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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

#721

Post by mrcartmeneses »

yohannparis wrote: post #544
sharkweek wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In upfront transparency to avoid sounding like I have a superiority complex based on just how much I love my cargo bike, our family does still have a car. Okay that being said… our cargo bike has replaced 90% of our “last mile” driving here in the city. We take the kids to school on it, we do grocery runs, we take it to the park, out to dinner, just about anywhere we can. In the first two years we’ve put at least 2k…

I'm on the same boat. Now I'm the proud owner of two Urban Arrow cargo bikes (His and Hers) and I don't know how to live without it.

Larry vs Harry Bullit rider here. my wife and I even rode it from London to Berlin (cheated with the ferry and train a lot) when we moved in late December. We have 2.5 kids. No car. I use car sharing when I need a van or wanna drive to the airport. Life is good

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#722

Post by emj »

_-____-_ wrote: post #344
jjgreen wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if "road accident" includes incidents on the pavement? Not clear from that document.

Cyclists on the pavement make me so angry. (Also, "pavement" means "sidewalk," for the Americans reading.)

Why be angry about it; they are just scared of cars like the rest of us, I live in a neighborhood where the cyclepath just merges into the pavement. The cyclepath actually continues on the pavement if you look at the papers. My point is that we have pretty heavy traffic of inexperienced cyclists, and I never have an issue with them.

As a cyclist I avoid pavements, the are very seldom the best route anyways. I do understand the fear that make them seem like the best options.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#723

Post by mrcartmeneses »

gambiting wrote: post #414
CydeWeys wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like your underarching problem here is housing costs.

Sure but like.........people always say that (for example) in London you can't live closer to work because houses/flats are too expensive. Ok, I mean that's true, but how are you going to solve that? It's a gigantic city which is already full to the brim, with literally 1000+ years of building on top of every single square inch of land available. You would probably have to demolish large areas of London and replace t…

40-year Londoner here. The truth is that commuting costs compensate for cheaper rents. And where there is a difference you can also factor in the extra “work” time from spending 3 hours commuting every day. This changes when you work from home, but even then there are few places in suburban England where a decent cargo bike can’t replace a car. England isn’t like America where the towns were built around cars. Our towns pre-date them . (Except Milton Keynes)

Also, re-property costs. It’s mostly speculative. If we banned foreign non-resident buyers and disincentivised buy-to-let landlords then prices would be much lower.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#724

Post by olau »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #651
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…

> The newer style of cargo bikes can for many families replace a car This very much feels like "in addition to" rather than replacing a car, at least in the US. My wife and I (without kids) tried living without a car in one of the largest, most walkable cities in the US and it was doable, but it's just soooo much nicer to have a car. Coordinating rentals or even ride shares are a lot more tedious than jumping in a ca…

> Lastly, cycling is probably always going to be less safe than getting around by car (we can and should improve cycling safety, but I don't know that we're ever going to get to parity with driving)

I think you're biased towards where you live. Where I live, cycling is definitely not considered risky, there are plenty of bike paths, and many people do indeed let their children bicycle as their primary means of transportation. One of the benefits is that the children can get around on their own and be more independent.

And yes, 30 years ago there were far fewer bike paths here. So things can change.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#725

Post by [deleted] »

entropicgravity wrote: post #686
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 ride an e-bike and I'm very fond of it, but it's a transitionary solution. What will propagate in cities within twenty years is almost all EV's with covered roads (no poisonous gases) and 'cars' that take up a half of a current lane and can carry three people at most. The car market will split between 'long distance' similar to today's cars and 'city cars' that are tiny compared to today. This will happen because E…

[deleted]

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#726

Post by ryukafalz »

r00fus wrote: post #524
em500 wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most Dutch parents don't bother with harnesses in cargo bikes. Or with helmets on normal bikes.

If they don't have to deal with cars, perhaps it's ok - but yikes. Helmets for everyone because even at 20kph someone could get a nasty/fatal head injury when they're yeeted out of the cargo area.

