How can we make DC streets bicycle and pedestrian-only?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is now 2024; a new year!

How can we make DC bike-only a legislative priority, and maybe a reality, in 2024 ?

Hey, let's make it HARDER for employees to get downtown. Yes, that will bring folks back.

Bus-only lanes will make it EASIER for employees to get downtown.

Hard agree. The highway projects should include a bus-only lane (rush hour effect only) for transportation-easing. That would add way, way more throughput to the highway system than the stupid pay-your-way-toll-lanes-in-the-middle-of-a-highway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going to be fun watching cyclists and pediatricians dodging those drones making delivers to all the businesses in the car free zone(s).

Why would you use a drone, inefficiently, when you can use a cargo e-bike, efficiently?

https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2023/pedal-assist-cargo-bikes.shtml

People are delivering beds, mattresses, dishwashers, stoves and the likes on the bicycles? Please post a picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going to be fun watching cyclists and pediatricians dodging those drones making delivers to all the businesses in the car free zone(s).

Why would you use a drone, inefficiently, when you can use a cargo e-bike, efficiently?

https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2023/pedal-assist-cargo-bikes.shtml

People are delivering beds, mattresses, dishwashers, stoves and the likes on the bicycles? Please post a picture.

Firstly, drones are illegal in Dc
Second, you can't deliver any of those things with drones, either

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is now 2024; a new year!

How can we make DC bike-only a legislative priority, and maybe a reality, in 2024 ?

You just want to kill the remaining businesses in DC? Many restaurants are complaining that the lack of parking is taking away from their businesses. Uber is making traffic worse and I'm not biking to a restaurant at night.

Please go away with this nonsense.

Please take a trip to Paris and see a city that has been transformed by shrinking the space for vehicle traffic. Its economy seems to be doing just fine, by the way.

This cracks me up. Paris is far more dense than DC with a completely different mindset about cars and transportation. You can’t simply “cut and paste” what they do in Paris and expect it to work here.

Like it or not, DC is a car-dependent city in a car-dependent region in a car-dependent country.

If DC actually banned cars, trucks, and buses en masse, it would wither even further on the vine.

What cracks me up is that you apparently think that population density is exogenous. In the real world, residential developments are a function of transportation infrastructure. Build massive highways and you get suburbanization a la Houston. Make cities walkable and bikeable and you end up with something akin to Paris. Downtown DC - like most US cities - used to be much denser before the highway building spree started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is now 2024; a new year!

How can we make DC bike-only a legislative priority, and maybe a reality, in 2024 ?

You just want to kill the remaining businesses in DC? Many restaurants are complaining that the lack of parking is taking away from their businesses. Uber is making traffic worse and I'm not biking to a restaurant at night.

Please go away with this nonsense.

Please take a trip to Paris and see a city that has been transformed by shrinking the space for vehicle traffic. Its economy seems to be doing just fine, by the way.

This cracks me up. Paris is far more dense than DC with a completely different mindset about cars and transportation. You can’t simply “cut and paste” what they do in Paris and expect it to work here.

Like it or not, DC is a car-dependent city in a car-dependent region in a car-dependent country.

If DC actually banned cars, trucks, and buses en masse, it would wither even further on the vine.

What cracks me up is that you apparently think that population density is exogenous. In the real world, residential developments are a function of transportation infrastructure. Build massive highways and you get suburbanization a la Houston. Make cities walkable and bikeable and you end up with something akin to Paris. Downtown DC - like most US cities - used to be much denser before the highway building spree started.

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems. DC does not, nor are MD and VA willing to invest to a make it world class. You need all of these things to make a city less dependent on cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is now 2024; a new year!

How can we make DC bike-only a legislative priority, and maybe a reality, in 2024 ?

You just want to kill the remaining businesses in DC? Many restaurants are complaining that the lack of parking is taking away from their businesses. Uber is making traffic worse and I'm not biking to a restaurant at night.

Please go away with this nonsense.

Please take a trip to Paris and see a city that has been transformed by shrinking the space for vehicle traffic. Its economy seems to be doing just fine, by the way.

This cracks me up. Paris is far more dense than DC with a completely different mindset about cars and transportation. You can’t simply “cut and paste” what they do in Paris and expect it to work here.

Like it or not, DC is a car-dependent city in a car-dependent region in a car-dependent country.

If DC actually banned cars, trucks, and buses en masse, it would wither even further on the vine.

What cracks me up is that you apparently think that population density is exogenous. In the real world, residential developments are a function of transportation infrastructure. Build massive highways and you get suburbanization a la Houston. Make cities walkable and bikeable and you end up with something akin to Paris. Downtown DC - like most US cities - used to be much denser before the highway building spree started.

