4 ms·

The article makes it sounds all positive, but I'd love to hear from a local that's been through the transition. Surely the local businesses cannot be all positi

by keyle 7y ago

The article makes it sounds all positive, but I'd love to hear from a local that's been through the transition. Surely the local businesses cannot be all positive about this. I mean, a car comes with a trunk, where you can put your shopping in. Having to walk 1300m or 15' worth of shopping can't be good for the local businesses.

andys627 7y ago
Here's a study looking at that: https://bicycle-research.ucdavis.edu/bicyclists-as-consumers-mode-choice-and-spending-behavior-in-downtown-davis-ca/ https://bicycle-research.ucdavis.edu/bicyclists-as-consumers... Found bikers basically spend as much as drivers... they spend less per trip but make more trips.
icebraining 7y ago
On the contrary; walking encourages foot traffic to small shops. If you're in the car anyway, you're likely to go to the big mall outside the city instead. Having to carry stuff a bit is not a huge problem, that's what personal shopping trolleys are for.
viburnum 7y ago
The problem is when you follow that logic to its conclusion, then everyone needs a car, streets are replaced by six lane roads, and only giant big box stores are left.
Brakenshire 7y ago
> Having to walk 1300m or 15' worth of shopping can't be good for the local businesses. The answer is you shop differently, and the shops are set up differently. I remember one residential area in a Spanish city where there were huge numbers of small fruit and vegetables shops, almost kiosks, which popped up during the morning, there was one just round the corner from where I was staying, and probably 5 within a 5 minute walk. You can literally just go downstairs and pick something up, so that’s probably a third or a half of the shopping weight on your doorstep. Then there were small supermarkets dotted around, and you’d just pick things up on the way back from the bus stop. The whole concept of a huge fortnightly shop is based on a car culture.
iagovar 7y ago
I'm not from Pontevedra, but close, and I know some locals and I've been there. Complains that I remember. - People from outside the city has problems to move apparently. They say that there aren't parkings enough in the city borders, so they have to go for one that's roughly in the center, through very slow traffic lines. That induces them to go less frequently. - Businesses like bars, chocolate shops and so on flourished (leisure oriented), but others like hardware stores, furniture stores, two law firms, and a Cinema closed. Imagine that you were going to the hardware store. It's either impossible to park near it https://www.google.es/maps/@42.4264585,-8.6406022,3a,41.3y,155.93h,73.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sErTMUAEThDDMOuUgJ_n7sA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en https://www.google.es/maps/@42.4264585,-8.6406022,3a,41.3y,1... or difficult/forbidden/very slow traffic https://www.google.es/maps/@42.4304871,-8.6417988,3a,42.3y,10.95h,73.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sM6O8EdLQUe3zkXm8ocZvIg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en https://www.google.es/maps/@42.4304871,-8.6417988,3a,42.3y,1...
- andion 7y ago
  Exactly the commuting problem from my comment. Thanks!

by keyle 7y ago

andys627 7y ago

Here's a study looking at that: https://bicycle-research.ucdavis.edu/bicyclists-as-consumers-mode-choice-and-spending-behavior-in-downtown-davis-ca/ https://bicycle-research.ucdavis.edu/bicyclists-as-consumers... Found bikers basically spend as much as drivers... they spend less per trip but make more trips.

icebraining 7y ago

On the contrary; walking encourages foot traffic to small shops. If you're in the car anyway, you're likely to go to the big mall outside the city instead. Having to carry stuff a bit is not a huge problem, that's what personal shopping trolleys are for.

viburnum 7y ago

The problem is when you follow that logic to its conclusion, then everyone needs a car, streets are replaced by six lane roads, and only giant big box stores are left.

Brakenshire 7y ago

> Having to walk 1300m or 15' worth of shopping can't be good for the local businesses. The answer is you shop differently, and the shops are set up differently. I remember one residential area in a Spanish city where there were huge numbers of small fruit and vegetables shops, almost kiosks, which popped up during the morning, there was one just round the corner from where I was staying, and probably 5 within a 5 minute walk. You can literally just go downstairs and pick something up, so that’s probably a third or a half of the shopping weight on your doorstep. Then there were small supermarkets dotted around, and you’d just pick things up on the way back from the bus stop. The whole concept of a huge fortnightly shop is based on a car culture.

iagovar 7y ago

I'm not from Pontevedra, but close, and I know some locals and I've been there. Complains that I remember. - People from outside the city has problems to move apparently. They say that there aren't parkings enough in the city borders, so they have to go for one that's roughly in the center, through very slow traffic lines. That induces them to go less frequently. - Businesses like bars, chocolate shops and so on flourished (leisure oriented), but others like hardware stores, furniture stores, two law firms, and a Cinema closed. Imagine that you were going to the hardware store. It's either impossible to park near it https://www.google.es/maps/@42.4264585,-8.6406022,3a,41.3y,155.93h,73.72t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sErTMUAEThDDMOuUgJ_n7sA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en https://www.google.es/maps/@42.4264585,-8.6406022,3a,41.3y,1... or difficult/forbidden/very slow traffic https://www.google.es/maps/@42.4304871,-8.6417988,3a,42.3y,10.95h,73.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sM6O8EdLQUe3zkXm8ocZvIg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en https://www.google.es/maps/@42.4304871,-8.6417988,3a,42.3y,1...

andion 7y ago
Exactly the commuting problem from my comment. Thanks!