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A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

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Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#171

Post by majormajor »

Kerrick wrote: post #132
majormajor wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on where you are. Outside of the denser places like NYC, SF, and LA, street parking is often undesired and seen as something like a sign of blight (only the poorest neighborhoods don't have space for off-street parking). Bike lanes remain horribly under-provisioned even there, but it's not really a street-parking thing. It's just a car-first thing. A two to four lane road with no street parking but still no b…

It's funny, because in St. Louis, MO (often considered a heavily-blighted city by outsiders) the presence of densely-occupied street parking is usually seen as a sign of wealth. Blighted areas instead have what appear to be extra-wide roads, because they are two-lane roads with space for parking -- but nobody's parking there. Both blighted and wealthy areas are full of city lots drawn before automobiles, so nobody ha…

Ah, good point. I guess neighborhood age is the bigger indicator than density (though they're often loosely correlated). Newer cities and burbs have driveways and garages as first-class citizens, and wealthy areas have space to spare (vs having to convert your garage to another room, etc).

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#172

Post by vonmoltke »

Karrot_Kream wrote: post #113
tonymet wrote: post #55

quick survey : how many readers actually ride to work?

Why wouldn't you? I have a daily 10 mi. commute. In the spring and summer, I almost never drive my car. I haven't driven my car in 2 months, come to think of it.

I wouldn't because I can't bike across the Hudson (or the Hackensack, which is also in my way).

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#174

Post by MBlume »

vonmoltke wrote: post #166
bikeshaving wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lack of protected bike lanes is a direct consequence of the policy of providing free overnight car storage on both sides of every residential/commercial street. The days of “share the road” are over: cycling advocates need to advocate for 1/2 street parking on every street if we actually want change, because this is a zero-sum game where only one side continues to murder and maim the other because they think they…

> the policy of providing free overnight car storage on both sides of every residential/commercial street You make it sound like there is some sort of federal policy covering every road in the US. Not only is there not, but your statement is far from the truth. There are many, many streets in the US where parking is restricted or paid

The policy in every major city is to treat free overnight car storage on both sides of every road as the default

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#175

Post by Johnny555 »

vonmoltke wrote: post #167
runarberg wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are buses, trains, etc. That can take you most of the way. It is super handy to be able to bike to a well served direct bus route, take the bike on the bus, and bike to the destination without having to have to change from/to an underserved indirect lane.

> take the bike on the bus You make that sound so simple. There's no way I could bring a bike on the bus or train I use to get to work.

Buses in my community have bike racks on the outside, light-rail trains have racks inside the trains.

But if yours don't, another option would be a folding bike. Which apparently works even on crowded Japanese trains:

https://hokkaidowilds.org/traveling-with-a-tern-folding-bike...

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#178

Post by quickthrower2 »

saikit wrote: post #64
frankus wrote: post #35

Local governments (at least in the US) seem to systematically underinvest in experiments like this. Things like traffic congestion have a ton of weird, largely unpredictable positive and negative feedback loops. Seattle removed its waterfront viaduct from service for a couple of weeks before changing over to the new $3.3B tunnel and traffic was mostly fine, despite apocalyptic predictions of gridlock. It's not entire…

The locals in the US are militant against anything that reduces street parking in their neighborhoods. See 14th street bus lanes in NYC. https://www.amny.com/transit/14th-street-busway-lawsuit-1.33...

Odd since there is plenty of space underground to store a lot of cars. Wanting street parking in NYC is like wanting to live in a house not an apartment.

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#179

Post by sigmar »

g_sch wrote: post #86

This concept would make a fun (thought) experiment for a street in the US. Imagine a car parked curbside in a city street somewhere in the US. No one complains, because this is how everyone expects street space to be used - as storage for private cars. Maybe there's a flatbed trailer attached to this car. Now add bike racks to the flatbed trailer. Next, add a stairway or a ramp. Then, gradually lower the trailer a li…

This is the Ship of Theseus as applied to America's love of cars and hatred of bicycles... Neat.

Re: A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles

#180

Post by vonmoltke »

MBlume wrote: post #174
vonmoltke wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the policy of providing free overnight car storage on both sides of every residential/commercial street You make it sound like there is some sort of federal policy covering every road in the US. Not only is there not, but your statement is far from the truth. There are many, many streets in the US where parking is restricted or paid

The policy in every major city is to treat free overnight car storage on both sides of every road as the default

That is not the policy in a large chunk of Manhattan. It was not the policy on major (more than two-lane) or downtown roads in Dallas (and its two independent enclaves prohibited overnight street parking entirely). It's not the policy on the vast majority of streets in Miami or the surrounding cities.
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