The cargo area in mine has seatbelts sized for small children.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#727

Post by pharmakom »

Xylakant wrote: post #589
worik wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a tip for dealing with cyclists: continue your movement as a pedestrian As a pedestrian (I am not wearing headphones) please ring your bell if you are passing me on a shared path. It is very frightening to have a cyclist suddenly appear in your field of vision, from behind, terrifying.

The problem is that a lot of people will jump to a random side if you ring. Another large fraction will yell at you. Something that worked comparatively well for me it so shout “I’ll pass on your (left/right)”

Yep, I’ve been yelled at for:

- Ringing the bell

- Asking nicely too quietly

- Asking nicely too loud

- Just passing

You can’t win.

Ultimately people just don’t want you to cycle. This is very much a cultural thing. Anyone cycling past age 15 or so is either poor or dangerously counter cultural. One of the most interesting things about the Netherlands is that is very little bike culture! You don’t see people signalling with messenger bags, cycling caps, bike brand stickers etc. because choosing to cycle is not unusual.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#728

Post by koyote »

Maxburn wrote: post #596
sofixa wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with a big enough stick and very little carrot anything is possible Yep, so all those complaining that nothing is being done or can be done about climate change are wrong. There are tools, they just need to be used. > Aren't we hearing that actual residents really don't like these "15 minute" cities? We're also hearing that Zuckerberg is a lizard and the Earth is flat, so fucking what? London is a major metropolis,…

Do you live there? In a utopian ideal it seems kind of nice having "everything you need" close by. Thinking about it critically I currently live in a 15 minute city, but there is a car involved. I'm kind of confused about how people living in mass transit even get groceries, can you take your own cart on the train?

As someone who lived in London for nearly a decade, getting groceries was 100x easier than when I lived somewhere you had to drive for 15-30 minutes (traffic) to get to a large hypermarket.

A rucksack will easily carry around 5-6 days of food. Other than that, I would simply pop by the shop on my commute home from work. It would be a 5-10 minute detour max.

Remember that the shops in such cities are directly accessible (no need to walk through a massive shopping centre), there's no time wasted on finding a parking space, there's so many shops that it's extremely likely that there's at least one between your home and the bus/tube stop and they're mostly exclusively filled with food so you're not walking past dozens of aisles filled with non-groceries.

The big bonus of course is that if you wake up in the morning and realise you're out of milk, it's a usually a There's also generally less food waste (as you shop for fewer days and can plan better) and you can opt into buying your fruit, veg, meat and fish fresh every day instead of having to hope that your 'big shop' at the megastore will still be fresh at the end of the week.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#729

Post by f_devd »

chroma wrote: post #713
locallost wrote: post #602

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that metric, walking is the most dangerous mode of transport. Somehow seems illogical.

The comparison is valid because people in this thread are saying that bikes should substitute for many car trips. If they were saying the same thing about walking then I’d make the point about waking safety. But walking can’t substitute for many car trips so it’s a non-issue. Cars have disadvantages and externalities, but they are much safer than bicycles. This is true even in the most bike-friendly countries on eart…

They are a replacement for cities not for all road travel, same way trucks aren't going to be replaced by scooter, it's a different mode of transportation better suited for shorter distances. The comparison could be valid if you filter the car travel for <15km of planned route.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#730

Post by barbazoo »

sandworm101 wrote: post #81
alkjsdlkjasd wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - weather might make the ride unpleasant; As the Dutch like to say: there is no such thing as bad cycling weather, only bad cycling clothes. I would strongly recommond a pair of water/wind proof trousers to go over your regular trousers, if you don't already have some. This has lead to a much more pleasant riding experience, especially in winter. They aren't very practical on a regular bike as they make you uncomfo…

>> As the Dutch like to say: there is no such thing as bad cycling weather, only bad cycling clothes. Easy to say in a country famously flat, small, and with a relatively narrow weather window. I welcome any Dutch person to attempt a 15+km commute during a rocky mountain winter. I know of driveways in US/Canada with more vertical than any Dutch commute.

How many people live in the Rockies though? And how many live in relatively flat cities. You're not wrong I just think that this is akin to saying EVs aren't practical in the US because of Alaskan winters.
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