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No. 1. NYC is _BIG_. It's 304 square miles, which is about 17 by 17 miles. There are many places where biking is too far. 2. Subways, in contrast to popular o
by nixos 10y ago
No.
1. NYC is _BIG_. It's 304 square miles, which is about 17 by 17 miles. There are many places where biking is too far.
2. Subways, in contrast to popular opinion, don't go everywhere. Mainly, unless you live in Manhattan, or that's the only place where you want to go, the Subway system is quite lousy. Going from the airport to Coney Island takes an hour and a half by subway (according to Google), rather than half an hour by car. Now what happens if you have what to do in Queens, Far Rockaway, or NJ?
3. Expensive and no point. Due to #2, most NYers have to have a car, if at least for those off days when they want to leave the city or what. Once you have the car, driving it is much cheaper than taxi.
- superuser2 10y ago#3 holds if and only if there is affordable parking. UberPOOL to downtown Chicago and back can be cheaper than parking there, particularly for a long time.
- markbao 10y ago> Going from the airport to Coney Island takes an hour and a half by subway (according to Google), rather than half an hour by car. Now what happens if you have what to do in Queens, Far Rockaway, or NJ? Unless if it's during commuting hours, in which case they're pretty much equal I'd say. > Due to #2, most NYers have to have a car Definitely not. 56% of NYC households don't have a car, the highest proportion in the US among cities. Compare to SF where 31% don't have a car. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_most_households_without_a_car https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_most_...
- galdosdi 10y ago17 miles is not a long bike ride unless you do not bike. 90min at a slow 11mph pace. A lot of people do 90min commutes. Scary car traffic is a much bigger reason people do not bike such routes, not distance. That said, for such distances a moped or ebike could be much faster, while still evading gridlock that would slow a car.
- cc439 10y agoIt's 17x17 miles in a straight line, something that is impossible given the geography of the city and its waterways. I just picked a random cross borough trip from the Aquarium to Yankee Stadium and the shortest bike-traversable route is 22.3 miles despite the 2 locations being just 17.7 miles apart as the crow flies. That is a pretty straight route as well.
- galdosdi 10y agoMore to the point, the average NYC car trip goes under 3 miles, the length of a pleasant 11 to 18 minute bike ride. It is OK to use more than one mode!