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Monday, April 23, 2012

At Large Cars Are Being Pushed Off the Road!!!!!

Posted by Dominic Holden on Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 4:17 PM

ZOMGeneral Motors!!!!

As you can see from this photo, cars in Paris are under attack. Sure, sure, most of Paris's transportation system serves cars, and most lanes ferry car traffic. But non-car transportation persists. As seen above from left to right: After several lanes for cars, there's a lane dedicated to buses, a shared lane for parking cars and trash cans, a lane for bicycles, an entrance to the subway, and finally a sidewalk. But here's what's nuts: Even though cars have more room—by far—"cars are being shoved aside, as evidenced by... the constant plea for more light rail and significant transfer of asphalt to bike lanes." Paris is such a terrible city.

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God damn trees stay in your own fuCKIN LANE JEEZUS CHRIST *HOOOONK*

Posted by Zebes

on April 23, 2012 at 4:20 PM

Cars are under attack in the industrialized world just like Christianity is.

:D

Posted by balderdash

on April 23, 2012 at 4:31 PM

What we need is good dictator like Napoleon to layout all our streets for us.

Posted by tkc on April 23, 2012 at 4:32 PM

Resembles Amsterdam bikeways... Congratulations on showing the Seattlites what reality is... Seattle, please join the EU in making travel safe for cyclists. We help you keep the Earth clean and green.....

Posted by pupuguru on April 23, 2012 at 4:33 PM

One of my fondest memories is my first visit to Paris, stepping right into the path of a whizzing cyclist in a separated bike lane just like that one. Being from Seattle, of course, I had no idea such things existed. He was no ordinary Parisian bicyclist either, but a fully color-coordinated bespandexed gent. As he yelled at me quite extensively for being such a stupid rosbif who should go the fuck back home I realized I was truly in Paris at last.

Posted by gloomy gus on April 23, 2012 at 4:34 PM

In b4 someone rages about critical mass.

Posted by Donolectic on April 23, 2012 at 4:35 PM

New York has done a nice job with the protected bike lanes too;

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=protec… ://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php%3Ft%3D175487&docid=gQ6ce82RRymWzM&imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3437/3931697021_85d6c53a0a_o.jpg&w=800&h=600&ei=keeVT9PwA6PsmAXpnYn8AQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=91&vpy=279&dur=1606&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=139&ty=129&sig=100731893469437914764&page=1&tbnh=119&tbnw=160&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0,i:91

Posted by doloresdaphne on April 23, 2012 at 4:38 PM

@5

Dictionary ho:

Etymology

English roast beef, stereotypical food of the English.

Compare frog (“French person”), from frog legs, corresponding English term for French, likewise based on food.

Fascinating!

Posted by Zebes

on April 23, 2012 at 4:39 PM

Erica C. Barnett would be happy there.

Posted by joel connelly on April 23, 2012 at 4:48 PM

@3 means Haussmann, who worked under Napoleon III.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haussmann's…

Note, they didn't have cars, buses, bike lanes, or subways then.

Posted by NaFun

on April 23, 2012 at 4:55 PM

One of my distinct memories of the three days I spent in Paris when I was a teenager was of a tiny little car speeding down a sidewalk towards me. It crossed onto the street a dozen yards or so from us and sped off. None of the Parisians seemed to find it remarkable.

Posted by dwightmoodyforgetsthings

on April 23, 2012 at 4:57 PM

This is workable because Paris isn't full of Lycra-clad whippet like ten-speed racers in search of a velodrome (not the helmetless Pierre up the bike lane).

Thus there are no pleas for bike lanes between parked cars and highway speed cars and instead sexy Parisiennes can hop on 3-speeds wearing the latest fashion with aplomb!

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on April 23, 2012 at 5:42 PM

Comrade Mittens Romney is in France on vacation right now, the place he and his comrades lived for years in a bike-accessible French Castle while avoiding US military service.

Ooh la la ...

Posted by Will in Seattle

on April 23, 2012 at 5:57 PM

Well, what do you expect? They voted for a goddamn socialist, for Pete's sake.

Posted by TVDinner

on April 23, 2012 at 6:13 PM

The reason this set-up works in Paris (and other places) is because bikes have a single set of rules to follow, just like pedestrians & cars. In America, bikes live in a grey-area of traffic laws, as they can operate as both pedestrians (on the sidewalk) or as vehicles (on the road). To me, this is the biggest cause of frustration for all concerned. It's a horrible clusterfuck, and I'm not surprised when cars don't respect my right as a cyclist to the road. Or sit and wonder what I'm going to do. I see the idiots who ride wrong-way on the sidewalk, or cut into the crosswalk in front of left-turning vehicles, then back onto the road. There are rules for cars & pedestrians, and everyone disrespects them from time to time. But the way the system is now, it practically invites cyclists to pay little or no heed to traffic laws, as they can abuse them constantly to their advantage.

