+1. I have family in southeastern Kentucky. They’re poor AF and the closest thing even resembling a grocery store is 21 miles, two-mountains over, and almost an hour away by car. By bike? That’s theoretically a whole day for a round trip, assuming the average person would struggle pedaling up two mountains of ~1,500 elevation change each. That’s 6,000 feet of climbing in total for a 42 mile trip - basically that’s a stage on the Tour de France. And cyclists here expect everyone to be able to do that. The disconnect is hilarious. |
I'm the other pp who uses my bike to commute/drop off kids and I don't live in W3 and make less than 100k/year. |
Huh? We're talking about commuting within the boundaries of Washington, D.C. The story you are sharing has nothing to do with this discussion |
Bicyclists are almost entirely white and drivers are predominantly black and brown and that is a function of where people can afford to live |
It's always interesting read a post on here that makes an outrageous and unverified claim while accusing others of "spinning . . . nonsense". Anyone who has a more serious interest in this topic can read actual analysis of pedestrian and bike crash data here: https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/documents/812502_pedestrian-and-bicyclist-data-analysis-tsf-research-note.pdf and here: https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813484 |
False claim meet reality: https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/states-road-funding-2019/ |
Your conclusion only holds if drivers have absolutely no option other to drive and absolutely must take trips and must take them at a specific time. Experience and basic common sense teaches that this is not the case. |
Our family lived in NW DC for seven years and got by fine without owning a car. Children either walked, bused, or biked to school and after-school activities. Parents bike to work. Small grocery runs were done by bike, bus, or rideshare. Doctor / dentist checkups were done by bus or bike - sick visits were done by rideshare. We've owned a car for the past few years, but try to use it as little as possible. We do big grocery runs by car now, but other than that nothing much has changed. |
Experience and common sense? What world do you live in that you don't have to ever arrive on time? |
I agree that the existing bike infrastructure is perfectly adequate. |
Not really. Our children have given up biking to school - and take the bus exclusively now - because they find the roads (in the absence of bike lanes) too dangerous. The bus is slow and unreliable- biking would be much more efficient. Very few children bike in DC because of their parents concerns about the dangers of doing so in the absence of bike lanes. |
It's funny that you should mention that. Given that bike commuters can generally avoid traffic jams and worry about finding parking and what not, their commutes tend to be much more predictable. |
+1 my ride is 25 - 30 minutes each day depending on if I make three longer lights or have to wait. It's such a pleasure to know it will never vary more than that |
Assuming you have copius amounts of free time in between kids 1, 2, and 3's schedules. Parking is a problem, depending on where you go. Thankfully there will be more parking along Connecticut now. |
Experience and common sense teach that this is indulging in fantasy over recognizing reality. |