Live data from Hacker News

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

cnn.com

331–340 of 392 posts

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

#331
post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At commute time there are frequently jammed with /cyclists/, but let's face it it's miles better than being stuck in a car. Cycling is wonderful, except when it rains, when it's cold, when it's hot, when it's windy, or when you want to carry stuff. So it's not a practical solution 80% of the year.

Get a rain coat, a warm coat, take it off, and make sure you've got a big crate on your bike. Wind does suck. I can't help you there.

Unless you have a place to shower and change at work or wherever you go, biking is utterly impractical. That's also assuming you have a safe place where to leave your bike, and that your commute is like 10 miles or less.

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

#332
post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its been great for those that can afford to live in Manhattan. For us living in the other borrows its been horrible. The honking is now non-stop.

I'm in Brooklyn, I'm not sure what you mean? How would it affect the outer boroughs?

Here across the 59th, traffic is definitely worst. With the BQE the daily shit-show that is is (never ceases to amaze me, how people get in accidents on a highway that rarely get over 35mph.) The best way was actually thru the FDR. Now everyone just uses Vernon Blvd which is only accessible thru local streets.

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

#333
post #284

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’ve traveled all over the world and the French were by far the biggest assholes I’ve encountered, especially in hospitality.

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

#334

I live in Krakow and use car everyday*. There is virtually no possibility I will get my kids to school in the morning using public communication, mainly because the school is 4 kilometres away. City is so pro-clean-air and eliminate-parking-spaces and remove-cheap ekhm I mean polluting,-cars but meanwhile does nothing except for selling more and more ground for building flats. Not schools not hospitals not child dayc…

You can try an electric bike for those longer distances. It’s really fun to ride if you find a good one.

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

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless they’re EVs tho right

You reckon EVs drive on a sidewalk? Maybe you consider moving. Seems like you’re surrounded by idiots.

Two of my neighbors were hit and killed by a car while walking on the sidewalk. The car was going in excess of 150km/h, hit the median, and swerved back, out of control into the sidewalk.

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

#336
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pure negative sum game though. The elevation gives you only a relative improvement in visibility if other vehicles don't increase in elevation in response, at the cost of sightlines for other road users and especially pedestrians, unless they wear platform shoes. The same of course goes with mass. Usually this kind of negative-sum-prisoner's-dilemma incentive matrix is resolved by government intervention whi…

Elevation doesn't have to be zero sum. My compact pickup (a class of vehicles that is barely manufactured anymore) is a little elevated and has an upright seating position, but it also provides good visibility for other street users. The space over the bed is clear (unless I'm carrying something big) and the rear and side windows are vertical and clear allowing vision through; the windshield is raked less than most o…

A big part of the issue is styling:

I was next to a GMC pickup on my bike the other day at a stoplight. When I stood up, the hood was roughly shoulder-height for me. They can easily make the hood at least a foot shorter (and probably more) and still fit everything under the hood, or even go with a cab-forward design.

But people think those look dorky.

At the extreme end of things, it's hard to argue they are wrong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshkosh_NGDV

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

#337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to cosplay as a bike messenger in Seattle. I did not follow the rules at all on my ride to work. There were few bike lanes, and a lot of morons rode on the sidewalks. I have only been to Paris once, but the cyclists were much more sane in my experience. The bike lanes were clear, and for the most part they stopped at a red light.

If car usage is going down but pedestrian injuries are going up? The pedestrians are not crashing into one another with greater frequency...

Reducing congestion can increase car speeds, which can increase incidents.

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

#338
> Less successfully, the road redesign has also seen a reported increase in hospitalizations among cyclists and pedestrians. well, with a lot more people walking and cycling this is to be expected. the article doesn't mention changes in accidents involving cars though.

> For young, trendy and able-bodied Parisians ... i live next to a bike path. the elderly make up a a significant amount of the cyclists, probably because they don't trust themselves to drive a car anymore.

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

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

while i don't agree with your general sentiment you're right that bicycles should have their own dedicated cycle lanes. too often drivers get their dedicated lanes while pedestrians and cyclists are forced to "share space and just take care of each other".
Post reply on HN