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> This is to reduce congestion and encourage more environmentally friendly methods of transportation. A similar policy operates here in the UK, except that the

> This is to reduce congestion and encourage more environmentally friendly methods of transportation. A similar policy operates here in the UK, except that the parking allowance is significantly less generous. I find it utterly asinine because it is not paired with the necessary corollary: you can't "encourage" more environmentally friendly methods of transportation, you have to actually - you know - take action and build the infrastructure. Example: I live about 10 miles from the office and would cheerfully cycle into work come rain or shine because it would be great exercise, but there is no safe cycle route, so I'm forced to use some form of motorised transport (I have a car but usually ride a motorcycle). Buses are available but they're once an hour, take too long, are often tardy, and don't run late enough into the evening. Depending on where you live there are better options available (guided busway paired with a cycleway, or the train) but there's no joined up thinking when it comes to more sustainable transportation. The result is that vast swathes of the area around Cambridge (UK) are either inadequately served, or not served at all.

hrktb 7y ago
> I find it utterly asinine because it is not paired with the necessary corollary Doesn't it self-regulate though ? If it's not viable to build in a place for a specific use, developers will go to greener fields. It happens in a lot of heavily congested cities. Making whole areas unfit for heavy traffic moved the office building elsewhere, generally in places that where more welcoming to them.
- bartread 7y ago
  > Doesn't it self-regulate though ? Possibly in an ideal world, but not in this one (or certainly not on any timescale that I'd regard as acceptable - human lifetimes, and working lifetimes especially, aren't that long in the grand scheme of things and I'm already at least half way through on both fronts).
C1sc0cat 7y ago
I have a similar problem also in the UK (next door in Bedford) - That is the problem a lot of proponents of public transport don't want to address. If you do want to get rich middle class people to use busses - you will have to accept that the services will have to have a lot more investment and increase in cost and be partially rebalanced away from servicing pensioners and to be blunt poorer workers. The problem is local councils prioritise bus service in order to cater to the urban users who are mostly pensioners "granny farming"
- bartread 7y ago
  > and be partially rebalanced away from servicing pensioners and to be blunt poorer workers. Having been both dirt poor and relatively affluent more than once, and growing up poor, I'm not really sure buses do an adequate job for elderly or poorer people either: they just use them because there are no other options. And in that context I'm deeply uncomfortable with any initiative that makes them less accessible for the elderly, infirm, or those with low income.
  - C1sc0cat 7y ago
    This may be more a UK thing but since the over 60's bus pass was introduced that has distorted how bus travel is managed. Also certainly where I am they pull busses off peak commuting times to make more $ bussing kids to school which effects both poor and better off workers
adrianN 7y ago
If you take away parking spots you gain room for cycle lanes. You can't build cycle lanes first.
- gambiting 7y ago
  ...how? Our building has its own dedicated car park, how does the existence of it preclude cycling lanes?
laurencerowe 7y ago
Cambridge really needs to build enough housing for the jobs it has. People seemed to live in outlying villages because it’s so unaffordable. Apparently the colleges own all the land and haven’t really allowed many homes to be built. Good public transport is so much easier to provide in an urban environment.

hrktb 7y ago

> I find it utterly asinine because it is not paired with the necessary corollary Doesn't it self-regulate though ? If it's not viable to build in a place for a specific use, developers will go to greener fields. It happens in a lot of heavily congested cities. Making whole areas unfit for heavy traffic moved the office building elsewhere, generally in places that where more welcoming to them.

bartread 7y ago
> Doesn't it self-regulate though ? Possibly in an ideal world, but not in this one (or certainly not on any timescale that I'd regard as acceptable - human lifetimes, and working lifetimes especially, aren't that long in the grand scheme of things and I'm already at least half way through on both fronts).

C1sc0cat 7y ago

I have a similar problem also in the UK (next door in Bedford) - That is the problem a lot of proponents of public transport don't want to address. If you do want to get rich middle class people to use busses - you will have to accept that the services will have to have a lot more investment and increase in cost and be partially rebalanced away from servicing pensioners and to be blunt poorer workers. The problem is local councils prioritise bus service in order to cater to the urban users who are mostly pensioners "granny farming"

bartread 7y ago
> and be partially rebalanced away from servicing pensioners and to be blunt poorer workers. Having been both dirt poor and relatively affluent more than once, and growing up poor, I'm not really sure buses do an adequate job for elderly or poorer people either: they just use them because there are no other options. And in that context I'm deeply uncomfortable with any initiative that makes them less accessible for the elderly, infirm, or those with low income.
- C1sc0cat 7y ago
  This may be more a UK thing but since the over 60's bus pass was introduced that has distorted how bus travel is managed. Also certainly where I am they pull busses off peak commuting times to make more $ bussing kids to school which effects both poor and better off workers

adrianN 7y ago

If you take away parking spots you gain room for cycle lanes. You can't build cycle lanes first.

gambiting 7y ago
...how? Our building has its own dedicated car park, how does the existence of it preclude cycling lanes?

laurencerowe 7y ago

Cambridge really needs to build enough housing for the jobs it has. People seemed to live in outlying villages because it’s so unaffordable. Apparently the colleges own all the land and haven’t really allowed many homes to be built. Good public transport is so much easier to provide in an urban environment.