Restricting Cars (Page 2)

Good info from everyone.  I guess instead of inciting discussion, I should ask this question:

What 3 things would make you more likely to commute by bike/public transportation at least 1x per week? (please don't say "new bike")

I'll start by answering my own question:

1) Showers at your workplace

(Luckily I have this. But there are also showers at 3 local bike shops in the downtown area where I work.  What if gyms did a $1 per day to park your bike, take a shower, and use a locker?)

2) Public transportation that could cut your trip in half

(I think I have pub transport that could cut about 3 miles off my 17 mile commute, but haven't used it yet)

3) Better shoulders for cyclists

(Texas tends to have a wide shoulder area on ranch and farm-to-market roads.  But they also turn those into traffic lanes when the road easement gets tight.)

Maybe if we get some new ideas, we can send them to companies/bosses/cities. 

I used to bike commute most days when I lived closer to work.  It is not the distance that is daunting it is the road I would have to travel.  I do not think I would last a month before I was hit.  It is 2 lanes, no shoulder most of the way, high speed and heavily traveled during rush times.  Additionally, FL drivers are not exactly bike friendly!

True dat.  Most hit cyclists per capita and total in Florida than anywhere in the nation. 

So do I read that you would prefer a bike line/shoulder to ride on?

If I had a bike lane/shoulder to ride on, since I do have showers at work, I would ride in much more often.

Don't forget Canadians.  We care about our rights too.  Freedom...ahhh...it's beautiful.  And its individual rights that is the most beautiful expression we all have towards anything and everyone else.  Though socialists may try to make them opposites....

jmk-brooklyn - 2012-12-18 9:11 AM  You and Mayor Bloomberg have something in common. It's a Christmas miracle!!!

I resent that remark as I drink my 20 oz Dr Pepper...

Not me....I'm driving....I enjoy it.

This would have absolutely 0 impact on my decision.

-There is no gym near where I work

-I still have a 34.7 mile commute with my laptop

-I could bring my bike into the office with me that wouldn't be a problem

I have a membership to LA Fitness and it's actually near my work, so when I do bike commute that part is easy for me.  Not to mention my workplace has a gym & locker room (I work at a University) and frankly I could go to work in my bike clothes and be sweaty if I really wanted to.

My problem is the weather   Yeah, I know people who commute around here in the winter.  Minneapolis is actually a great biking city and has a surprising number of year-round commuters.    I just don't have a strong enough desire to dress for -5 F temps in the morning and deal with the ice moguls in the street that won't leave until Spring in many places.  My commute is 14.5 miles each way, so running is also not an option.    I have done, and plan to, a bus/run combo.

So, mostly I'd have to take the bus if I couldn't drive.  It would take about 75 minutes (versus 40ish) with three bus transfers.  I'd actually be willing to do it once a week, although I would be more inclined to work out the working from home situation. 

To expand on Bigfuzzydoug's post... the following are just a few of the highlights of how we got here;

1) the convenience culture - "time is money" - Americans are all about what is the easiest and fastest way to do something or get somewhere.

2) large expanses of "cheap" land - even today land is a less expensive option for the most part. It is less expensive to build a surface parking lot than a parking deck. It is cheaper to build 100 unit residential community than a mid-rise condo.

3) History - In the early 1900's, the ratio of farmer to city worker was about 10:1. Today that ratio is about 1:5. [side note: most people who live in rural areas do not work the farms but work for companies that supply farms with tractors, seed, fertilizer, etc.] Over the last 150 years, people have been leaving farms to make more money [and less manual labor] in the city. The cities became overcrowded, had over stressed and horrible infrastructure [thus were not so clean], a lot of crime, the "undesirable" immigrants/ poor/ racial groups, etc.

4) The "American Dream" - After WWII, everyone wanted a little pink house with a white picket fence away from the "harshness" of the urban environment. Suburbia was created because it was close to the jobs in the city and was a nice, quiet, clean, and affordable place to raise a family. In general, it is still cheaper to commute from suburbia than own a home close to your job.

5) Shopping & Jobs - When people left the cities, a lot of jobs and shopping followed to be near the people and their money [this was also a convenience thing]. Welcome the invention of strip malls and office parks.

6) Henry Ford, et al. - Auto manufacturers had a huge impact on American life. They paid their workers better than average and pushed for "better wages" for the working class [mostly so they could afford a car]. The auto industry also worked to remove the trolly systems in virtually all U.S. cities [New Orleans and San Francisco are two notable exceptions]. Mix in cheap and abundant gas and the "American Dream," you can see the path of least resistance to what we have now.

Q. Why is it that we're so tied to cars?

A. It is the most viable [least expensive, convenient, and safest] option at the moment.

Cultural norms/ ideals shift slowly unless there is a major event to push it.

Srory for the bad grmamar. I aeppar to be vrey dyslexic this mronmnig.

My commute is 8.5 miles each way. I have a shower and locker room just below my office, which I use regularly for lunchtime rides and runs (lots of off-road trails around my workplace, and I keep a SS MTB locked up at work).

I bike commuted 54 times so far this year, which is likely where it will stand. That alone saved me some $150 in gas (at $3.50 a gallon). What keeps me from bike commuting more is the weather.

