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Financial incentives do not make sense: having a car in Paris is already crazy expensive. During the 20 years I lived there, I cycled everywhere, and I had an

by bertil 12y ago

Financial incentives do not make sense: having a car in Paris is already crazy expensive. During the 20 years I lived there, I cycled everywhere, and I had an almost weekly accident, always at the same three intersections -- cars running into stationary bikes, half the time openly on purpose (there is a bolo for a taxi driver for attempted manslaughter under my name: his plaque was unlegible on the camera, but him accelerating twice into my bike was clear). The local police knows those intersections, there are camera monitoring those. Those are on large axis, and have the largest concentration of tourists (about 50 people waiting at the light at any time of the day). If you want to make Paris a biking city, no need to spend millions; all the protected lanes become useless ever 50 m when an intersection shows up and dozens of car just want to run you over no matter what. Just ask Police to enforce laws on attempting to kill people and make clear that a car can be used as a weapon. You do not even need to budget their presence: they are already there, watching and helpless.

bambax 12y ago
I've lived in Paris for 45+ years. The problem with bicycles is that they don't respect road signs or traffic lights, which irritate the hell out of everybody else. It's true that many car drivers are very aggressive towards bicycle riders, but what you fail to mention is that everyone cheers for the car and not the bike... Personnally I ride a motorcycle; it was stolen last year and so I used bikes for about a month. Here are my observations, that I think are difficult to fix with money alone: - pedaling makes you hot and sweaty; you arrive at the office being a mess - when it rains you get super wet, much more than on a motorbike, because you have less protection and you don't carry special rain trousers with you at all times (whereas they're permanently stored on my motorbike) - also, when it rains, if you cover yourself up to avoid the rain, you get even hotter and sweatier - Paris isn't flat! (contrary to Amsterdam...) and some hills are very steep - some distances are irrealistic for bikes: I have two clients who are 15km apart and (to me) 15km on a bike is a fairly long ride All in all it seems bikes are mostly for tourists (who don't have to show up in an office at the end of their ride), during the summer (well, the part of the summer when it's not too hot) and for relatively short distances. But in the absence of bikes, tourists don't take a car, they mostly use public transports (or maybe an occasional cab), so I very much doubt more bikes mean less car traffic. There is another program in Paris that seems much more promising: Autolib, cheap electric cars that you can rent for a very short amout of time. Doubling that with electric scooters would be really great, IMHO.
- bertil 12y ago
  > I've lived in Paris for 45+ years. The problem with bicycles is that they don't respect road signs or traffic lights, which irritate the hell out of everybody else. Of course not! I did; and that landed me in the hospital twice. It is far safer for bikes to go through an intersection after of before the wave of cars, not when the light turns green and the cars turning right are rushing into you. The other issue is that you and most others ignore the actual rules: a bicycle is perfectly allowed to drive in the middle of the road. Try doing that once in Paris, and I'll be happy to bring you flowers after your recovery. Most streets in Paris are single-way for cars, but clearly marked as both ways for bicycle: same thing, try it once, dare to point at the signs, and you'll get honked at and ran into just to teach you how to “respect road signs”. Has anyone ever apologised for making up rules like those? Come on; be serious: you and so many others are far too busy telling us that we are wrong to actually check the facts. The rest of your comment proves that you do not know what you are talking about. > Personnally I ride a motorcycle; Now we are talking… Running red lights; parking illegally; running up one-way street… you never heard of those; have you? And my favourite: kicking bikes at the red light to stand just in front and have the biker enjoy your noxious fumes, unfiltered. You are polluting Paris dozen times more than a car does, and nothing would help both bicycles and Paris in general that you realise what a selfish prick you are.
  - bambax 12y ago
    >> [bicycles] don't respect road signs or traffic lights > Of course not! > you and so many others are far too busy telling us that we are wrong to actually check the facts You admit to running red lights, but won't admit you're wrong? Okay... > what a selfish prick you are > You are polluting Paris dozen times more than a car does I'll let go of the insult (after driving a two-wheel in Paris for over 30 years, I've heard everything), but I wonder how motorbikes could be polluting "dozen times more than a car"?? Motorbikes consume less fuel for a shorter amount of time -- since we don't get stuck in traffic and don't look for a parking spot for hours when we arrive at destination. Please explain.
    - bertil 12y ago
qt7 12y ago
I second your experience and looking back I am surprised I made it through the years with only scratches and bruises, no serious accidents. > You might not get “Paris-level results,” or the world’s best city for biking, [omissis] The best city for biking? Paris is a mess and a dangerous place for cyclists. I am very pleased to hear they are investing more to fix the situation. That is the news to me.
reefab 12y ago
They are working on it, previously difficult intersections like the Nation roundabout are now easy to use by bike. Multiple "pain points" like those have been identified and have work done to it or are planned. On the other hand, I still crap my pants when going through Bastille... You are essentially right, though, have an efficient network requires good nodes and good paths, right now the paths are pretty good but some nodes are painful and to get around them, you need to leave the network. For reference, here is a map of the existing and planned bike paths: http://i.imgur.com/PigJifZ.jpg http://i.imgur.com/PigJifZ.jpg

