Do bicycles and cars mix?

Dave Head wrote:

The roads have lots of curves and sharp crests. A few
months ago, a guy in my office came over one of these crests and plowed into
traffic stopped for a school bus. A bike wouldn't have a chance around here.

If the guy goes over a crest at a speed that prevents him from stopping
in front of an obstacle, he should be banned.

wrote:


People who post drivel like this are impractical people who do nothing
around the house. Can you imagine going to Home Depot in a taxi?

Oh yes, I have actually done it.

How often do you go to Home Depot? Once a year? No point in keeping a
car for that, is there?

Appart from that, Home Depot (at least the UK version) delivers things
to your doorstep, at a very reasonable fee (waived if the value of your
goods exceeds a cetrtain threshold). Which means you can use your bike,
too.

PC wrote:


But in the end, there is still more to life than money.

The triple bottom line generally applied to public projects measures
the economic (money), social and environmental cost and benefit of a
project..

And what about those people who can not drive a car for reason of age or
disability? What about the separation effects of big roads? The health
problems associated with car exhausts? Accident victims? And a lot of
other items in this list.

When I was working in Frankfurt (Germany), there was a local law that a
company has to have parking space for its employees, to reduce parking
problems in the city. However, companies had the choice of buying their
employees annual tickets for the cities bus/tramway/subway system, these
tickets were cheap because heavily subsidised by the town hall. Because
they could be used for private trips as well, they offered real value
for money for the people involved, they just had to agree not to come to
work by car. Win/Win/Win for companies, employees and city, even if some
public money has to be spend on such a system.

Frankfurt is a city with about 600,000 people, but you can traverse it
on bike in less than half an hour, using the "green belt" park system.
Traversing by car, in rush hour traffic, may be 2 hours.

Dr Engelbert Buxbaum wrote in message
...
wrote:


People who post drivel like this are impractical people who do
nothing
around the house. Can you imagine going to Home Depot in a taxi?

Oh yes, I have actually done it.

How often do you go to Home Depot? Once a year? No point in keeping a
car for that, is there?


Three times a week, and when in the mountain home, more often than that.
You are obviously a very impractical person who relies on others to do most
of your work for you.

Dr Engelbert Buxbaum wrote in message
...
Marc wrote:


The only reason why cars are so common is because of distortions in the
economy caused by various government policies, taxes, and subsidies.

Or the lack thereof. In Europe, there are significant taxes that
support
much more than just the auto infrastructure. In the US, the taxes are
much
smaller and are more closely tied to the source of the revenue.

A myth, often told but still wrong. I do not kow of any country where
car related taxes cover the car related costs, if those are honestly
accounted for.

Here in Germany the Green Party once ordered a study on this subject
from some scientific institute, in the mid '80s. The result was that gas
tax would have to be 5 DM per litre (US$ 12 per gallon) to achieve
that. In todays terms, these costs would probably be higher, but the
Greens are in goverment now, so they keep quiet about it.

Some (roughly similar) American figures were discussed in a different
posting of this threat.

Using the same kind of fake and false data, you can show that transit
systems cost $15 a mile to operate.

Dr Engelbert Buxbaum wrote in message
...
PC wrote:


But in the end, there is still more to life than money.

The triple bottom line generally applied to public projects measures
the economic (money), social and environmental cost and benefit of a
project..

And what about those people who can not drive a car for reason of age or
disability?

Then they should be allowed by law to ask any driver to take them where
they want to go for a fee agreeable to both. But that is not legal because
governments do not want any competition from their massively inefficient
transit systems designed to make people travel where it is politically
correct, i.e.downtown to old-fashioned stores no one wants to shop in.

Dr Engelbert Buxbaum wrote in message
...
Scott in Aztlan wrote:


I live approximately 3 miles from my office. It takes me less than 9
minutes
door-to-door to drive there. If I take the bus, that trip becomes 45
minutes,
primarily because the bus that comes closest to my house takes me 6
miles in the
opposite direction before I can transfer to the bus that drops me off
near my
office. Alternatively, I can take a different bus and walk about a mile;
this
version of the trip takes about 30 minutes. I could also ride my bike,
but there
are no showers in my office building, and going through the workday
reeking of
sweat typically isn't the best career move.


Reaking of sweat after a 3 mile ride? You should really, really do
something about your fitness, mate!


I understand that it is hot in Germany this summer.

wrote:
Krist wrote in message
...

wrote:

Keith F. Lynch wrote in message
...


wrote:


Tranasit makes it harder for people to get to work.

If this were true, nobody would ride it to work.
--


Sure you would. Anything highly subsidized will get some takers.

Unsubsidezed transit does exist, you know...

--
Krist



It used to.

It still does.


--
Krist

In misc.transport.urban-transit, Krist wrote in
:

wrote:
Krist wrote in message
...

wrote:

Keith F. Lynch wrote in message
...


wrote:


Tranasit makes it harder for people to get to work.

If this were true, nobody would ride it to work.
--


Sure you would. Anything highly subsidized will get some takers.

Unsubsidezed transit does exist, you know...

--
Krist



It used to.

It still does.

Any examples?

David Jensen wrote in message
...
In misc.transport.urban-transit, Krist wrote in
:

wrote:
Krist wrote in message
...

wrote:

Keith F. Lynch wrote in message
...


wrote:


Tranasit makes it harder for people to get to work.

If this were true, nobody would ride it to work.
--


Sure you would. Anything highly subsidized will get some takers.

Unsubsidezed transit does exist, you know...

--
Krist



It used to.

It still does.

Any examples?

There are no examples.