[Bent] Bent Digest, Vol 50, Issue 3

[Dan Kinch]

Tapio--haven't been following the thread very much, but people come to this group from a variety of different points of view. A more bicycle-centric point of view might be found on www.streetsblog.org, which is put out by a coalition for walkable streets (nationwide, although much of the focus is on NYC).

As for your question about car usage: according to Transportation Alternatives, a local nonprofit group that promotes bicycles and walkable communities, three out of five NYC households do not own a car. In heavily-trafficked areas of the city, there are studies indicating that a fairly significant number of the cars on the street at any point are looking for free parking--in Park Slope in Brooklyn, the number is something like 40% of the traffic is made up of drivers trying to find a parking place. The average crosstown speed of most cars is about 7 MPH or 11 KPH. 

Car ownership in a place like NYC doesn't make sense to me either. I gave up my car about four years ago. This is obviously not a consensus view of the MARS club, though, so I'd love to hear from you directly.

Regards, 
Dan Kinch




________________________________
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: Tue, January 12, 2010 1:26:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Bent] Bent Digest, Vol 50, Issue 3



2010/1/12 Burton Rothberg <brothberg at gmail.com>. 

>
>Also, car-free plazas generally don't work in midtown Manhattan. The grid structure makes it hard. Just see what a street fair closure does. There are an increasing number of bike lanes, even some separated from the car flow. However, I don't use them. It's  faster to just take the road and mix it up with traffic. More fun too. 

I can understand the need of cars in sub-urban areas but where do Manhattanties need cars so badly in Mid-Town?

How many % of Manhattanties own a car? 
How of them use it daily in Manhattan?

Well, perhaps you are used to waiting in traffic lights, noise of cars. Manhattan is wonderfull as it is but could it be even better with car-free areas?

Has this kind of issues been discussed?

(In car-free areas the supply of goods is taken care between hours 6 - 10 AM)





-- 
Tapio Osala
tapio.antero.osala at gmail.com
Vaasa gsm +358400761185



      
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