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on April 23, 2012 at 6:13 PM

The more bike infrastructure a city has, the more the population commutes by bike:
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/…

Bikes are at a different scale than cars and trucks, and need different infrastructure.

Posted by NaFun

on April 23, 2012 at 6:42 PM

@15 - Which is the "wrong way" to ride on the sidewalk? Are sidewalks directional as far as bikes are concerned?

I agree with you completely, though; it's legal in Seattle to ride on the sidewalks; it's legal in Seattle to ride in the streets; it would be very difficult to regulate the transition from one to the other. E.g., where do you enter the street as a bicyclist if not from the sidewalk?

However, I don't think that is the primary source of the very real frustration that you feel from drivers. I think it's because more Seattle bicyclists run lights than don't run lights.

Knock it the fuck off, people. You're just making it a hostile environment for the few who actually obey bike laws..

Posted by Free Lunch on April 23, 2012 at 6:42 PM

@17 Oh, hey, when I say "wrong way," I mean riding against traffic. But you're right, there's no direction on sidewalks.

Another issue is that, from what I observed in Europe, cycling is serious. It's a way to get from one point to another. Here is America, it's also viewed as a leisure-time activity. A kids' bike designed to toddle around suburban neighborhoods is not equivalent to a street/touring bike in the city, and neither of them are the same as a mountain bike designed to ride in the actual mountains. Yet in the eyes of the law, they are all the same.

And I agree, a lot of the bad blood between cyclists & cars is the responsibility of the cyclists. Still, when there is no structure to the traffic laws they have to obey, it's not surprising. Traffic flow is based on predictability. It moves smoothly when everyone knows specifically what to do in any given situation. Bikes in America fuck this up when there is no structure for them to operate under. You don't know what they're gonna do, and there's no incentive (besides the health of the rider) for cyclists to inform traffic their intentions.

Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In on April 23, 2012 at 7:03 PM

Now go visit the real France and see what kind of bike lanes they have there. Try Les Pyramides for the poverty example, and La Defense where the economy is (and people from Les Pyramides are rigorously excluded). Or Pole Sud, the tech center, France's Silicon Valley, near Fontainebleau south of Paris. Or go further, to Mulhouse in southern Alsace, where a new business center has been built. Paris is lovely but it's a museum. And, despite your photo, it's choked with cars (just like New York, London, etc. ad infinitum).

Posted by Fnarf

on April 23, 2012 at 8:17 PM

Here I was living in the exact avatar of Paris, France in the U.S. of A. and I never even knew it. Such is life.

Posted by 2cents on April 23, 2012 at 10:01 PM

Dom, you forgot to mention all the dog shit on the sidewalk.

Posted by elaineinballard on April 24, 2012 at 12:35 AM

"We need to strip the multi-modal planning from our Master Plans and remove the greenways and bike paths from the drawings. All of this can be traced back to the U.N. plot to bankrupt the U.S. to enable a Marxist Totalitarian government to be imposed. Their excuse is the global warming hoax and they have the entire U.S. government working hard to implement their treasonous plan. "

http://ntlconsulting.blogspot.com/2012/0…

Posted by gttim on April 24, 2012 at 7:26 AM

Someone is off their meds...

Posted by K X One on April 24, 2012 at 1:49 PM

I'm in Stockholm for the week and the separated lanes are similar. It's great!

Posted by Jenny from the Block on April 25, 2012 at 2:34 AM

I am sure people complained there and thus these lanes were created. Americans don't complain enough. They're not magic European bike lanes. I think Canada is better. They have bus stop shelters with doors in some cities. But Europeans are really complainers. They treat complaining like we treat right to bear arms. Often they manage to get their way, yet 90% of Europeans nevertheless thinks the USA is "cool" and that Europe is no good. Perhaps they are right, but what if you are tired of being "cool"?

Posted by michijo on April 25, 2012 at 7:44 AM

This is interesting in Winnipeg, Canada.

http://www.jordoncooper.com/2011/02/26/t…

They encourage bus riders with huge heated shelters with closed doors. I first saw this shelter in the Film "Mon Winnipeg". We need these desperately where I live. We have an advanced bus system with natural gas buses, but for some reason they took away all the bus shelters, and put all the tax money into building an eyesore. It looks cool sort of:

http://www.haddad-drugan.com/projects/je…

But on this busy street, THAT IS THE ONLY BUS SHELTER! Rather a couple of Winnipeg's shelter's at choice locations would be nice.

You know it is funny, the developers of the glittery shelter claimed they were copying public art out on the west coast! All superficiality and no organization!

Posted by michijo on April 25, 2012 at 5:36 PM