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> You cannot bike your 3 kids to schools and hospitals during rainy autumn days. Two of the most cycling friendly cities in the world are also cities with a lo

by hannob 5y ago

> You cannot bike your 3 kids to schools and hospitals during rainy autumn days. Two of the most cycling friendly cities in the world are also cities with a lot of rainy days (Amsterdan and Copenhagen). A lot of people with kids there will disagree with you. It seems to me the biggest issue people who never cycle think stops people from cycling is weather, while in reality it is unsafe infrastructure. Build the infrastructure, people will cycle and will not bother about the weather.

gsliepen 5y ago
Indeed. Is it raining? There's raincoats to wear, covers for your bagage, and there's even retractable covers for childrens seats on bikes. Is it snowing? It's easy to get wide tires or ones with spikes in countries that have a lot of snowfall. Is it windy? Just switch to a lower gear and get a bit more excercise. Electric bikes help a lot as well nowadays, making it easier to bike in heavy wind or in hilly areas.
- rdtwo 5y ago
  It’s cold on the bike, can you make it work sure but why bother if there are faster more comfortable options
odessacubbage 5y ago
having biked to/from school for many years, a bigger issue is that kids don't have a fixed amount of things they need to transport every day and the upper bound (instruments + art/science project + sports gear) quickly limits the distance you can realistically travel. injuries are also a factor, all it takes is a sprained ankle to take biking off the table for several weeks. also as an aside there's a lot more potential for variance in travel time on a bike and if a school has punitive tardiness systems, this will get taken out on the student a lot.
- justincormack 5y ago
  Generally less variance in travel times with bikes than cars.
- Dayshine 5y ago
  Having biked to school my entire life: Bikes have a luggage rack... You can easily fit one of those three items on there. I can't think of many situations where schedules collided to the point where I needed to take several bulky items home and back on the same day. And worst case, I'd just leave my sports kit at school overnight perhaps? Or get a lift on that one day. Or take the bus! I can't speak to large instruments though, that's a bigger (although fairly niche!?) problem.
- rdtwo 5y ago
  Another huge problem with bikes is that in my city your bike is basically public property. At any moment in time someone could just take it with no repercussions. No amount of locks it chains seems to be effective. So you don’t want to invest a lot of money into having one properly outfitted unless you have some place secure to store it on both ends
Paianni 5y ago
The Netherlands had a relatively large cycling population even before they built paths everywhere, the new infrastructure only contributed to a modest increase in numbers over the last four decades. Some new towns in the UK instated very high quality cycle paths in the 1960s, but to this day they are very lightly used. Overall I think it's a cultural/convenience thing.

by hannob 5y ago

gsliepen 5y ago

Indeed. Is it raining? There's raincoats to wear, covers for your bagage, and there's even retractable covers for childrens seats on bikes. Is it snowing? It's easy to get wide tires or ones with spikes in countries that have a lot of snowfall. Is it windy? Just switch to a lower gear and get a bit more excercise. Electric bikes help a lot as well nowadays, making it easier to bike in heavy wind or in hilly areas.

rdtwo 5y ago
It’s cold on the bike, can you make it work sure but why bother if there are faster more comfortable options

odessacubbage 5y ago

having biked to/from school for many years, a bigger issue is that kids don't have a fixed amount of things they need to transport every day and the upper bound (instruments + art/science project + sports gear) quickly limits the distance you can realistically travel. injuries are also a factor, all it takes is a sprained ankle to take biking off the table for several weeks. also as an aside there's a lot more potential for variance in travel time on a bike and if a school has punitive tardiness systems, this will get taken out on the student a lot.

justincormack 5y ago
Generally less variance in travel times with bikes than cars.
Dayshine 5y ago
Having biked to school my entire life: Bikes have a luggage rack... You can easily fit one of those three items on there. I can't think of many situations where schedules collided to the point where I needed to take several bulky items home and back on the same day. And worst case, I'd just leave my sports kit at school overnight perhaps? Or get a lift on that one day. Or take the bus! I can't speak to large instruments though, that's a bigger (although fairly niche!?) problem.
rdtwo 5y ago
Another huge problem with bikes is that in my city your bike is basically public property. At any moment in time someone could just take it with no repercussions. No amount of locks it chains seems to be effective. So you don’t want to invest a lot of money into having one properly outfitted unless you have some place secure to store it on both ends

Paianni 5y ago

The Netherlands had a relatively large cycling population even before they built paths everywhere, the new infrastructure only contributed to a modest increase in numbers over the last four decades. Some new towns in the UK instated very high quality cycle paths in the 1960s, but to this day they are very lightly used. Overall I think it's a cultural/convenience thing.