Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 186 posts

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#131

Post by jeromegv »

jseban wrote: post #89
tpm wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My point is that it's not a good idea to expand bike lanes in big city centers where you already have public transport I don't know what is your background, but many cities are doing it and it's not only about enabling bikes but also to disable passenger cars, and the main reason is it makes the places more livable and enjoyable: it's quieter, the air is cleaner, the streets are safer, people actually spend more ti…

Oh and I should add: outside of my house they have blocked one whole lane of the road from cars and designated it for cyclists. There was already a smaller bike lane. This new lane is now mostly empty and the remaining two lanes have traffic jams now with sirens all the time because emergency vehicles can't pass anymore. And I just think it's stupid and annoying. There was already a perfectly fine bike lane. There is…

"Barely used", citation needed. Even in not-very-friendly cities for bike like Toronto, most bike lanes have higher amount of bike riders than the cars on the street.

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#132

Post by bserge »

agumonkey wrote: post #119
jseban wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, that's what I mean. They like the idea of being a good person, but when push comes to shove, in reality it's only used/usable when the weather is nice, and people don't use it when the weather is bad.

Ah well I was surprised to keep biking 24/7 after I started in July. I'd even do it 100% of the time if I was living in my own house and if it was safe and easy to park my bike (bike theft is so prevalent). Even soaked in rain, even when cold, even after falling hard.. I kept doing it. I'm even thinking making a bike club / bike repair shop to motivate other people. The benefits are huge.

I am actually volunteering at two repair shops ran by charities, teaching kids and refugees how to fix their own bikes. It's great, though the adults are not very keen on riding everywhere :D

Also, thanks HN for rate limiting me without a notification, you shitheads. 3 comments an hour or so?

Just ban my account and IP, I would honestly appreciate it, no need to play mind games like some other cunty sites.

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#133

Post by ashtonkem »

ResearchCode wrote: post #66
doctorhandshake wrote: post #20

Yet another example of how Barcelona feels societally futuristic in some ways. For a couple more - they were way ahead of the curve (at least from an American perceptive) on superblocks[1] and they have centralized vacuum municipal trash collection[2] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/17/superblocks-r... [2] https://enviropaul.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/all-the-garbage-...

It feels more dystopian than futuristic. There are countries where children don't have to commute in large groups to avoid crime.

No, it’s to protect them from cars, which are by and far one of the biggest dangers to children

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#134

Post by bserge »

brailsafe wrote: post #127
bserge wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*teenagers who fall. Really could've been reduced by a lot with a few simple instructions in the app. Stick to the right, don't speed, be careful, etc. Who the fuck falls off a scooter, anyway.

Have never ridden one, but I assume you could easily crash into a person, car, curb, signpost, other scooterers, hit a rock etc.. Simple instructions don't solve anything, and represent a design flaw. If the design doesn't inherently address the problem you want to solve, then text definitely won't.

Well, I'm saying that because people don't even realize they need to treat the road somewhat like a car driver.

Like, literally, they install the app and get on the scooter and do 20km/h on the opposite side then are surprised that there's people and bikes coming right into them.

A simple "stick to your right" would help a lot of them imo.

And it's really hard to crash one ime, but then again I somehow never fell or crashed a bicycle for half my life.

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#135

Post by ashtonkem »

mrexroad wrote: post #90
ResearchCode wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got the idea from them being one of the crime capitals of Europe where visitors are asked to practice war zone vigilance. Could also be a little bit of the middle class being priced out of driving cars. Futurism in the Davos sense perhaps. You will own nothing...

?? I spent 3 months studying there a while back. To me, Barcelona felt safer there than most large American cities that I’ve lived in. One “problem” was petty crime that seemed to mostly target tourists—-vigilance was indeed the solution… but more of “mind your surroundings” than “war zone.”

Every city I’ve ever been to in my entire life is more dangerous for tourists than residents. They’re easy targets, since they usually have expensive gear and don’t understand the area.

I wouldn’t judge a city based on the experience of tourists in it.

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#136

Post by ashtonkem »

ResearchCode wrote: post #88
asdfwefdadsf wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please provide a source for Barcelona being a crime capital of Europe.

For instance, the "sources" accessible through those keywords put in a google search query. (Entertaining the question as if my claim was more controversial than any other in this thread, that is, as if Barcelona was not infamous as a crime ridden s hole where visitors are asked to practice war zone vigilance.)

I’ve never understood why people sometimes get angry when they’re asked for evidence to back their assertions.

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#137

Post by [deleted] »

agumonkey wrote: post #109
jseban wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It feels like having a gym membership, you really like the idea of yourself, and you can be smug and get virtue signalling points, but in practice people rarely use it and it's mostly empty except for a short season.

you mean people using their bikes don't do it regularly ?

[deleted]

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#138

Post by mlok »

doctorhandshake wrote: post #20

Yet another example of how Barcelona feels societally futuristic in some ways. For a couple more - they were way ahead of the curve (at least from an American perceptive) on superblocks[1] and they have centralized vacuum municipal trash collection[2] [1] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/17/superblocks-r... [2] https://enviropaul.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/all-the-garbage-...

I didn't know about the centralized vacuum municipal trash collection. I found this short video showing the concept : https://youtu.be/gHmt1GTVlnM

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#139

Post by agumonkey »

bserge wrote: post #132
agumonkey wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah well I was surprised to keep biking 24/7 after I started in July. I'd even do it 100% of the time if I was living in my own house and if it was safe and easy to park my bike (bike theft is so prevalent). Even soaked in rain, even when cold, even after falling hard.. I kept doing it. I'm even thinking making a bike club / bike repair shop to motivate other people. The benefits are huge.

I am actually volunteering at two repair shops ran by charities, teaching kids and refugees how to fix their own bikes. It's great, though the adults are not very keen on riding everywhere :D Also, thanks HN for rate limiting me without a notification, you shitheads. 3 comments an hour or so? Just ban my account and IP, I would honestly appreciate it, no need to play mind games like some other cunty sites.

that's awesome .. I guess I could label my bike club as a charity too

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#140

Post by claytoneast »

bserge wrote: post #122
peoplefromibiza wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been in Paris two weeks ago as well to visit my girlfriend who's been living there for 11 years. Scooters are in the process of being banned in Paris because they are too dangerous and in Rome, where I come from, they are going yo be heavily regulated (mandatory helmet, reduced speed, designated pick up and drop locations, etc. ) because they caused a +35% increase of brain traumas to teenagers Not everything that lo…

*teenagers who fall. Really could've been reduced by a lot with a few simple instructions in the app. Stick to the right, don't speed, be careful, etc. Who the fuck falls off a scooter, anyway.

I've crashed a Lime/Bird at least 3 times, none of them related to cars or other people in any way.

1. Taking a pedestrian bridge off-ramp in the rain at max velocity because I wanted to see if I could take the corner going that fast.

2. Finding a quarter-pipe set up next to a bridge. How can you resist trying to shred it? It went well on run 1 thru 9. Run # 10, not so well.

3. Driving one home drunk at 230am and trying to drive it with only one hand.

My point is that it's pretty easy to fall off if you are pushing the envelope in any way at all. Who the hell falls of a scooter? Hah! Who the hell rides one exactly how you are supposed to? Totally boring.

Post reply on HN