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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

#711

Post by [deleted] »

mjevans wrote: post #565
KPLS wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of regulations, I'd propose we bring back bigger down payment requirements (20%) and end the infinite availability of artificially low-interest debt. The absurdly cheap debt has driven speculation by bigger entities on housing, driving up the prices, and eased lending standards have just attempted to give individuals and families a fighting chance at competing for homes, also driving up the prices. I'm not s…

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…

[deleted]

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#712

Post by em500 »

r00fus wrote: post #524
em500 wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most Dutch parents don't bother with harnesses in cargo bikes. Or with helmets on normal bikes.

If they don't have to deal with cars, perhaps it's ok - but yikes. Helmets for everyone because even at 20kph someone could get a nasty/fatal head injury when they're yeeted out of the cargo area.

Try to count the number of helmets you can spot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqQSwQLDIK8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynwMN3Z9Og8

In Amsterdam if we see adult cyclists with a helmet we'd guess it's probably a tourist or new expat. For children most parents only bother with helmets until they're six years or so.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#713

Post by chroma »

locallost wrote: post #602
chroma wrote: post #562

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The important metric is fatalities per distance traveled, not absolute numbers. In the Netherlands, bicycles have 11 fatalities per billion kilometers traveled. Cars have 1.6.

By that metric, walking is the most dangerous mode of transport. Somehow seems illogical.

The comparison is valid because people in this thread are saying that bikes should substitute for many car trips. If they were saying the same thing about walking then I’d make the point about waking safety. But walking can’t substitute for many car trips so it’s a non-issue.

Cars have disadvantages and externalities, but they are much safer than bicycles. This is true even in the most bike-friendly countries on earth.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#714

Post by ars »

jodrellblank wrote: post #706
ars wrote: post #697

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> anything except maybe cheap labour. Hmmmmm. And that labor does? Please think about this a big more - cities do not have industry or agriculture in them. They need those suburbs to provide that. You can't just dismiss it as "cheap labor" - what exactly do you plan to eat or buy?

Farms aren't sub-urbs, farms are rural. Suburbia "lesser-urban" is housing estates. Nothing productive happens there. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/suburbia - " the outer parts of a town, where there are houses, but no large shops, places of work, or places of entertainment "

People live there. And they create business nearby.

And those business are closer to the rural areas than the cities are.

And also, there aren't really any places with just houses and no places of work, that doesn't really exist.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#715

Post by theFletch »

Zigurd wrote: post #645
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 becaus…

That's a great point about just being where certain types of riders are. This probably speaks volumes about the infrastructure for cycling, or lack of in NYC. I'm a cyclist and advocate for more bikes, but there is something about putting motorized transportation (e-bikes, scooters, etc.) even closer to pedestrians that seems wrong to me. Getting hit by a car is no fun, but getting hit by an e-bike going 20+ mph can't be fun either. The number of people to potentially suffer an injury also doubles.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#716

Post by thrashh »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #512
gambiting wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The population is only 20% of the problem -> look at Berlin, it's population has grown 0.3% over the past 30 years, but the house prices have gone stratospheric just like they have in every other major city. 40% of the housing problem is whatever the fuck is going on in the banking system -> it enables us to commit all of our life savings for the rest of our productive lives to pay for a roof over our heads. It's lik…

The price going up has probably reduced population growth though, so pointing to low growth but high prices doesn’t tell us that much.

Not to say that there isn’t something else going on.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#717

Post by ars »

jodrellblank wrote: post #705
ars wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we actually tax them, it would be a negative tax. So many people don't seem to realize that without suburbs you don't have farms. Suburbs and farms produce all the things that cities rely on. You don't see heavy industry in the middle of a city. So we actually wanted to do your plan then cities should cough up way more money than they currently do.

The poorer denser city centers (in America) subsidise the wealthier, less dense suburbs. "Suburbia is Subsidized: Here's the Math [ST07]" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nw6qyyrTeI

I knew before watching it that it was Strong Towns propaganda.

They keep ignoring that without those suburbs you won't have rural farms. Without those suburbs those "productive" cities will have nothing to eat, and nothing to buy.

They measure productivity in terms of dollars - but all cities do is services, they don't produce goods. That's left to those places Strong Towns hates.

If people actually implemented what Strong Towns wants, people would starve.

Try the math again, but completely exclude services and let's see where you end up.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#718

Post by andylynch »

ajmurmann wrote: post #101
II2II wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the article, the number of cyclists have not increased that much. (They mentioned it is at 102% of pre-pandemic levels.) What they are seeing is a decline in motor vehicles. The cyclists are simply an interesting way to benchmark that decline! It is still good news. People need to find better modes of transportation for both the environment and for society. It is just that the title doesn't mean what it…

So are more people taking public transit, walking or maybe stopped commuting entirely during the pandemic?

Many people working remotely, or commonly three days a week in town (incidentally it’s a buyer’s market for office space now). Train ridership is also down for similar reasons.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#719

Post by uoaei »

ars wrote: post #695
adambard wrote: post #588

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So many people don't seem to realize that without suburbs you don't have farms. This strikes me as a bizarre take. What do you consider a "suburb"?

A place outside dense cities, somewhere not too far from farms. A place where a farmer can go for services without having to travel far.

You're describing "rural" living. Suburbs entail something else.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#720

Post by olau »

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…

My children ride their own bike to school at age 6. I bought light-weight bikes (like Frogbikes or Woom, they keep a great resale value), and accepted that it takes a bit more time.

There's a certain joy in being propelled by your own muscles. But of course it depends on the distance.

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