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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

#441

Post by gambiting »

snozolli wrote: post #374
vladvasiliu wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure your friend was actually allowed to take that shortcut with an e-bike going 45 km/h? AFAIK, these are considered "light motorbikes" (or something) and require the same paperwork (aside from an "easier" license) and gear as regular motorbikes. More importantly, they are specifically not bikes and aren't allowed to ride on bike lanes any more than a fat liter+ bike is.

Are you sure your friend was actually allowed to take that shortcut with an e-bike going 45 km/h? If it looks like a bike and you ride it like a bike, you're not going to have any problems riding it where bikes are allowed. It sounds like you envision this person riding at absolutely maximum possible speed at all times.

Until you hit someone with that bike, in which case you will be found 100% guilty and in massive legal trouble.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#442

Post by enriquto »

rickydroll wrote: post #399
substation13 wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

I think the rural/city better for the environment is a bit of cherry picking of statistics. It's important however to respect what's good for each of us. For me, living in the city meant shitty health outcomes, spending way too much money on rent and food, way too many people trying to stick a hand in my pocket for entertainment etc. For me a good life means dark skies, green trees, a chance of dying every time I go…

> Leave the light pollution, the noise, and all those urban attributes in the city.

"The noise"... are you advocating for a rural setting without cars here? Most of light pollution and noise in the cities comes from cars and car infrastructure.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#443

Post by rootusrootus »

lscdlscd wrote: post #126
bartread wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 -…

As this is a UK based article, I'm assuming you mean the Cambridge in England. I happen to live in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the while cyclists can be reckless, the drivers pose a 1000x greater threat to safety than cyclists. As a tip for dealing with cyclists: continue your movement as a pedestrian: they'll go around you. Most pedestrians have headphones in/little awareness of their surroundings, and as a cyclist…

> continue your movement as a pedestrian: they'll go around you.

Please, please tell that to my local cyclists. Especially the commuters. The norm here is "ON YOUR LEFT!" about 1.5 seconds before blowing by at 25 mph with two feet of clearance.

How about when you're going to pass a pedestrian, you give them a lot of space and slow down to 5 mph.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#444

Post by scythe »

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…

>- might be impossible depending on work or children

The public (media) conversation has largely focused on whether people give up cars entirely, but at least in America, the norm is for most families to have two cars, if not more. Walking that back to one car would meaningfully reduce the design constraints on medium-density housing — you can build a neighborhood of small houses with only street parking, for example, which is basically impossible when people need two cars — and therefore it would also reduce housing costs in urban neighborhoods.

Ebikes could significantly help with that even if they don't lead to the car-free future envisioned by some techno-urbanists. For example, your girlfriend has a car.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#445

Post by avianlyric »

nicehill wrote: post #419
jkaljundi wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tractors and snowplows. Salt kills the bicycles and salty slush is much worse to drive in. Hard packed snow is actually the best to ride on. Interestingly Oulu bike roads clearing contract states the company doing the snowplowing can do inspections only on bicycles, not cars :)

Maybe hard packed snow is a strategy for only flat cities Seattle infamously tried the hard packed snow strategy about a decade ago, and it turned it into a dangerous (hilly) ice rink

There's a difference between riding on hard pack with a bike, and driving a car over it. I have no idea why you think an experiment with hard-pack snow on automotive roads is in anyway indicative of what works on cycle lanes.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#446

Post by foepys »

abricq wrote: post #172

This news literally makes me so happy. I can't wait to see it propagating around the world ! Riding a bike it better for your health, for the environment, makes cities much safer places, better for your mood as well & even better for your wallet. For people who have the chance to work reasonably close to their work, it's THE perfect solution. I bike to work every day since 4/5 years, in Switzerland. Since roughly 18…

I noticed that as well. I guess many people took up cycling as a leisure activity when COVID hit and suddenly noticed how dangerous cars are for them on their bicycles.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#447

Post by rootusrootus »

ClapperHeid wrote: post #180
lscdlscd wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As this is a UK based article, I'm assuming you mean the Cambridge in England. I happen to live in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the while cyclists can be reckless, the drivers pose a 1000x greater threat to safety than cyclists. As a tip for dealing with cyclists: continue your movement as a pedestrian: they'll go around you. Most pedestrians have headphones in/little awareness of their surroundings, and as a cyclist…

>As a tip for dealing with cyclists: continue your movement as a pedestrian: they'll go around you. Most pedestrians have headphones in/little awareness of their surroundings, and as a cyclist I always assume I'm invisible to them and to cars... This! I used to do a 10 mile commute to work through several areas that were designated as shared cycle lane / footpath. Every trip was a slalom of avoiding pedestrians dawdl…

You could just about rewrite this and substitute car for bike and bike for pedestrian, and have it still be true. It's like there is a hierarchy based on speed, and everyone thinks the level below them is a bunch of twats ruining their commute.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#448

Post by uoaei »

ulrikrasmussen wrote: post #339
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 can also just put seats on a normal bike. I have two kids seats on my bike, front and back, and take my 3 and 6yo to kindergarten that way. It's cheaper than a cargo bike, and much less likely to get stolen.

I am dismayed but not surprised at just how much money people will spend on e-bikes to avoid exercise.

There are literally millions of decent analog bike frames bouncing around in various corners of . Getting one up and running, and strapping a seat to the front and back as you have done, would be about 10% the cost of a new e-bike, and maintenance would be negligible.

Plus, you get to eat whatever you want guilt-free!

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#449

Post by wiredfool »

p1mrx wrote: post #346
yakubin wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as there is the law of conservation of energy, there is also the law of conservation of momentum. Both explain it equally well IMO.

How can mv and mv² explain the damage "equally well", when one is linear and the other is quadratic with respect to velocity?

Momentum is always conserved. Energy is partially conserved. If it squishes, it will be more like MV, if it bounces, it's more like 1/2 mv^2.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#450

Post by glacials »

nomel wrote: post #433
rickydroll wrote: post #376

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. Magical thinking will not make it so. My partner and I moved further away from the city where she works because we wanted to move in together and we can't afford rent or property where either of us used to live. I work from home so most the time my car sits charging the driveway. However, a…

> we can't afford rent or property where either of us used to live. I’ve never seen this not be the case. Are European cities organized differently or something? I’ve never see affordable living within biking distance of a business district, in the US. Prices are usually double.

Yes. European cities were, in general, well-developed before the car was invented.

US cities are built around the car. This means more space dedicated to parking, which means less space for homes and businesses, which means things are farther apart, which means people need cars.

It’s a negative feedback loop.

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