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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

#931

Post by CydeWeys »

gambiting wrote: post #561
novok wrote: post #548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You adopt the housing law of japan, which is set at the federal level and not the local level, where zoning is set in large regional areas, where if something is zoned for a 'high nuisance level' you can build anything of a lower nuisance level inside of those zones. You don't need your neighbors permission to build, everything is basically by-right where you follow well a well defined housing code vs. needing specia…

Mate there is no other group campaigning harder to relax building requirements in London than the elites. There are so many rich people complaining they can't add another conservatory or floor or dig up a basement in their Victorian mansion in London. If you made it easier to build you'd basically hand a giant fat present to the hands of the elite. The idea that the elites keep the status quo by making bureocracy com…

Have you heard the expression cutting off your nose to spite your face? That's exactly what you're doing here.

Yeah, maybe some elites will get to renovate their houses. Who cares. Large apartment buildings would get built with huge numbers of units to help drive down rent.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#932

Post by barbazoo »

sandworm101 wrote: post #870
barbazoo wrote: post #730

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many people live in the Rockies though? And how many live in relatively flat cities. You're not wrong I just think that this is akin to saying EVs aren't practical in the US because of Alaskan winters.

How many? Me. Much of my family. The place i used to work. The rockies, and coastal mountains, cover a huge swath of north america.

On a grand scale, sure, but even those places aren't necessarily super hilly. There's a reason towns and cities exist mostly on relatively flat terrain.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#933

Post by hnlmorg »

pjmlp wrote: post #924
hnlmorg wrote: post #905

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the city but generally what you’ve described is completely untrue. Usually European cities try to pedestrianise their centre as much as they can and have all sorts of public transport schemes from Park and Ride to regular underground and overground rail services. I live miles out of from London and get the train in. Almost nobody I work with live in the city and none of them drive in. In fact you wouldnt w…

Yeah, I guess I need to throw away my passport. It is no accident you only listed capital sized cities.

The first three, so literally half that list, are relatively small cities. Certainly not “capital sized”.

I’ve noticed this trend you have of defining things in absolute terms despite the evidence being transparently not. Which I normally make an effort not to reply to your silly comments however on this occasion didn’t check who the commenter was before responding. Which is basically a longwinded way of saying I’m not going to continue on with this absurd exchange any further.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#934

Post by hnlmorg »

pjmlp wrote: post #925
hnlmorg wrote: post #914

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve cited plenty more cities. And could cite more still. Besides, your statement was an absolute so the GP only needed one of example to disprove you yet gave you two.

Capital sized cities. There are plenty of cities in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia,... where it doesn't hold. You know, those that people from the cities you listed love to rent cars for their vacations, and enjoy what many locals can't afford.

How can they rent cars when they don’t have a driving license?

And no, they weren’t all capital sized cities.

I also don’t understand what vacationing has to do with anything when I was talking about backpackers, nomads and expats. Basically the polar opposite of people who vacation.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#935

Post by hnlmorg »

gambiting wrote: post #923
hnlmorg wrote: post #919

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re solving the wrong problem. The problem we are discussing is the difficulty of learning to drive when you’re travelling. If you already have a driving license then this entire discussion is moot because you don’t need to learn to drive if you can already drive. Pretty obvious stuff I’d have thought but a few on here seem surprised by this fact. Go figure.

Wait, but you said this, didn't you? "be hugely costly and still only result in a license that isn’t immediately transferable to other countries (eg you have to hold a license for x years before you can drive abroad and/or older than x years old)" So I'm going to ask again, what kind of countries issue you with a licence that isn't immediately transferable to other countries? You can get an international driving perm…

Maybe the rules had changed, but when I was considering learning to drive in the U.K., I couldn’t use that driving license in the EU unless I had been driving for more than 5 years (or something in that region) and was over 25 years old (again, something in that region).

So you couldn’t pass your driving test then immediately drive abroad.

Edit: I cannot find any detail on that so maybe this isn’t the case any longer. Learn something new everyday :)

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#936

Post by Dylan16807 »

hnlmorg wrote: post #918
Dylan16807 wrote: post #911

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, so "short periods" that add up to significantly more than half the time? Since even if you spend every other week or every other month in another country that leaves you plenty of learning time if you want to. That scenario adds up, it just wasn't what I thought when I saw "short periods".

