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Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

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Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#661

Post by komali2 »

yourusername wrote: post #453
komali2 wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't my experience, but I understand some countries have overloaded public transit systems. When I've been in those countries, it's been simple enough to just let an overloaded train pass and grab the next one.

Ok but you let that train pass you might lose the connection to the bus at the other end. Or the next train or bus might not be for half an hour. Now you're late to wherever you were going.

Right, so, again, it sounds like your public transit is underfunded or something. Where I live I can depend on there being another train within 8 minutes no matter where I'm going, or a bus, or I can just hop on a ubike and I can be confident there'll be a space and station within a couple hundred meters.

I sympathize with people that aren't so lucky, but, if Taipei can figure it out, there's really no excuse elsewhere. Good public transit really is the only viable way to move people. The private car is, objectively, the worst.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#662

Post by deltarholamda »

ionwake wrote: post #636
deltarholamda wrote: post #622

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, panhandling was just one thing mentioned, and to focus on that to the exclusion of the others seems disingenuous. But it does depend on the nature of the panhandling, doesn't it? Passive panhandling is one thing, and aggressive panhandling is something else, right? The point is that people will accept some level of anti-social behavior, however they define that, and above that level they do not. No amount of bl…

Im confused, you seem to be offended for some reason EDIT> I reread your comment what on earth are you talking about? Im not acting shocked, and nothing about my reply is anything to do with other people having differing opinions.

Fair enough, though I'm not offended. I detected condescension where none was meant, and I apologize for that.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#663

Post by osigurdson »

lukan wrote: post #167
osigurdson wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some cities build dedicated bike paths. This is much nicer as you aren't fighting with cars that way.

In some places the only way to make a bike bath is to reduce a car lane. I am all for it out of general principle, but most car drivers will likely disagree.

I guess it depends on demand. If bikes are 100-to-1 then make a bike lane, if the other way around maybe not. Need to remember that tax-payers actually fund this stuff so can't just force random stuff on them.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#664

Post by Earw0rm »

bombcar wrote: post #333
mystifyingpoi wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have kids? I don't think so (correct me if I'm wrong). Car is absolutely essential for driving around small kids no matter the urban density. I'm more dependent on my car(s) when I got the first newborn than I ever was.

A single newborn can be handled without a car (if you spend used car prices on a stroller system!) - but if you have three kids under three, or five under 7, a car greatly simplifies things - or you need to hire additional wranglers. It's not about the good times (on a good day, moving five kids by walking/stroller is easy) - it's about the bad times, the crying, the screaming, the attempted suicides, etc.

Until you're the only adult in the car, driving along the motorway, and one of the kids in the back starts crying / gets car sick / needs the toilet when you're 15km from the next services. Granted, train toilets with a toddler aren't much fun either.

Don't need a crazy expensive stroller though. A sling when they're small and light, and once they get big and heavy, they're large enough to go in a more basic foldable stroller. The childcare products industry is honestly awful at scamming new or expecting parents into buying shit they don't need.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#665

Post by bluGill »

thelastgallon wrote: post #470
bluGill wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do I worry about the perfume of a lady on the train or As someone who will have a runny nose all day if I sit next to that lady, yes I do worry about her perfume more than I worry about the drunk driver. While the drunk driver is a worse situation if the odds hit me, the odds the perfumed lady is too close to me is much higher.

Thats right. The risks of a perfume lady are way too scary. Cars never have any odors, just fumes, soot and particulate matter, brake dust. The air quality of cities is so much better than that of forests because of cars. The risks couldn't be more clear: 10 million deaths from air pollution[1] and pollution causing every kind of disease (except STIs) from cars vs hundreds of millions of deaths from perfume lady in t…

For me the immediate effects of perfume lady are worse than the other effects. I'm not downplaying the others, I'm just stating the reality that she makes my life miserable in a way that is very clear.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#666

Post by lukan »

osigurdson wrote: post #663
lukan wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some places the only way to make a bike bath is to reduce a car lane. I am all for it out of general principle, but most car drivers will likely disagree.

I guess it depends on demand. If bikes are 100-to-1 then make a bike lane, if the other way around maybe not. Need to remember that tax-payers actually fund this stuff so can't just force random stuff on them.

That is true, but the thing is, without bike lanes, people won't switch to bikes in certain traffic conditions. Cyclists pay taxes btw. too and a bicycle with its low weight is magnitudes cheaper for the roads, then the SUV tanks.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#667

Post by rpearl »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #578
Fricken wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My daily bicycle commute takes me right through the heart of my city's homeless district, and like with many cities things have gotten a lot worse since COVID. Cars are far and away the biggest threat to my safety, and the source of all the harrassment I receive while out in public. I mean, every now and then some guttersnipe blurts out incoherencies at me, but that's not something to be afraid of. I regard driving,…

[flagged]

> deserve [to be harassed by people in cars] no, they don't.

