Breaking news from around the world.
News that is American but has an international facet may also be posted here.
These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.
For US News, see the US News community.
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
But that would require a small amount of effort. Seriously though I get some cities aren't bike friendly (they could be though) but worked in a city that was pretty great for bikes. Small/medium sized manufacturing plant with a bunch of rednecks and almost all of them lived within 5 miles. Of course they were crying like hell when gas skyrocketed and other than me there was 2 people that biked. I think the best part is a good chunk drove gigantic trucks.
I wish we had more bike-friendly infrastructures on France, right now everything is still adapted to a car-centered lifestyle...
It's never fast enough but we have the LOM law though : https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/loi-dorientation-des-mobilites
Each time you launch road works.you have the obligation to take into consideration bike lanes.
As a Dutchie in rural France atm, is way too hily here and the nearest supermarket is a fifteen minute drive away. I couldn't do my shopping by bike like back home even if I tried.
True that, I always forget this factor.
As a Dutchie, I can only agree. I do have to say the road infrastructure in a lot of countries will have to change too to make this feasible... I have been to Edinburgh, Scotland last week and it feels completely suicidal to ride a bike there, barely any bike lanes and a very big dislike towards cyclists.
If anyone wants to know more about how we do roads in the Netherlands, I totally recommend Not Just Bikes
I do question how this statement of carbon emissions reduction holds up with the large change towards electric bikes, but electric scales better to green energy then cars I guess.
From my experience, the electricity consumption of e-bikes is low. We have a Babboe cargo bike and we drive 5km every day. I measure the electricity consumption of the charger, and it comes down to 0.5-1kWh per month. I assume regular e-bikes have an even lower consumption.
During 40 years, everything has been done for cars. But it's ridiculous to use a 5 persons transport (car) for only one person. The ecological problem is not only thermal vs electric, it's also cars versus 2 wheels transport
Sold in car months ago and use an electric scooter to get around. I don't miss the car at all. I don't have a commute though.
Hard to use bikes a lot here in Finland. If you live in one of big cities then yes maybe but even then the winters are long, snowy and cold.
the issue, in the end, is infrastructure. Unfortunately not many countries devote enough resources to allow it
Oulu seem to have it pretty nailed down in their infrastructure, even in winter, a lot of people cycle
Some cities winter cycle just fine. Oulu is often in the news about that.
But yes, it gets hard if there's distance and frequent bad weather and hostile traffic and bad road maintenance.
Although the practicality is questionable, I think the takeaway is that we will have to rethink mobility and dense environments with good cycling infrastructure will be the most sustainable ones. Public transportation which is great too, also requires a certain density to be feasible.
The practicality isn't questionable.
Of course there are outliers and places/people it wouldn't work for but the vast majority should be absolutely fine.
It is questionable though in most states in the US atleast. Not sure how someone who lives a 20 minute drive from the nearest town in the middle of nowhere is supposed to ride a bike around. The whole world isn't urbanized
According to the 2022 Census 80% of US population lives in urban areas.
If could enable this 80% to use bicycles and public transportation we'd experience a massive shift in public health, energy efficiency and reduced emissions...
Yep, I'm not debating that point. I'm 100% in favor of doing that. I'm asking about solutions for everyone else. This debate is usually framed as "all we need to do is" when that isn't the case for everywhere or everyone. Just diving into it a little bit more.
Even if it's not practical right away, that's just a reason to vote to put people in charge who would make it practical and convenient.
It's also possible to join a non-profit that engage with the public and local governments to make bicycle-friendly infrastructure happen.
There is a very impressive set of reasons why we could and should encourage less CO2 intensive forms of transport, indeed many actions. However, these arguments always seem to me to take the pattern of picking the extreme example of whatever good we are hoping to achieve and then implying that everyone else could easily make the switch. There is always a wide and natural variety in things and this is true for differences between nations too. Extreme examples used like this often just end up making a bigger divide between people because the discussion misses all of the important differences that constrain choices and shape outcomes. We just end up talking from our own perspectives and experiences rather than exploring the complicated and difficult questions of how we can produce localised and regional responses to CO2 emissions drawn from fossil fuels.
Riding bikes really isn't very extreme
lol, no not like that. Extreme case, as in, when the modal value is a 4% uptake with an SD of 0.5, then picking something with a 73% uptake is an extreme case.
Not really sure how well bikes would work where I live. The winters are harsh, and its steep hill after steep hill.
A valid concern. Bikes are good for fair weather and close proximity. Not all of the world is set up for this. Trains and busses have been around for a long time and can help reduce emissions and work in bad weather. Trains could require costly new infrastructure but busses can use existing roadways. The big goal should be to move away from cars. Ten people on a bus use less emissions then 10 cars on thier own.
Agreed. they are so expensive let alone bad for the environment.
Problem is so many civic gov'ts have mandated that transit MUST be self-sustaining and profitable without any investment. My own city's ideology is like this and our transit is one of the worst in Canada. I've stood in -40C waiting for a bus that just doesn't show up. :/
Its surprising how well bikes can work in harsh winter conditions, if the infrastructure is well build. Not just Bikes has a video on Oulu in Finnland that does this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU&t=1s
I asked a couple with a 3 year old daughter how they get around without a car, and they said they cycle by default and use a car-share service occasionally for longer journeys. The amount they save on insurance alone pays for the car-shares and short term car rentals to get out of the city for a few days.
Suburbs and rural areas can benefit from electric bikes to an extent. And a more deliberate focus on building transit oriented communities should help quite a bit.
The problem with this is that while true, the solution for lower emissions will look different for every place.
It probably would be helpful, but it wouldn't be that useful in the tropical regions, where you have monsoons with strong rain/wind and hot summers.
Physical exertion in the sun is not always fun.
It'd be fun when the destination is closer and when the weather is nice tho.
In places like Denmark, The Netherlands, Finland and so on, people bike in pretty much any weather without huge issue, rain, snow, heatwave, doesn't matter.
Proper public transport where you can also bring your bike does a lot too.
In places like Denmark, The Netherlands, Finland and so on, people bike in pretty much any weather without huge issue, rain, snow, heatwave, doesn't matter.
Is their weather mild/good most of the time?
Or do their bicycle paths have good shades?
I live in a small town in Belgium and we have a saying that says: "there's no bad weather, only bad clothing". Granted, the weather here is mild. Doesn't get too cold, not too hot (except for this week). We do get a lot of rain though, but nothing that a pair of rain trousers and coat can't handle ;) Biking infrastructure is something else though... It's far from perfect over here.