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It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

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Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#311

Post by koheripbal »

peterwwillis wrote: post #276

Has anyone calculated how fast you could go from downtown to uptown with a bicycle and no traffic? Maybe the best way to galvanize public opinion is with hope: show them things can be much better, and they will want it. You could plan a day to shut down some street for 100 blocks and do a series of stunts. Mock up bus and bike lanes, and do trial runs all day of bikes and buses moving up and down the corridor. Then r…

There are a lot of elderly people living in the city that cannot ride a bicycle. ...and what about when there's a foot of snow on the ground? Or pouring rain? Should everyone resign themselves to suffering?

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#312

Post by foxyv »

qmmmur wrote: post #298
portlander12345 wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm, have moved king-sized mattresses, large dressers and cabinets, etc via a trailer on an ordinary bicycle. It’s really easy! Where I’m from there’s a tradition in the bike community called a “bike move”. When you’re moving, you invite everybody to show up on a certain day with their trailers and cargo bikes. Everybody packs and moves you in a distributed manner! All you have to do is provide coffee and don…

How? I can't feasibly imagine balancing my UK queen in a bicycle.

If you strap the mattress to the box spring to stiffen the mattress you can set it on its edge and it won't sag. Then just set the box spring and the mattress on a flat bed bike trailer and you are good to go.

They make trailers like this for big and heavy stuff: https://www.bikesatwork.com/bike-trailers

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#313

Post by qmmmur »

foxyv wrote: post #312
qmmmur wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? I can't feasibly imagine balancing my UK queen in a bicycle.

If you strap the mattress to the box spring to stiffen the mattress you can set it on its edge and it won't sag. Then just set the box spring and the mattress on a flat bed bike trailer and you are good to go. They make trailers like this for big and heavy stuff: https://www.bikesatwork.com/bike-trailers

Okay, I would consider transporting a mattress on a bike (with a trailer) easy, not just a bike!

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#314

Post by jogjayr »

msla wrote: post #309
jogjayr wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you can't haul much on [a bike] anyway. I'm gonna have to disagree with you there. Here's someone moving a fridge (!) on a bike trailer.[1] And that's on a regular bike, not an e-bike. 1. https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2014/06/23/how-to-carry-majo...

Why would we allow trailers in a pedestrian area? We wouldn't. We wouldn't even allow bikes in a pedestrian area.

Why wouldn't bikes be allowed in a car-free zone?

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#315

Post by freehunter »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #294
freehunter wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a big difference between "the average SUV" that you're talking about and "a big SUV" that the other person is talking about. A Ford Escape is just a taller hatchback, but a Ford Explorer or Expedition are a different story.

Body on frame SUVs are vastly outnumbered by the unibody models.

A Ford Explorer is unibody and is also definitely not a slightly taller car.

Besides, the statement was "big SUVs".

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#316

Post by gwats_time »

analog31 wrote: post #240
andybp85 wrote: post #38

This sounds like it would suck big time for musicians and the like who have to transport gear to bars and whatnot, which I've done plenty of times since high school (I live just outside the city in NJ). Having to carry all my gear like 10 NYC blocks (or more) after having to pay tens of dollars to park in a garage (what would availability even be?) would definitely make me think twice about trying to get gigs there.…

Amusingly, I'm a bassist, and the subject of transporting a double bass in NYC emerges on the web forums from time to time. One thing I've learned is that jazz is performed at much lower volume levels in NYC. For instance, many NYC bassists insist that a bassist shouldn't ever need an amplifier. I wonder if the hassle of hauling gear has simply caused a shift towards less gear-intensive music. In contrast, out here i…

Are you saying high or low volume levels are killing live music?

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#317

Post by analog31 »

gwats_time wrote: post #316
analog31 wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amusingly, I'm a bassist, and the subject of transporting a double bass in NYC emerges on the web forums from time to time. One thing I've learned is that jazz is performed at much lower volume levels in NYC. For instance, many NYC bassists insist that a bassist shouldn't ever need an amplifier. I wonder if the hassle of hauling gear has simply caused a shift towards less gear-intensive music. In contrast, out here i…

Are you saying high or low volume levels are killing live music?

High volume levels. Performances are too loud, and venues are too loud to host performances at sane volume levels.

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#318

Post by point78 »

megablast wrote: post #301
point78 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This makes no sense whatsoever and probably one of the worst ideas I ever read on HN. Banning cars works very well along with pedestrian streets and public transport in Europe.

Of course, I forgot NY has no public transport.

So improve public transport and pedestrian areas. OP wants to create multilevel highways.

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#319

Post by chroma »

inferiorhuman wrote: post #304
chroma wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very frustrating to discuss this topic with you because you keep editing your comments after I've replied to them. This makes it appear as though I've ignored points you made, when in fact they simply weren't in the version of the comment that I read. Of all the links you added, most are criminals shooting each other or cops shooting criminals. Neither of those are likely to affect me, as I don't rob places or b…

So how many people were killed on BART today? https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/One-Dead-Two-Hur... https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/All-Sb-Lanes-Of-... And, yes, BART serves both San Francisco and Millbrae.

I already mentioned it, but there is the concept of relative risk. There is also the concept of reference classes. Because of the way I drive and the vehicle I use, I am much less likely to die than the average bay area driver. Also, the number of people who take BART each day is much lower than the number of people who drive each day.

There are so many better counterarguments you could have put forward. Please consider that you may be mistaken. I certainly have done so. I wish that public transportation were superior, but I've discovered (and experienced) that it's not the case… at least not in the bay area.

Re: It's time to ban cars from Manhattan?

#320

Post by chroma »

Swizec wrote: post #285
chroma wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking public transportation in the bay area is incredibly stressful. I've had people try to fight me. I've had people threaten to stab me. I've had people smoke meth on the same car as me. Hell, last year one of my friends was robbed at gunpoint on bart. If these services were run by a private company, they would be shut down for safety violations. I much prefer cars because it means I don't have to worry about vagr…

As a counterpoint: I choose to live within walking distance of where I need to be every day. Or an electric rideable or bicycle of some sort. I did buy a motorcycle recently which does improve on some of that, but most of the improvement has been eaten up by the extra time it takes to gear up and park. Commuting is probably the single worst thing you can do to your quality of life. PS: yes I know this is a position o…

I wish I could afford to live close to work, but being in the vicinity of Salesforce Tower is pretty goddamn expensive.
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