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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

#641

Post by mjevans »

b112 wrote: post #577
mjevans wrote: post #565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tax the undesired behavior. Using housing as an _investment_ should be heavily taxed based on the behavior's negative impact to society. Live somewhere for at least 35% of a year (more than 1/3rd), then most of that tax goes away since it's a 'primary residence'. (35% to allow for moving as well as possible 'sunbird' / 'winter/summer homes', while still catching anyone who treats housing as an 'investment' (a tax upo…

So landlords, who provide housing for those not ready/able to buy, now raise rents dramatically? So the end result, the poor pay more? Instead, what Vancouver did was simply tax empty housing.

Hotels, apartments, etc; things designed for such rentals should be in an entirely different category than (intended as single owner / dwelling) housing.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#643

Post by nibbleshifter »

CalRobert wrote: post #212
Tade0 wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So I think we will see a shift in where people settle, where they will no longer base their lives around owning multiple cars. Not if real estate in cities remains as expensive as it is now. That's one of the main reasons why so many people move out and choose to spend so much time commuting. Cars are just a means to an end, which is not living in a one-bedroom apartment as a family.

Sadly this rings somewhat true, I'm trying to make the maths work on moving from my house in the horrible Irish countryside (horrible if you don't like profound isolation and car-dependency, that is) and move to Utrecht or Houten, or Freiburg, and it is challenging, to say the least.

The Netherlands at least has functional health service, among other things. Ireland does not.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#644

Post by _dain_ »

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.

>cyclists (as motorcyclists) need to change (at each side) and shower etc;

Excuse me? I have literally never done that in my life. I just bike in my normal clothes. It's light exercise, you don't have to shower afterwards.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#645

Post by Zigurd »

theFletch wrote: post #451

I didn't see any mention of this in the article, but I wonder what percentage is commuting vs. delivery. I was in NYC before and after the pandemic and, just from a casual outside perspective, it seemed that the number of delivery cyclist has risen significantly while commuters has dropped or just stayed the same.

NYC has enough delivery riders that storage and fire risk from overnight charging is significant. I'm sure the same risks apply everywhere but sheer numbers in NYC make it a headline issue. I rode blue bikes while visiting, and I had different observations riding and walking: While walking it seemed like delivery riders where everywhere. While riding, I noticed a lot more leisure and commuting riders, probably because I was riding where they ride, not to some random delivery location.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#646

Post by cmonagle »

Maxburn wrote: post #596
sofixa wrote: post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with a big enough stick and very little carrot anything is possible Yep, so all those complaining that nothing is being done or can be done about climate change are wrong. There are tools, they just need to be used. > Aren't we hearing that actual residents really don't like these "15 minute" cities? We're also hearing that Zuckerberg is a lizard and the Earth is flat, so fucking what? London is a major metropolis,…

Do you live there? In a utopian ideal it seems kind of nice having "everything you need" close by. Thinking about it critically I currently live in a 15 minute city, but there is a car involved. I'm kind of confused about how people living in mass transit even get groceries, can you take your own cart on the train?

Typically you carry your groceries in a bag. Some people have wheeled bags for bigger trips.

In neighborhoods with a traditional urban form (or "15 minute cities"), you wouldn't usually take mass transit to the grocery store, it's within a short walking distance. With groceries close by, it's natural to make frequent, smaller trips.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#647

Post by bluecalm »

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…

I assume you can store your e-bike somewhere safe when commuting. Imo theft and complete unwillingness shown almost universally shown by police to do anything about it is a major obstacle in wider bike/e-bike adoption. If it wasn't for theft I would do 0 trips with my car within a city. As it is I can't even go shopping to the supermarket as my bike will be gone sooner or later.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#648

Post by slothtrop »

matsemann wrote: post #606
slothtrop wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not representative of how this usually works, and you know it.

You mean the long rows of cars queueing one constantly see outside US schools aren't representative? I'd say it takes far longer to pick someone up in a car than a bike..

Only if you live that close by. And I've never seen a long queue.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#649

Post by bluecalm »

gambiting wrote: post #414
CydeWeys wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like your underarching problem here is housing costs.

Sure but like.........people always say that (for example) in London you can't live closer to work because houses/flats are too expensive. Ok, I mean that's true, but how are you going to solve that? It's a gigantic city which is already full to the brim, with literally 1000+ years of building on top of every single square inch of land available. You would probably have to demolish large areas of London and replace t…

One problem is huge swatch of premium land being dedicated to cars (parking lots, wasted whole floors of residential building for parking, huge highways through the city etc.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#650

Post by Xylakant »

NoboruWataya wrote: post #477
Xylakant wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meet Oulu, the winter cycling capital of the world. https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2021/01/22/meet-the-bike-... https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/what-on-earth-winter-biking-...

The fact that this is newsworthy kind of reinforces the point that cycling in extreme weather is not a particularly easy or convenient thing to do.

It’s easy enough that children can do it. Cycling on hard-packed snow is not particularly hard, less so than sand, I’d say comparable to gravel. Ice is a problem.

Convenience is relative. Sure, cycling in winter requires a good pair of mittens, and a warm hat, but all in all, it seems that a lot of people prefer it in Oulu over driving.

And the thing here is that it’s not the weather that’s stopping people from cycling. It’s shitty maintenance of the cycling network. Slush and ice, being forced into the same space as cars.

And that’s the newsworthy part - how does Oulu manage to maintain a cycling network in winter where most other cities fail. The answers include things such as priorities, dedication, investment. Oulu dedicates resources to the problem. Most towns don’t because “no one cycles in winter” - which then becomes a self-reinforcing prophecy.

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