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> people who can afford to bike to work A bike costs less than a single monthly car payment, and has approximately zero recurring costs. And the infrastructure
by californical 3y ago
> people who can afford to bike to work
A bike costs less than a single monthly car payment, and has approximately zero recurring costs. And the infrastructure is cheaper to maintain than car infrastructure, by a lot, reducing the tax burden on cities and towns.
If a household was able to switch from two cars to one because biking was a reasonable option, they’d save hundreds of dollars a month from insurance, maintenance, and the car payment/depreciation.
I support biking as an alternative largely because I’m cheap, the environmental benefit is just a bonus. (And the health benefits, and that it’s just easier to bike 3mi than to drive that distance and have to search for parking)
- noduerme 3y ago>> just easier to bike 3mi Where I grew up in Los Angeles, only the very wealthy lived within 10 miles of where they worked.
- moooo99 3y ago> Where I grew up in Los Angeles, only the very wealthy lived within 10 miles of where they worked. Thats not a mode of transporation issue, that is a city planning issue
- DonHopkins 3y agoSee "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtaHNAaDhjU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtaHNAaDhjU
- bluescrn 3y agoBikes are cheap. Living within cycling distance of your workplace can be incredibly expensive.
- californical 3y agoExactly! Which is why I try to propose fixing zoning issues and allowing people to live closer to their workplaces, along with the infrastructure changes to go along with it. And: public transit as a viable alternative. I live ~10 miles from work, but it’s just a short trip from home (by bike or tram) to the train station, which drops me within 0.2 miles of the office. And the trains run every 10-15 mins all day. I could also walk 15 mins from home for a bus that goes to the block of my office, and has service every 10 minutes until ~midnight, but I’m lazy and prefer the train. (US citizen living in Europe)
- SoftTalker 3y agoWhen I lived in Chicago I had two trains inbound in the morning and two outbound in the evening. It sounds limiting but it was nice in that I could never be tempted to come in early or stay late. Last train home departed at I think 5:30 so I'd have to be walking out of the office by 5:15 at the latest.
- snowwrestler 3y agoIn many near-urban areas, bikes bridge the gap between the home and public transit, not necessarily all the way to the office. Living 2 miles from a far-flung transit stop might mean 10 miles or more from an urban job, but the bus or train covers most of it. Bikes are very important modes of transportation for recent immigrant communities. They’re not likely to be working downtown or in a big corporate campus anyway. Construction, food service, retail, building and grounds services are more spread out in near-urban or suburban areas. Even a long bike ride could be way cheaper than a car and way faster than public transit, which often is built out like spokes from the urban hub. Traveling perpendicular to the spokes can be challenging.