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Is it getting done? In germany progress is mixed because some cities are way to cautious to introduce bike lanes. They are sometimes planned to death, little st

Is it getting done? In germany progress is mixed because some cities are way to cautious to introduce bike lanes. They are sometimes planned to death, little strips of a few hundred meters of bike lane takes years (different proposals, input of stakeholders, revision of proposals, detailed planning and then implementation) so nothing is getting done. I think there's only an noticeable improvement if there's a strong buy-in from the government and the ruling party. I think this is due to forces working against these transformations. To overcome those tedious planning processes the city has to be open to experimentation, which they are not accustomed to so they need to change habits to do this. And every bike lane has opponents, which you also need to overcome to plan the cycling infrastructure (sometimes compromises are impossible, not every street is wide enough to accommodate everyone). In munich, the city where I grew up in, there's a strong public pressure to create better biking infrastructure. It was put up on popular vote and was the historically best performing yet. But that's not represented in every party and ruling coalitions can be slowed down by forming a coalition with a bike-sceptical party, like the last. But the pressure is growing because there's really no progress yet, it's not possible to evade the issue in the near future. Is this disconnect present in other countries? I feel like this situation is at least prevalent in quite a few german cities. Which is understandable from a political point of view, to build bike-infrastructure you have to take road away so you will always anger someone and create public opposition.

noelwelsh 4y ago
Paris is brought up in conversations about improving cycling and cycle infrastructure because it has really rapidly increased the number of journeys done by bike. This has mostly happened since the start of the pandemic, and has also coincided with creating many more bike lanes.
- dopidopHN 4y ago
  It’s in the making since a solid decade too. I remember the introduction of velib, throwing lot of new users on the ill adapted roads.then the city fumbling to adapt. It’s also in grain in the culture at this point. That city is so dense and small … people got the message that you can be anywhere in 30 min of biking.
BlargMcLarg 4y ago
>Is this disconnect present in other countries? To ruffle some feathers, yes. And this in the country that always seems to be the first example given: The Netherlands. Don't get me wrong. Relative to most countries, NL is great for cyclists. Specifically Amsterdam and Utrecht are great for a car-free life, as well as some other cities. Areas close to train stations, connected to any bigger city, tend to do well too. That's about where it ends. Public transport took humongous hits and roads are being expanded. Why? Because despite everything, car usage is going up and traffic jams are once again increasing. Specifically on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when most people are expected to be at the office. Since public transport is increasingly worsening, most people will simply take the car all the way rather than doing a bit by bicycle and then using the bus/train. Housing prices make the above even worse (more people have to live outside locations ideal for cycling, PT or a combination), and the government is actively playing into car ownership. I hope I don't need to explain why propping up individual car usage makes building more housing even more problematic (hint: you need to park them, for one). "But Amsterdam is doing great! But Utrecht is doing great! But I can get from Almere to Amsterdam really easily!" Sure, they are. Now please, overlap Paris, London, or any other big city on top of the Netherlands. Achieving a 100% cyclable Paris is a far bigger achievement than Amsterdam and Utrecht combined. And the writing is on the wall what happens when cars are more affordable and commutes by motorized vehicle are 1 hour a day minimum: car usage continues to go up. This isn't to be discouraging either. Rather, it's to show that governments can't slack off and take the easy path out. The easy path leads to congested roads, traffic jams, frustrated drivers, mass pollution and a highly inefficient use of ground area.
- b3orn 4y ago
  > Achieving a 100% cyclable Paris is a far bigger achievement than Amsterdam and Utrecht combined. If I'm not mistaken the goal of 100% cyclable Paris is limited to the city of Paris which has half the area of Amsterdam. AFAIK there's a lot less interest in cyclability in the surrounding areas of Paris and they are somewhat annoyed because a lot of people from there commute to Paris by car.
  - jtwaleson 4y ago
Tobu 4y ago
Progress is fast (much better than when Vélib was launched in 2007), most arrondissements (except maybe 15th/16th) are convenient to get around, the center has some huge lanes that bode well for the future, and there's roadwork at just about every large intersection that hasn't been upgraded yet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI-1YNAmWlk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI-1YNAmWlk

noelwelsh 4y ago

Paris is brought up in conversations about improving cycling and cycle infrastructure because it has really rapidly increased the number of journeys done by bike. This has mostly happened since the start of the pandemic, and has also coincided with creating many more bike lanes.

dopidopHN 4y ago
It’s in the making since a solid decade too. I remember the introduction of velib, throwing lot of new users on the ill adapted roads.then the city fumbling to adapt. It’s also in grain in the culture at this point. That city is so dense and small … people got the message that you can be anywhere in 30 min of biking.

BlargMcLarg 4y ago

>Is this disconnect present in other countries? To ruffle some feathers, yes. And this in the country that always seems to be the first example given: The Netherlands. Don't get me wrong. Relative to most countries, NL is great for cyclists. Specifically Amsterdam and Utrecht are great for a car-free life, as well as some other cities. Areas close to train stations, connected to any bigger city, tend to do well too. That's about where it ends. Public transport took humongous hits and roads are being expanded. Why? Because despite everything, car usage is going up and traffic jams are once again increasing. Specifically on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when most people are expected to be at the office. Since public transport is increasingly worsening, most people will simply take the car all the way rather than doing a bit by bicycle and then using the bus/train. Housing prices make the above even worse (more people have to live outside locations ideal for cycling, PT or a combination), and the government is actively playing into car ownership. I hope I don't need to explain why propping up individual car usage makes building more housing even more problematic (hint: you need to park them, for one). "But Amsterdam is doing great! But Utrecht is doing great! But I can get from Almere to Amsterdam really easily!" Sure, they are. Now please, overlap Paris, London, or any other big city on top of the Netherlands. Achieving a 100% cyclable Paris is a far bigger achievement than Amsterdam and Utrecht combined. And the writing is on the wall what happens when cars are more affordable and commutes by motorized vehicle are 1 hour a day minimum: car usage continues to go up. This isn't to be discouraging either. Rather, it's to show that governments can't slack off and take the easy path out. The easy path leads to congested roads, traffic jams, frustrated drivers, mass pollution and a highly inefficient use of ground area.

b3orn 4y ago
> Achieving a 100% cyclable Paris is a far bigger achievement than Amsterdam and Utrecht combined. If I'm not mistaken the goal of 100% cyclable Paris is limited to the city of Paris which has half the area of Amsterdam. AFAIK there's a lot less interest in cyclability in the surrounding areas of Paris and they are somewhat annoyed because a lot of people from there commute to Paris by car.
- jtwaleson 4y ago

Tobu 4y ago

Progress is fast (much better than when Vélib was launched in 2007), most arrondissements (except maybe 15th/16th) are convenient to get around, the center has some huge lanes that bode well for the future, and there's roadwork at just about every large intersection that hasn't been upgraded yet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI-1YNAmWlk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI-1YNAmWlk