[Bent] Car Free centers

Tue Jan 12 13:27:03 EST 2010

This is off topic.

I went biking in Helsinki a couple of years ago.  I must have missed the car
free areas other than a small area by the pier.

What I did notice is that the drivers that I encountered seemed more
respectful of cyclists, but that may have been biased by my expectations.
 Even though Helsinki is just a very tiny fraction of the size of NYC when I
was there (less than 600,000 people), it seemed that there were many, many,
many, many more bicycles on the street.

I enjoyed my visit even without encountering car free areas.

OP

On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 2:00 PM, Clay Mikolasy <clay at njsouth.com> wrote:

> Apology accepted! As far as car-free areas, I'll let others address it. I
> am
> fortunate to live in a relatively rural area, so I co-exist nicely with
> cars
> on most public streets, but that may be difficult in some places.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tapio Antero Osala" <tapio.antero.osala at gmail.com>
> To: "NY/NJ/CT/PA Metro Area Recumbent Society (MARS)"
> <bent at list.marsride.org>
> Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 12:54 PM
> Subject: Re: [Bent] Car Free centers
>
>
> >I am not an cultural anthropologist but I am curious and willing to
> > make observations about people behavior.
> > It is a bad habit to make generalizations after a few observations and
> > can't hold them in my self...
> >
> > You have right.
> >
> > This forum is not the right one to comment your domestic characters. I
> > should only compare my feelings with my countrymen who have
> > visited/lived over there.
> >
> > I apologize.
> >
> >
> > -----
> >
> > But  what about this issue;
> >
> > "helping solve the car free areas was the bicycle."
> >
> > Unfortunately I have not yet managed to test your bicycling routes.
> > How are they? Totally car free? Are there coming more in the future?
> >
> > What about countyside? Do you have separate lanes along the high-ways
> > for bicycles?
> > In any state?
> > Are people commuting in NYC-area with bicycle?
> > Is it possible to take a bicycle in a metro?
> > Is it possible to use bicycle from New Jersey to Manhattan without toll?
> >
> > ----
> > In Finland people have generally accepted the idea of car free city
> > centres just a couple of decades ago.
> > The process has just started in major cities.
> > In Sweden/Denmark this progress is about 40-50 years old.
> >
> > All business people were against it strongly at first but times are
> > changing and business wants to have their stores along
> > car-free-streets.
> >
> > I think it is freedom not to be obliged to use a car every day. (I am
> > such a lucky guy).
> >
> > You have a wonderful public transportation system. That is functioning
> > only in Helsinki in Finland.
> > In small cities like Vaasa people mostly use cars but more and more
> > use bicycles.
> >
> >
> > Tapio, from Finland
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 2010/1/11 Clay Mikolasy <clay at njsouth.com>
> >>
> >> Tapio's factual comments comparing car-free areas in different places
> may
> >> have been right on. However, comments he made such as the following are
> >> feelings that perhaps were best kept to himself:
> >>
> >> "I have got the influence that Manhattanties would perhaps be more
> >> tolerant, anti-rasist, "free-minded", perhaps not so fundamentally
> >> religious, than people on most other places (e.g in Hershey).
> >>
> >> (Of course all North-America are friendly. "May I buy you a drink,
> >> what do you like about America". The interest / knoledge about
> >> Europe/rest of world is generally not very strong.)"
> >> ________________________________
> >> I, personally, would not go to someone else's country, or even an
> >> unfamiliar part of my own country, and make public comments such as
> >> those. Nor do I think would most people. I am sure that if any one of us
> >> went to various parts of Europe, we would have, along with the mostly
> >> positive impressions we had, perhaps also some negative ones that we
> >> might not necessarily want to point out on a website frequented mostly
> by
> >> people of that particular country. IMO, Mr. Rothberg was correct in his
> >> reaction and in what he said.
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: JOHN TETZ
> >> To: NY/NJ/CT/PA Metro Area Recumbent Society (MARS)
> >> Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 10:42 PM
> >> Subject: Re: [Bent] Car Free centers
> >> Hello Tapio;
> >>
> >> I feel your comets were right on particularly about the lack of car free
> >> areas in US cities.
> >>
> >> Back in 1996 I went to the week long Car Free Cities Conference held in
> >> Copenhagen. I gave a talk on my Up Hill assist for the simultaneously
> >> held Bike Culture week.
> >>
> >> There were as I remember 35 or so cities from many European countries
> >> were present. No US cities were there. High on the list of helping solve
> >> the car free areas was the bicycle.
> >>
> >> That was back in 1996. Since then more and more European cities have
> >> adopted car free city centers. So naturally you would be very sensitive
> >> to the lack of this here in the US.
> >>
> >> John Tetz
> >>
> >>
> >> ________________________________
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> Bent at list.marsride.org
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> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Tapio Osala
> > tapio.antero.osala at gmail.com
> > Vaasa gsm +358400761185
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Bent at list.marsride.org
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> >
>
>
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