5 ms·

Not all suburbs are complete car dependence. Plenty of kids biked in their suburbs in the '80s and '90s. In the '90s I would alternate between biking and walk

Not all suburbs are complete car dependence. Plenty of kids biked in their suburbs in the '80s and '90s. In the '90s I would alternate between biking and walking to and from a school that was 2.5 miles away. And within that 2.5 miles there was plenty of things for me to do. Since then, I've lived in about 7 different US suburbs. All had things to do within about 1.5 miles of where I lived, and I wasn't exactly aiming for mobility. This last year, I walked my kid to elementary school every day. It's a 10 minute walk. My 3 neighbors, whose kids go to the same school, drive them.

hedora 4y ago
I lived in a subway like you describe. The slightly newer suburbs didn't have sidewalks, and had non-leveled, unmowed (easy to twist your ankle in your 20's) green space moats between each housing subdivision and shopping strip mall. The poor folks had to cross a narrow, 4 lane car bridge to get to work. There was a bike fatality on that bridge every six months or so. This was in a city with above average transit and bike trails for the US, but most housing was still gratuitously car dependent.
WalterBright 4y ago
In the area where I live, the schools are in easy walking distance. I never see kids walk or bike to school.
- frosted-flakes 4y ago
  Maybe because you're not out right before or after school? I know that at least where I live in Ontario, if you live within 3 km (elementary) or 5 km (secondary) of the school you are not entitled to bus pick-up. Maybe some parents drive their kids, but most kids walk, and a few bike. Also, if you live farther away than that, the bus stop could be as far away as 0.5 km where the bus picks up a lot of kids at one time (unless you live on a busy highway, in which case it will be at your driveway). Related: late last night I sent an email to my city councilor to see about getting bike lanes added to some of the roads in the neighbourhood of two schools. One of my arguments was that it would make it more viable for kids to bike to school. I've had this thought years ago, but only now did I decide to actually see if I could get it done. To my surprise, the councilor and the mayor responded early this (Saturday) morning, both in agreement and said they would add it to the agenda for discussion and invited me to send further comments to their Master Transportation Plan that will soon be meeting (I believe this is something they do every 10 years). We'll see if it actually gets done, but I'm hopeful.
  - bcrosby95 4y ago
    In my experience, a lot of these people (mayor's, etc) are huge transit nerds. The problem is getting the citizens and budget behind it.
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    > Maybe because you're not out right before or after school? Given that I get stuck behind the school bus a lot, that's not it.

hedora 4y ago

I lived in a subway like you describe. The slightly newer suburbs didn't have sidewalks, and had non-leveled, unmowed (easy to twist your ankle in your 20's) green space moats between each housing subdivision and shopping strip mall. The poor folks had to cross a narrow, 4 lane car bridge to get to work. There was a bike fatality on that bridge every six months or so. This was in a city with above average transit and bike trails for the US, but most housing was still gratuitously car dependent.

WalterBright 4y ago

In the area where I live, the schools are in easy walking distance. I never see kids walk or bike to school.

frosted-flakes 4y ago
Maybe because you're not out right before or after school? I know that at least where I live in Ontario, if you live within 3 km (elementary) or 5 km (secondary) of the school you are not entitled to bus pick-up. Maybe some parents drive their kids, but most kids walk, and a few bike. Also, if you live farther away than that, the bus stop could be as far away as 0.5 km where the bus picks up a lot of kids at one time (unless you live on a busy highway, in which case it will be at your driveway). Related: late last night I sent an email to my city councilor to see about getting bike lanes added to some of the roads in the neighbourhood of two schools. One of my arguments was that it would make it more viable for kids to bike to school. I've had this thought years ago, but only now did I decide to actually see if I could get it done. To my surprise, the councilor and the mayor responded early this (Saturday) morning, both in agreement and said they would add it to the agenda for discussion and invited me to send further comments to their Master Transportation Plan that will soon be meeting (I believe this is something they do every 10 years). We'll see if it actually gets done, but I'm hopeful.
- bcrosby95 4y ago
  In my experience, a lot of these people (mayor's, etc) are huge transit nerds. The problem is getting the citizens and budget behind it.
- WalterBright 4y ago
  > Maybe because you're not out right before or after school? Given that I get stuck behind the school bus a lot, that's not it.