On 3/15/2018 12:30 PM, AMuzi wrote:
On 3/15/2018 11:23 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/15/2018 8:47 AM, Duane wrote:
On 14/03/2018 9:09 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:
On Wed, 14 Mar 2018 08:36:45 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

If you provide proper infrastructure
they will come:

That's the second time this week that I've cackled aloud
while sitting
at the computer.

I don't *do* that sort of thing.


I rarely use segregated paths but there is a ride I like
to do from my house in Montreal West Island area to the
old port.ÂÂ* It's ~100k and really nice.ÂÂ* About 80k of it
is on bike paths.ÂÂ* These paths follow the river and then
the Lachine canal so there are basically no
intersections.ÂÂ* Along the canal where the path crosses
city streets the path has under or overpasses.

Here's the thing.ÂÂ* I take the day off work on my birthday
and do this ride with some friends because there's no one
on the paths outside of the commute hours.ÂÂ* At commute
time it's too crowded.ÂÂ* On weekends and holidays it's
packed.

So I guess my point is that if they make these things
people use them. In Montreal, a lot of people use them.Â
Whether or not they make sense for commuters is another
story.ÂÂ* And group riding on bike paths is a bad idea in
any case if the paths aren't empty.

Most of us probably enjoy a segregated path that's
well-maintained, scenic, and mostly empty. Probably few of
us enjoy a MUP when it's seeing heavy use. And with good
reason! With widely varying users, narrow spaces and a "no
rules" environment, movements are often chaotic.

So Joerg should lobby for paths that will be unpopular,
because those make for the best riding. Of course, that's a
tough sell. Can you imagine asking for tax money for a new
freeway, by saying "It will be great! Hardly anyone will use
it!"

Nationwide, only a tiny percentage of these facilities can
be justified as shifting mode share from cars to bikes.
Despite the cherry-picked examples, most miles of MUP
connect nowhere to nowhere, for obvious reasons.

So almost all are linear parks, even though they're "sold"
as being transportation facilities. They should be paid for
from park taxes, not federal or state transportation tax
dollars.


Some citizens use and appreciate them, just not for cycling:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=assault+on...th&t=hg&ia=web

Yes, I suppose they can have financial benefit, if you're of the right
mindset.

Around here, I know of only one such incident, and there wasn't much
profit, because the victim was just a young teenage kid. But a dollar is
a dollar, I guess.

--
- Frank Krygowski