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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

#301

Post by watwut »

mrtksn wrote: post #168
goldenarm wrote: post #20

I moved from LA to Paris, my mental and physical health improved dramatically. I don't even take the subway, walking and biking are enough where I live. Hopefully we can reach the comfort of dutch cities within a decade.

What do you think about all those videos on how dangerous Paris is? Having made the move, would you say that those stem from real experiences and are organic or would you say that it was an organized campaign for some political reason? Or maybe something else? Trump keeps saying that they want to prevent USA becoming a dangerous place like Europe, even said that recently and the Irish president disagreed with him. As…

EU is overall safer then USA. Including Paris.

And cops are significantly less likely to shoot you. You dont have to be afraid of them.

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

#302

Post by Frost1x »

pkulak wrote: post #284
goldenarm wrote: post #20

I moved from LA to Paris, my mental and physical health improved dramatically. I don't even take the subway, walking and biking are enough where I live. Hopefully we can reach the comfort of dutch cities within a decade.

How's your French? Sounds like a flippant question, but I hear Parisians are not that... tolerant of even bad French speakers, let alone non-speakers. That stereotype has kept me from visiting, let alone living there, despite it probably being my dream city in every other respect. I'm in my mid 40s, and learning a new (spoken) language has become extremely difficult. I spent 2 years trying to learn German a while bac…

It’s probably more similar to Japan in terms of cultural tolerance. I heard the same story years ago and only recently visited (just after the Paris Olympics). I usually try to learn some of the basics of the language before visiting but was incredibly busy and didn’t this trip. I had no issues and I was all over Paris. People were very reasonable, and translation apps/services helped me plenty, but for the most part they spoke English or could understand some basic level of it. If you live there and try to assimilate but speak poorly or little, there may be less tolerance? As a tourist I had not a single incident.

I don’t like to be the ugly American who just assumes the world should speak my language, so I was ready for language barriers, but I had no real issues at all.

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

#303

Post by shakow »

pkulak wrote: post #284
goldenarm wrote: post #20

I moved from LA to Paris, my mental and physical health improved dramatically. I don't even take the subway, walking and biking are enough where I live. Hopefully we can reach the comfort of dutch cities within a decade.

How's your French? Sounds like a flippant question, but I hear Parisians are not that... tolerant of even bad French speakers, let alone non-speakers. That stereotype has kept me from visiting, let alone living there, despite it probably being my dream city in every other respect. I'm in my mid 40s, and learning a new (spoken) language has become extremely difficult. I spent 2 years trying to learn German a while bac…

As a Frenchman living in Paris – we have such a huge expat community already (and many english-speakers, I worked with Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Americans, Canadians) than one more or less will be a non-event.

Now it's true that Americans tend to love to frighten each other with firecamp stories about the Big Bad Frenchman, but IME it's mostly a mix of latent francophobia and a grapevine of bad experience between what is locally perceived as wholly uneducated Americans and local Frenchmen that the Americans tend to see as arrogant.

The latest if most often due to (i) tourists forgetting that what is a great week you spent years saving for is another Tuesday for the other guys in the street, (ii) many fundamental French etiquette rules (don't shout, say “hello” first when talking to someone, the absence of a hierarchical relationship between hospitality personnel and customers, distant behaviour is not arrogance but a mark of respect, etc.) are completely accessory in the US customs, leading to very strong misunderstandings.

So book a trip for a week and come say hello, we don't bite! (and avoid like the plague any café/restaurant in the touristy areas)

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

#304

Post by papa-whisky »

alamortsubite wrote: post #242
Mawr wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As the EU continues its course to ban the sale of ICE cars by 2035, the argument of "fewer cars make for cleaner air" is gradually losing weight. Complete nonsense I'm afraid. An EV is about 50% cleaner and way quieter. That's literally it. There's no other real benefits of it. An EV is still a car: - Still pollutes: it's a 2 ton vehicle with rubber tires - manufacturing that is very damaging to the environment and…

EVs are only quieter at very low speeds. If they're going 20 mph or less, they're great, but any faster and air and rolling resistance is most of what you hear. It's also just as easy for a sociopath in an EV to roll down the windows and blast the neighborhood with noise from the stereo. EVs are better in the sense that the mufflers of ICE vehicles can be deliberately defeated by twits.

