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I lived in Spain, Denmark and Germany. Let’s take Munich Germany as that’s where I live now. While bikes are definitely a cultural thing here, many people defin

by kfk 7y ago

I lived in Spain, Denmark and Germany. Let’s take Munich Germany as that’s where I live now. While bikes are definitely a cultural thing here, many people definitely prefer them because the public transport doesn’t get you easily to all places and can be very unreliable during work days (especially the sbahn trains). You also have situations where biking gets you door to door in 30 mins and public transport in 1 hour (to do 8km). Of course after a couple of years of work people buy cars anyways here, I think a lot of that is due to the not so good public transport. Of course Munich public transport is light years better than Naples where I am from, but unfortunately it’s still not good enough to replace bikes or cars in many situations.

carlmr 7y ago
Germany: I bike to work (30mins), but on rainy and snowy days I take the car (15mins). Public transport is available, but takes 1h with very high unreliability (often you wait half an hour for that bus). So I tend to agree. Public transport is good as long as your work is in the city center, but all the big employers are in a small radius around the city and hard to reach.
tomglynch 7y ago
Do you view bikes as an inferior form of transport?
- kfk 7y ago
  I think the main issue with bikes is that they are seen as inferior by the transport administration. For instance if there is heavy snow they’ll clean up the car roads but not necessarily the bike ones. Also many times car roads are straightforward but bike ones are hard to figure out. Add to that that many work places don’t have showers or changing rooms and you tell me how this is practical for work commute (which is 80% of the transport I do).
  - Joe-Z 7y ago
    That's an issue I experience as well. What some cities try to sell as bike infrastructure is a joke. Wher I live in Vienna there's bike lanes BETWEEN two lanes of cars (at least two lanes going in the same direction) with no physical separation between car and bike lane. How this madness ever came into being is beyond me.
  - MrBuddyCasino 7y ago
    > For instance if there is heavy snow they’ll clean up the car roads but not necessarily the bike ones. Isn't that just a logistical issue though? If it snows, suddenly a huge area is affected. You would need an unreasonable fleet of cleaners to clear all pathways in time. I think they can only concentrate on the main roads, most "car" roads aren't cleared, too. But I may be off here, are there cities that clear all bike lanes? I'm in Munich too btw., I think the bike infrastructure is pretty okay (try biking in Stuttgart)? I rarely use public transport, its just too slow and inflexible. I also don't think it can be improved to a point where it can reasonably compete with biking. And thats ok, biking is fine. Just take the bike, its more fun and healthy anyway.
    - Xylakant 7y ago
      Copenhagen for example prioritizes major bike lines over streets afaik.

by kfk 7y ago

carlmr 7y ago

Germany: I bike to work (30mins), but on rainy and snowy days I take the car (15mins). Public transport is available, but takes 1h with very high unreliability (often you wait half an hour for that bus). So I tend to agree. Public transport is good as long as your work is in the city center, but all the big employers are in a small radius around the city and hard to reach.

tomglynch 7y ago

Do you view bikes as an inferior form of transport?

kfk 7y ago
I think the main issue with bikes is that they are seen as inferior by the transport administration. For instance if there is heavy snow they’ll clean up the car roads but not necessarily the bike ones. Also many times car roads are straightforward but bike ones are hard to figure out. Add to that that many work places don’t have showers or changing rooms and you tell me how this is practical for work commute (which is 80% of the transport I do).
- Joe-Z 7y ago
  That's an issue I experience as well. What some cities try to sell as bike infrastructure is a joke. Wher I live in Vienna there's bike lanes BETWEEN two lanes of cars (at least two lanes going in the same direction) with no physical separation between car and bike lane. How this madness ever came into being is beyond me.
- MrBuddyCasino 7y ago
  > For instance if there is heavy snow they’ll clean up the car roads but not necessarily the bike ones. Isn't that just a logistical issue though? If it snows, suddenly a huge area is affected. You would need an unreasonable fleet of cleaners to clear all pathways in time. I think they can only concentrate on the main roads, most "car" roads aren't cleared, too. But I may be off here, are there cities that clear all bike lanes? I'm in Munich too btw., I think the bike infrastructure is pretty okay (try biking in Stuttgart)? I rarely use public transport, its just too slow and inflexible. I also don't think it can be improved to a point where it can reasonably compete with biking. And thats ok, biking is fine. Just take the bike, its more fun and healthy anyway.
  - Xylakant 7y ago
    Copenhagen for example prioritizes major bike lines over streets afaik.