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems. DC does not, nor are MD and VA willing to invest to a make it world class. You need all of these things to make a city less dependent on cars.

Our public space dedicated to transportation is limited within DC. The streets cannot be widened, so how do we move the most people possible within that limited space?

Option 1: Do nothing and just suffocate under unrelenting single occupancy cars from never ending exurban development
Option 2: Rethink our public space, maximizing mass transit, walking and biking, while limiting single occupancy vehicles

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems because city leaders, decades ago, decided to invest in them. Our city and regional leaders can either do more of the same failed transportation policy, or they can decide to make the DC region transportation and development patterns more functional than they are right now.

Would it have been better not to rip out the old streetcar system and further invest in mass transit from the 1950's? Sure. But that didn't happen, so we can either decide today to do something better, or....we can just not do anything and let our gridlock destroy our local economy and a healthier lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is now 2024; a new year!

How can we make DC bike-only a legislative priority, and maybe a reality, in 2024 ?

You just want to kill the remaining businesses in DC? Many restaurants are complaining that the lack of parking is taking away from their businesses. Uber is making traffic worse and I'm not biking to a restaurant at night.

Please go away with this nonsense.

Please take a trip to Paris and see a city that has been transformed by shrinking the space for vehicle traffic. Its economy seems to be doing just fine, by the way.

This cracks me up. Paris is far more dense than DC with a completely different mindset about cars and transportation. You can’t simply “cut and paste” what they do in Paris and expect it to work here.

Like it or not, DC is a car-dependent city in a car-dependent region in a car-dependent country.

If DC actually banned cars, trucks, and buses en masse, it would wither even further on the vine.

What cracks me up is that you apparently think that population density is exogenous. In the real world, residential developments are a function of transportation infrastructure. Build massive highways and you get suburbanization a la Houston. Make cities walkable and bikeable and you end up with something akin to Paris. Downtown DC - like most US cities - used to be much denser before the highway building spree started.

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems. DC does not, nor are MD and VA willing to invest to a make it world class. You need all of these things to make a city less dependent on cars.

Our public space dedicated to transportation is limited within DC. The streets cannot be widened, so how do we move the most people possible within that limited space?

Option 1: Do nothing and just suffocate under unrelenting single occupancy cars from never ending exurban development
Option 2: Rethink our public space, maximizing mass transit, walking and biking, while limiting single occupancy vehicles

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems because city leaders, decades ago, decided to invest in them. Our city and regional leaders can either do more of the same failed transportation policy, or they can decide to make the DC region transportation and development patterns more functional than they are right now.

Would it have been better not to rip out the old streetcar system and further invest in mass transit from the 1950's? Sure. But that didn't happen, so we can either decide today to do something better, or....we can just not do anything and let our gridlock destroy our local economy and a healthier lifestyle.

Huh? Gridlock is the explicit goal of some of these measures.

[Anonymous]

Also, our streets can be widened. Most of our front yards are public property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is now 2024; a new year!

How can we make DC bike-only a legislative priority, and maybe a reality, in 2024 ?

You just want to kill the remaining businesses in DC? Many restaurants are complaining that the lack of parking is taking away from their businesses. Uber is making traffic worse and I'm not biking to a restaurant at night.

Please go away with this nonsense.

Please take a trip to Paris and see a city that has been transformed by shrinking the space for vehicle traffic. Its economy seems to be doing just fine, by the way.

This cracks me up. Paris is far more dense than DC with a completely different mindset about cars and transportation. You can’t simply “cut and paste” what they do in Paris and expect it to work here.

Like it or not, DC is a car-dependent city in a car-dependent region in a car-dependent country.

If DC actually banned cars, trucks, and buses en masse, it would wither even further on the vine.

What cracks me up is that you apparently think that population density is exogenous. In the real world, residential developments are a function of transportation infrastructure. Build massive highways and you get suburbanization a la Houston. Make cities walkable and bikeable and you end up with something akin to Paris. Downtown DC - like most US cities - used to be much denser before the highway building spree started.

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems. DC does not, nor are MD and VA willing to invest to a make it world class. You need all of these things to make a city less dependent on cars.

Our public space dedicated to transportation is limited within DC. The streets cannot be widened, so how do we move the most people possible within that limited space?

Option 1: Do nothing and just suffocate under unrelenting single occupancy cars from never ending exurban development
Option 2: Rethink our public space, maximizing mass transit, walking and biking, while limiting single occupancy vehicles

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems because city leaders, decades ago, decided to invest in them. Our city and regional leaders can either do more of the same failed transportation policy, or they can decide to make the DC region transportation and development patterns more functional than they are right now.

