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Any Port in a Storm :: The Beacon :: Saving the World :: Cycling in the city
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AuthorTopic: Cycling in the city (Read 7,425 times)
lola
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #180 on Apr 5, 2012, 3:53am »		[Quote]
These are great, imec!

Reminds me a little of driving through Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with the Quaker Oats silos along the river.
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fumobici
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #181 on Apr 5, 2012, 4:49am »		[Quote]
Those are. It looks like great cycling territory and those colors are so rich. Well done.
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #182 on Apr 5, 2012, 12:27pm »		[Quote]
Thanks folks! It really was a pleasure riding here. Minneapolis/St. Paul is a wonderful city(ies).
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kerouac2
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #183 on Oct 3, 2012, 7:25pm »		[Quote]
Here's an idea in London.

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lola
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #184 on Dec 25, 2012, 12:43pm »		[Quote]
I think I have my family convinced that we can safely walk down Rue St. Paul to the Quai bike path and grab some velibs. Especially since traffic may be a bit lighter today. Seeing some of the death defying traffic weaving bike riding the past couple of days I can understand their concern.
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kerouac2
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #185 on Dec 27, 2012, 6:19am »		[Quote]
I guess the Lolas didn't survive.
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lagatta
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #186 on Dec 27, 2012, 11:04pm »		[Quote]
I'm certainly not cycling today. 45cm of snow, a record for 27 December and more snow than we've had in over a decade - probably more snow than we had all "winter" last year.

Lagatta is NOT happy.
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mich64
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #187 on Dec 28, 2012, 12:22am »		[Quote]
OH MY!! 45 cm!! Lagatta I can not even imagine that much at once.

It has probably happened here at some point but I can only seem to remember storms with at most 30 to 35 cm. The children on school break must be loving it but it will be terrible trying to get anywhere for the next couple of days.

I guess this has put an end to your cycling for quite a while.
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kerouac2
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #188 on Dec 28, 2012, 6:43am »		[Quote]
I was in Montréal once in a snowstorm, and I had a car for some reason which I parked on the wrong side of the street overnight. So the snowplows buried it.
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mich64
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #189 on Dec 28, 2012, 6:48pm »		[Quote]
Not sure about Montreal, but in our town we have a by-law stating no overnight parking during the winter months on city streets so the plows can clear the streets for the buses and morning traffic.

Daytime storms do present a challenge as not everyone can get their car dug out before the deadline, especially after the plows go past them and bury them deeper. Not a perfect system but it helps most of the season.
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lagatta
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #190 on Dec 29, 2012, 1:55am »		[Quote]
Not only is it a record, but in the last several years, we have had very little snow at all, while usually snowless places in Europe got quite a lot.

Hope the bloody stuff melts.

Mich, here there are a lot of places where there is no other place people can put their cars. Triplexes or more, not single houses.

I have to dig out my bicycle, but it is on our property.
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bixaorellana
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #191 on Dec 29, 2012, 11:42pm »		[Quote]
Did anyone see this article in the NYTimes? Click on the picture for the article.

Sprawling Memphis Aims to Be a Friendlier Place for Cyclists
[image]
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lagatta
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #192 on Dec 30, 2012, 2:28am »		[Quote]
No, I'd missed that. Interesting. Some of the naysayers would be far better off getting on their own bikes...
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mich64
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #193 on Dec 30, 2012, 4:57pm »		[Quote]
I have only been to Montreal once Lagatta, but I can imagine it very difficult to implement our by-law there. I do remember seeing many lovely row houses, small condo complexes, tri-plexes and noticed that there was mostly street parking.

We are a small city (53,000 people) but the fact that it is so spread out and we have many single or duplex homes and most all rental units come with off street parking. We have noticed with the influx of 2 or more car families this is where the street parking has become a problem.

We also have a beautiful bike path from one end of the city to the other.
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lola
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #194 on Dec 30, 2012, 5:12pm »		[Quote]
I am the 1/4th of our family who really wants to get out on a Vélib, only have two more full days. So it's time I got bloody, bold and resolute and did it on my own. (except leave out the "bloody" part of that quotation.) I get up and out a couple of hours earlier than everyone else, anyway.
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bixaorellana
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #195 on Dec 30, 2012, 5:17pm »		[Quote]
Oh! Where are you, Lola? I haven't been able to be on the forum much, so obviously missed some crucial & interesting piece of info.
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lola
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #196 on Dec 30, 2012, 5:26pm »		[Quote]
Hello from Paris, Bixa. Husband, daughter #2 and I rendezvous'd a week ago with dtr #1, who's been working since September as a language assistant in the French Alps. We've been running around lapping it all up. The girls and I get to stay in London for a bit after this.

They've gone salsa dancing in the Bastille this evening, and I hope himself is on his way home from St. Denis, which he loved so much he wanted to return. Not the most adept at maps, standing on the correct side of Métro stops, etc.

Yesterday afternoon we went to hear Django gypsy jazz type music in the northern suburbs/St.-Ouen flea market, then walked up and over the Montmartre mountain, which is very steep indeed and involves many flights of stairs. I kept looking around for someone who looked like Kerouac, only handicapped by not knowing how he looks.

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casimira
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #197 on Jan 4, 2013, 5:10pm »		[Quote]
Oh, you lucky girl you!!!
I've resolved to resume what was my semi daily long ride routine (average 11 miles) and thus far have maintained it.
I have a riding partner, who stirs me out of my holiday doldrums and with my barking dog at the gate at the early hour, have little choice but to get up and go.!!!
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lola
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #198 on Jan 13, 2013, 6:03pm »		[Quote]
Thank you, Casimira. Good for you to take that ride daily!

Lucky is exactly how I feel now, and home safe n sound.

