On 2018-03-17 01:28, John B. wrote:
On Wed, 14 Mar 2018 08:36:45 -0700, Joerg
wrote:

On 2018-03-13 18:08, John B. wrote:


[...]

After all, bicycles comprise about 2% of all road accidents and
studies I've seen state that nation wide bicycles make up about 1% of
the total traffic.

Doesn't spend substantial portions of the tax budget on a group that
comprises only 1% of the road users seem a bit one sided?


So why don't we start by spending 1%? That's plenty.

From what you write it appears that you believe that if only someone
would build bicycle paths that the percentage of bicycle traffic would
rise and I'm not sure that is correct at all.


I know that it works in most areas. It is clearly evidenced by the
reaction of people. Instead of "Nah, I am not going to join you cycling
back on Green Valley Road" (this is one of my usual rounds) they say
"Oh, there is a bike path? How about Sunday afternoon?". Other times I
talked with client engineers when I visited. Many times they have bike
racks on their cars and helmets in the trunk. Those are the real outdoor
kind of people, the ones where it's not just talk. However, then they
say they'd love to cycle to work but the bike path system doesn't
connect there.


... Or perhaps not correct
is assumed to be an all encompassing argument.


There will always be areas where it doesn't work or, like in Milton
Keynes, the design gets largely messed up and then people don't use it.
Other places might have too much inclement weather. For example, I doubt
one would get a lot of people onto bikes in a town in Northern Siberia.


I recently read an article about cycling in the Netherlands. The
number of cyclists in the large cities is increasing but in rural
areas it is decreasing. Given that Holland has perhaps the largest
amount of cycle paths (compared with motorways) and rural bicycle use
is decreasing the argument that building bikeways is going to result
in some significant increase in cycle use is probably wishful
thinking.


Absolutely not. I lived there for years. Though this has been decades
ago they probably have a similar trend as we do in the US where many
kids aren't interested in any sort of transportation. They don't even
want to achieve a driver's license. Probably because the virtual world
and smart phones are sufficient for them. I can't understand it.

You also have to keep in mind that they have a substantial public
transport system. In essence many people wouldn't need any kind of vehicle.


It is probably also worth saying that the percentage of trips made by
Dutch cyclists is 27% of all trips and the number has remained static
for the past 30 years.


I guess the number of available bike path kilometers has also largely
remained constant. When I lived in the Netherlands in the 80's the bike
path system was rather complete. They did add some bicycle highways but
most of those had already been there in large stretches, just with the
fluff and signage. For example, I cycles the F35 bike highway route a
lot because I couldn't stand the soft Dutch bread. It got me close
enough to ther German border to hop over and buy some real bread. Tens
of miles just for a loaf of bread was not a big deal over there because
I more of less put my bike in 12th gear and kept pedaling until I was
there. It was the same down south where my permanent residence was,
cycling to Maastricht for a beer and some cheese was a simple spur of
the moment decision. 20mi or 30km each way but easy peasy because all
bike path. In fact, it was so peaceful versus lane riding that I once
fell into "micro-sleep" on the road bike on the way back. A tree woke me
up the hard way ...


In closing let me say that one of my high school classmates took his
girl to the Junior Prom in his Dad's dump truck (there is a long story
there) but no one in living memory ever took his girl to the prom on a
bicycle :-)


Well ...

http://tubulocity.com/?p=118

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/