Though progress is often slow, city planners and politicians are gradually waking up to the fact that when cities offer safe and affordable alternatives to cars, we start to travel differently.
More and more young people are choosing bicycles, buses and trains over owning a car out of the sheer cost. In Berlin, it’s public transport, not cars, which is the coolest way of getting around.
In Copenhagen, a city that has a long held reputation for being bike-friendly, a whopping 62% of people choose to cycle their commute.
In the French city of Lyon, the number of cars entering the city has fallen by 20% compared to just a decade ago. As the city’s network of bike hire stations continues to grow, town planners are hoping for a further 20% decline.
In London, where cycle super-highways are becoming popular, the share of journeys made by car has fallen by a quarter since 1990.
Car free days are rising in popularity in many of the world’s largest cities, giving people a taste of what it’s like to live with less noise, traffic and pollution. Bogota was one of the first cities to introduce a car free day, and it’s now become so popular that it’s been extended to a full week.
Bogotá’s Ciclovía is fantastic! I was there in the mid-nineties and they closed a major artery, the Carretera Séptima, on Sundays. Here some pictures.
That’s an easy thing to say when you’re young and healthy.
You will think differently why you are 70, arthritic and facing chemo.
I am 59, have asthma, and cycle one hour to work. And cycling conserves and improves my health.
And: People in their 70 need public transport far more than others. Many of them cannot drive a car safely anymore (examples here). There are many tragic and unnecessary accidents because of that.
Bullshit! Give it another 20 years, you will think differently.
You think you’re hot shit now , but death comes to us all, and the ending is always more ugly than your bloated ego thinks it will be.
No arguments left, now resorting to trolling?
BTW I won’t drive a car in 20 years because I arranged my life pretty nicely to do without in the last 40 years. I never had a car.
He’s being a dick about it… but he does have a point. Some people really do need a door-to-door solution. Cars are simply the most feasible means to that end. Even the bus stops outside of the hospital grounds and the entrance can be a few hundred meters away. And that can be like a marathon for some of the sick, frail and elderly.
That doesn’t mean that everyone should own a car. A ride-share system or self-driving taxi service could provide for people in need. But banning cars and roads entirely is just not going to work, especially not in the USA, without any public transport to speak of. I wish we could and it is a nice dream, but not a feasible one.
Terrible design.
Perhaps, but that’s the way it is. Hospitals are so big they often have multiple entrances too.
They can rather easily put a rack of wheelchairs next to the bus stop. I know because that’s what they did in California. I routinely push elderly men and women to their destination when I arrive for my appointments, because they are trying to get there by themselves, and the bike racks that I’m using are like 10-15 feet from the wheelchair racks.
That could help and they should do this wherever they can. But it may not be an option for many city hospitals.
I also know some hospitals that have shuttle buses between the metro station and the hospital.
But the thing is, those kind of solutions don’t scale well. They work when a few people are taking public transport in an otherwise car-centric place. But if cars were to be banned and everyone would have to take the train or bus, it would be chaos. And there wouldn’t be enough volunteers to help even a fraction of the patients.
Well, a bike is a door-to-door solution, isn’t it?
I am not saying one size fits all. Some people do need an ambulance, or a van. But it should not be considered the norm.
As you can see, I do not favour banning all cars. But restricting unnecessary ones. And making cycleways so safe and convenient that they are preferred by healthy people,
I wouldn’t mind a lack of a door-to-door solution if there was a safe, reliable, means of traveling the first/last mile. Something sheltered from the elements, that could be safely driven in places that actually experience seasons. Probably something communal (think like the bikes or the scooters that you can pick up and rent anywhere), but more like a small golf cart or a covered ATV/trike.
Not everyone can bike everywhere. And many people that (physically) could, are dissuaded from it, because of road conditions, distance, climate, or having to share said road with blind idiots in cars.
Hell, I have a sweat gland condition…if I stand still in the sun for 10 minutes on an 80 degree day then take of my shirt, it’ll make a “thump” when it hits the ground. Going out for a casual stoll in the summertime, itself, is embarrassing. No way in hell am I going to be walking in the office after biking even a mile to the bus stop (but my nearest bus stop is actually 5 miles).
I went in one day, and the A/C on the train was broken. I spent my first half of the day working from a crashcart in the cold aisle of the datacenter…not because I needed to be there, but because I needed to be isolated from people and frozen to the bone.
This, exactly, is the point we have to change. For example by building safe cycleways and reducing speed limits in all shared streets to 30km/h (20 mph).
P.S.
Regarding seasons, elements, Winter and so on: Did you hear of Oulu, Finland? It is close to the polar circle, and people cycle there in Winter.
And… Did you hear of the Netherlands? People cycle there a lot. And it is normally a rainy and windy country.
If you think people who can’t walk a few hundred meters can bike to the hospital I’ve got news for you…
Second, as a fellow cyclist you also don’t want those people on the road. They are a danger to themselves and others.
For the most part, I think we agree. But dismissing other people’s needs for a car just because you don’t need one is not going to help either.
Jesus Christ, people who are too ill to walk should take a taxi or call an ambulance. I am not saying they should use a bike. But they should certainly not drive a car.
The same for people who are very frail, cannot see well, may have dementia, or severe circulatory problems. They should not drive a car.. Period.