“Travelling” in this context means people who spend months or years away from home. Or don’t even have a fixed place they call “home”. A bit like nomads, backpackers, etc. Sure, some of them will drive. But I’ve also known plenty of people who cannot drive because they spend their time backpacking or who work a couple of years in one county then move to another.

If you're backpacking constantly, sure.

But a couple of years is a huge amount of time. If you put in just 4 hours a week you'll be done in no time. Not knowing how to drive in that situation is because of not caring very much, not because of moving around. And the vast majority of what you learn stays relevant when you move.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#937

Post by seoulmetro »

panick21_ wrote: post #872
seoulmetro wrote: post #840

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Single use superblocks? Most Korean/Chinese apartment block regions feature multi-use (without industrial) and do it very well, incorporating commercial slots surrounded by a throng of greenery and apartment blocks for residents, with nearby lower-density, medium-density housing. Got any examples of China? Because Koreans follow density principles extremely well.

The talk I linked goes into detail. Many Chinese superblocks are not walkable and have no commercial and offices are also in a different place. But its not everywhere. I don't know about Korea, no comment on that.

Interesting. I've seen some videos of the empty apartment blocks with small empty commercial areas below them.

Actually, now that I think about it. Korea is actually migrating towards a more Chinese vibe (I call it Americanisation of their planning) where they build the buildings super far apart and make it all way less walkable but still bikeable.

The city I refer to that recently disappointed me and is brand new in Korea is Dongtan, take a look if you get a chance. I think Korea has slipped down the slippery slope unfortunately. Either that or they just haven't filled in the lines yet, but I doubt that. It's just more car-centric.

Things built 5-10 years ago weren't like this, but then neither was the car status symbol race.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#938

Post by hnlmorg »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #936
hnlmorg wrote: post #918

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Travelling” in this context means people who spend months or years away from home. Or don’t even have a fixed place they call “home”. A bit like nomads, backpackers, etc. Sure, some of them will drive. But I’ve also known plenty of people who cannot drive because they spend their time backpacking or who work a couple of years in one county then move to another.

If you're backpacking constantly , sure. But a couple of years is a huge amount of time. If you put in just 4 hours a week you'll be done in no time. Not knowing how to drive in that situation is because of not caring very much, not because of moving around. And the vast majority of what you learn stays relevant when you move.

> But a couple of years is a huge amount of time. If you put in just 4 hours a week you'll be done in no time.

Sure, if you put 4 hours a week into any activity you’ll soon get good at it. But the crux of the issue is whether that activity is seen as a priority or not.

> Not knowing how to drive in that situation is because of not caring very much, not because of moving around.

They didn’t care because they were moving around a lot.

And frankly it doesn’t really matter what the reason is. Regardless of whether it is a practical or preferential justification, the end result is the same: plenty of people manage just fine without learning to drive.

I find it weird that this concept is so alien to some people. But I guess that’s a good example of the diversity of the readership on here.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#939

Post by pjmlp »

hnlmorg wrote: post #933
pjmlp wrote: post #924

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I guess I need to throw away my passport. It is no accident you only listed capital sized cities.

The first three, so literally half that list, are relatively small cities. Certainly not “capital sized”. I’ve noticed this trend you have of defining things in absolute terms despite the evidence being transparently not. Which I normally make an effort not to reply to your silly comments however on this occasion didn’t check who the commenter was before responding. Which is basically a longwinded way of saying I’m n…

Maybe you should actually try to live in a "city" in southern Europe.

Just don't pick Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, Rom, Napel, Milano, Athens, Zagreb for the actual experience.

Here is a suggestion, country side in the middle of the country, or one of the Mediterrean or Atlantic island.

Re: Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

#940

Post by pjmlp »

hnlmorg wrote: post #934
pjmlp wrote: post #925

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capital sized cities. There are plenty of cities in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Croatia,... where it doesn't hold. You know, those that people from the cities you listed love to rent cars for their vacations, and enjoy what many locals can't afford.

How can they rent cars when they don’t have a driving license? And no, they weren’t all capital sized cities. I also don’t understand what vacationing has to do with anything when I was talking about backpackers, nomads and expats. Basically the polar opposite of people who vacation.

Many do, even if they don't drive at home.

Plenty, it shows not wanting to endure the actual pain locals have with local transport system, if one exists at all.

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