduke wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You live in a city bubble. I have three kids and live in a suburban town about 40km away from the nearest big city. No way i can live without a car. I do have bikes and use them often to bring kids to school. But many friends and family are scattered arround the country. Many places i go to with my kids can only visited by car. And i find a car often very useful during a period of reconstruction of my house or garden…

> You live in a city bubble Or relatively, you live in a suburban bubble? Different lifestyles, different modes of transport.

There is no bubble, only a lack of desire to seek out knowledge about other lifestyles. The problems with car culture were not surfaced until the rise and dominance of the internet.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#300

Post by KptMarchewa »

blitzar wrote: post #286
Tade0 wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So I think we will see a shift in where people settle, where they will no longer base their lives around owning multiple cars. Not if real estate in cities remains as expensive as it is now. That's one of the main reasons why so many people move out and choose to spend so much time commuting. Cars are just a means to an end, which is not living in a one-bedroom apartment as a family.

Schools inner city are (typically) terrible.

That's _very_ american assumption. All good schools are "inner" city in my country.
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