7 ms·
If a city invests heavily in a bike network instead of a rail system, what happens on rainy days? I imagine that most people would be reluctant to bike to work
by majewsky 9y ago
If a city invests heavily in a bike network instead of a rail system, what happens on rainy days? I imagine that most people would be reluctant to bike to work through rain, and would thus try to fall back to car or rail, thus drastically overloading those modes.
- olau 9y agoYou could put a roof on top of the bike network?
- frabcus 9y agoGortex is very good these days...
- vvillena 9y agoBikes still work on the rain, you only need to dress up a bit. Extreme heat is way more problematic. As you said, it's more of a cultural problem, that can be solved. If we accept that motorbikers need lots of specialized equipment to ride, we can accept that cyclists need a couple bits of extra clothing every now and then.
- viraptor 9y agoI guess it depends on the region / type of rain, but there's some threshold where I expect a bike ride to be dangerous and not worth it. (even if I could get covered in another layer of clothes and had a place to store them at work which is another issue)
- CalRobert 9y agoTrue, but that treshhold is pretty high. SF doesn't exactly have a monsoon season. There are days when the weather should preclude driving too.
- majewsky 9y ago> Bikes still work on the rain, you only need to dress up a bit. Given that I've seen car users complain about using public transit because they have to wait for a few minutes or sit next to someone they don't know, needing to buy specific clothing is likely to deter them even more from biking. It's a cultural problem.
- superhuzza 9y agoNot an option up here in Canada. Biking is not viable for about a 1/3 of the year. Ice, snow and low temperatures make biking extremely dangerous. My city is known as being extremely biker friendly, yet virtually nobody bikes for 4-5 months every year.
- CalRobert 9y agoWeather has an impact but cities still see a return on building bike infrastructure. http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/walking-cycling-in-vancouver-2016-report-card.pdf http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/walking-cycling-in-vancouver-2... Canada is big but most of its population lives in the south. If you're in Yellowknife that could be different, of course.
- superhuzza 9y agoOh I definitely agree investing in cycling infrastructure is still worth it. I'm very happy my city has many bike paths and a bike sharing system. However, the reality for most Canadians is that above all we need public transport that can be used year round. Most Canadians don't live in B.C., and pretty much everywhere else we have harsh winters (yes, even in the south).
- CalRobert 9y agoThey cycle, or take the bus, or walk - similarly car crashes are more likely when it rains but we still build roads. The obvious counterexamples are the highly successful bike routes in northern European cities.. plenty of rain there.