by bertil 12y ago

bambax 12y ago

I've lived in Paris for 45+ years. The problem with bicycles is that they don't respect road signs or traffic lights, which irritate the hell out of everybody else. It's true that many car drivers are very aggressive towards bicycle riders, but what you fail to mention is that everyone cheers for the car and not the bike... Personnally I ride a motorcycle; it was stolen last year and so I used bikes for about a month. Here are my observations, that I think are difficult to fix with money alone: - pedaling makes you hot and sweaty; you arrive at the office being a mess - when it rains you get super wet, much more than on a motorbike, because you have less protection and you don't carry special rain trousers with you at all times (whereas they're permanently stored on my motorbike) - also, when it rains, if you cover yourself up to avoid the rain, you get even hotter and sweatier - Paris isn't flat! (contrary to Amsterdam...) and some hills are very steep - some distances are irrealistic for bikes: I have two clients who are 15km apart and (to me) 15km on a bike is a fairly long ride All in all it seems bikes are mostly for tourists (who don't have to show up in an office at the end of their ride), during the summer (well, the part of the summer when it's not too hot) and for relatively short distances. But in the absence of bikes, tourists don't take a car, they mostly use public transports (or maybe an occasional cab), so I very much doubt more bikes mean less car traffic. There is another program in Paris that seems much more promising: Autolib, cheap electric cars that you can rent for a very short amout of time. Doubling that with electric scooters would be really great, IMHO.

bertil 12y ago
> I've lived in Paris for 45+ years. The problem with bicycles is that they don't respect road signs or traffic lights, which irritate the hell out of everybody else. Of course not! I did; and that landed me in the hospital twice. It is far safer for bikes to go through an intersection after of before the wave of cars, not when the light turns green and the cars turning right are rushing into you. The other issue is that you and most others ignore the actual rules: a bicycle is perfectly allowed to drive in the middle of the road. Try doing that once in Paris, and I'll be happy to bring you flowers after your recovery. Most streets in Paris are single-way for cars, but clearly marked as both ways for bicycle: same thing, try it once, dare to point at the signs, and you'll get honked at and ran into just to teach you how to “respect road signs”. Has anyone ever apologised for making up rules like those? Come on; be serious: you and so many others are far too busy telling us that we are wrong to actually check the facts. The rest of your comment proves that you do not know what you are talking about. > Personnally I ride a motorcycle; Now we are talking… Running red lights; parking illegally; running up one-way street… you never heard of those; have you? And my favourite: kicking bikes at the red light to stand just in front and have the biker enjoy your noxious fumes, unfiltered. You are polluting Paris dozen times more than a car does, and nothing would help both bicycles and Paris in general that you realise what a selfish prick you are.
- bambax 12y ago
  >> [bicycles] don't respect road signs or traffic lights > Of course not! > you and so many others are far too busy telling us that we are wrong to actually check the facts You admit to running red lights, but won't admit you're wrong? Okay... > what a selfish prick you are > You are polluting Paris dozen times more than a car does I'll let go of the insult (after driving a two-wheel in Paris for over 30 years, I've heard everything), but I wonder how motorbikes could be polluting "dozen times more than a car"?? Motorbikes consume less fuel for a shorter amount of time -- since we don't get stuck in traffic and don't look for a parking spot for hours when we arrive at destination. Please explain.
  - bertil 12y ago

qt7 12y ago

I second your experience and looking back I am surprised I made it through the years with only scratches and bruises, no serious accidents. > You might not get “Paris-level results,” or the world’s best city for biking, [omissis] The best city for biking? Paris is a mess and a dangerous place for cyclists. I am very pleased to hear they are investing more to fix the situation. That is the news to me.

reefab 12y ago

They are working on it, previously difficult intersections like the Nation roundabout are now easy to use by bike. Multiple "pain points" like those have been identified and have work done to it or are planned. On the other hand, I still crap my pants when going through Bastille... You are essentially right, though, have an efficient network requires good nodes and good paths, right now the paths are pretty good but some nodes are painful and to get around them, you need to leave the network. For reference, here is a map of the existing and planned bike paths: http://i.imgur.com/PigJifZ.jpg http://i.imgur.com/PigJifZ.jpg