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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

#881

Post by Maxburn »

_dain_ wrote: post #659
Maxburn wrote: post #393

I haven't done my research but from what I've gathered from news over the years hasn't London had very high car tax, tolls, super expensive gas, and just outright closing streets and eliminating parking? So with a big enough stick and very little carrot anything is possible? Is that a win? Aren't we hearing that actual residents really don't like these "15 minute" cities?

First, the City of London hardly has any residents; almost all traffic demand comes from outside. I imagine the few residents it has welcomes these measures, since they suffer the bad effects of commuter traffic, while generating little of it themselves. Second, how else are cities meant to do this? The fundamental problem is that there is a huge and rising level of driving demand[1], and limited supply. There is a s…

Where's the carrot? Other than beating drivers over the head what is being done to help the situation? Better mass trans, bikes etc? They are doing that stuff right?

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#882

Post by Maxburn »

koyote wrote: post #728
Maxburn wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 accessib…

OK, that sounds decent. I can see myself doing that.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#883

Post by Maxburn »

Gigachad wrote: post #832
Maxburn wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I get my shopping delivered. Costs me $2 on average, they drive it in a refrigerated small truck and often drop off several deliveries to the same building/street in one trip. And then for stuff I want right now, I just walk to the supermarket with one bag. Since I go out for a walk every day after work, I just head to the supermarket along the way which is about 700m away.

How is delivery any less impact on traffic from driving your own? It would save on parking space though.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#884

Post by Ma8ee »

adgjlsfhk1 wrote: post #365
idopmstuff wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, unfortunately it seems very much like we're heading the opposite direction. People largely congregated in cities because of proximity to work, but as remote work increases that's becoming less of a factor. As people try to find cheaper property and more land, they're going to end up in places where bikes are a whole lot less practical.

bikes are great in small towns with decent infrastructure. the range from 20k to 100k people is kind of perfect for biking because they are a bunch smaller than big cities. in actually rural and suburbia they aren't as good but small towns are perfect.

I’ve had a bicycle as my main mode of transportation for years in a 1M people city.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#885

Post by Maxburn »

milkytron wrote: post #736
Maxburn wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I live in what would be called a 15 minute city, but we don't really call it that. I just bring a bag or two and ride my bike to the store. Or if I'm downtown, which is a 10 minute train ride away, I'll stop by the grocery store next to the station before hopping on the train and just carry my groceries in a bag or put em in my backpack. The only times I choose to drive are when I want to get a large quantity of some…

That's probably healthier for fruit/veg, but I find myself a weekly shopper. Even for just myself the rucksack guy above you might be pushing the limits.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#886

Post by Maxburn »

cmonagle wrote: post #646
Maxburn wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Typically you carry your groceries in a bag. Some people have wheeled bags for bigger trips. In neighborhoods with a traditional urban form (or "15 minute cities"), you wouldn't usually take mass transit to the grocery store, it's within a short walking distance. With groceries close by, it's natural to make frequent, smaller trips.

When I lived in a condo with a shopping center ten minute walk away I still found myself driving it. Sometimes I carried stuff back but it felt like it was more of getting some exercise rather than convenience.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#887

Post by Maxburn »

_dain_ wrote: post #669
Maxburn wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

"but how do you get groceries???" is such a common bad objection it's become something of a meme to make fun of it. don't want to pick on you but getting food is really not that hard to do. you just do smaller shopping trips more often. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYHTzqHIngk what self-proclaimed "15 minute city" are you living in where this is hard? genuinely curious. wondering if the phrase is getting diluted f…

As I noted above it's probably healthier for fruits/veg to shop more than once a week but I just don't like the hassle of grocery shopping that often. If it was along the way from mass trans to my flat maybe, but one stop away definitely not.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#888

Post by moving_sofa »

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…

"Bicycles deliver the freedom that auto ads promise" https://twitter.com/tomflood1/status/1609976864897916930

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#889

Post by plumarr »

kitkat_new wrote: post #816
ars wrote: post #714

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People live there. And they create business nearby. And those business are closer to the rural areas than the cities are. And also, there aren't really any places with just houses and no places of work, that doesn't really exist.

> And also, there aren't really any places with just houses and no places of work, that doesn't really exist. this is exactly what suburbs are. You live there, nothing else. You wake up then you drive to work somewhere else

That's maybe a cultural difference. For example I know of no such place in Belgium even if I'm quite well travelled in it. So it's a least really not common to have suburbs as you describes.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#890

Post by _aavaa_ »

avianlyric wrote: post #779
myrmidon wrote: post #538

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While interesting, this is almost completely irrelevant to bikes: The problem is not primarily water but wet ice or fresh snow. Wet ice is especially dangerous because it can be pretty much invisible and you can transition directly from normal road surface to essentialy ZERO steering ability (and immediate crash if you initiate a turn or anything). There is pretty much no avoiding occasional crashes from this, the on…

Ok, fine. But the argument above it that somehow these issues affect bikes, but not cars. Last I checked black-ice is just as much of a problem for cars.

That is not my argument at all.

My point is that these issues have a bigger impact on the safety of the bike rider than on the car driver.

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