Cycling is ten times more important than electric cars for reaching net-zero cities

[beenz]

I love biking, and my area is super bikeable, but the fact of the matter is, stuff like going to the grocery store or home depot isn't condusive to biking. and neither is going to costco or sam's club. I mainly bike for exercise, and not as a mode of transportation.

but it is pretty convenient when the weather is nice and I wanna go somewhere downtown, and I can simply take the bike on the train, and don't have to worry bout drinking and what not.

 

[WIA20XX]

Our government doesnt want to make those changes as well and first.

A lot of our (city/local) government does want to make changes - but citizens, businesses, and random folks with enough money to sue or get folks elected stop them.

Most of the places where this would be popular - NYC (Manhattan specifically), Austin, SF - are LIBERAL (I woulda voted for Obama a 3rd term and I listen to NPR) strongholds. And they WON'T DO IT.

China does not have that problem.

• There's no room at the table for "community stakeholders".
• There's no environmental study that needs to be done, or EPA lawsuit to stop them.
• Union rules? Ha!

China - we're building a highway, we'll pay you
Chinese woman - I'm not moving
China - Okay then



Liberal hell hole Cali can't build high speed rail.

How California’s Bullet Train Went Off the Rails (Published 2022)

America’s first experiment with high-speed rail has become a multi-billion-dollar nightmare. Political compromises created a project so expensive that almost no one knows how it can be built as originally envisioned.

www.nytimes.com

But "Pro business" Texas can't build high speed rail either

Texas high speed rail project: why is it so unpopular?

Despite the benefits, such as reduced travel times, lower greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth, high speed rail remains unpopular in Texas.

www.newsweek.com

Meanwhile in China


Freedom comes at a cost

 

[O.T.I.S.]

A lot of our (city/local) government does want to make changes - but citizens, businesses, and random folks with enough money to sue or get folks elected stop them.

Most of the places where this would be popular - NYC (Manhattan specifically), Austin, SF - are LIBERAL (I woulda voted for Obama a 3rd term and I listen to NPR) strongholds. And they WON'T DO IT.

China does not have that problem.

• There's no room at the table for "community stakeholders".
• There's no environmental study that needs to be done, or EPA lawsuit to stop them.
• Union rules? Ha!

China - we're building a highway, we'll pay you
Chinese woman - I'm not moving
China - Okay then



Liberal hell hole Cali can't build high speed rail.

How California’s Bullet Train Went Off the Rails (Published 2022)

America’s first experiment with high-speed rail has become a multi-billion-dollar nightmare. Political compromises created a project so expensive that almost no one knows how it can be built as originally envisioned.

www.nytimes.com

But "Pro business" Texas can't build high speed rail either

Texas high speed rail project: why is it so unpopular?

Despite the benefits, such as reduced travel times, lower greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth, high speed rail remains unpopular in Texas.

www.newsweek.com

Meanwhile in China


Freedom comes at a cost

Excellent post

So this is more of a US thing. US isn’t moving towards future proofing itself the way China is.

So I’m not envious of China, more disappointed that people aren’t seeing what they are seeing.

 

[Dorian Breh]

People crying about their commute like its not a choice they made

Developing distributed town centers and building up small cities and towns is obviously necessary to reduce the carbon footprint

Everyone living a million miles from eachother and anything useful is not a good way to design a country

 

[WIA20XX]

Excellent post

So this is more of a US thing. US isn’t moving towards future proofing itself the way China is.

So I’m not envious of China, more disappointed that people aren’t seeing what they are seeing.

Yeah.

To sound like an old record - it's 2nd or 3rd order consequence of the US never dealing with Black People (and Native Americans - many of which are "hispanics" to some extent).

Anything that would benefit the whole might somehow benefit "the blacks" - and White America just can't handle that.

A lot of the animus against public employees - employs a lot of black people.
Against teachers - employs a lot of Black people.
Health insurance - the blacks might live longer and better! They're already faster and stronger!
School Vouchers - public money to segregation academies - so no Blacks to tempt Becky

Public Housing
Low Income Housing
Bus Rapid Transit

On and on.

It's why the Southerners were against the new deal.

Most of them will NEVER admit it, and those that do will NEVER do anything about it.

 

[O.T.I.S.]

Yeah.

To sound like an old record - it's 2nd or 3rd order consequence of the US never dealing with Black People (and Native Americans - many of which are "hispanics" to some extent).

Anything that would benefit the whole might somehow benefit "the blacks" - and White America just can't handle that.

A lot of the animus against public employees - employs a lot of black people.
Against teachers - employs a lot of Black people.
Health insurance - the blacks might live longer and better! They're already faster and stronger!
School Vouchers - public money to segregation academies - so no Blacks to tempt Becky

Public Housing
Low Income Housing
Bus Rapid Transit

On and on.

It's why the Southerners were against the new deal.

Most of them will NEVER admit it, and those that do will NEVER do anything about it.

Highly possible

They do equate riding the bus to poverty.

 

[bnew]

26 minutes by car is about 20 miles distance at 45mph

a 20 mile bike ride takes about 1 to 2 hours depending on your pace.

So in total potentially a 4 hour round trip.

if you building cycling infrastructure you don't have to stop as often and theres no residential roads allowing 45mph.

Study: Over Half Of US Daily Vehicle Trips Are Less Than Three Miles

There are certainly various use cases, but most people don't need an EV with 500 miles of range. Lower prices may help sell EVs more than massive range.

insideevs.com

snippet:

A new study for the Bureau of Transportation Statistics adds some interesting data to the debate. The Maryland Transportation Institute analyzed “an anonymized national panel of mobile device data from multiple sources,” and found that, in 2021, 52% of all trips in the US, using all modes of transportation, were for distances of less than three miles. Some 28% of trips were for less than one mile, and just 2% were for greater than 50 miles.


A trip was defined as a movement that included a stay of longer than 10 minutes at a location away from home. The trips included driving, rail, transit and air travel. “A weighting procedure expands the sample of millions of mobile devices, so the results are representative of the entire population in a nation, state, or county,” the authors write.

 

[WIA20XX]

They do equate riding the bus to poverty.

Chinese folks been doing intercity bus travel for a while.

But when White people started to take those buses from NYC to DC buses - There was suddenly a lot of Wall Street interest and we got Bolt Bus/Mega Bus etc.

https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trnews/trnews303feature.pdf

So much of neighborhood, ward, city, county, region, state, national, and national politics is really about white people and their preferences.

Nothing is valuable, until they value it.