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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"

#921

Post by potatoz2 »

Saline9515 wrote: post #727
darkamaul wrote: post #640

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a reason why most Parisian families use a Yoyo stroller or another lightweight, foldable model: you can easily take them on the subway, and if you need help with the stairs, people are always willing to help (I’ve never seen anyone refuse). Buses can be slow during peak hours because of traffic congestion, but during the day they’re fairly reliable and have plenty of space for strollers. The Paris Metro is ex…

Yeah, so how do you fold a Yoyo with a newborn in the arms? You can't really, and some stations have a lot of stairs. Regarding drug addicts, I saw many, it really depends on where you live. My son was born in Paris, and we left as soon as we could because it felt really stupid to endure all of this. Buying a car felt like I discovered a time travel machine.

You can leave the newborn in the stroller and lower the whole thing yourself or with someone’s help. You can hold the newborn and ask someone to fold the stroller. You can take the bus or the tramway if you really want to avoid the subway.

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

#922

Post by panick21_ »

Saline9515 wrote: post #479
panick21_ wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What nonsense. > This has the consequence of making the cost of an house (or rent) go up to a point where most people can't even afford it Except that in some of the largest cities in the world rents aren't that high. > Cars allow us to develop our society not in big cities, but in rather small towns, without ugly skyscrapers Go to Switzerland, it look like that before cars and still does. You can get affordable hous…

> Except that in some of the largest cities in the world rents aren't that high. Citation is really needed for this one. Especially if you consider Swiss real estate "affordable."

I was talking about large cities like Tokyo, not in Switzerland. Most of Europe has terrible housing polices.

In Switzerland you have to move out of the city center but because the S-Bahn you can be in the city very fast. In Luzern for exmaple, places like Ebikon or Emmenbrück, Horw.

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

#923

Post by potatoz2 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #77
abraxas wrote: post #49

North Americans visiting Europe often grapple with why they enjoy European cities more than North American ones. It's often perceived as an architecture issue ("Europe has historical buildings that we don't have") but very few notice that the main difference is the urban scale and the resulting walkability. The Netherlands has plenty of modernist and even brutalist architecture yet every city there is a pretty nice p…

Important to note is how most cities have two (or more) zones; the old inner city for leisure, tourism, shopping and going out, the suburban areas around it where most people live, and industrial / office building estates where most people work. Amsterdam is a great example [0] and well-known for a lot of tourists, with the city center being the tourism hub, the zones around it for living, west/northwest for industry…

I can’t speak for other cities, but Paris absolutely does not fit that mold: the highest density of people is in the very center of the city (or immediately adjacent cities), where the tourists are. Suburban areas can’t possibly house “most people” because they’re way sparser.

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

#924

Post by potato3732842 »

vkou wrote: post #835
potato3732842 wrote: post #810

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been in two accidents and been in the car where a fight broke out on the red line twice. And I've been driving a hell of a lot more than the years I rode the subway....

> I've been in two accidents and been in the car where a fight broke out on the red line twice. Were you an active participant in the fights? If not, wouldn't the fair comparison be a count of how many car crashes you have driven past?

>Were you an active participant in the fights?

I wasn't an "active participant" in the accidents either. Both were minor rear endings.

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

#925

Post by flanked-evergl »

panick21_ wrote: post #920
flanked-evergl wrote: post #907

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lots of investment in public transit in the Nordic countries. This is my favourite phrase. "lots of investment". Crime, drugs and violence gets worse, but it's okay because there is "lots of investment" in police — just meaning we keep spending more money and getting worse results. Public transport gets more expensive and worse every year, but there is a "lots of investment" in public transport — meaning we keep se…

Having just traveled all over Northern Europe, your doomer nonsense about 'crimes, drugs and violence' is hilarious. For example the automated metro in Copenhagen is a case of investment with great results. > can't go anywhere because it's unsafe I'm sure this is true in the fantasy land that exist in your head. Do your far right-wing rants somewhere else.

You can ignore the actual data showing that violent crime is rising, like the government and media does, but it does not mean it's not rising.

You can ignore the data on the public transport delays and cancellations, like the government and media does, but it does not mean it's not rising.

