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Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

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Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#51

Post by TomK32 »

inglor_cz wrote: post #3

It is my experience that two things correlate positively with widespread adoption of biking: a. Relatively flat city terrain. (Not the case in Prague, for example; a lot of the residential areas are at much higher elevation than the city centre.) b. Moderate temperatures at both ends of the summer-winter scale. Most people won't bike to work at -20 or +35 Celsius.

Ebikes are more and more common, they already make up half the sales of new bikes in many markets. That's the hills dealt with.

And in regards to cold temperatures, if the only time you daily spend in the cold is the few meters from your house's door to your car's door and then to your work's door, then you just think it is cold because you aren't living it like someone who's active and raises their body temperature in the cold.

Currently I cycle 10km to work and arrive before the sun is barely up, I enjoy those rides, I have good lights on the bike and can use cycling paths on 2/3 of the way. The thing I'm really looking forward to is the snowy days when the world is silenced and cycling though a few centimeters of snow becomes magical.

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#52

Post by Fricken »

jseban wrote: post #43
tjr225 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh. I doubt cycling infrastructure is even a minute fraction of the cost we put into automobile infrastructure. I have no proof but lol let’s call it a hunch. > Why should we cycle more? Only one reason is really valid: save the environment. It’s better for the environment, it’s cheaper, it’s more efficient(more bikes can occupy less space and move more people), it’s fun, it’s good for your body, it’s safer(if we don…

People also like to choose whatever they think is fun, if you want to play tennis instead of riding a bike, because you think that's more fun, you should be able to do so. Your fun is at the expense of other people's mobility, why can't you just use some of the other million ways of getting exercise and having fun, where you don't have to be in other people's way?

It's better to be a driver. It's no fun. You don't get any exercise. It drives up infrastructure costs, kills and maims people, destroys the planet, and takes up even more space on the roads.

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#53

Post by stefan_ »

jseban wrote: post #42
tjr225 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh. I doubt cycling infrastructure is even a minute fraction of the cost we put into automobile infrastructure. I have no proof but lol let’s call it a hunch. > Why should we cycle more? Only one reason is really valid: save the environment. It’s better for the environment, it’s cheaper, it’s more efficient(more bikes can occupy less space and move more people), it’s fun, it’s good for your body, it’s safer(if we don…

No it's not. People don't like to be very uncomfortable and inconvenient. Cycling year around every day, is very uncomfortable and inconvenient for many many days, so why would you do that if you don't have to? I can argue exactly the same way for why you should turn off the heat in your house the whole winter, it's great for the environment and you just have to "put on a coat".

You seem to feel strongly about this topic. So strong you have now replied to the same comment twice. Time to take a break?

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#54

Post by branko_d »

inglor_cz wrote: post #3

It is my experience that two things correlate positively with widespread adoption of biking: a. Relatively flat city terrain. (Not the case in Prague, for example; a lot of the residential areas are at much higher elevation than the city centre.) b. Moderate temperatures at both ends of the summer-winter scale. Most people won't bike to work at -20 or +35 Celsius.

Subzero temperatures don't seem to be that much of a problem, as the Finnish city of Oulu shows us:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oulu

"Oulu is notable for its transportation network dedicated to non-motor vehicular traffic, including pedestrians and bicycles (termed "light" traffic in Finland). In 2010, the city contained more than 600 kilometres (370 mi) of pathways and more than 100 underpasses and bridges devoted exclusively to light traffic. The network is used year-round. The ratio of light traffic pathways to residents is the highest in Finland and the cycling mode share is 20 percent.[40][41] Oulu is often touted as an excellent city for bicycling."

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#55

Post by soared »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #22
soared wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The southern us doesn’t even walk, much less bike. The car infrastructure down here seems insane, but you literally do get covered in sweat walking from your car to a building. The southern us is not good for the outdoors due to weather, and because no one bikes/walks the infrastructure is horrible. (I’m in Tennessee on vacation, walking everywhere. Many sidewalks just end, no crosswalks, etc. biking here would be da…

Knoxville and Nashville have walkable potential in the core, and of course Asheville, NC, but outside of that, the south is as you said very pedestrian unfriendly.

