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Old April 23rd 18, 04:21 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default Build it and they will come - but where are they?

On 4/22/2018 4:27 AM, Duane wrote:

The cities are the entities trying to use cycling to fix the clogged roads.
I’m less concerned with the number of cycling commuters than the number of
wingnuts confronting cyclists in general.


Delays due to traffic congestion increase exponentially with more
vehicles, not linearly. A 10% reduction in the number of vehicles, by
whatever means, would greatly reduce congestion in my area.

It's not going to be bicycles that are the top contributor to vehicle
reductions, but if they can contribute just 1-2% it would be
significant. The corporate shuttles from Facebook, Apple, Google, Yahoo,
Genentech, etc., contribute a couple of percent. The big problem is the
awful state of public transit in Santa Clara County. This has been
driven by the City of San Jose which wields tremendous influence when in
comes to transit spending. If you want to go to downtown San Jose from
outlying suburban towns then it's very easy. If you want to go from
outlying suburban towns, like Cupertino, Saratoga, etc. (or San Jose
suburbs like Almaden or Willow Glen), to the job-rich areas of eastern
Mountain View (Google), north San Jose (Cisco), or north Santa Clara
(Intel), north Sunnyvale (Linked In, Yahoo, Lockheed) then it's very
difficult and slow on public transit.

For my wife to take public transit to her job it would be at least a 90
minute ride, with a change of buses, plus about 15 minutes of walking.
On a bicycle it takes her about an hour, but she rides very slowly and
refuses to use a lightweight road bike, preferring her cruiser
http://oi37.tinypic.com/24awjn6.jpg. Every time I suggest a lighter
bike she insists that she likes the extra exercise.

Some people in r.b.t. have a distorted view of the value of bicycle
infrastructure since they are perfectly happy to ride without any.

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