If you are from the US, the idea might be alien to you, but we have public health insurance here, and if you need to go to hospital in an ambulance, this is covered by insurance. If you need a cab, you can get a coupon from your doctor. That might sound alien for you, but it is just a decent, halfways humane system.
And exactly for the people which are ill and frail, we need better public transport with good coverage. There are far too many accidents from the elderly, from people which are objectively unable to drive safely. This has to change.
And as soon we have satisfying public transport for these people, a whole lot more excuses fall apart why one needs to own a car.
I am not saying that nobody should have a car, or that today it isn’t the least worst option for many people. But owning and needing to use a car should be the exception - not the norm. It is not sustainable. We cannot live on like that. Look at the weather - wildfires, drought, floods. Do you think we can continue like that for 20 more years?
Yeah you did. I said some people need a door-to-door solution and explained further who those people are. If you then call the bike a door-to-door solution we’re still talking about those people.
And disabled or sick people can sit in a car and drive it, or sit in the passenger seat. You don’t have to assume their mental status.
Whoever said anything about that? Not being able to walk and dementia don’t have very much to do with one another, except for occurring at an older age.
Yes, I already mentioned the ride-sharing or robo-taxi solutions.
Uhh. No. Where did you get that idea? I already said we mostly agree. I simply disagreed with your point about elderly people not needing to be driven in cars.
It seems you’re doing the exact same thing you accused the other guy of. Trolling, bad faith arguing, moving the goalposts, ascribing ideas to me that I never had (a.k.a. straw man). Knock it off man.
Just for the record, no I’m not trolling, I’m just angry. And I should probably just walk away, but what the fuck.
I run across arrogant self centered pricks like you all the time. The ones who say “Hey, my life is just fine. I’m doing great. And I’m just to much of a narcissist to imagine people who may be worse off than me”
You think that just because you are healthy and active at 59 you are going to stay that way? Well you’re wrong. That’s not how aging works.
Will the biking help, oh hell yes. I ride an ebike and it’s great.
But that doesn’t stop your body from breaking down it just delays the inevitable.
And as for public transportation, yes, it great, unless you broke a hip in a fall, or have to use it to get to your chemo appointment, or are immune compromised, or anemic or… Do I really have to list all the medical conditions that make it inappropriate.
And no, taxi’s and ambulances are not a substitute, or even available or affordable.
My friend was on chemo last year, ran to the grocery store late one night, didn’t wear a mask. Was dead within two weeks, caught three different viruses at the same time. Covid, the flu and I can’t remember the third one. It was fucking horrific.
And no, going into a nursing home or assisted living isn’t a good option. Because every time some arrogant young asshole walks through the front door with the sniffles, everyone in there dies. During covid they just become charnel houses. My cousin is a mortician and we talked about it. The morticians couldn’t keep up with all the bodies.
My dad was in one the last year of covid because of a stroke, he died of covid.
You all have decided how everyone else should face death, and that just makes you self centered pricks without an ounce of empathy.
You lack imagination and you just don’t care about anyone but yourself.
And yes I do live in the USA. And yes our healthcare really sucks. And the nearest hospital is 20 miles away. And even if there was public transportation I wouldn’t take it, because I am also immune compromised.
Will this and my other posts get downvoted into oblivion? Oh hell yes.
But the down arrow doesn’t make you right. It just means you lack the experience and imagination to understand. You haven’t had to face the tough choices of end of life issue. But you will. And at that point, some arrogant prick will tell you to just take the bus.
Your down votes don’t make me wrong. They just make you clueless.
You can have your eco chamber back now.
I am sorry for your losses.
And no, declaring car transport as the “normal” mode of transportation and the completely unsustainable “American Way of Life” is not going to compensate for the lack of a working and accessible health care system.
Last not least because lack of any physical exercise, which is often a consequence of car dependency, causes a lot of health problems on its own.
And, European societies have stronger sense of solidarity. We just do not consider it a right to have a car for everyone.
You’re underestimating the size of the USA. We are about twice the size of Europe and less than half the population density. Most rural populations, the ones growing the food, are geographically isolated.
The whole world is not the same as Europe. Your solutions are not everyone’s. Would i like a betters solution than cars, sure. Walkable communities would be great. But you cant just snap your fingers and assume an entire society is just going to change because you hate cars.
You may hate cars and call us fat, but you are not looking at our reality. I’d say come visit and experience the vast distances, but now is not a good time, there is a crazy nazis in charge.
https://www.simplemaplab.com/size-comparisons/usa-vs-europe
This is similar for South America, Australia, or Asia: Most of the population is close to the coastal regions.
Yet these continents are not as dependent on cars.
The truth is, US Americans follow an unsustainable life style.
I don’t think you did any research before saying those things.
https://www.pakwheels.com/blog/longest-traffic-jams-world-history/
South American cities have some massive traffic jams as does china. China’s are so bad you can hire someone to take you home on a motorcycle and they leave someone in your car to finish the journey.
Meanwhile Australia is crazy for the ute. And has massive trucks called land trains than move huge amounts of their goods over unpaved roads in the outback
Exactly. Cars and the like should only be seen as something for the frail and elderly.
No, the frail and elderly should not drive. They would pose a risk to everyone else and themselves. What the frail and elderly need is public transport. A fast and safe way to get to places, without having to drive.
Public transport is also more accessible for the elderly and the disabled, if correctly designed. The fact that cars are better for those people is a myth that makes no sense when you think about it.