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Comment by jimmaswell | Hacker News Reader

Could also signal the area is starved for parking, so the lane should be removed and bicyclists should just ride in the road for those stretches. Small inconvenience to the bicyclists who still get to use the road, big win for the drivers.

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Good lord, just park and walk. Or use that bike lane. Cities have an overabundance of expensive parking [1], which does nothing but waste space and act as giant thermal batteries. Everyone loves complaining about traffic, but we don’t seem to have the political will to do something about it (namely: reduce our dependence on cars). Cities should work to reduce their dependence on cars, not increase it at the expense of cyclists and pedestrians, who are actually the life blood of cities (think about how many pedestrians stop into small business compared to drivers speeding by at 35 mi/h).

[1] https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/more-evidence-that-we-ha...

In my area, there are places you have to "park and walk" to and places you can just drive to. Second category are the only ones that get my business.

Do you live in a city or a suburb?

It's like a dense suburbish area. There are both plazas/malls/grocery stores with normal parking and areas set up like small imitation city blocks with parallel parking or no immediate parking. I don't like having to deal with street parking either unless it's a nice clear zone.

How far a walk is too much for you?

I avoid having to deal with crosswalks if I can. I also regularly make a 1/2 mile drive to a fast food restaurant.

And how do you travel more than a couple miles and arrive on-time, during the summer, wearing businesslike attire, without smelling like a cyclist upon arrival?

Bus. Subway. Ride-share. Taxi.

> Bus.

Takes 90 minutes to do what my car can do in under 30, and I don't want to wake up yet another hour earlier.

> Subway.

Doesn't run to the area where I live; and would have to run even farther to reach the office. I suspect the NIMBYs want it like that.

> Ride-share.

I'm a miserly bachelor in an office full of respectable familypeople. None of them would dare to live within 2 zipcodes of where I live.

> Taxi.

Is shockingly expensive to use for daily commuting, moreso than financing, fueling and maintaining my own car. Plus, unless rush-hour lasts long enough, each cab will only get one commute ride per rush-hour, so there's no net decrease in traffic for commuting via cab.

It definitely seems like your city is determined to sacrifice everything necessary to uphold their car culture.

Outside of the Pacific-assisted wonder-weather zone of California, summers tend to be hot and humid, and winters aren't particularly mild either. Any amount of travel without the aid of climate control is ... undesirable.

Sure, but things like under- and above-ground rail exist, reasonable bus routes exist, good city planning exists. Punting everything to "well everyone har a car" is effectively giving up.

Perhaps. Then again, judging by the few times I've taken the metro for an inner-city errand, I'm not sure I'd want to ride it to work even if the line did run far enough.

At least, not without ... martial-arts training? Or maybe a "penniless grad-student" disguise?

I ride 6 miles to work and pack my work clothes. It only takes me 25-30 minutes. If I arrive to work sweaty, I shower. I know not everyone has the luxury of having a shower at work, but every company I've worked at so far has had one.

On the ride home I change back into my riding clothes and spray sunscreen. Just keep hydrated and you will be fine.

Perhaps. Still requires more discomfort and ritual than driving a car.

My impression is that most people think cycling regularly is far more difficult than it actually is.

You'll adapt in more than one way. You'll get in better shape, so you won't sweat as much or be as tired by the cycling (or tired at all). More importantly, your attitude towards the discomfort will change. Yes, it takes effort and can be uncomfortable, but it's all perfectly acceptable after a while. Seems like a good example of the hedonic treadmill.

> better shape

I already run about 25 miles per week, but thanks for your concern.

The thing is, I get up at the crack of day so as to do it in coldest weather, I wear appropriate athletic attire, I'm unladen by luggage, and if I feel too tired or something goes wrong then I lose a workout instead of my job.

None of the things you mention can't be done while cycling. Many of us get up early to beat the heat, wear reasonable clothes, and drive or take the bus or whatnot if cycling is not possible. I have reasonable cargo capacity on my bike so a normal day's bag is not a problem. Cycling in this case could replace a workout for you which could overall save you time given that it doubles as a commute. I used to be a fairly dedicated runner, but I decided cycling was a better use of my time.

Don't wear businesslike attire when bicycling in hot weather. You pack it, instead, and ride at a comfortable pace instead of doing speed-racer stuff. Pack a thermos of ice water to drink from occasionally and you won't even break a sweat.

Or use an e-bike so you don't have to pedal as hard.

I live in the Boston area and I see a ton of people in business attire riding bikes.

> Boston area

That explains. Contrast the climates of Georgia or Florida.

During the summers here, just standing outdooors in the sunlight wearing anything heavier than beachwear, is inadvisable at best.

I commute by bike daily in Austin, TX. In the summer I bring a change of clothes and wear a damp athletic shirt and damp headwrap. My commute is relatively short as well. I don't shower when I get to work and most of the time I smell perfectly fine. (Confirmed by people who have no problem contradicting me.) Yes, you'll sweat, but nowhere near as much as most people think you will if you plan it well.

Humidity would make this more difficult. Austin's not as humid as Houston, but it's not a desert either.

Boston gets pretty humid in the summer. Drinking ice water towards the end of the ride works really well.

In my experience (Austin, TX), drivers usually park in the bike lane for convenience, not because parking is unavailable. I talk to many drivers who park in the bike lane about why they didn't park 100 feet away not in the bike lane (which is available and free) and the typical answers are that they didn't know parking in the bike lane was illegal (despite the signs) or that they didn't want to walk (even though it's rarely a long walk to legal parking where I ride).

I can recall a discussion with someone on here about how parking in the bike lane in San Francisco is usually caused by a lack of options. That might be true, but I think most US cities are a lot closer to Austin than SF.

It's not a small inconvenience for cyclists, it's a large decrease in safety

A road with street parking probably isn't faster than 30mph.

The road behind my house has street parking and it’s a 45 mph zone.

Yes, small inconvenience. Just slightly less safe, right?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-12/new-york-truck-driver-...

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