I ended up having two Velib rides. One was first thing New Year's Eve morning, when I walked south on Rue St. Paul to the stand at a bike path on a sidewalk along Quai des Celestins, by the river. It took me some time to figure out the procedure for paying for and removing a bike. I had chosen a good one, but somehow failed to pull it out correctly. My second try I took a closer one that turned out to have a seat that would not tighten into place. Still it was fun riding on the path to the western and then the eastern end near Hotel de Ville. The seat made it unsafe for street use, though, so I ended up returning it near Rue de Rivoli.

Several bikes had flat tires or unusable seats. I wonder how often they send out bike mechanics or whatever. Still I saw so many people riding them, maybe half the total bikes on the street or more.

I find the concept of a Bike, Taxi, and Bus Lane way too daunting, though most alarming was how people ride in London. I'd have had nerve there only if in Hyde Park or some such.

Then New Year's night, last thing, my husband was ready to try it. We found the stand near Carnavalet had only one good bike, so we walked up r.d. Turenne, took a spin around Place des Vosges and down to the River. Bliss. Around Ile de la Cite, past Notre Dame, through Ile St. Louis. Crossing the bridge, past the lonely accordionist, the moon shone over the Seine. Such beauty, such freedom.



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bixaorellana
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #199 on Jan 14, 2013, 3:40am »		[Quote]
Ohhhhhhhhh, Lola!!!

Somehow missed seeing your lovely and lyrical answer. I'm so happy for you.
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #200 on Jan 14, 2013, 6:18am »		[Quote]
Oh wow Lola! You have my admiration - I longed to give it a go but just kept putting if off. There were two Velib stands below our apartment and one block away was the Canal St Martin. I'm mad with myself now >:(
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #201 on Jan 14, 2013, 7:15am »		[Quote]
I still use Vélibs almost every day. :D I have the annual subscription for 29€. However, due to the weather, these last few days I have only taken trips that lasted..... 2 minutes. That's because there is a bike station next to the nursing home and another one next to my apartment.
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anshjain97
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #202 on Jan 14, 2013, 2:56pm »		[Quote]
There were thoughts about making Bangalore more cycle-friendly, but even if it happens (ha ha), bike lanes are unimaginable- we first need proper footpaths! Besides, the mentality of drivers towards existing cyclists.

Most people who cycle today are people like newspaper deliverers, milkmen etc. Few people do it as an exercise- but I've occasionally seen some. Me, I used to do it in my apartment area but stopped it now.

Compared to the likes of Paris, Munich and Salzburg, Bangalore has a LOOOOOOOOOOONG way to go...
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kerouac2
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #203 on Jan 14, 2013, 3:06pm »		[Quote]
Well Paris started from just about zero. The first little attempts about 30 years ago were laughable -- it amounted to painting some green arrows on the pavement just to indicate "this is where bicycles should be." Everything that finally happened later was copied from other cities, mostly Strasbourg, which proved that a city can be made cycle friendly and also be a viable means of transportation, and Lyon, which invented the modern electronic system of bike sharing.

Now apparently Paris is the model for bike sharing systems across the world (and we have the same system for electric cars now), but it still isn't as bike friendly as it needs to be. Then again, I don't that any really big city can be, because even when you manage to have complete separate lanes for bikes, there are always plenty of careless pedestrians to make things go wrong.
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anshjain97
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #204 on Jan 14, 2013, 3:10pm »		[Quote]
Interesting, had no idea, thanks.

Indian traffic conditions are likely to remain the way they are. Hey, what are those while lines appearing periodically in the road meant for? To control traffic flow?! Oh, the horror! What ideas our stupid municipal corporation has!

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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #205 on Jan 24, 2013, 9:15pm »		[Quote]
I was reading that there is a major debate in Geneva at the moment between the pro and anti municipal cycle advocates.

The city would like to implement the Montréal Bixi system with 2000 bikes in 150 stations but right wing factions do not want any foreign system to be used. The right wing claims that the cost per bike is $4000 instead of the official $1062. They will just have to fight it out to determine what the truth is.

Meanwhile, there are currently 29,000 Bixi bikes on the road in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. However, London is the only European city that uses the Bixi system (8000 bikes).

What really strikes me is the cost of annual subscriptions in certain cities. London has just changed the rate from $70 to $140 and Barcelona has gone from $60 to $130. When I think that my Paris subscription started out at 29€ and has never changed (except for going down sometimes when they offered 14 months for the price of 12), I am aghast at these other prices -- but I would pay those rates anyway if I had to, because it is still a fantastic deal for getting around a city.
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #206 on Jan 25, 2013, 8:20pm »		[Quote]
The Geneva (right wing dominated) municipal council sent the whole project back to the financing commission today. No hope for any bikes soon even though the government cost is only 700,000 francs.
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lagatta
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #207 on Jan 26, 2013, 7:30pm »		[Quote]
They just want more room for their cars, I guess. Don't seem to realise that more cyclists would mean fewer cars and more room for remaining cars.

Or perhaps they just don't want anyone to have fun. Shades of Calvin!
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regards
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #208 on Jan 30, 2013, 2:30pm »		[Quote]
Things are different today at the French Riviera. For millions of Euro was built in the past along the coast, between the beaches and the street, a special way for bikes. It start (or end) near the harbor in Nice and end (or start) after the town Cagnes s/mer. Someting of nearly 20km.
But in Cagnes it's written on both sides of the track Speed limit 10km/h and the police check with mobile speed cameras if you are quicker. The fine is today 7€.....!
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Re: Cycling in the city
« Reply #209 on Jan 30, 2013, 2:59pm »		[Quote]
I don't have the slightest idea how fast I go on my bike -- not very fast, I think -- but some people certainly go too fast. They are the same ones who never stop for traffic signals because they hate ever stopping their bike.
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