Would it have been better not to rip out the old streetcar system and further invest in mass transit from the 1950's? Sure. But that didn't happen, so we can either decide today to do something better, or....we can just not do anything and let our gridlock destroy our local economy and a healthier lifestyle.

Huh? Gridlock is the explicit goal of some of these measures.

Nah, mobility is the explicit goal. Single-occupancy vehicles don't function well in cities. Buses (that don't have to share lanes with single-occupancy vehicles), streetcars (that don't have to share lanes with single-occupancy vehicles), subways, walking, bicycling, scooters all work much better for mobility. Why would you want to have to park a car, if you could get there conveniently and comfortably without having to park a car?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is now 2024; a new year!

How can we make DC bike-only a legislative priority, and maybe a reality, in 2024 ?

You just want to kill the remaining businesses in DC? Many restaurants are complaining that the lack of parking is taking away from their businesses. Uber is making traffic worse and I'm not biking to a restaurant at night.

Please go away with this nonsense.

Please take a trip to Paris and see a city that has been transformed by shrinking the space for vehicle traffic. Its economy seems to be doing just fine, by the way.

This cracks me up. Paris is far more dense than DC with a completely different mindset about cars and transportation. You can’t simply “cut and paste” what they do in Paris and expect it to work here.

Like it or not, DC is a car-dependent city in a car-dependent region in a car-dependent country.

If DC actually banned cars, trucks, and buses en masse, it would wither even further on the vine.

What cracks me up is that you apparently think that population density is exogenous. In the real world, residential developments are a function of transportation infrastructure. Build massive highways and you get suburbanization a la Houston. Make cities walkable and bikeable and you end up with something akin to Paris. Downtown DC - like most US cities - used to be much denser before the highway building spree started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is now 2024; a new year!

How can we make DC bike-only a legislative priority, and maybe a reality, in 2024 ?

You just want to kill the remaining businesses in DC? Many restaurants are complaining that the lack of parking is taking away from their businesses. Uber is making traffic worse and I'm not biking to a restaurant at night.

Please go away with this nonsense.

Please take a trip to Paris and see a city that has been transformed by shrinking the space for vehicle traffic. Its economy seems to be doing just fine, by the way.

This cracks me up. Paris is far more dense than DC with a completely different mindset about cars and transportation. You can’t simply “cut and paste” what they do in Paris and expect it to work here.

Like it or not, DC is a car-dependent city in a car-dependent region in a car-dependent country.

If DC actually banned cars, trucks, and buses en masse, it would wither even further on the vine.

What cracks me up is that you apparently think that population density is exogenous. In the real world, residential developments are a function of transportation infrastructure. Build massive highways and you get suburbanization a la Houston. Make cities walkable and bikeable and you end up with something akin to Paris. Downtown DC - like most US cities - used to be much denser before the highway building spree started.

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems. DC does not, nor are MD and VA willing to invest to a make it world class. You need all of these things to make a city less dependent on cars.

NYC is ten times the size of DC. Paris is three times the size of DC. There's simply not enough demand here for the "sophisticated mass transit systems" you're advocating for. Heck, there's hardly anyone utilizing the current infrastructure that support bikes and scooters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is now 2024; a new year!

How can we make DC bike-only a legislative priority, and maybe a reality, in 2024 ?

You just want to kill the remaining businesses in DC? Many restaurants are complaining that the lack of parking is taking away from their businesses. Uber is making traffic worse and I'm not biking to a restaurant at night.

Please go away with this nonsense.

Please take a trip to Paris and see a city that has been transformed by shrinking the space for vehicle traffic. Its economy seems to be doing just fine, by the way.

This cracks me up. Paris is far more dense than DC with a completely different mindset about cars and transportation. You can’t simply “cut and paste” what they do in Paris and expect it to work here.

Like it or not, DC is a car-dependent city in a car-dependent region in a car-dependent country.

If DC actually banned cars, trucks, and buses en masse, it would wither even further on the vine.

What cracks me up is that you apparently think that population density is exogenous. In the real world, residential developments are a function of transportation infrastructure. Build massive highways and you get suburbanization a la Houston. Make cities walkable and bikeable and you end up with something akin to Paris. Downtown DC - like most US cities - used to be much denser before the highway building spree started.

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems. DC does not, nor are MD and VA willing to invest to a make it world class. You need all of these things to make a city less dependent on cars.

