A few months ago our family invested in a shiny new Tern HSD P9 e-cargo bike. It's our first "family vehicle" - shared equally between my wife and me. We use it to transport our 7-year old daughter, pick up groceries, drive to hockey practice, go on hiking trips, and all the other things people with cars might do.
A car-free (or at least car-lite) world is possible.
Occasionally I’ve seen the question of how we should accommodate #disabled people in a car-lite or #carfree society and while visiting my in-laws for Thanksgiving, I see a possible solution: electric golf carts.
No, they do not live in The Villages. But they live in an older neighborhood that is very walkable and also has many senior residents.
It's impossible not to notice how quiet and safe it is, not to mention how it can literally accommodate thousands of people, when it's not full of cars...
No design that misuses streets as freeways or as parking lots will ever be safe. Streets are for people!
So there’s a bike lane now where people used to park directly on the street, I don’t understand why those people can’t just park on another street? Why is it an unreasonable ask that someone with no car storage inside their property should have to store their car around the corner instead of directly in front of their house? #BikeTooter#CarFree#TheWarOnCars
Coming up on one year #CarFree in #Seattle. I'm incredibly thankful that, while there are certainly issues, the public transit and bike infrastructure in this city are good enough to make this possible
All hands on deck! We may lose 3-day #CarFreeHayes in less than 24 hours. Show up for public comment, 1pm tomorrow, or email SFMTA to support car-free Hayes.
My ancient bike pump broke and drained my bike tires so I took my bike to the friendly neighborhood bike shop. I don’t know what I’d do without them within walking distance. #CarFree#Bicycles
The good news: The majority of ocean microplastics come from one source, which means we could dramatically reduce their occurrence by focusing on just one solution.
Important side note: Tyre wear depends disproportionately on vehicle weight. Lorries and busses are worst. Bicycles are almost irrelevant. I.e. EVs and SUVs worsen the problem, because they are typically heavier.
The solution is: Make wheels of steel. Make roads of steel, too. Put a lot of lorries and busses in a row and connect them, so that only one motor and driver is needed for many cars. Electrify them efficiently with a catenary.
The ultimate lesbian expression of commitment: uhauling your #HotBin composter. I've transported a wide variety of idiotic things on my bike, including but not limited to a mature pyracantha and an IKEA flat pack three drawer chest, but this is a little beyond even my stupidity so I hired a sack truck from Exeter #LibraryOfThings
Ayala avenue itself is not #CarFree, and the only stretch of road that was closed to motorized vehicles is the segment of Paseo de Roxas, between Ayala and Makati Avenues. Glad to see they kept the #bikelane|s, thanks to dedicated folks who pushed against a plan to remove them.
Most of the bikelane surfaces look worse than before, with many unpatched or unevenly patched roadwork. 😑
Dozens of cities around Europe mark European Car Free Day today, with mixed results, including in Berlin.
But critics say the German capital is lagging.
While many European cities, such as Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Paris are drastically reducing car traffic in their city centres in favour of cycle paths, Berlin is going in the opposite direction and becoming more car-friendly.
From Oslo to Helsinki, the list of cities across Europe introducing car-free initiatives is lengthening.
Removing cars from city centres - or at least restricting their access - has been shown to transform urban areas into safe places for walking and cycling while significantly reducing air and noise pollution.
Does this have an economic cost or is it a win-win situation?
As a #carFree household, fuel prices affect us only indirectly, in the way their increase lift other prices in the economy. We are happy to almost never pay for petrol at the pump. 🚲
On one hand, I do feel some sympathy for people struggling to pay the rising cost of petrol. It is tough nowadays.
On the other, maybe this will finally motivate some people to reduce their #carDependency? Maybe those of us living #carLite or car free can finally stop being the tiniest minority?
Them: Sure I can see that in this day and age you can get most bulky things delivered but what about when you need to dispose of something big? #CarFree is not gonna cut it then Ruarí!
In August my family did an 8-day #bike camping trip in Southern Ontario, completely car-free. We left our home in Toronto and my parents left their home in Niagara on bikes, and we did this lovely loop along the shore of Lake Erie. A thread about our trip! #GoByBike#quaxing
@mbonsma Thanks for sharing your experience with #quaxing and #GoByBike. It really helps people to see the opportunities of #CarFree living. Congratulations too on your news!