Transportation Miniseries
Overview
- Pros
- Good exercise
- Correlated with increased happiness
- Good for environment
- Cheap
- If more people bike, roads are safer
- Easy to park
- Cons
- WAY slower than driving when destination is more than a mile or two
- Tiring; only suitable for those physically capable of keeping it up
- At the mercy of the weather
- If city is not set up with bikes in mind, it can be quite dangerous
- Quite often, people who commute by bike are not doing so by choice; they're just doing it until they can afford a car
Links
- The future of commuting - Vox
- Why Minneapolis was voted the most bike-friendly city in America - Vox
- The Copenhagenize Index 2015 - Bicycle-friendly Cities
Things cities can do to be more bike friendly: - Bike lanes
- Bike trails
- Bike sharing programs
- Bike spots on public transportation
- Lower speed limits
- Fewer than 4% of Americans walk or bike to work. Here's how to change that. - Vox
- No cul-de-sacs
- Cul-de-sacs might not be so bad if they had trails leading across, where cars cannot go
- Allow for mixed-use neighborhoods, so more amenities are available within walking/biking distance of their homes
- Narrow lanes, convert lanes into turning lanes
- Connect bike lanes/trails
- “THE FREE PARKING SUBSIDY IS WORTH AS MUCH AS $127 BILLION ANNUALLY”
- Walking in the Twin Cities: It's hard out there for a pedestrian - StarTribune.com
- Biking or walking to work will make you happier and healthier - Vox
- Bike share users are mostly rich and white. Here's why that's hard to change. - Vox
- People who use them don’t really need them
- Concentrated in wealthier neighborhoods
- Often laid out with tourists in mind, not long-term users
- Supply is unreliable, especially on warm days
- Again, most low income bikers are not doing it by choice
- Where 'Share the Road' is Taken Literally - The New York Times
- It's not just hipsters on bikes - cycling is most popular for poor people - Vox