Petition [EN] Pétition [FR] Petición [ES] Petiţie [RO] Ψήφισμα [EL] Petice[CZ] Petition [DE] Petizione [IT] Petycja [PL] Petitie [NL] Petíció [HU] Petição [PT] Namninsamling [SV] Underskriftindsamling [DA] Petícia [SK] Achainí [GA] Peticija [LT] Петиция [RU] Eskaera [EU] Petskribo [EO] Petició [CA] Athchuinge [GD]
cont.: For example, in my city Budapest, there are only some bike roads in the suburbs and along the Danube, but I work in the centre, so can't use my bike. *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
puzzled The difference between theory and practise in practise ...
Major roads are too cramped with cars [remember European cities in general have narrow roads - especially when, following the silly transport policy of the fifties-sixties-seventies, they were widened alost to the house walls to make room for growing traffic], air pollution is too great (in ex-communist countries there are still many cars with two-stroke engines). The order of traffic at crossroads doesn't anticipate cyclists (it is dangerous to turn left). Going along side roads is no solution, because the main roads are like barriers, you have to get to the next meeting of major roads to get through them. (I actually have cycled through the inner city a few times, but due to the above experiences don't want to repeat the experience.)
To bike along regular roads outside the city, that's all fine (and something I do). But inside the city, no chance unless it looks something like in Frankfurt am Main (where I lived one and a half decades ago).
By the way, having mentioned Frankfurt: when there, collagues warned my father to never ever park his car even just intruding into a bike road, for cyclists will feel perfectly entitled to climb over the car, kick in its lights, or even attack its owner. I already resented cars, but hearing this was a turning point for me :-) *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
reading between the lines I'm guessing local drivers are also aggressive, compounding the other problems?
sounds like what the city centre needs is a radical planning change-of-heart a la Curitiba.... (something like) a grid of "boulevards" rendered one-way by traffic barriers, to expand the road space shareable between mv and bikes; light rail and buses with incentives for ridership and disincentives for driving; and some kind of emissions regs to discourage the dirty engines. breathing stinky filth is very discouraging for cyclists and peds, and though studies tell us that the occupants of the car may be even more heavily exposed to the nasty stuff than those outside it, it's small consolation...
sorry to hear urban form is so maladaptive there. but imho the solution is never to pave over even more open land and build more and more roads, a whole parallel network for bikes -- it is to take space away from the private auto and give it to other transport modes... the problem with trying to accommodate the ever growing private-auto fleet is that it not only takes up an enormous amount of public space, it discourages and displaces more efficient transit modes as you report. The difference between theory and practise in practise ...
imho the solution is never to pave over even more open land and build more and more roads, a whole parallel network for bikes -- it is to take space away from the private auto
Well, that was kind of my point, with our 'maladaptive urban form': there simply is no open land within city limits for bike roads, it has to be taken away from car roads :-) And that's exactly what cities like Stockholm, Amsterdam or Frankfurt started to do from about the eighties, but which was done only in a partial lackluster way here. *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
Second, radical re-thinking in Western Europe was kind of forced by the fixed width of main roads - at the stage the entire width of the streets were used up, traffic just didn't have any more places to grow into, yet car ownership was further increasing - and regrettably we in the East didn't use the fall of communism as a chance to apply their lessons, but are continuing to repeat the learing curve with a delay. *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
