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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"

#781

Post by thuridas »

MisterTea wrote: post #635
powvans wrote: post #10

This is really amazing to see trending on HN. I spent a couple days in Pontevedra this summer while walking the Camino de Santiago. It was absolutely delightful and what I experienced aligns with the article. The old town was filled with wide streets almost exclusively for walking, cafes and restaurants that sprawled into plazas, and people young and old enjoying the car free public space. It was one of the first sto…

I was in Spain last month and what stood out is that walkability requires mom and pop stores as well as more integrated neighborhoods with small commercial shops mixed into residential. Small shops seemed to be the majority in the city centers. The only large store I saw was a Lidl. They have largeish indoor markets that are more like a mini mall of individual shops like a butcher, produce, baker, cheese, even restau…

I would say that the causality goes in the other direction. We have big stores Carrefour and even some Coscos, but not in the middle of walkable cities.

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

#782

Post by MisterTea »

thekyle wrote: post #685
MisterTea wrote: post #635

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was in Spain last month and what stood out is that walkability requires mom and pop stores as well as more integrated neighborhoods with small commercial shops mixed into residential. Small shops seemed to be the majority in the city centers. The only large store I saw was a Lidl. They have largeish indoor markets that are more like a mini mall of individual shops like a butcher, produce, baker, cheese, even restau…

I think big box stores are popular largely because it would be inconvenient to drive between many smaller shops just to find the same variety of goods. It’s the same dynamic we see with car-dependent shopping malls, where the main advantage is being able to park once and visit multiple stores. If instead you had to re-park at each individual store, the experience would be far less convenient. But if a town is designe…

> But if a town is designed to be fully walkable

That is the point here. And do you always need to do all your shopping at once?If things were more walkable you can defer some shopping to other days.

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

#783

Post by dullcrisp »

woodruffw wrote: post #765
FuriouslyAdrift wrote: post #680

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least one wealthy family in NYC I met doesn't use surface transport for much... they use helicopters or have things/people/shopping/restaurants brought to them. Had an experience where a store sent tailors, stylists, a manager, and a ton of inventory so that they could clothes shop while still in their home. Apparently, this was "normal". My shock was a source of great amusement to them. They did the same thing wi…

I don’t think your wealthy acquaintances are representative. I’ve lived in NYC my entire life, and I know plenty of wealthy people. Most take the subway; a small but not insignificant minority drive or are driven everywhere.

You mean the skies aren’t filled with everyone riding helicopters?

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

#785

Post by coryrc »

Muromec wrote: post #771
deltarholamda wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Where it exists you can see that there is tremendous demand for it. Everybody loves public transit until they get panhandled for the jillionth time, or they witness (or experience) violence, or some other anti-social behavior sours the whole thing. I spent some time in NYC during the Giuliani years, after the city did a lot of work cleaning it all up: stopping turnstile jumpers, removing graffiti, more police, etc.…

>Everybody loves public transit until they get panhandled for the jillionth time, or they witness (or experience) violence, or some other anti-social behavior sours the whole thing. Haven't seen any of that in 30 years of using public transport in several countries. Are you ok in US? The closest to anarchy I have been in public transport was withnessin a hobo refusing to pay for the ride to trigger the police respons…

No, not at all. Have you seen the news? We'll be at Weimar Republic levels of inflation soon and half the voters think the person that's causing it will fix it.

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

#786

Post by 0x457 »

Saline9515 wrote: post #697
froddd wrote: post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The data you present does not say that: > 35% des cyclistes tués, 63% des cyclistes blessés gravement le sont dans un accident sans autre véhicule impliqué. 35% of cyclist deaths, and 63% of cyclist seriously injured occur in an accident with no other party involved. Another graph in that report shows that a vast majority of cyclist deaths occur while cycling for leisure. I would hazard that most cycling in cities is…

"63% of cyclist seriously injured occur in an accident with no other party involved" Is exactly what I said, as 63% is roughly 2/3.

It really matters what kind of cycling is being done with no other party involved. I injured myself only when I was doing "leisure cycling". I did get almost ran over by a dumb college student once during a commute ride, though.

I'm a huge supporter of public transit, but cyclists are a common enemy for everyone: cars, pedestrians, public transit-takers, other cyclists.

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

#787

Post by woodruffw »

deltarholamda wrote: post #558
hiddencost wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[dead]

"Nobody I know voted for Nixon." Many cities have been losing population for a while, regardless of your intimate knowledge of what other people do or don't feel. Incredulity isn't really much of a solution if you want to address issues that people might have.

I think it’s worth noting “cities that are losing population” and “cities that have underdeveloped public transportation” correlate closely.

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

#788

Post by Nevermark »

dullcrisp wrote: post #783
woodruffw wrote: post #765

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think your wealthy acquaintances are representative. I’ve lived in NYC my entire life, and I know plenty of wealthy people. Most take the subway; a small but not insignificant minority drive or are driven everywhere.

You mean the skies aren’t filled with everyone riding helicopters?

The skies are so filled with copters that you can walk from building to building on their blades.

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

#789

Post by gusgus01 »

mothballed wrote: post #711
afavour wrote: post #706

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really understand what this has to do with the original discussion. You said: > It applies to public transit specifically because people have freedom of speech to be assholes My response to was to say I do not believe that is true at all. Passengers on public transit do not have freedom of speech to be assholes.

Well you just admitted it applies more to public transit because they need a police to kick them out. If I can be an asshole and no one is able to show up and stop me, I have effectively the freedom 'de facto' to be an asshole even if I do not have 'de jure' freedom to be an asshole. Personally I'm not so sure police in NYC can kick people out for 1st amendment protected activity, which was what I specifically refere…

Drivers are given the latitude to kick passengers off public transportation for a range of reasons including violating the rules of conduct.

If I'm reading this correctly, you're talking about panhandling as an example of asshole activity that you believe is protected by the 1st amendment. Specifically, in NYC, it was ruled that panhandling is not protected speech on public transportation, see Young v New York City Transit Authority.

Of course, if the passenger refuses to leave or stop, the driver can't physically force them to and must escalate to a police force. Although, I imagine that's similar in many other countries as well.

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

#790

Post by dmd »

LexiMax wrote: post #753
oldjim798 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All this applies to cars as well. Drivers are wild and driving is absurdly dangerous. I hate driving because other drives act like they are the car in the world - particularly post covid. Here in Toronto turn signals feel like they have been uninstalled. We have a ton of street racers tearing up the roads. I see motorcyclists pop wheelies and rip down major streets weekly. All of your complaints about lack of pro soc…

I've had panhandlers walk up to me at stop lights in suburban sprawl cities. I find it very hard to believe that the GP hasn't experienced the same.

Well, as one data point, I've been driving in the Northeast US since 1996, mostly around Philadelphia and Boston, and that has never once happened to me.
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