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

#926

Post by potatoz2 »

xyzelement wrote: post #331

I love walking - both in places as a tourist, in NYC where I lived most of my life, and in my small north shore Long Island town today. But similar to any other "product" the evaluation depends on the user's needs. As a single guy I loved that NYC was dense and walkable - because that meant (among other things) literally millions of date-able women within a 30 minute walk radius of my house. Great! Now as a dad of 3…

I grew up in Paris and that’s where I’m raising my son right now. I think there couldn’t be a kid-friendlier place (other than cost):

- I can walk to a gigantic park with many playgrounds in 5 minutes - I can walk to a small little park with a few swings and a slide in 1 minute - I can walk to a pool in 15 minutes - I can walk to my son’s future kindergarten and elementary school in 2 minutes - I can take public transportation to a gigantic zoo in a bit over 30 minutes (also a gigantic aquarium, playgrounds, etc. in the same area) - I can take public transportation to a world-class kid science museum in under 30 minutes (also a kid-centered movie theater, indoor skydiving, bowling, many more play areas, etc. in the same spot) - I can take public transportation to an amusement park in 45 minutes (1h to a second one, Disneyland Paris) - There are tons of indoor play areas for days it rains I can walk to or take public transportation - I have pediatrician and world-class pediatric hospitals walking distance, or a 5 minute wait away for EMS

And all of that much more safely than if I had to drive my kid everywhere (leading cause of death from 4 year onward IIRC. Once my son is old enough, he'll also be able to independently go to all that (say when he’s 12), which would be completely impossible in suburbia.

The only thing you can do in the suburbs is try to privatize all these resources, which is what a backyard is more-or-less (and a private pool, a home theater, buying tons of toys, etc.), but you inevitably get lesser versions as a result.

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

#927

Post by madaxe_again »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #877
potac wrote: post #798

I'm from Pontevedra. It has been the major's long-term project (~ 20 years) to make the city for the pedestrians: and he's done it. This works mainly because of two things: 1) the city is small and it takes aprox 30 min to walk it entirely from end to end, and 2) it is mostly flat. Only a smooth hill from "orillamar" to "alameda/peregrina". Unfortunately, the major obsessed with getting rid of cars (which I am highly…

> Unfortunately, the major obsessed with getting rid of cars (which I am highly grateful) but forgot to provide reliable public transport to close-by villages (max 5km,i.e., Poio/Marin/Salcedo). He can't! Mayors in Spain do not have the authority to establish public transportation outside their municipality, as is the case of the villages you mention. That would fall under the authority of the Xunta de Galicia, which…

Man, I was near A Coruña a few weeks back and was marvelling at how great it was that I could stick my friends on a bus in a small town and they’d get to Santiago. You have public transit.

Where I live in Portugal, there’s nothing - no buses at all, no taxis, zero public transit of any kind. You drive, you walk, or you ride your donkey.

There are bus stops, from when there used to be buses, but there have been none in 20 years.

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

#928

Post by weweersdfsd »

m-schuetz wrote: post #867
dmurray wrote: post #862

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been to Pontevedra and actually I thought it was something of a public transport hub! I was there because I was changing buses. Looking at Google Maps, there's a bus (XG628007) every 20 minutes from Marin to Pontevedra that takes 18 minutes for 7 km, along with at least two other bus routes which are less frequent and less direct. How much more public transport could you ask for? There are subway stops in Manhat…

Public transport just serves as an excuse to argue against car-free policies. Public transport can never be good enough to cover any rural alley cost-effectively. It also does not need to, cities don't need to justify makong themselves more livable to their citizens, at the cost of commuters who only see the city as a parking lot and roads.

The solution is simple. Just build big parking lots outside the city where land is cheap, and a bus service from these parking lots to the inner city. That way commuters can get to their workplace and back fast enough.

Making commuting viable that way is beneficial to inner-city folk too. When people who want to live further away from city can do it effectively, housing will become cheaper for those who actually want to live in the city.

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

#929

Post by tfrutuoso »

alistairSH wrote: post #319

I love this quote from the mayor: The fact that you park your private car in a public space is crazy: if you don’t have room for your freezer, do you put it on the sidewalk?

I don't pay nearly weekly road taxes for my freezer. I pay for my cars and bikes, so that the law grants me that ability to park. It's easy to understand.

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

#930

Post by tfrutuoso »

I really love these posts almost as much as i love the signs blocking cars from a certain area of my city's center, except for -amongst the common sense exceptions- cars owned by the office of the mayor. Rules for thee, or something or other. Is it fair to have more public transportation, bike lanes, bus lanes, walkable paths? yes. Is it fair to lock entire urban areas from cars? Not at all.
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