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Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

forbes.com

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Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#621

Post by pg314 »

mellosouls wrote: post #281
raphaelj wrote: post #36

Somewhat unrelated to the article, but I live in a mid-size EU city and dumped my car for an e-bike a few months ago. Surprisingly, it hasn't been that hard (my GF kept her car, and I have a car-sharing subscription): Pros: - Immediately stopped having insomnia. Better feel overall; - about €300/month in additional disposable income. That's basically a free lunch everyday! - significantly faster if parking is taken i…

significantly faster if parking is taken into account for most trips This sounds unlikely for the average cycling commuter if parking alone is making the difference- cyclists (as motorcyclists) need to change (at each side) and shower etc; I think that is often forgotten in these calculations.

Do a google image search for 'Dutch on bicycles'. None of those people in the pictures need to change or shower after their ride. Same thing were I live. We only wear special cycling clothes if we go out cycling on a road bike or mountain bike in the weekend. And of course then you need to shower afterwards.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#622

Post by juancb »

holoduke wrote: post #227
matsemann wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - might be impossible depending on work or children; The newer style of cargo bikes can for many families replace a car. Have two kids seated in the trunk of the bike and drop them off at kindergarten, then continue biking to work and pick them up on the way home. Those are a bit on the pricier side, though. Still cheap compared to a car, but people often look at them as something "extravagant" or "in addition" to…

You live in a city bubble. I have three kids and live in a suburban town about 40km away from the nearest big city. No way i can live without a car. I do have bikes and use them often to bring kids to school. But many friends and family are scattered arround the country. Many places i go to with my kids can only visited by car. And i find a car often very useful during a period of reconstruction of my house or garden…

Does your large suburban home improvement shop not offer delivery or rent out work trucks/vans for hauling your DIY catch of the week?

Consider the cost of ownership with maintenance, depreciation, loan interest (if applicable), and insurance compared to renting. Depending on the frequency and distance of your long trips you may actually save money by renting.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#623

Post by soperj »

gambiting wrote: post #507
hnlmorg wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

London has really good public transportation and, as this article mentions, lots of people in London do cycle to work (half of all the offices I’ve had in London has had an on-premises bicycle “shed”). In fact I’ve met so many Londoners who never even bothered to learn to drive. In my experience, it’s generally American cities that require a car rather than European cities. Generally speaking of course, you get good…

of course, which is why a staggering 1 million of people commute in and out of london every day. But again, I'm just asking how exactly can we address the high price of housing near workplaces in London specifically, if London is already full to the brim and new housing isn't happening not because of regulations or lack of political will - there's just no space to build any more.

Move some of the work places.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#624

Post by sagarm »

ryankshaw wrote: post #610
matsemann wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - might be impossible depending on work or children; The newer style of cargo bikes can for many families replace a car. Have two kids seated in the trunk of the bike and drop them off at kindergarten, then continue biking to work and pick them up on the way home. Those are a bit on the pricier side, though. Still cheap compared to a car, but people often look at them as something "extravagant" or "in addition" to…

what do people do that have kids between the "too big for cargo bike" and "too young to drive their own car" category? I used to take my kids all the time on my e-bike with a burley bike trailer. Now I have a 13 year old and a 10 year old. I'm pretty sure the middle schooler would get made fun of if his friends saw him showing up to school or soccer practice in the cargo bucket of my bike. For people that have hit th…

It sounds like you think the infrastructure is too unsafe for them to bike on their own?

My nephew (12) cycles himself to school, but the infrastructure supports him doing so.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#625

Post by TheTon »

ryankshaw wrote: post #610
matsemann wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - might be impossible depending on work or children; The newer style of cargo bikes can for many families replace a car. Have two kids seated in the trunk of the bike and drop them off at kindergarten, then continue biking to work and pick them up on the way home. Those are a bit on the pricier side, though. Still cheap compared to a car, but people often look at them as something "extravagant" or "in addition" to…

what do people do that have kids between the "too big for cargo bike" and "too young to drive their own car" category? I used to take my kids all the time on my e-bike with a burley bike trailer. Now I have a 13 year old and a 10 year old. I'm pretty sure the middle schooler would get made fun of if his friends saw him showing up to school or soccer practice in the cargo bucket of my bike. For people that have hit th…

Our 9 year old has an electric scooter. I didn’t really want to get it for him, because I’m an old school analog bike guy myself, but I have to admit it is convenient. It has around a 15 mile range and keeps up with a comfortable cycling pace, so my wife and I ride our commuter bikes and he cruises along next to us.