NYC is ten times the size of DC. Paris is three times the size of DC. There's simply not enough demand here for the "sophisticated mass transit systems" you're advocating for. Heck, there's hardly anyone utilizing the current infrastructure that support bikes and scooters.

Somewhere in the world, there's a person whose hobby is posting hatred of bike lanes in DC, on an internet message board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is now 2024; a new year!

How can we make DC bike-only a legislative priority, and maybe a reality, in 2024 ?

You just want to kill the remaining businesses in DC? Many restaurants are complaining that the lack of parking is taking away from their businesses. Uber is making traffic worse and I'm not biking to a restaurant at night.

Please go away with this nonsense.

Please take a trip to Paris and see a city that has been transformed by shrinking the space for vehicle traffic. Its economy seems to be doing just fine, by the way.

This cracks me up. Paris is far more dense than DC with a completely different mindset about cars and transportation. You can’t simply “cut and paste” what they do in Paris and expect it to work here.

Like it or not, DC is a car-dependent city in a car-dependent region in a car-dependent country.

If DC actually banned cars, trucks, and buses en masse, it would wither even further on the vine.

What cracks me up is that you apparently think that population density is exogenous. In the real world, residential developments are a function of transportation infrastructure. Build massive highways and you get suburbanization a la Houston. Make cities walkable and bikeable and you end up with something akin to Paris. Downtown DC - like most US cities - used to be much denser before the highway building spree started.

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems. DC does not, nor are MD and VA willing to invest to a make it world class. You need all of these things to make a city less dependent on cars.

Our public space dedicated to transportation is limited within DC. The streets cannot be widened, so how do we move the most people possible within that limited space?

Option 1: Do nothing and just suffocate under unrelenting single occupancy cars from never ending exurban development
Option 2: Rethink our public space, maximizing mass transit, walking and biking, while limiting single occupancy vehicles

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems because city leaders, decades ago, decided to invest in them. Our city and regional leaders can either do more of the same failed transportation policy, or they can decide to make the DC region transportation and development patterns more functional than they are right now.

Would it have been better not to rip out the old streetcar system and further invest in mass transit from the 1950's? Sure. But that didn't happen, so we can either decide today to do something better, or....we can just not do anything and let our gridlock destroy our local economy and a healthier lifestyle.

WMATA is broke and you expect DC, MD and VA to spend BILLIONS of dollars on mass transit? Keep waiting for that?

[Anonymous]

Short answer:

We don't.

We need cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is now 2024; a new year!

How can we make DC bike-only a legislative priority, and maybe a reality, in 2024 ?

You just want to kill the remaining businesses in DC? Many restaurants are complaining that the lack of parking is taking away from their businesses. Uber is making traffic worse and I'm not biking to a restaurant at night.

Please go away with this nonsense.

Please take a trip to Paris and see a city that has been transformed by shrinking the space for vehicle traffic. Its economy seems to be doing just fine, by the way.

This cracks me up. Paris is far more dense than DC with a completely different mindset about cars and transportation. You can’t simply “cut and paste” what they do in Paris and expect it to work here.

Like it or not, DC is a car-dependent city in a car-dependent region in a car-dependent country.

If DC actually banned cars, trucks, and buses en masse, it would wither even further on the vine.

What cracks me up is that you apparently think that population density is exogenous. In the real world, residential developments are a function of transportation infrastructure. Build massive highways and you get suburbanization a la Houston. Make cities walkable and bikeable and you end up with something akin to Paris. Downtown DC - like most US cities - used to be much denser before the highway building spree started.

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems. DC does not, nor are MD and VA willing to invest to a make it world class. You need all of these things to make a city less dependent on cars.

Our public space dedicated to transportation is limited within DC. The streets cannot be widened, so how do we move the most people possible within that limited space?

Option 1: Do nothing and just suffocate under unrelenting single occupancy cars from never ending exurban development
Option 2: Rethink our public space, maximizing mass transit, walking and biking, while limiting single occupancy vehicles

Paris and NY have sophisticated mass transit systems because city leaders, decades ago, decided to invest in them. Our city and regional leaders can either do more of the same failed transportation policy, or they can decide to make the DC region transportation and development patterns more functional than they are right now.

Would it have been better not to rip out the old streetcar system and further invest in mass transit from the 1950's? Sure. But that didn't happen, so we can either decide today to do something better, or....we can just not do anything and let our gridlock destroy our local economy and a healthier lifestyle.

WMATA is broke and you expect DC, MD and VA to spend BILLIONS of dollars on mass transit? Keep waiting for that?

WMATA is broke because it doesn't have a good funding mechanism. That needs to be fixed.