Oddly enough I’m in Chattanooga and going to Knoxville tomorrow. I’ll find out :)

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#56

Post by soared »

daneel_w wrote: post #30
soared wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seemingly low I’d think. On the bike bus they’ve got hundreds of kids and parents around them and a police escort, so it’s not a normal biking situation. Plus parents likely are teaching kids bike safety. Biking in this bus formation and biking normally are separate enough that it doesn’t seem to be a concern. IMO that’s like asking if kids don’t where seat belts on a normal bus, are they then at risk of not wearing…

"Biking in this bus formation and biking normally are separate enough that it doesn’t seem to be a concern. IMO that’s like asking if kids don’t where seat belts on a normal bus, are they then at risk of not wearing seat belts in normal cars?" I don't think you put much thought into your reasoning. You're conveniently forgetting that people have a knack for developing bad habits, and children have a knack for picking…

My opinion was that habits for bike bus trips wouldn’t transfer to normal biking because the context of the activities are so different.

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#57

Post by jseban »

Fricken wrote: post #52
jseban wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People also like to choose whatever they think is fun, if you want to play tennis instead of riding a bike, because you think that's more fun, you should be able to do so. Your fun is at the expense of other people's mobility, why can't you just use some of the other million ways of getting exercise and having fun, where you don't have to be in other people's way?

It's better to be a driver. It's no fun. You don't get any exercise. It drives up infrastructure costs, kills and maims people, destroys the planet, and takes up even more space on the roads.

So, just use the subway then and your problems are solved. In a much better way than cycling.

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#58

Post by inglor_cz »

Kafkish wrote: post #32
inglor_cz wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That depends on your age and cardiovascular health. Overexertion in heat can be deadly. I am 43, I have no chronic disease, but I would be afraid of more than just sweating if I went on a biking trip in that temperature. Sometimes I feel unwell even when walking in such heat.

Then the problem is not the heat, but your fitness level, which regular biking, jogging will improve. It did for me. After about 20 years of no exercise, just sitting in front of a computer, I decided last November to start exercising (jogging. Bad knees make biking a bad idea) My 1st day out jogging, I could only go 0.5 miles non-stop before I almost passed out. Today I can do 5.5 miles non-stop. My cardiovascular s…

I have quite a lot of exercise, but I have hard time tolerating high temperatures in general, and it has been getting worse with age. I should have been born somewhere in Siberia.

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#59

Post by jseban »

unglaublich wrote: post #47
jseban wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The truth is that cycling infrastructure is an unnecessary luxury. It's a "good thing" in principle because it's a way of transportation that's good for the environment and gives people exercise, but it's redundant and expensive, you still need full capacity in public transport, because almost no one cycles when the weather is bad. It would only makes sense really if you could dynamically allocate space between cars/…

A car in a city center, _that_ is the unnecessary luxury. > Until then, it's at the expense of general mobility which is a really big downside in cities that are already crowded and transport is slow. Automobiles are the sole reason why general mobility is so poor in cities that are crowded (with cars) and where transport is slow (due to cars). Please take a look at cities in Denmark or The Netherlands. Cycling is th…

A bike lane that's only used when the weather is nice, when you already have a subway? No _that_ is unnecessary luxury. Take the subway if you hate cars.

Re: Barcelona’s Bicibús: hundreds of families biking to school together

#60

Post by jseban »

unglaublich wrote: post #47
jseban wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The truth is that cycling infrastructure is an unnecessary luxury. It's a "good thing" in principle because it's a way of transportation that's good for the environment and gives people exercise, but it's redundant and expensive, you still need full capacity in public transport, because almost no one cycles when the weather is bad. It would only makes sense really if you could dynamically allocate space between cars/…

A car in a city center, _that_ is the unnecessary luxury. > Until then, it's at the expense of general mobility which is a really big downside in cities that are already crowded and transport is slow. Automobiles are the sole reason why general mobility is so poor in cities that are crowded (with cars) and where transport is slow (due to cars). Please take a look at cities in Denmark or The Netherlands. Cycling is th…

> Cycling is the primary mode of transportation in their city centers.

It's not when there's cold rain in the winter, guarantee it.

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