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Paris cycling numbers double in one year thanks to investment

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Re: Paris cycling numbers double in one year thanks to investment

#71

"I really hope US cities head in this direction" The US is headed on the path of autonomous vehicles as the solution. It's the perfect combination of things our society loves: 1) No new public investment. 2) Continuous, end-to-end air conditioning

Done properly (I know…) autonomous vehicles could be a godsend for cycling in the US. If vehicles behaved properly you wouldn't theoretically need cycling infrastructure at all – the dream of vehicular cycling would actually start working and you could share the road anywhere.

+100...I love driving and will miss it with autonomous cars but I like being able to ride my bike without being nearly killed in the city every week. Autonomous cars (assuming they're trained to deal with bikes) would be a massive benefit I'm keeping my fingers crossed for.

Re: Paris cycling numbers double in one year thanks to investment

#72
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After biking for some months a 15min ride shouldn't get you too sweaty

Why should that be the case? The amount of sweat is only correlated to the amount of heat generated. Only way to counter sweating is to dress appropriately and/or ride slower.

Airflow drastically alters cooling.

Re: Paris cycling numbers double in one year thanks to investment

#74

I don’t get how you can make bicycling your only form of transportation, even if the bike travel infrastructure and parking is adequate. When I bicycle, even for a short amount of time like 15 minutes, I sweat, and end up a stinky wet mess at my destination. Especially in the summer. My shoes and pants get dirty from the road and my hair gets wet and messed up especially if it’s raining. So if I’m going anywhere with…

For most day-to-day things you don't need to cycle longer than 15 minutes in most bike friendly cities. In addition to recommendation by others I would also add that for journeys significantly longer than 15 Minutes you can take public transport for part of it.

Re: Paris cycling numbers double in one year thanks to investment

#75
post #39
post #4

I switched to cycling for transportation. Benefits: 1. way more access to the city 2. eliminated need to go to gym; transport time doubles as cardio time 3. freed up time to see people; 15 minutes door to door is hard to beat I really hope US cities head in this direction. It is a no brainer for cities: 1. higher density -> lower taxes per person, higher tax rev per sqm 2. lower cost of living -> lower inflation 3. q…

There is also a somewhat amusing argument that cycling does not waste your time. you get every hour cycled back as hour added to your expected lifetime: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/10/12/cycling-add-year...

Yeah but it's more time when you're older instead of right now /s

Re: Paris cycling numbers double in one year thanks to investment

#76

As a daily biker in Paris (and for years), I think it is hard to grasp the changes Paris has seen in the last years. You now even get to see some congestion on bike lanes (Bd Sebastopol for instance), because they are too many cyclist on an older (and thus too narrow) bike lane. This change, the new subway lanes, and the reduction of car usage in the city make the city much more enjoyable on a day to day basis, espec…

The right bank is going to be really overcrowded this spring, for sure. Left bank have wider roads and less bikes, but right bank is insane.

It's now up to the point that i rather wait for commute hours to be over before i take my bike to that side.

Re: Paris cycling numbers double in one year thanks to investment

#77
post #19

People not living in Paris can't even grasp how much the city has changed in just 6 years. Starting a bit before 2020 but massively accelerated by the covid situation (and public transport saturation). You could barely cycle safely before and now it's hard to not find a bike lane. Because of the fast pace, of course not everything is perfect but we have to celebrate this as much as we can.

That's a problem I desperately hope the US has to encounter soon. Too much demand and we have to accelerate our plans to satisfy all those people on bikes!

US cities should probably first start focusing on pedestrians.

Re: Paris cycling numbers double in one year thanks to investment

#78
post #9

Having just moved from Houston to Manhattan , I have been really impressed by the number of bikes I see. One factor, which this article doesn’t seem to discuss, is the e-bike. In Paris, is it mostly classical bikes, or are the electronics becoming widespread there too?

I'm in a Paris suburb. Lots of e-bikes and lots of electric scooters.

Re: Paris cycling numbers double in one year thanks to investment

#79
post #33

Title is misleading... the source Le Monde article states that use of certain bicycle paths has doubled (or tripled) in certain places , as investment has gone into improving these paths. That's great, but kind of obvious that if you build out dedicated bike lanes, cyclists are more likely to prefer them to alternate routes.

not sure about the title, but i guarantee that usage has exploded. It's really obvious (and starts to become a problem in certain areas).

Re: Paris cycling numbers double in one year thanks to investment

#80

I don’t get how you can make bicycling your only form of transportation, even if the bike travel infrastructure and parking is adequate. When I bicycle, even for a short amount of time like 15 minutes, I sweat, and end up a stinky wet mess at my destination. Especially in the summer. My shoes and pants get dirty from the road and my hair gets wet and messed up especially if it’s raining. So if I’m going anywhere with…

That sounds like a fitness issue. Millions of people cycle everywhere in Netherlands, in regular clothes, without needing showers in between.

I’m in favor of cycling infrastructure in the US, but it’s important to remember that the latitude of the Netherlands (like most of the European cycling cities) is north of the entire continental US.

I’m in decent shape, but will sweat at a resting heart rate in a Southern US summer.

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