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Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

cnn.com

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Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#111

Post by jacquesm »

IneffablePigeon wrote: post #92
jfengel wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a nice day it's fantastic to be out, but Paris can be cold and rainy. They really need to have a plan for those days, too. Paris Metro is pretty nice, and reaches most of the car free area. But I'm not sure if it can handle all of the cyclists if they're all trying to avoid a déluge.

This “nobody cycles in bad weather” is a tired myth. Yes, there’s some truth in it but cycling numbers past the traffic counters in my city in the UK (very similar climate) dip by 10-30% in winter months, and the higher end of those is mostly leisure routes not commuting ones. The Netherlands has a lot of rain and much more cycling than most other places.

Summer here is on Tuesday. The rest of the year it is rain, alternating with fog, snow & ice.

Nah, jk, it's a beautiful day today and I'm thinking of going for a ride.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#112

Post by consp »

frnx wrote: post #9
hshdhdhj4444 wrote: post #2

This article has such a weird framing. It keeps repeating how the cleaner air is so good for tourists. But tourists visiting Paris for a week don’t get the majority of the benefit from cleaner air. The Parisian residents living there throughout the year do. Maybe because it’s CNN, an American outlet, they’re focused on the “tourist”, but these benefits have mostly accrued to Parisians. Also, the 4% increase in traffi…

The new large cycling strips that appeared in the last 5-6 years are so good. At commute time there are frequently jammed with /cyclists/, but let's face it it's miles better than being stuck in a car. I shudder to think about the alternative where each cyclist was instead alone in a small car, this wouldn't even fit on the roads.

You haven't been in a bicycle-jam until you've been before an open bridge just before the university colleges start in the Netherlands. Hundreds of cyclists trying to squeeze through a tiny bottleneck. Still costs less time than by going in a car.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#113

Post by zahlman »

youknownothing wrote: post #49

[flagged]

> It's about collectivism

It's about the many other objective problems caused by cars besides the fuel use. Most obviously: they cause terribly inefficient land use (demand for parking + the roads themselves being congested), and are a physical threat to pedestrians and cyclists.

> but, if that was the truly the objective, then I should be able to drive faster with an EV.

That would be fundamentally incompatible with how traffic works and a nightmare to enforce.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#115

Post by nchagnet »

jacquesm wrote: post #108
nchagnet wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the Netherlands where the weather is arguably tougher than in Paris (rain, cold and wind for large portion of the year) yet everyone bikes year in year out. And not just young active people, it's a habit found across all age groups, parents bike their children to school (or with them if old enough, etc.) All that to say I wouldn't worry too much about the feasibility issue, it's really more of a mindset to…

Paris has one thing that Amsterdam does not that makes cycling more challenging: elevation. (Ok, Amsterdam has bridges but those are for the most part really short and momentum is enough to carry you across).

Oh I agree. When I lived in Lyon, who is also quite bike-friendly, it was a lot more challenging than Amsterdam.

But with electric bikes becoming more affordable, hopefully the gap can eventually close.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#116

Post by nonethewiser »

rimbo789 wrote: post #60
youknownothing wrote: post #49

[flagged]

Yes it is ideological: cars kill cities, kill communities and are bad for everyone involved. They are dangerous to drivers and non drivers alike and are deeply anti social. We need less cars everywhere period. Putting cars in cities was also deeply ideological. It was about segregation and as a way to extract as much resources from people as possible. The imposition of cars was about turning people into consumers who…

>Yes it is ideological: cars kill cities, kill communities and are bad for everyone involved. They are dangerous to drivers and non drivers alike and are deeply anti social. We need less cars everywhere period.

You lost me at"We need less cars everywhere period." Not everywhere is a dense city.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#117

Post by recursivegirth »

philamonster wrote: post #22
frnx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new large cycling strips that appeared in the last 5-6 years are so good. At commute time there are frequently jammed with /cyclists/, but let's face it it's miles better than being stuck in a car. I shudder to think about the alternative where each cyclist was instead alone in a small car, this wouldn't even fit on the roads.

I would love to be on what amounts to a group ride to and from work safely. That has to do wonders for all kinds of things both physical and mental. If it were safe I would do it year round.

I would rather float to work like the Swiss.

https://www.businessinsider.com/switzerland-workers-commute-...

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#118

Post by yulker »

TimK65 wrote: post #68
the_biot wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's worse than that. The city council very much implemented an anti-car (harassment) policy, to the point that car owners felt hounded by their own council's policies. It seriously wasn't a matter of "marginally less privileged".

Motorists are incredibly fragile. I'm glad Paris has had a mayor who could stand up to their entitled whinging.

Interesting how correctly naming them motorists sharpens how "the default" is often to be presumed drivers and pedestrians and cyclists are marginal

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#119

Post by microtonal »

jfengel wrote: post #80
frnx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new large cycling strips that appeared in the last 5-6 years are so good. At commute time there are frequently jammed with /cyclists/, but let's face it it's miles better than being stuck in a car. I shudder to think about the alternative where each cyclist was instead alone in a small car, this wouldn't even fit on the roads.

On a nice day it's fantastic to be out, but Paris can be cold and rainy. They really need to have a plan for those days, too. Paris Metro is pretty nice, and reaches most of the car free area. But I'm not sure if it can handle all of the cyclists if they're all trying to avoid a déluge.

I have cycled every working day in The Netherlands and in Germany for years (in Germany it was 22km per day) and I would often cycle a bit recreationally in the weekends. It really isn't an issue at all. I just have a waterproof jacket (one of those that circulate air as well), water resistant shoes, and rain pants. On very rainy days, I would put on the rain pants and would arrive mostly dry.

It is not really an issue.

The only thing that was slightly meh was the yearly ~two weeks of thick snow in Southern Germany. It increases effort a bit, but still not a huge issue and the cycling roads got cleared pretty quickly.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#120

Post by kergonath »

suddenlybananas wrote: post #21
frnx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new large cycling strips that appeared in the last 5-6 years are so good. At commute time there are frequently jammed with /cyclists/, but let's face it it's miles better than being stuck in a car. I shudder to think about the alternative where each cyclist was instead alone in a small car, this wouldn't even fit on the roads.

I do wonder how many cyclists in Paris are really replacing cars versus replacing metro usage. Obviously, it's still good for people to cycle as well since the metro can be insanely crowded at times, but living in Paris, my impression is that the people who cycle are the kinds who would have been unlikely to own a car in any case.

> I do wonder how many cyclists in Paris are really replacing cars versus replacing metro usage.

That’s not necessarily a problem, particularly for saturated lines like the 13.

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