- cross-posted to:
- london@feddit.uk
- cross-posted to:
- london@feddit.uk
cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/57945513
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SE Asia (largely) does public transit right. We should copy their homework, just this once
The crisis isn’t “Too many dockless bikes.” The crisis is “Not enough docks for all the bikes.” Sacrifice a couple car parking spots and put in parking for all these bikes and more.
Bikes are good.
Private corporations usurping public walkways for their own profit is not good.
Haphazardly parked bicycles blocking the way for other bicycles, pedestrians, and (especially) disabled people is very not good.
I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying, but I think what you’re leaving out is that this is a people issue. People need to learn etiquette and be more considerate. Amsterdam has had a bike culture that predates the electric rentable bikes and people always park their bikes properly there.
The Dutch government steals any bike that hasn’t moved for 14days this is how Amsterdam is not drowning in bike parts, they remove 10-15 thousand per year from the canals.
and people always park their bikes properly there.
People always park their bikes properly.
Because it’s their bike and they want it to be safe and secure. Tends to be a lot different with a rental, though. And not all of this is the people themselves, either – the rental company will often place their bikes in the middle of a walkway when initially staging them.
Toronto’s publicly funded bike rental is exploding with growth but they mandate docks. Its a pro con trade off as if there are no docks, no bike, but the roads are clean and the program is expanding
All the etiquette in the world isn’t going to make bike parking areas appear.
Amsterdam has been bike friendly for decades, there aren’t any bike racks near any of the stores I regularly ride to. And when there are racks they tend to be behind the building or off to a side where long term parking would be a risk for theft.
I usually end up stashing my bike near the entrance and then hiding it behind grills or mowers outside at hardware stores. Or flower racks (or pumpkin piles this time of year) at the grocery store.
We need bike racks in visible convenient places. And more of them.
Usually you can find some kind of sign post or light pole near the entrance of the store to chain your bike to. I’ve even chained my bike to a building’s natural gas inlet pipe before.
Yes that’s fine if your locking up a personal bike, but these are shared bikes that might be going one way (which creates a bigger problem), but can be mitigated with real parking areas. Like one car space holds a dozen bikes. It’s not hard to make room for them.
Except that making that room for them comes at a cost to someone. Someone has to give up space they were using for something else … and that usually costs money. These corporate bike companies want to use public walkways as that space, for free.
