this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024
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Fuck Cars

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A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

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[–] [email protected] 107 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

You say that as if they have a choice. You can't at the same time mourn walkable cities and criticize the fact that everything NEEDS a car and then turn around and make fun of the driver.

Would YOU share a road with cars on your bike?

[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I live in a very walkable and bikable city and yet plenty of people choose to drive here most every chance they get. They think biking is for poor people.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love in a mid walkable city and don't even own a car, but every time I arrive at the gym (which is one block away from a transit hub), the parking lot is jam packed

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

That is quite sad. It's a self perpetuating thing. People think biking is too hard or unsafe (or for poor people), and so they drive. Because so many keep driving, it doesn't get much safer and the progress toward better bike infrastructure can be quite a slow roll. And sometimes that progress gets reversed :'(

I used to try and bike everywhere I could but I had a few scary situations happen. Close calls, getting screamed at, and threats, one guy jumped out of his car even...it was discouraging and so now I prefer walking or public transportation honestly.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

they think biking is for poor people

You genuinely believe this is the reason people choose to drive when they have the option to bike?

Is it seriously so unfathomable to consider some people just prefer to drive?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

It often is said out loud so yes I believe it's often the case

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I wish I knew why they prefer to drive. It is obvious, that they do, but the reason is hard to understand for me. Going by bike is faster, healthier, cheaper, helps reduce emissions of all sorts and sets you up for a happier mindset.

A seemingly absurd reason like "people think biking is for poor people" doesn't seem to be so absurd after all, considering the enormous amount of people deciding to take the car instead of the bike. It at least has to be one of the reasons, it's just a matter of probability.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I believe we also need better bikes - like velomobiles except designed easier to get in and out and less claustrophobic. Something like the podbike but non-electric. An enclosed space is something the car has that people want. Also recumbent bikes are more comfortable to ride. Something like a "velocar".

I hate bicycles, they hurt my ass. I'm trying to build my own recumbent tadpole atm and want to build a velocar later.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think if you want it to be easy to get in and out of, crank forward, or feet forward bicycles are a pretty good idea, like the rans bicycles, the day 6 bicycles, stuff like that. The tradeoff being that the front profile is kind of bunk on those in terms of the aerodynamics, at least, at the cost of the weight it would take to cover it, like a true velomobile. We also gotta ask why you're covering it. If it's just safety from weather elements, that's fine, but it brings other problems, like the enclosed space getting pretty hot if you leave it sitting around, like the shell needing to be visible while still in the rain, and easily see-through, too, which is more of a problem when you don't have windshield wipers, and when your window's more slanted, like what it is on most velomobiles that have windows. If you're adding A/C or heat for thermal regulation, those take up space and weight. Also would probably be a good idea for defogging the window, which is probably a larger concern in an enclosed space where you're sweating a lot more. I dunno, I've just seen a lot of these "bike car" concepts, like the twike, or the podbike, and I haven't seen much come of any of them, because they're just too fuckin heavy, and at least in america, everyone's concerned with what might happen if a driver gets distracted by this weird little bean floating around everywhere, and what happens if they get into a crash. Maybe one might have more luck by cutting weight, adding photovoltaic cells to power some of the electric systems, and then just chasing the maximum aero, like what aptera's done, but yeah, I haven't seen anyone actually tackle the problem in a way that makes much sense. I'm also gonna shout out the problem of these being much harder to park than a normal bike on a bike rack. You already see that with recumbents, but you see that even more with velomobiles, and that inefficient stacking might work out to be more concerning at scale, with mass deployment.

It's also kind of inherently a niche product, with a low market demand, and so that drives up the costs for people who would otherwise be fine with the idea, and that's all maybe a bigger problem than anything I've said thus far. Those who would be interested are probably going to be fine swapping out all the subsystems, and if they're doing that, they're probably just interested in buying your canopy, more than anything else, in buying your shell. I think you're seeing technology play catch-up in terms of e-bikes, but most people at this point are better suited to your standard moped. The honda super cub is still the best selling motor vehicle of all time, and if I remember right, it's not really even close. People are more willing to dress for the weather, and tolerate that, if they're not also powering the vehicle, and working up a sweat.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I live in a small Australian city designed by an American when America was first embracing highways. It has a city centre which had until recently only a thousand single family homes within walking distance*, then there are suburbs accessed by small highways (typically 2 lanes each way)

