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Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

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Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#241

Post by brc »

defen wrote: post #217
tmalsburg2 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it hilarious that Americans made it to the moon but think that commuting to work by bike is practically impossible. Meanwhile millions of people all over the rest of the world, from school children to seniors, are doing just that every single day. I moved to southern California last year (from the UK) and of course I ride my bike to work. My colleagues think that this is a really strange thing to do and some r…

> some regularly lecture me about how dangerous that is I think this is a case of the "vivid example" fallacy. People can easily envision the carnage caused by a bike-car collision. Less easily imagined is the health toll wreaked by 500+ hours / year commuting in a car.

And the financial toll of 500+ hours/year in a car that costs real money every operating hour.

On the plus side, you'll never pick up fast food to eat on the way when you're on a bike.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#242

Post by jrock08 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #223
jrock08 wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The infrastructure issue isn't so simple. It's really not that complicated though > In my local we are in a real estate boom. Congrats. > There are many groups claiming that cars will not be so prominent in the near future. So say we all. > That view is taken onboard by zoning people when deciding on new buildings. Good > Rather than demand sufficient parking spots and upgrades to roads and mass transit, Define suf…

Upgrades to roads/transit are part of zoning decisions. Where a developer wants to go beyond the current zoning and increase density (most all situations) they are often forced to contribute to infrastructure improvements. Even where they aren't, well-run cities do not allow development ahead of the infrastructure to support those new residents. One parking spot per unit is no longer a norm. I know of developments wi…

Interestingly, closing roads and reducing the number of cars would improve the number and availability of foot crossings. It's funny you mention good city planning, since a lack of good city planning is actually why we are in this situation in the first place.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#243

Post by tokai »

sandworm101 wrote: post #111

I do laugh at the image of society at large switching from cars to bikes. At the moment biking is dominated by young fit and generally healthy people. That may be silicon valley but it isn't the general population. I see lots of young parents going to work by bike, but do they take their kids to school on bikes? Does grandma get to the doctor on a tricycle? And what about the growing number of people who need to be b…

>Does grandma get to the doctor on a tricycle?

Yes they do actually.[0] Disabled and weak elderly can get allocated tri- or quadbikes by the Ministry of Social Affairs in Denmark.

[0] http://www.hmi-basen.dk/blobs/orig/45500.jpg

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#244

Post by stbtrax »

linkydinkandyou wrote: post #238
Patrick_Devine wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a neighborhood in Palo Alto that doesn't have sidewalks, and people here walk (and bike) all the time. The reason why it works is because many of the streets are extremely narrow, and we've worked fairly hard at making certain they aren't striped down the center. For whatever reason this seems to get motorists to drive more slowly and makes it safer for everyone.

Bicyclists in Palo Alto kill pedestrians. http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2015/04/22/pedestrian-str...

Coconuts in Colombia kill pedestrians: http://archive.mid-day.com/news/2010/aug/280810-falling-coco...

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#245

Post by brc »

jkyle wrote: post #137
sandworm101 wrote: post #111

I do laugh at the image of society at large switching from cars to bikes. At the moment biking is dominated by young fit and generally healthy people. That may be silicon valley but it isn't the general population. I see lots of young parents going to work by bike, but do they take their kids to school on bikes? Does grandma get to the doctor on a tricycle? And what about the growing number of people who need to be b…

> At the moment biking is dominated by young fit and generally healthy people. That's a cultural difference, not a physical limitation. Cultures change. > I see lots of young parents going to work by bike, but do they take their kids to school on bikes? I see this quite a bit. I plan on taking my daughter to school on my bike. I bike to work every day. I'm neither young, nor particularly fit. I see a very fair repres…

Yes we ride our kids to school often. They love it. The school recently also built a skateboard/scooter shelter for those who ride them to school.

I rode to school for most of my childhood, up until graduation. At the time it involved riding on the main road through town, which I odd for about ten years. All without a helmet as well. There were three major crashes in that time, and perhaps a couple of minor ones I have forgotten.

People these days are far too risk averse but forget the risks of growing up as a candy-ass softie who is afraid of putting in a little exertion. The difference is that, if you refuse to walk or ride anywhere, you're pretty much guaranteeing that you'll end up with obesity/heart/diabetes problems later in life.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#246

Post by ams6110 »

nickbauman wrote: post #196
gamblor956 wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It snows quite heavily in Minnesota, so during much of the year those sidewalks would be unusable or hazardous.

Substitute the word "sidewalks" with the word "roads" in that sentence and it makes as much sense. Neighborhoods without sidewalks are places where children cannot organize their own play and rely on being chauffeured to do anything. It's one of the reasons kids grow up to be so helpless and why helicopter parenting is the norm in the US. On the plus side nobody slips on the sidewalk!

Not at all. I grew up in a classic 1960-style neighborhood (long meandering main road loop with a lot of cul-de-sac and a few connector streets, all most all the the houses were one of a handful of basic designs, no businesses and no sidewalks. We biked all over the place, walked to friends houses (mostly cutting through other peoples yards), played impromptu games in vacant lots that hadn't been built yet, explored the wooded areas at the edges of the neighborhood. We were away from home for hours at a time, organizing what we did all on our own. No cell phones either, but we naturally gravitated back home at around sunset.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#248

Post by tomkinstinch »

michaelmior wrote: post #232
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are the roads unusable? I'm guessing not; you can clear sidewalks too - central European countries seem to use a small snowplough for the pavements (ie sidewalks), the snow is ploughed on to the road, the road plough lifts the snow to a truck and it's trucked away.

Such plows are fairly common in larger Canadian cities with heavy snowfall as well (e.g. Toronto, Montreal).

The city of Rochester, NY also plows its sidewalks, I suspect because it would be unreasonable to expect property owners to do it themselves due to the amount of snowfall. Still, it's nice to be able to walk around in the winter. Technically, the law says property owners are still responsible for keeping the sidewalks clear, but that's mostly to encourage people to disperse salt on sidewalk ice after the city plows come by and to shovel what the plows may miss.

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#249

Post by [deleted] »

linkydinkandyou wrote: post #238
Patrick_Devine wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in a neighborhood in Palo Alto that doesn't have sidewalks, and people here walk (and bike) all the time. The reason why it works is because many of the streets are extremely narrow, and we've worked fairly hard at making certain they aren't striped down the center. For whatever reason this seems to get motorists to drive more slowly and makes it safer for everyone.

Bicyclists in Palo Alto kill pedestrians. http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2015/04/22/pedestrian-str...

[deleted]

Re: Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

#250

Post by cowsandmilk »

Zhenya wrote: post #226
kaybe wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The local solution is to own two old run-down bikes and lock them at either station. You still run a risk of theft or damage, but the investment is not that big.

the real solution is to have a CHEAP bike share for last mile commute.

Yep. I'm not sure why the closest Bay Area Bike share to Google is at the Caltrain station.

Bike share also helps people get comfortable biking as part of a commute, so they may one day bike the whole commute.

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