Hoboken Prioritizes Intersection Visibility over Car Parking
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City Cyclists: Here’s How Much Pollution You’re Actually Inhaling
Car-oriented vs multimodal street
Streets development has followed a traditional, urban model in which car has been almost considered the only way of transport for the most part of the XX and the XXI centuries. Fortunately, this perspective is changing as time goes by. But what exactly is the car-oriented street?
A car-oriented street is one which puts on the top the car mobility. Cars are the kings on the streets and specifically those which are occupied by just one person. Space for pedestrians is sacrifice in order to give it to cars, both the parked and the driving ones. As a result, people who live or pass often through such streets suffer from noise, psychical problems and breath the pollution cars and motorbikes expel. Think on the negative impacts this urban model has on people who live in avenues with, let’s say, four, five or even more car lines.
In comparison to the above old-fashion model, a different, more humane perspective is emerging to give the street back to people. The recipe is easy and set in motion in a lot of cities whereas implemented in some others: take surface from cars to give it to people. It is a piece of cake if economical and political interests do not disturb. Quite on the contrary and due to climate change, more and more people have realized that we should change the transport model if we want to face it and avoid its negative effects. There are a variety of actions to reduce noise and pollution, and all go to reduce car (and other ways of pollutant transport) and bid on low- or even zero-impact ones. Riding a bike and walking fulfill this target.
Now look at this picture:
In the car oriented street (left-hand side), there are two parked-car lines plus three car lines plus two narrow sidewalks. The realistic estimation shows a total capacity of 12,300 people/h by summing every moving people. On the other hand, the multimodal street offers a different view. Based on the same surface, we have two width sidewalks plus a bidirectional bike line plus a bus line plus a car line. In this case figure shows that the total capacity is 30,100 people/h, more than double. In addition, trees and benches make the street friendlier. Thus, the selection of the best model is like falling off a log.
Torna la bici
MN friends seek joy of commuting by adding pedals to fast EV
Bicycle-sharing system
Intelligent mayors are introducing bicycle-sharing systems to improve the use of this ecological way of transport all around the world. Allowing citizens to use them at cheap cost increases the number of bikers on streets who adopt better habits in turn. As a result, cities and villages are benefiting from it as the air inhabitants breath is more convenient from a health perspective and the noise is reduced.
Although bike-share began in Europe in 1965, it was not until the 2000s that a viable format appeared thanks to information technology. Nowadays the public systems include technological advantages about which I will talk in the future. The bikes in the bike-share services varied as bicycles themselves do. There are normal and electrical bicycles, those which works with a card or a mobile app, with solid wheels or full of compressed air, etc. All these differences have impacts on the service. For example, the solid wheels minimize their maintenance since they do not poke, but it is easier to have an accident when raining.
One key element is the anchor system. If two pieces form the anchor, it is more complicated to put the bike on the station. On the other hand, if it only has one, metallic piece the action is facilitated. The bicycles weight is also another point to have in mind. Too heavier bikes discourage people to use them, whereas light ones are better specially if they move on a hilly city. Interconnection is also important mostly when close cities and villages have their own bike-sharing services. There is nothing more inconvenient that the obligation of changing the bike, and hence having for instance two bike cards, the moment you pass from one location to another.
To sum up, bike-sharing is a good way to improve the number of bikes, but before launching it, some issues should be taken into account.
Picasso’s Tête de taureau
Road diets
Bungee cords
When transporting goods in a bike, one can put them in a basket or in a bicycle bag. There is a third option which consists in tying them to the luggage carrier with one or two metal bungee cords. Bungee cords are composed of one or several strands forming a core covered in a woven cotton or polypropylene sheath.
They are ideal for such a purpose as they are elastic, thus allowing to use extra length and making more pressure at the same time. Indeed, they end in hooks at their extremes in order to ease their anchorage. It is quite recommendable not to anchor the moorings directly into the luggage carrier, rather it is better to give a spin to the cord extreme you want to anchor to the luggage carrier and then put the hooks into practice. This is because you do not want the bungee cord extreme to be released in the middle of a ride and this way the anchor is secured. If you are thinking in buying bungee cords, I recommend to invert money in good, high quality ones since they will last much more time.