Well it's very possible to blast music from a bike too https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLANhJNOIis5SrYZkIbN4MDJia...

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

#305

Post by alamortsubite »

papa-whisky wrote: post #304
alamortsubite wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EVs are only quieter at very low speeds. If they're going 20 mph or less, they're great, but any faster and air and rolling resistance is most of what you hear. It's also just as easy for a sociopath in an EV to roll down the windows and blast the neighborhood with noise from the stereo. EVs are better in the sense that the mufflers of ICE vehicles can be deliberately defeated by twits.

Well it's very possible to blast music from a bike too https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLANhJNOIis5SrYZkIbN4MDJia...

Now that looks like a good time.

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

#306

Post by jay_kyburz »

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.

I don't love the waist high black poles that separate the roads from the cycle lanes on some roads. They are not visible enough.

When we were there a few years ago we saw a young woman on a bike slam into one on her morning commute.

I nearly nutted myself a few time too.

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

#307

Post by jay_kyburz »

david-gpu wrote: post #272
tw-20260303-001 wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a pedestrian I would hope that those cyclists remember when they’re pedestrians too. Both can kill you easily. But cars don’t sneak up on you silent from behind when you’re on a sidewalk.

Have you looked at any actual data about the rate at which drivers and cyclists kill people in your area? Can you even find news about the last time a cyclist killed a pedestrian in your city? Because I keep an eye on the official Police stats in Toronto and it is eye-opening. Statistically, drivers kill people, and cyclists don't. It is not even remotely close.

Just a single anecdote, but one death made the papers here last year because it was an e-bike that hit and elderly gentleman. The e-bike had been modded and the media was suggesting the cyclist faced jail time as a result. (if I remember correctly)

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

#309

Post by Rebelgecko »

pkulak wrote: post #284
goldenarm wrote: post #20

I moved from LA to Paris, my mental and physical health improved dramatically. I don't even take the subway, walking and biking are enough where I live. Hopefully we can reach the comfort of dutch cities within a decade.

How's your French? Sounds like a flippant question, but I hear Parisians are not that... tolerant of even bad French speakers, let alone non-speakers. That stereotype has kept me from visiting, let alone living there, despite it probably being my dream city in every other respect. I'm in my mid 40s, and learning a new (spoken) language has become extremely difficult. I spent 2 years trying to learn German a while bac…

I went to Paris last year and it was not a big deal, as long as you know the basics like excuse me/please/thank you.

A few times someone would correct us (eg "after 6pm we say bonsoir instead of bonjour"), but it never felt like it was done in a dickish way and people were generally pretty accommodating. Perhaps it helps that I went to Paris with low expectations, not thinking it'd live up to the hype, but I had a great time. Definitely don't let the language thing keep you from going!

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

#310

Post by tw-20260303-001 »

david-gpu wrote: post #272
tw-20260303-001 wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a pedestrian I would hope that those cyclists remember when they’re pedestrians too. Both can kill you easily. But cars don’t sneak up on you silent from behind when you’re on a sidewalk.

Have you looked at any actual data about the rate at which drivers and cyclists kill people in your area? Can you even find news about the last time a cyclist killed a pedestrian in your city? Because I keep an eye on the official Police stats in Toronto and it is eye-opening. Statistically, drivers kill people, and cyclists don't. It is not even remotely close.

I don’t care about your stats. The fact is: cars move in their dedicated space. Most of them obey most of the traffic rules. Bicycles and scooters zoom past me on the sidewalk and it doesn’t make me feel safe. Neither having to jump over them on a sidewalk. I’m young, I can, but my mother cannot and it’s a problem for her. So take your stats and read them alone. Thanks, I take a car. I’m from the generation who doesn’t have their noses glued to mobile phone 24/7.
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