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I love cycling. I grew up in my father's bicycle store and nearly 50 years later, he's still running the business and we've all worked in it at one time or ano
by chrissnell 8y ago
I love cycling. I grew up in my father's bicycle store and nearly 50 years later, he's still running the business and we've all worked in it at one time or another. I ride bikes around the neighborhood with my kids every day.
With that said, the U.S. is not the Netherlands. Like most Americans, I depend on my vehicle to get my kids to school and myself to the grocery store, which are 4-5 miles away from my house. This country is not predominately compact or dense. Cycling is not the de-facto best solution for every place. [1]
I wish we could stop bringing up Amsterdam with every conversation about bike lanes. I'm all for building bike paths over green space but I don't support the closing of busy traffic lanes to support a relatively small cycling commuter population. It creates traffic snarls, more pollution, and wastes a lot of people's time.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-vista-del-mar-lanes-20170726-story.html http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-vista-del-mar-la...
- gameswithgo 8y agoIf we insist on our limitations they will be ours to keep.
- adrianN 8y agoThe first step to improving bikeability is not closing traffic lanes, it's improving density. For example be taxing parking space appropriately. There is no good reason why supermarkets should be so far apart from each other in a city or why commutes need to be two hours long. Where I live I can reach five supermarkets in less than ten minutes on a bike.
- agumonkey 8y agoI just saw a girl on TV saying she was doing 6km to go to work. Granted that's not possible for kids before middle school, but after that I think it's not far fetched.
- bagacrap 8y agoThe purpose of building more infrastructure is to get more people on bikes, not just to placate the ones already on bikes. Getting more people on bikes will reduce traffic and pollution, not increase it.
- gascan 8y agoBetter street design can improve traffic & flow with fewer lanes. My local muni has been converting super cramped four lane roads to two lanes plus turn lane and comfortable bike lanes. They are nicer to bike, nicer to drive, and back up less often (mostly due to the turn lane). Roundabouts on these roads have generally improved flow too. None of these experience miles of gridlock like LA, but it's been enjoyable to see & experience.