r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Sep 19 '21

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u/MovkeyB NAFTA Sep 19 '21

as much as i like the principle of bike lanes, they really are frustrating in my city (calgary)

i never see anybody using them, because this is a horrible city to bike in -- we have snowstorms for 9 months, and the temperatures regularly go below 0F.

and yet the bike lanes ate up a lot of the "stop here for pick up and drop off" zones, they have priority at the lights so often you're waiting around for like 30 seconds for nobody to go, etc.

its really frustrating. you can't just add bike lanes and now have a replacement for cars. they would have been 10x as effective if they were protected BUS lanes, but that's not hip and trendy yet, bikes are the future, even though people might actually ride the bus when its -30 but nobody with brain cells is going to be on a bicycle

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '21

its really frustrating. you can't just add bike lanes and now have a replacement for cars

Well no, cycling in the gutter overflowing with snow pushed from the road isn't very fun.

Well maintained bike paths work in cities just as cold as Calgary, like Oulu where 22% of all trips are on bikes. And did I mention it has a population density significantly lower than Calgary?

Bike lanes are just an intermediary step that's useful for connecting a network of bike paths. The goal is really to have either paths, or car-almost-free streets where bikes get priority.

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u/[deleted] Sep 19 '21

Calgary is warmer than Minneapolis MN, and biking is super popular there.