But it has reasonable public transport, and good bike paths between suburbia and the city away from the highways (or if you prefer, on painted lanes on some of the highways)

*Now we have mixed use towers in town

My part of suburbia to town is 20 minutes by car, 40 in peak, 45 minutes by express bus in peak, 55mins to 1hr 15 by off peak bus, and about an hour by the isolated bike path, 45 mins by the painted bike lanes (and sometimes nothing)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Correct, the southern part, hence no mention of a tram

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I hear (from Sydney) that it's quite controversial

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

I do and therefore can. fuck cars

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I ride my bike to the gym like 9 months out of the year. I always try and put more miles on the bikes than the ODO.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Exactly! People who have a better option will take that. It's not like they like sitting in traffic.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm trying to find a good odometer for my next bike. I don't want to track rides as workouts, but I wanna prove that I bike more than I drive. Garmin makes one that I'm looking at that goes on your wheel hub and can be intermittently synced to a phone

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've always just tagged everything as a ride. Garmin lets you make new profiles so you can have any number of activities outside the normal bunch.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Nice, I just did some research and what I did was add a new "gear" for my bike and set that to automatically be added to cycle activities. I ordered the Garmin Speed Sensor 2, it doesn't need a bike computer, just syncs to your phone. Then I just have to remember this summer when I mountain bike to manually change the gear for each activity to my other bike. Wish you could specify gear for each activity type instead of each general type

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The pictured city chose to spend a hundred million per mile on the pictured road, that could have bought a reasonable amount of fast mass transit

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Was it 100 million per mile for the entire thing, or just 100 million per mile to expand it by a lane?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I believe it was the widening project, +1 lane each way for 100M per mile, probably including acquiring what used to be high density residential buildings

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Or climate, many people don’t have the luxury to live in 10-25 deg range.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

...there are cities in northern europe where it's freezing half the year and people still go by bike. Below 10 isn't even particularly cold. And as much as I die in those temps above 25 also isn't all that hot. Dangerous temps are still quite a bit above that.

You have an argument at below -10 or above 30 (latter depending on humidity) maybe

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately we don’t all share your health and fitness.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Climate is not a valid reason outside of places like Arizona that get dangerously hot outside.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Understand it as a societal critique then?

[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If only we had more foresight and built that one extra lane...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Sadly bike lanes become unusable at times. The ones that run parallel with roads often get all the debris from the road thrown onto them. In autumn the leaves gather there making it very dangerous as they can hide holes and even large objects like bricks. Not to mention leaves are very slippery when wet.

As a road cyclist, it pains me to say this but cars actually clear the roads from debris due to the sheer volume of cars and their much wider tyres.

I live in quite a rural area now and the back roads are full of mud, stones and sand from farms fields and trackers.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Too bad the bike lanes here are swarmed with motorcycles. I will literally die riding a bike on the streets where I live.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What makes you think that? Netherlands is notriously bad for cycling, I've never seen a bicycle there

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Oh damn is it really? I thought it was good. I've been considering my options for moving there in the future and I had no idea.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

they're joking or woefully ignorant. the government decided to prioritize cycles and the infrastructure is second to none.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It is very bicycle friendly, no idea what that other user is talking about...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I got so confused cause everything I saw indicated that but I haven't done in depth research on that specific topic so I thought it was something I just missed. Thanks, either way I'll be searching up the answers on my own haha

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I could get a stationary bicycle at home but I like to be around people when I exercise.

I could take a train to the gym, but I don't like to be around other people.

I could get a regular bicycle, but I don't have anywhere to go.

I could bicycle to the gym but when I get there I'm too tired to exercise.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

, but I don’t have anywhere to go.

..the gym maybe?

but when I get there I’m too tired to exercise.

I don't see how that's a problem? Two problems solved. You've exercised and saved money on the gym.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Its a joke.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A big part of the problem is the same people tasked with modelling traffic are well paid to design roads. Funnily they find that more road is always the solution

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Where I live (major UK City) they're removing roads and traffic lanes to widen pavement and add in bicycle lanes.

Some places are definitely going in the right direction

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

bulldoze some urban blocks to build more lanes?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

We'll start with yours and your families home

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Could have left it at stuck in traffic ngl

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

When public transport is deemed too communist by the plebs.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

The traffic backup is because a cyclist was run over.

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