> You want to be on the road (outside of a bike line)? Act like you hold a drivers license then. Oh you don't? Get the hell off the road. A driver's license is not required to use a road. It's required to operate a car. Cyclists explicitly have the right to use the road, including outside of bike lanes. When cyclists act unpredictably it is very, very frequently a response to motor vehicle traffic and pressure, because drivers are seemingly incapable of understanding that their tons of metal can hurt people.

Cyclists would love separated infrastructure, but the vast majority of transportation dollars go towards car infrastructure in the US.

> [the sidewalk is] infinitely safer for all involved

no, it isn't. This creates a lot more points of conflict with both drivers (who do not expect fast traffic on the sidewalk) and with pedestrians. Sidewalks are also often not appropriate for wheeled vehicles moving with any speed; terrain is uneven and turns are too sharp.

You're driving? Act like you have a driver's license, which requires you to respond safely to other road users including cyclists. Can't do that? Get the hell off the road.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#668

Post by ericmay »

piva00 wrote: post #660
mothballed wrote: post #589

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It applies to public transit specifically because people have freedom of speech to be assholes on public transit. If I have an uber or a private taxi or even a private collectivo which is a private system that works like public transit in much the 3rd world, if I get sick of someone panhandling for the Nth time I can kick them the fuck out. If you look at places with nice public transit like Germany or Japan, they ha…

I don't think it has anything to do with free speech laws, it's simply civics and the lack of it in American society due to a multitude of factors. American society doesn't understand collectivism in any level, your country has been built upon individualism without much care for collective living, you just reap what you've sown.

I'm not sure that's quite the case, because as a country we do tend to be rather compassionate when motivated to do so. You frequently hear from travelers "Americans are the nicest folks you'll meet" and I generally believe that's true. It's not about individualism vs collectivism, but lack of empathy enforced through transportation methods that by design create a lack of social cohesion.

Scandinavian countries for example score much higher on the individualism scale, yet you don't see as much of this behavior as you might in the United States.

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#669

Post by mrguyorama »

mschuster91 wrote: post #80
forgotoldacc wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the time aspect comes from excessive regulations and approvals and always, always giving jobs to the lowest bidding contractor. The lowest bidder is always the most expensive, and they always waste time far beyond schedule to burn more money, yet North America as a whole just won't learn from the past 70 years and keeps doing the same thing. I visit China sometimes and it's seriously just wild seeing a town s…

> Most of the time aspect comes from excessive regulations and approvals Well... given you're comparing to China... regulations and approvals have a point. China just openly sharts on nature, the environment and the rights of its citizens - the Party and its interests always come first. > I visit China sometimes and it's seriously just wild seeing a town suddenly have a metro system go from not existing to being full…

>China just openly sharts on nature

You say this like China is the country openly flaunting the climate, purposely pushing for more carbon emissions to enrich a few people, calling climate change a hoax, 1984'ing all government research and policy on climate change, and forbidding agencies from even researching it, selling off public lands for profit.

That's not China, that's the good ol USA

Oh, and the USA also sent multiple completely innocent people to gulags.

Where's your high horse now?

Re: Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"

#670

Post by oldjim798 »

deltarholamda wrote: post #381
oldjim798 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is driving not emotionally taxing the exact same way? Driving with my kids is fucking terrifying. I have 2 under 6, and I have to lock them into these giant car seats to keep them safe (to be clear I like modern car seats, their designs just remind me how vulnerable kids are). Every time I go through a intersection I worry what happens if someone runs the red and smashes into our side. I no longer speed when I dr…

[flagged]

When you compare driving to almost every other form of transportation it is wildly dangerous. https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/home-and-community/safety-topics...

"Passenger vehicles are by far the most dangerous motorized transportation option compared. Over the last 10 years, passenger vehicle death rate per 100,000,000 passenger miles was over 60 times higher than for buses, 20 times higher than for passenger trains, and 1,200 times higher than for scheduled airlines. Other comparisons are possible based on passenger trips, vehicle miles, or vehicle trips, but passenger miles is the most commonly used basis for comparing the safety of various modes of travel."

>Your safety is at least somewhat in your control Have you ever driven on roads? What control do I have that someone reading their phone instead of looking where their giant SUV is going while speeding

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