Family member (as we drive past the "demonstration bicycle lane" here -- which they are not aware of). "Why do they have to have so many cones here? I'm so tired of traffic cones..." 🥺
(The bicycle advocates here have complained that the "bicycle demo lane" only will cause driver complaints, and that seems to support that thought.)
@ai6yr These things are often done poorly because car-centric planners want them to fail. Not sure if that's what's happening there, but it has happened elsewhere.
Basically, you have to move as quickly as you do with auto infrastructure. There are no "pilot projects" for auto stuff - they just make the change and deal with any complaints as they come.
With cycle stuff, they still prioritize drivers' complaints, wishes and are tentative and half-assed about cycle changes.
Tramming it into Bern in a lot of rain. There are still a satisfying amount of people biking, even parents bringing kids to school in rain-protected cargo bikes. @forteller would be happy 😃 #BikeTooter
This version adds heatmap-sourced non-bike-infrastructure routes that people use anyway as a new class, in Seattle-style green. Think of them as demand paths.
I think they're worth adding because they tell people: yes, people use these fragments of infrastructure; this is how they connect together. This is where people actually go.
Also more dirt trails, a little more road-level infrastructure - minor stuff - and an improved legend.
The attached is at reduced resolution because that's what Mastodon does. But it's okay.
I often see abled urbanists leaping on the words of any disabled person who says that they can get along without a car, but not being as eager to boost efforts of disabled people pointing out inaccessible infrastructure that often prevents them from dumping cars.
Don't be that person - be as willing to boost (and work for) calls for accessibility as you are to boost disabled people who happen to cycle.
Both abled car-centrists and abled urbanists use disabled people as a cudgel in arguments. Emphasis on "use".
Make your movement accessible, then when disabled ppl are involved - listen. Then get active on problems disabled ppl identify.
We cannot equitably drastically reduce personal motor vehicle use (as we need to) without prioritizing making public transit, train, and cycle infrastructure fully accessible in ways that allow for disabled people to get around independently #Cycling#Urbanism
Bicycling grew more in Chicago than in any other major American city in the last five years
"According to an analysis sponsored by CDOT, bicycling has grown more in Chicago than in any other major American city in the last five years. The study showed a 119% increase in biking between fall 2019 and spring 2023, marking the largest jump among the country’s 10 largest cities."
@pete About right, although locally we do have issues with aggressive cyclists in very specific areas, and when I once mentioned that online I was in “mute responses” territory for weeks. So there is a small contingent of bonkers people out there. (The kind when you suggest cyclists be kinder to pedestrians responds by screaming “oh, you want me to get run over by an articulated lorry then?” who then proceeds to send you threatening tweets for days.)
@pete Of course, there’s a world of difference between car hits bike and bike hits pedestrian. And way more car drivers (and, frankly, motorcyclists around here) are AHs than cyclists. AND most cycling infrastructure isn’t worth a damn. Still, it would be nice if some folks were a bit kinder and more broadly aware.
Buying a gravel bike last summer is changing how I ride somewhat. I used to pretty much never do "routes", to go out just purely to ride some particular route through. I've always been an A->B or leisure rider, cruising around town for hours. These days I more and more go out also to do a route I've done many times again, trying to get better results on it.
What next, tight cycling wear and a road bike? :P Is this my midlife crisis?
Broke a record today on a nice route I've rode few times this year, up the hills of Herttoniemi, then through Viikki and Pasila to Hermannin rantatie using the fabulous new cycling "baana's". A new average speed record for 20km of 24.96km/h (beating 24.44km/h over 21.77km to Kontula and back), with a max speed of 44.19km/h (going down along Viikintie).
Hopefully tomorrows service fixes the clicking noise that happens currently a few times per rotation. The last thing that hasn't been checked/changed is the bottom bracket, which will be replaced tomorrow. Embarrassing overtaking other cyclists 😅
I have a theory about why every social media post about either cyclist or biker safety immediately gets swamped by really angry car drivers who want to kill us, and it comes down to ignorance.
Most cyclists and bikers are also car drivers, so we can see both points of view.
Most car drivers are only car drivers, which makes it harder to understand the different points of view. Learning to drive a car should include some time on 2 wheels. #BikeTooter#motorcycle#CarBrain#roadsafety