this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
10 points (77.8% liked)
Fuck Cars
988 readers
1 users here now
Your hub for collection of materials that contribute to a world with less car ownership. Including buses, motorcycles, bicycles, skateboards, longboards, scooters, hoverboards, e-scooters, pedestrians, walking, running.
Learn
- AboutHere - Videos to understand your city better. Creator is based out of Vancouver, BC.
- NotJustBikes - Stories of successful and not so successful urban planning.
- RMTransit - In-depth analysis of public transit systems around the world.
- Cycling Fallacies
Basic Rules:
- be constructive: there is no need of another internet space full of competition, negativity, rage etc.;
- no bigotry, including racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, homophobia or xenophobia;
- be empathic: empathy is more rebellious than a middle finger;
- no porn and no gore: let’s keep this place easy to manage;
- no ads / spamming / flooding, we don’t want to buy/consume your commodified ideas;
- occasional self-promotion by active members is fine.
Chat
Get Involved
- Alberta - Alberta Cycling Coalition
- Edmonton - Bike Edmonton
- British Columbia - The BC Cycling Coalition
- Vancouver - HUB Cycling
- Victoria - Capital Bike
- Manitoba
- Winnipeg - Bike Winnipeg
- Ontario - Share the Road Cycling Coalition
- Ottawa - Bike Ottawa
- Toronto - CycleToronto
- Quebec - Vélo Québec
- Saskatchewan
- Saskatoon - Saskatoon Cycles
* message the mods to add any missing local advocacy groups.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Nah, people who like cars have more in common with people who hate cars than people who hate cars think.
If we weren't forced to drive vehicles, we wouldn't have to buy a commuter car. We could just buy the sports car we really want and drive on empty roads. Nobody wants to sit in traffic.
Not everyone owns a bike though. Creating bike lanes (for me), is the same thing as having too many car lanes - it benefits a subset of people who own that mode of transportation. Having sidewalks where people can walk (or get pushed if they need a wheelchair) benefits everyone. Having modes of mass transportation help /everyone/.
In a city I used to live, they cannibalized road lanes for bike lines. However, the majority of people who frequent the city still drive cars. This makes the city worse for the majority of people and better for just some people. If we had mass transportation, it would benefit everyone and give people a viable alternative to cars into downtown.
Bicycle lanes benefit car drivers: every bicycle on a bike lane removes one car and one bicycle from the road. Bike lanes take much less space and maintenance than car lanes.
They also benefit people who use transit, as they reduce transit ridership during peak hours.
With bike lanes pedestrians don't have to suffer as many bicycles in the sidewalk, as fewer cyclists are scared of riding elsewhere.
Bike lanes benefit car drivers if and only if bike lanes encourages more bikes. Taking away one entire car lane to put two not often used bike lanes benefits nobody - and that is the case in the city I cited.
I'm all for infrastructure improvements, I just don't think bike lanes is the way to go. Perhaps once mass transit is introduced, we can reduce car lanes for bike lanes, but I don't believe the area I used to live is at that stage yet.
In practice, transit only works in sufficiently dense neighborhoods. It is either not economical or not frequent enough in typical North American suburbs. Bike lanes work in suburbia: you place them in roads where the speed and frequency of car traffic is currently discouraging would-be cyclists.
Bike lanes cost pennies and you offen don't need to take any car lanes away because you can simply paint the existing car lanes a little narrower.