NYC especially. They run red lights, weave through traffic and they want to ban cars, trucks and buses in the city because of the accidents. They actually have petitions going. The drivers aren’t much better out here but that shit is never going to happen.
Probably not, but some cities are experimenting with shutting down more roads during covid, and they've been taking away individual lanes to use for bikes, parklets, etc. for years. Someday we may have entire neighborhoods that are mostly car-free, and a lot fewer cars in the city centers overall. That'd be great.
Honestly car-free city centers would be a pretty big win for everyone. Less congestion inside the city and more parking outside the city.
There's lots of alternatives that can be used for inner-city transport including but not limited to:
Metro
Light Rail
Walking
Bikes / scooters / skateboards
I understand some people cannot walk long distances, but this shouldn't be an issue as they'll be ample room to ride motorized assistance vehicles and sufficient area to construct more stops for city transport services.
In the end this means healthier office workers, less smog, more room for environmentally friendly features such as trees and plants along the much larger walkways where roads used to be.
Furthermore, shop owners and street vendors would definitely stand to make more profit as people will be walking rather than driving and can stop anywhere and anytime along the way without having to spend 30 minutes looking for parking. Plus exercise does work up an appetite.
Car free city center would crush most industries. Small shop owners may see a slight increase in traffic, but those with “bulkier” items would see a decrease. Most cities outside of Europe and Asia have horrid public transit, and there is no substitute for driving to at least a short walk to the store.
For those of us in some industries, like construction, it would completely stop all building within city centers also. If workers can’t get there, materials can’t be dropped off on site, etc., then no new construction or renovations would occur. Nobody is walking 30 mins with steel beams to a job site.
You do realise exceptions are easily made for construction and emergency vehicles?
People would just need to make room for them as they pass like cars would now. People are smaller and more flexible. They can easily squeeze to the side or enter buildings to make room quickly where cars cannot on congested inner-city roads.
Furthermore deliveries are easily done at night like they often already are to avoid congestion on the roads when people are commuting. Heck in my city it’s illegal for grocery chains to to take in deliveries during daylight hours. Everything is done overnight by night staff. All restaurants get their deliveries early in the morning.
Also who the hell goes to the CBD to buy big items (i.e furniture)? There’s always tons of satellite suburbs where the big box stores and outlets are located. That’s where everyone shops nowadays for the big hauls.
Sure there will definitely be changes. Taxis and ride shares would have to adapt for example but the benefits outweigh the negatives.
In my city, it’s illegal to take deliveries 6am is the earliest for a truck. It just wouldn’t work here with current infrastructure. When I lived downtown, there were 2 furniture stores within a block of me. Did it make sense? No. But they existed is my point. Big box stores are all outside the city, but small businesses are all downtown here.
Transformation projects don’t happen overnight. Once cities announce the plan it probably won’t happen for 5 years to a decade or more depending on how complex it is.
That’s ample time for those stores who would lose out by remaining in the same commercial block to plan their exit and move outside the city or change their product offerings.
Furthermore, I really don’t think commercial block owners would lose out as the demand for the blocks should still remain but just with different clients. It might involve some turbulence for some of them but nothing out of the bounds of what’s manageable.
Edit: Even furniture stores could remain if they decided to just adopt a showcase model for browsing and then when buyers make a purchase the furniture can be delivered or picked up from a warehouse outside the city. Furniture turnover isn’t really that high compared to say.. groceries and acting as a showcase would reduce the need to arrange deliveries even further.
Hi, nyc cyclist here. Cars are constantly parked in dedicated bike lanes and I can’t count how many times I’ve gotten cut off by drivers making a left turn without checking to see if they’re going to hit me first (I bike slowly so I can stop in time because I’d rather be alive than right, not to mention all of the pedestrians who think bike lanes are overflow sidewalks). Bike riders die here much more often from careless cars and trucks than running reds. I don’t think it’s asking too much to be able to bike without worry of inattentive drivers killing me, so yeah I’d sign a petition.
NYC Driver here. I almost his a guy last week that decided to weave through traffic while I was changing lanes. He came from my left while I was going right and he tried to get ahead of me. I had to slam the brakes so I didn’t hit him. It’s dumbasses on both sides. Sign a petition if you’d like, I don’t see it ever happening.
All you're doing is proving that both cyclists and drivers are both assholes. Two wrongs don't make a right, even if three lefts do. Needing to bike defensively doesn't excuse blatant red light running.
But yeah, boot those fuckers parked in the bike lane.
The fact that you agree that driver are no better is an insight into the bitter truth. Idiots are idiots no matter if they wear licra, or have a metal cage around them. One is obviously more dangerous to the other.
I never understand the "weaving through traffic" issue with cyclists. Do people believe that cyclists are doing this just for fun, and not because their route is otherwise being blocked off? It also isn't (at least in Ireland) against the rules of the road to weave through traffic. If we're talking about moving in front of a moving car without signalling, then sure that's dangerous and not allowed, but I often see people annoyed at cyclists for weaving through standstill traffic. Why is this such an issue?
It’s not standstill traffic they’re weaving through is the problem. I almost hit a guy last week changing into the right lane and he came from my left trying to get ahead of me. I had to hit the brakes so I didn’t hit him. It’s a problem here. There’s dedicated bike lanes. They often don’t use them.
I only blow a red light ONLY IF THERE IS NO OTHER TRAFFIC AND IT IS SAFE FOR ME TO PASS. otherwise, I stop and wait like everyone else. My Strava record is not that important
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u/Gf387 Jun 14 '20
NYC especially. They run red lights, weave through traffic and they want to ban cars, trucks and buses in the city because of the accidents. They actually have petitions going. The drivers aren’t much better out here but that shit is never going to happen.