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Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

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Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#141

Post by randunel »

alerighi wrote: post #122

The problem that car solved years ago, is the following: you can develop a city without cars up to a point where the distance that you have to move to get to your work, or the supermarket, the hospital, etc is at max some km, let's say not more than 10/20. That has the consequence that all people wants to live in the city center, and not in peripherals areas. This has the consequence of making the cost of an house (o…

There are other means of in-city transportation, you know https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Railway

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#142

Post by discomrobertul8 »

stephen_g wrote: post #4

I think the thing that really struck a chord with me about car-centric development, as someone who lives in a city with fairly poor public transport (by certain standards, it would actually be quite good if it were in the US) and where driving is the norm for getting around - Prioritising cars actually makes things worse for drivers. We spend many tens of billions of dollars a year on roads in my state and traffic in…

There's also the "south east Qld option" (which I'm certain is the region you're describing in your comment) where the government is so roadbrained that all public transport solutions inevitably end up as some form of bus, further adding to congestion and making it worse for everyone, drivers, public transport users and active transport users.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#143

Post by throejd84mrifmr »

How about we enforce existing laws first?!!!

It is dangerous for pedestrians to walk on sidewalks, because cyclists on their electric motorbikes are driving there 30 mph!

Aggresive off-leash dogs are everywhere! Entire cities, parks and streets are one big dog toilet!

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#144

Post by ericmay »

xnx wrote: post #109
lm28469 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have 4 supermarkets in a 10 min walk radius, to reach one of them I don't even need to cross a single public street. Same for schools, I know of 3 in my street, there are probably more but as I don't have kids I wouldn't know. I think you missed the entire point, it's a design choice, if you design everything around cars of course going grocery shopping will require a car... my supermarkets don't even have parking…

> it's a design choice Yes. Americans chose big houses and yards.

They by and large don’t though. Instead, big houses and yards are the only options on the table for most Americans because of zoning regulation and developers just copy/pasting designs to save money.

There isn’t an option for new brick house in neighborhood built before cars were a thing. You either have the existing housing stock, which is astronomically more valuable, or you don’t. There’s no developer building those formats anymore.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#145

Post by osigurdson »

forinti wrote: post #76
silvestrov wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Car oriented people seriously underestimate how many people that can be transported in a subway train and how much highway space it would take to transport the same number of people in cars. One subway line can transport more people than even the widest existing highway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Passenger_Capacity_of_dif... (edit: spelling)

I've seen many times how some people react to a single bus lane or even a tiny bicycle lane as though cars are getting the raw end of the deal when 90%+ of infrastructure is for cars.

Some cities build dedicated bike paths. This is much nicer as you aren't fighting with cars that way.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#146

Post by randunel »

pjmlp wrote: post #139

First sort out how people can manage to visit cities without having to own a car on first place. Most European villages and town are unreachable without cars. Some can already consider themselves lucky if there is a daily connection into one direction. Everyone likes to think we are all living in Paris, Berlin within city boundaries.

The topic is about cities, not about rural areas. No cars in cities, simple. This concept will probably blow your mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_and_ride

Imagine a city without personal cars in its inner limits. Residents who decide to own a personal car can park it in a Park&Ride which also includes unlimited transit access for the duration of the parking.

Deliveries, you say? Those aren't personal cars, but I'll comply. Businesses will be able to drive in the cities, within the permitted times/routes.

Emergency vehicles? Those aren't personal cars, either. They're also allowed.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#147

Post by CalRobert »

CalRobert wrote: post #73
Zigurd wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hold out hope that many more Americans will get E bikes, and demand separated bike lanes. There's plenty of room for them on most American roads especially newer suburbs.

American Fietser is in Carmel, Indiana and evidently loves using his Urban Arrow everywhere.

I can’t reply to sibling comment here but indeed, an urban arrow can carry 4 kids + adult if you put a seat on the back.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#148

Post by trgn »

cm2187 wrote: post #13

[flagged]

i am totally an advocate of the 15 minute city, but the strike thing is a genuine problem, it's total blackmail. yes, they are asking for better working conditions, but then you look into the details and it's because early retirement age has been raised from 56 to 58 and days off have been reduced from 28 to 26. that sort of thing cannot be indulged. i'm getting to an age where i know seniors in my european side of the family that have been retired longer than they have worked, but insist they deserve their yearly vacation. that social contract meme is real.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#149

Post by qwertygnu »

gspencley wrote: post #115
silvestrov wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Car oriented people seriously underestimate how many people that can be transported in a subway train and how much highway space it would take to transport the same number of people in cars. One subway line can transport more people than even the widest existing highway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Passenger_Capacity_of_dif... (edit: spelling)

From an efficiency point of view public transportation makes a lot of sense. From a quality of life point of view, I have never been comfortable being crammed into a sardine can with that many other people. I've done it. I've never enjoyed it. I do look forward to travelling to the Netherlands one day and I will enthusiastically use public transit there just as a personal experiment to see if my experience differs en…

I love my personal car bubble as much or more than most people (though maybe not as much as you), but at some point we have to get over ourselves. We're all so spoiled. Why the hell do we deserve to all have our own giant speed machines careening through cities where people (including us drivers!) are trying to live? It doesn't make any sense and it's a shame that we've let it go so far, especially in the US.

It should be discouraged (financially, logistically, socially) to drive in dense urban places. Obviously, in order to achieve that, these urban places need to have alternative means of transportation.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#150

Post by [deleted] »

flanked-evergl wrote: post #7

In Norway the public transportation in Oslo has become so bad that it's essentially no longer reliable. If I want to get somewhere in time, I have to use a car or a bicycle. Also, the violence and sexual assaults on public transport is getting worse, the times that it does work it's completely overloaded, and the prices are insanely high and quite frankly becoming unaffordable with the insanely high inflation and int…

[deleted]
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