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Mikael
Joined: Apr 12, 2002
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Province/State: Quebec
City: Montréal
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Cycle,cycle,cycle.
July 16, 2004 - 11:30 AM
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When I went to Amsterdam in June, I was quite struck by the prevalence of bike paths in the city. One could get anywhere in Amsterdam by bike, because a priority was given to people on bicycles, and to other forms of environmentally-friendly transportation. I found bike paths not only in the city itself, but in the surrounding countryside, where one could follow the highway along a bike path to get from city to city.
Granted, distances in Europe between cities or regions are smaller than in many areas of the world, but within a city, the potential usefulness of biking cannot be denied. It's good for you, doesn't pollute, and is fun!
What are bike paths like in your city? How can biking be made more accessible and more convenient, in order to help people use a healthy and green mode of transportation?
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Mark Ignatiev
Joined: Apr 29, 2004
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Province/State: Ontario
City: Ottawa
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Re: Cycle,cycle,cycle.
July 17, 2004 - 02:57 AM
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Ottawa, Canada is one of the better places for bike paths. The problem is that they are downtown centered. North America's suburbs are often locked out from public transport and definitely have very few bike paths that link suburbs to the city core. On the other hand, is it worthvile? Few office workers are likely to be willing to bike for more than half an hour to get to work and there is that nasty winter stuff called snow that gets in the way. Ottawa has one option that I havent used but like. The OC Transpo's Rack & Roll:
http://ottawa.ca/city_services/traffic/cycling_guide/octranspo_en.shtml
It lets cyclists load their bikes on to public transport and thus bridges that suburb-downtown gap.
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Lim
Joined: Aug 11, 2004
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Country: Malaysia
Province/State: Wilayah Persekutuan
City: Kuala Lumpur
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Cycle,cycle,cycle.
November 6, 2004 - 03:38 AM
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Looking back at my 9months experience studying and working in Japan, I fall in love with bicycles. Japanese females amused me so much, they can even cycle with mini-skirt and high heels.
On the contrary, cycling is not polluted,cheap,and it is a good form of excercise. It is a good way to form a bond with your friends too when you cycle together compare to driving individually in a car.
Even though, it is a little too late to build bicycle paths like cities in KL, I totally support having bicycle paths. The only unconvenient part is when the sky starts pouring and you are in the middle of nowhere without an umbrella!
Shirley McSalad with Blackcurrant and Peach
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Margah
Joined: Dec 12, 2004
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biking rocks
December 13, 2004 - 05:21 AM
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biking is my fav. sport, not only a fun sport but an excellent method of transportation, in toronto we have great places to bike along (ex: along lake ontario, the path all the way from beaches to islington ave.) and in the mornings its great to bike and go at the same speed of cars, knowing that youre getting a work out from it and not polluting the world, plus you get to take a different path each time (so you get to actually live in the city, not separated through a window, closed in an aluminum box)and theres free parking virtually anywhere anytime. It only gets tough during winter-winter. And theres always the subway or street cars.
The only problem is the rail tracks on almost all the main streets (king, spadina) are dangerous, my wheels have gotten caught in them twice and im sh.t scared of them. Most of the people i know, this has happenned to them at least once. Hehe, everyone learns from experience.
Ive seen pictures of amsterdam and they have awesome bike paths and would love if toronto had some like that, i dont complain though, we do a lot better than other places i've seen.
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David Martin
Joined: Dec 21, 2004
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Province/State: Missouri
City: Savannah
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Bike Paths
December 21, 2004 - 12:55 PM
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I live in Missouri and I spent the last 4.5 years in Springfield, MO. While there bike paths are nowhere near comparable to the automobile infrastructure, they have one good thing going; a organization call "Ozark Greenways." These greenways recreational bike paths that course through the city in many different areas and some even connect with one another. They follow urban streams mainly, which is good because they purchase the land along the stream corridor and thus the riparian zone is completely protected because they try to leave the area as undisturbed as possible. They also have several trails that are nothing more than old railroad beds, with a chat surface on them. Several of these connect to neighboring towns, which make for a nice weekend bike trip.
While it's not exactly a venture to curb automobile use, it does promote a bicycle culture and they are managing to protect riparian zones and habitat along the way. See http://www.ozarkgreenways.org/ for more information. There are also many other organizations similar to this in the midwest across the U.S. that transform old rail lines into bike trails.
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Lock
Joined: Dec 18, 2004
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Cycle,cycle,cycle.
December 26, 2004 - 06:47 AM
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Originally posted by Piggyshirleypiggy
[B]...cycling is not polluted,cheap,and it is a good form of excercise.
Actually, using food energy for transportation is very polluting. Waste products include sewage dumped in our drinking water and packaging buried in landfills.
Our food energy is very hydrocarbons-based, from fertilizers and herbicides and pesticides, transport, additives, processing and packaging, storage, marketing and distribution. And fridge, freezer and stove energy needs.
Today it takes 3/4 gal. of oil to produce 1lb. of steak.
sorry!
See the thread in this forum "PEVs in the Parks"
LoCk
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Mark Ignatiev
Joined: Apr 29, 2004
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Re: Cycle,cycle,cycle.
February 22, 2005 - 05:27 AM
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Lock,
While you have a good point you also falsely presume that we are not able to live 'green' and that things like waste water purification, recycling and natural farming are not available.
Cycling is a green way to travel. There are greener ways but I will stick to my bike.
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Rosie Davies
Joined: Apr 17, 2005
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City: London
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Re: Cycle,cycle,cycle.
April 20, 2005 - 04:09 AM
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I used to live in Cambridge, which is a small city full of bikes- it was a great place to learn. But in a couple of months cycling my 45min commute to work in London I was already involved in two accidents. Now, depressingly, I tend to travel by tube along with everyone else.
I used to totally love the wind in my face, the daylight, the freedom, space and chance to explore this amazing city. The alternative is getting squashed onto a little train in a dark tunnel, usually with an elbow or an armpit in your face!!
Anyone UK based who wants to support better cycle paths should start by looking here:
http://www.cyclenetwork.org.uk/
Is anyone involved in similar campaigns in other countries?
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Sel
Joined: Sep 1, 2004
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Re: Cycle,cycle,cycle.
May 15, 2005 - 09:17 AM
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I've never been Europe but I've seen the impressive biking paths in the cities there. I wish there were more accessible and convenient biking paths here. Cycling is definitely one of my hobbies, especially in the spring and summer. Too bad we can't bike during the winter due to all the heavy snow at times.
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