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> you can go anywhere and dont need to think about parking. I was visiting new Orleans recently, and they had signs on rod iron fences "no bike parking" as you

> you can go anywhere and dont need to think about parking. I was visiting new Orleans recently, and they had signs on rod iron fences "no bike parking" as you ride into the French Quarter. Car street parking on both sides, lots of traffic and potholes, I saw one single loop bike "rack" in a mile. The city also has its own bike share, but its rules include parking in designated spots - would you believe very few in top pedestrian and tourist areas? I see this in Atlanta too. The scooters and lime bikes ran into this problem.. people complain of car traffic and bikes and scooters parked on sidewalks, cities even invest in a less profitable bike share program and a few racks - or temporary bike lanes, but they to have a car parking spot rather than parking for a dozen bikes in the same footprint for some reason. It's a ux and public policy failure / money drain.

AtlasBarfed 4y ago
Houston sucked for bike infrastructure. It is INSANE. These places are made for year-round biking. In Houston, you have the state legislature forbidding mass transit funding for Houston and tons of other sharply own-the-libs political grandstanding that has real impacts to the cities in Texas. I've worked in Minneapolis which is a dream for biking... in the summer. I've visited Washington DC and its bikeshare program was perfect for seeing all the sights distributed around the city, and showed what ebikes and good urban infrastructure can do for city livability. Bikes shrink a city by a factor of 5 for doing anything. Every city should be falling over themselves, ESPECIALLY with the covid-fuelled distributed work culture, to do this because it makes cities FAR BETTER than living in rural or suburban areas. It will increase property values, people living in the cities, increase exchange of goods and services. The writing is on the wall for the ICE, the oil companies, and even the republicans in Texas. Hopefully the writing isn't on the wall for the human race in the process.
- germinalphrase 4y ago
  "I've worked in Minneapolis which is a dream for biking... in the summer." It's not that bad in the winter; the dedicated bike paths get plowed.
  - sleepybrett 4y ago
    Yeah I went to a conference for a few years in Minnenapolis at the Walker. That bike road through the downtown core seemed amazing. It looked to me like they just took a road and said 'no more cars' right through the little 'Downtown West' core (I didn't really get a feel for the city geography generally so I might have that wrong). I wish more cities would do that. Just take a couple of streets in each direction of the grid and say 'no more cars' or maybe choke it down to one lane one way for cars with speed bumps for local pickup/delivery 'local access only'.
    - germinalphrase 4y ago
      Was it lower than regular street level? If so, you’re talking about the Greenway which is a converted rail route. I believe making it a bike thoroughfare was (is?) intended as a temporary measure before a new light rail line was put in its place. Quite nice to have a protected bike corridor that crosses the center of the city, that’s for sure.
      - sleepybrett 4y ago
        it seemed that way, honestly it was like 8 years ago and i was mostly reacting to a flock of bicyclists riding down the middle of the street during the morning commute. It made me smile and I wished that Seattle could get it's shit together.
      - AtlasBarfed 4y ago
        No the greenway is supposed to be permanent. The Light Rail was a huge battle and for ... some unknown reason ... they had to shut down a huge amount of it while they built the light rail (through a useless area that none of the residents want it going through, that they could have routed it through uptown where it would be useful...) But none of the major bike infrastructure is slated for replacement by light rails.
        germinalphrase 4y ago
        I’m really glad to hear the Greenway is permanent. Thanks for the correction.

AtlasBarfed 4y ago

Houston sucked for bike infrastructure. It is INSANE. These places are made for year-round biking. In Houston, you have the state legislature forbidding mass transit funding for Houston and tons of other sharply own-the-libs political grandstanding that has real impacts to the cities in Texas. I've worked in Minneapolis which is a dream for biking... in the summer. I've visited Washington DC and its bikeshare program was perfect for seeing all the sights distributed around the city, and showed what ebikes and good urban infrastructure can do for city livability. Bikes shrink a city by a factor of 5 for doing anything. Every city should be falling over themselves, ESPECIALLY with the covid-fuelled distributed work culture, to do this because it makes cities FAR BETTER than living in rural or suburban areas. It will increase property values, people living in the cities, increase exchange of goods and services. The writing is on the wall for the ICE, the oil companies, and even the republicans in Texas. Hopefully the writing isn't on the wall for the human race in the process.

germinalphrase 4y ago
"I've worked in Minneapolis which is a dream for biking... in the summer." It's not that bad in the winter; the dedicated bike paths get plowed.
- sleepybrett 4y ago
  Yeah I went to a conference for a few years in Minnenapolis at the Walker. That bike road through the downtown core seemed amazing. It looked to me like they just took a road and said 'no more cars' right through the little 'Downtown West' core (I didn't really get a feel for the city geography generally so I might have that wrong). I wish more cities would do that. Just take a couple of streets in each direction of the grid and say 'no more cars' or maybe choke it down to one lane one way for cars with speed bumps for local pickup/delivery 'local access only'.
  - germinalphrase 4y ago
    Was it lower than regular street level? If so, you’re talking about the Greenway which is a converted rail route. I believe making it a bike thoroughfare was (is?) intended as a temporary measure before a new light rail line was put in its place. Quite nice to have a protected bike corridor that crosses the center of the city, that’s for sure.
    - sleepybrett 4y ago
      it seemed that way, honestly it was like 8 years ago and i was mostly reacting to a flock of bicyclists riding down the middle of the street during the morning commute. It made me smile and I wished that Seattle could get it's shit together.
    - AtlasBarfed 4y ago
      No the greenway is supposed to be permanent. The Light Rail was a huge battle and for ... some unknown reason ... they had to shut down a huge amount of it while they built the light rail (through a useless area that none of the residents want it going through, that they could have routed it through uptown where it would be useful...) But none of the major bike infrastructure is slated for replacement by light rails.
      - germinalphrase 4y ago
        I’m really glad to hear the Greenway is permanent. Thanks for the correction.