3 ms·

> Because pedestrians are still largely able to bike, walk, bus etc just fine. I don’t see how that’s true for most cities in the USA. For walking, in many ca

> Because pedestrians are still largely able to bike, walk, bus etc just fine. I don’t see how that’s true for most cities in the USA. For walking, in many cases, there isn’t even a sidewalk for pedestrians to use. If there is, crossing stroads is way more difficult (large distances between crossing opportunities) and dangerous (e.g. no pedestrian islands halfway) than needed.

lapetitejort 3y ago
Same goes for biking. If there is a bike lane, you still have two ton vehicles buzzing sometimes inches away from you at twice or three times your speed. The smallest intersection scares me. Turning left requires me to come to a complete stop and wait for a chance to change lanes and turn. It's equivalent to crossing the street on foot. When I arrive, I have to search for a bike rack. My nearest grocery store has one rack for five bicycles tucked in the far corner of the plaza (I have never seen a bike parked there, however). My favorite coffee shop has no bike racks anywhere on the street, so I lock up to a sign in the parking lot. There's no way to escape this as my house is flanked by two stroads. I hear constant traffic sounds well into the night. I live in a beautiful old neighborhood that predates the Ford Model T. I've seen pictures of ox-driven carriages rolling by historical downtown buildings. We had a cable car that ran down one of the current stroads. My city could drastically drop car dependency if we had the will.
mjmahone17 3y ago
I recently needed to book a hotel in a medium-sized town. There is a shuttle I need to get to leaving on one side of the road, and three different hotels on the other side, immediately across from the shuttle stop. I can’t book any of those hotels because this “Main Street” is 6 lanes, there are no crosswalks for 1 mile in either direction, and the sidewalk on the 3-hotel side doesn’t exist (the only way to get to any of those hotels appears to be to drive). Whereas if I was in a car I could turn left from the 3-hotels’ lot into the lot where the shuttle is stopping in under 1/4 mile. It’s absurd when you can drive for 1/4 mile or walk for 2.

lapetitejort 3y ago

Same goes for biking. If there is a bike lane, you still have two ton vehicles buzzing sometimes inches away from you at twice or three times your speed. The smallest intersection scares me. Turning left requires me to come to a complete stop and wait for a chance to change lanes and turn. It's equivalent to crossing the street on foot. When I arrive, I have to search for a bike rack. My nearest grocery store has one rack for five bicycles tucked in the far corner of the plaza (I have never seen a bike parked there, however). My favorite coffee shop has no bike racks anywhere on the street, so I lock up to a sign in the parking lot. There's no way to escape this as my house is flanked by two stroads. I hear constant traffic sounds well into the night. I live in a beautiful old neighborhood that predates the Ford Model T. I've seen pictures of ox-driven carriages rolling by historical downtown buildings. We had a cable car that ran down one of the current stroads. My city could drastically drop car dependency if we had the will.

mjmahone17 3y ago

I recently needed to book a hotel in a medium-sized town. There is a shuttle I need to get to leaving on one side of the road, and three different hotels on the other side, immediately across from the shuttle stop. I can’t book any of those hotels because this “Main Street” is 6 lanes, there are no crosswalks for 1 mile in either direction, and the sidewalk on the 3-hotel side doesn’t exist (the only way to get to any of those hotels appears to be to drive). Whereas if I was in a car I could turn left from the 3-hotels’ lot into the lot where the shuttle is stopping in under 1/4 mile. It’s absurd when you can drive for 1/4 mile or walk for 2.