Live data from Hacker News

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

cnn.com

211–220 of 392 posts

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

#211
post #73

This article omits so many negatives from the "cyclist's paradise" vision of Hidalgo's 2 terms that I don't know where to start. Families are the first casualties: the Paris metro is nowhere near accessible to strollers except if you are willing to go to the chiropractor after each week end, and using your car - hell, even parking your family car - is a no go as soon as there is some kind of hipster sports event or j…

People took their children places for centuries without strollers and cars. The dependance on wheeled conveyances for children is baffling to me, I feel like some parents have an aversion to holding their kids. Especially the ones who clip a carseat into a stroller and never take them out.

We were gifted a big heavy modern stroller and almost never used it, when the kids were babies we wore them and now they can walk a little we just do that and take breaks. If it's going to be an all-day thing (like a theme park) we'll bring a lightweight umbrella style stroller and those are trivial to fold up and carry.

The accessibility argument makes sense for folks with disabilities but not so with children.

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

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throughput is directly proportional to the volume of cars, and SUVs have larger volume. Technically perhaps surface area, but there is a psychological effect to height. I believe people also give taller vehicles more space as a rule.

Throughput in congestion is determined mostly by how quickly drivers react to the opportunity to move and how many points of attrition are in a path. Both of what are impacted by the number of cars and how well they break or accelerate, not by their size. There's space to claim large car cause attrition, but that's completely dependent of the local properties of the streets.

The footprint of the car matters. When cars get 5% longer, the same number of people in cars takes 5% more roadway, which adds up quickly, because the difference between smoothly-flowing traffic and jammed traffic is a fragile equilibrium dominated by breakpoints. Furthermore, heavier cars accelerate and decelerate slower than lighter cars, which has a compounding effect on decreasing overall throughput.

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

#213
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.

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…

> the Netherlands

It's completely flat and the obvious reason why everyone cycles. Nothing to do with mindset, like you're somehow superior to the rest of EU.

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

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, I get that. You may be aware, but this is Terminal 2G. It is almost like its own tiny airport for short hops by Air France in the EU. It feels like a completely different world from the main mixed-carrier international disaster situation. It really feels like a designer experimental terminal.

Does it still have the weird security procedures? (Security at CDG is IME very slow and just, well, strange; at least once they were asking people to _carry their passports through the scanners_, rather than leaving them in their bags like in all other airports in Europe). CDG wouldn’t be my _least favourite airport (I think that’s probably San Francisco, specifically the international terminal), but it definitely wo…

So, my brother was departing intercontinental 3 hours prior to my flight to Prague. I hung out with him at one the main terminals in the crazy long security line, until I could not. He showed up 2.5hrs early, and almost missed his flight. Computers were down or something. Once he got to his gate, he had to take a bus to his A350. Crazy shit show. Quote: "this is so ghetto."

Meanwhile, I went to Terminal 2G, and there was absolutely zero security wait. It was like a 1 screener per 3 people type situation. It was like being at some rich people resort airport. Once I got through security, which took 5 minutes, I was presented with a high-end shopping center, a roving smiling robot garbage/recycling can straight out of Shenzhen asking people for deposits... excellent food, anyone could lay down on comfy couches. It blew my mind. It was France, and Air France, flexing.

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

#215
post #61

Slightly off-topic but NYC went through a similar process when congestion pricing met legal battle after legal battle. Long to short, there was a calculated effort to make midtown less and less vehicle-friendly. The "hack" was to take streets / aves and repurpose those for pedestrians. Special walking lanes, more "park cafes", bike lanes, etc. None were stated as being anti-vehicle - as that would open up legal chall…

And it worked, there's multiple studies showing that retail business in the neighborhoods that limited car accessibility is up while pollution and noise is down and for those who choose to drive into the city, parking is easier.

Its been great for those that can afford to live in Manhattan. For us living in the other borrows its been horrible. The honking is now non-stop.

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

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it still have the weird security procedures? (Security at CDG is IME very slow and just, well, strange; at least once they were asking people to _carry their passports through the scanners_, rather than leaving them in their bags like in all other airports in Europe). CDG wouldn’t be my _least favourite airport (I think that’s probably San Francisco, specifically the international terminal), but it definitely wo…

So, my brother was departing intercontinental 3 hours prior to my flight to Prague. I hung out with him at one the main terminals in the crazy long security line, until I could not. He showed up 2.5hrs early, and almost missed his flight. Computers were down or something. Once he got to his gate, he had to take a bus to his A350. Crazy shit show. Quote: "this is so ghetto." Meanwhile, I went to Terminal 2G, and there…

… Ah. So I just looked it up; no-one flies to Dublin from there (Aer Lingus is 2A, Air France is 2F). Possibly it’s a Schengen-only terminal.

(Living inside Europe but outside Schengen tends to get you the worst terminals/sections of terminals. Berlin Tegel used to have a tiny little terminal that, as far as I could see, only flew to Ireland and Turkey (not sure where the UK flights went from). Absolutely horrendous; there’d sometimes only be one passport control line, so if the person in front of you had an issue you might be waiting for an hour.)

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

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, unless you’re a pedestrian. Cyclists in NL in cities like Utrecht or Amsterdam are worse than car drivers.

As a pedestrian, I would rather risk a crash with a cyclist than with a car.

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

#218
post #68

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.

> Motorists are incredibly fragile

Until you throw yourself in front of my car

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

#219
post #213

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…

> the Netherlands It's completely flat and the obvious reason why everyone cycles. Nothing to do with mindset, like you're somehow superior to the rest of EU.

Bicycles have had gears for almost a century, and they allow to tackle hilly areas easily. Also, the Netherlands is notoriously windy, and a headwind is just as difficult as a hill.

No, what makes the Netherlands different is their street design prioritizing safety rather than speed at all costs. When the streets feel safe from speeding drivers, more people choose to ride a bike.

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

#220
post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the Netherlands It's completely flat and the obvious reason why everyone cycles. Nothing to do with mindset, like you're somehow superior to the rest of EU.

Bicycles have had gears for almost a century, and they allow to tackle hilly areas easily. Also, the Netherlands is notoriously windy, and a headwind is just as difficult as a hill. No, what makes the Netherlands different is their street design prioritizing safety rather than speed at all costs. When the streets feel safe from speeding drivers, more people choose to ride a bike.

> Bicycles have had gears for almost a century, and they allow to tackle hilly areas easily.

Assuming everyone but you is retarded.

Post reply on HN