He also has a bike and he’s a pretty strong rider for a kid, but it’s still a bit much for him to keep up on longer trips, so the scooter helps there. I expect in a couple of years or so it will break or he will outgrow it, but by then he should have no trouble keeping up on his own bike.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#626

Post by nec4b »

lenlorijn wrote: post #402
fipar wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About not killing someone if you ride after drinking, Obviously it is ver difficult for a bike to directly kill someone other than the rider (as opposed to a car, where this is very easy), but a drunk cyclist can still hurt other people directly or indirectly (causing a bigger accident by forcing someone to avoid them). Even on a city free of private cars, you’d still share the road with pedestrians, other cyclists,…

I see lots of folks in the comments assuming what would happen when you bike drunk, seemingly not ever having done so themselves or seen it. I live in a student city in the Netherlands (Groningen), where most students go out on the town by bike. It's really not much more dangerous than walking drunk. And it's very much preferable to driving drunk. Thousands of students park their bikes in the city's central undergrou…

Hitting a pedestrian when riding a bike at 25 km/h has life threatening consequences for the pedestrian. Pedestrians do die when hit by bikers. Especially elderly which have worse awareness around them and are more fragile.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#627

Post by xsmasher »

TexanFeller wrote: post #51

I would celebrate if this happened naturally, but this seems more a case of if you punish driving enough you get less drivers. When I was in London over a decade ago they already had restrictions on car traffic into certain parts of the city and additional fees to go there. Tax on a new car is 20% and lots of regulations on their characteristics. Large taxes on petrol which is already much more expensive than in the…

You say "punish driving," I say "make drivers pay for the externalities they cause."

If you don't, you get the tragedy of the commons.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#628

Post by pg314 »

uoaei wrote: post #448
ulrikrasmussen wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can also just put seats on a normal bike. I have two kids seats on my bike, front and back, and take my 3 and 6yo to kindergarten that way. It's cheaper than a cargo bike, and much less likely to get stolen.

I am dismayed but not surprised at just how much money people will spend on e-bikes to avoid exercise. There are literally millions of decent analog bike frames bouncing around in various corners of . Getting one up and running, and strapping a seat to the front and back as you have done, would be about 10% the cost of a new e-bike, and maintenance would be negligible. Plus, you get to eat whatever you want guilt-fre…

It's true that you'll get more exercise if you do the same trip on a regular bicycle. But according to [1], e-cyclists cycles more and longer than regular cyclists. End result is that they exercise about as much.

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019821...

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#629

Post by jcul »

raphaelj wrote: post #36

Somewhat unrelated to the article, but I live in a mid-size EU city and dumped my car for an e-bike a few months ago. Surprisingly, it hasn't been that hard (my GF kept her car, and I have a car-sharing subscription): Pros: - Immediately stopped having insomnia. Better feel overall; - about €300/month in additional disposable income. That's basically a free lunch everyday! - significantly faster if parking is taken i…

Cons:

>- might be impossible depending on >work or children; > >- weather might make the ride >unpleasant; > >- somewhat dangerous when the >infrastructure is lacking.

None of those things are so bad once you get used to them, except perhaps the 3rd.

I've used a bike for commuting for years.

Since having kids I now have a seat on the back and one on the front to drop them to childcare.

The city I live in rains a lot! And it is quite hilly, and this is a normal bike, not an ebike.

But I still prefer it much more than driving, I just have the waterproof gear at hand.

The infrastructure and weather was a lot better for cycling in the city I just moved from, but I think even without good cycling lanes etc, if you are vigilant, signal well, and be assertive when needed it can still be fine.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#630

Post by hardlianotion »

nmca wrote: post #493
knolan wrote: post #49

I've a 24 km commute in Dublin in Ireland. It's most consistent by ebike. Driving can take anywhere from 35 minutes to over an hour depending on traffic. Public transport takes 90 minutes and there is only a direct bus a couple of times a day, otherwise it will take closer to two hours. On my bike it consistently takes an hour. I can take various green ways through parks and try to minimise my exposure to aggressive…

I have run schwalbe marathon pros on a variety of bikes & have never gotten a fast puncture on one despite thousands of miles. They are a touch heavy to be fair, but seems easily worth it.

schwalbe marathon is by far my most successful anti puncture tyre.
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