There's definitely a movement in the Twin Cities (St. Paul/Minneapolis area plus suburbs) to make more progress away from a car culture.  We're putting in light rail (slowly but surely), have a decent bus system and the coolest are the "complete streets" projects to improve major routes for cyclists.  I work on an important north/south route and they will be narrowing the driving lanes and putting in bike lanes. It depends on the existing road at certain points, but the plans vary from painted markings to physically separated bike lanes.  

Keeping in mind this is a city that's covered permanently in snow from November to April, we have an almost shocking commitment to make the roads safe for everyone.    I am not sure if people from the south (even Chicago - ha ha) can understand that our snow doesn't just fall, look pretty for a day, and then go away.  Some streets and sidewalks will have snow/ice on them for days/weeks after a snow fall and it stays on the grass the whole time.  Last winter was remarkable for lack of snow fall and melting, but normally it's not like that. 

I took this picture in March or April of 2011 in my front yard. The tallest pile was about 4 week, we sent this to my dad in Arizona telling him to not come home yet (no place in the yard to park his camper):

This is my husband's bike in front of the same yard, earlier in the winter.  He's 6'3'' so it's not a small bike:

I look at it as extending my vehicle's gas mileage.  Two weeks ago, I calculated the total miles traveled (driving plus bike commuting) and came-up with 45 mpg on a pickup truck.  Not bad.

I worked in Bismarck for several months.  I can fully understand how hard it would be to do anything but drive in your nice toasty cars in the winter in the Upper Midwest.

So I'll put you down for heated tunnel system for riding to and from work (hahaha!!!)

THANKS!!!  Actually it wouldn't even really need to be heated, just snow free.  I can be flexible like that.

I so wish!! Honestly, I love living in the city especially after growing in a car-centric small town-  i don't bike commute but i have very viable transit options and have never owned a car.  We bought a house with convenient access to transit and live in a pedestrian area where we have two grocery stores less than 1 km from us and a couple of 'village' type shopping districts with most shopping amenties pretty close by.  It is a very desirable area and home prices reflect that.  I also belong to a car sharing program so i can take out cars for a few hours at a time when i do need one. 

But i do know that most other communities do not have these options - my parents live in a smaller community where there is no public transit. However, the town is small enough that most people don't really need to drive as much as they do.  My mom works about two kilometers from work - less than a mile and a half and my dad is maybe a mile yet they both drive to work for every shift. It drives me a little crazy, actually.  The whole town is not even 5km across yet people drive EVERYWHERE! 

Even though it's not 'bike friendly' per se, it's not heavy traffic or high speeds on their routes and for them walking is completely possible.  For small town folks maintaining cars is expensive and everyone has at least two - so much money could be saved as well and improved health.  

Cars are sooooo convenient that we often forget that there are other options.  

Until our culture changes back to promote and support pedestrian and biking transportation, nothing will change.  Our towns are now built around the car.  "When I'm King of the World, my first decree will be that every road gets a sidewalk!"

Take a look at this comparrison of a typical 2010 suburban McNeighborhood housing development.  What don't you see?  A single sidewalk!  Box houses in which everyone has to drive to get anywhere.  Not my neighborhood, but close to it.  Compare that to a typical 1950's suburban neighborhood.  Every street with a sidewalk.  Homes built within walking distance to the school and the local "main street" for downtown shopping, eating, movies, etc. (just off to the left of the school)  That's a shot of the town I went to high school in NJ.  We didn't need cars because we could get anywhere and everywhere we needed by walking or bike.  Many parents who worked in New York took the express bus from town into the city.  If my mom (a teacher in the local high school) drove 20 miles a week, that would have been a lot.  The town was designed and built to promote pedestraian and bicycle transportation.

I see sidewalks on one side of the street for your 2010 pic - or am I mistaken?   

I do take your point - and completely agree - let's not even get into strip malls and mega parking lots ... 

I worked ~240 days last year.  I didn't drive about 225 of those days.

Now in a new part of the country, I haven't found a good way to bike in, and without a shower, I can't run in.  I have the opposite problem from everyone else - I live ~3 miles from work, however I have to go through a downtown area built in the early 1800s, based around canals with too many drive lanes on narrow streets and roundabouts.  The 2nd picture is on the upper side of the red roofed clock tower building in the top picture (city hall)

This is a uniquely southern US and midwest question.  Chicago, New York, LA, name any european country.  They are not tied to their cars as we are here.

Out of curiosity, I've actually looked at the possibility of taking the bus to work.  First I'd have to walk 1.14 miles to the bus stop, take a 27 minute bus ride to the downtown bus station and then walk 0.3 miles to my office. 

I only live six miles from my office and it normally only takes me about 15 minutes to get to work, which is about the amount of time it would take to walk to the bus stop and then I've still got almost a half hour ride through parts of town I don't want to go to.

Quite frankly, it would be more practical for me to work from my home office 2-3 days per weeks and just come into the office for staff meetings or to meet with clients.

Mark

I wouldn't include LA in your list. I would switch it out for San Francisco.

(405_LA.jpg)

Seriously.  Nobody walks in L.A.