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Comment by aqme28 | Hacker News Reader

NYC fully meets the definition of walkable.

It's nowhere near Amsterdam I'm afraid. Biking in NYC is pretty scary and vast amounts of public space are given over to car parking.

(BTW, I am lumping in biking with "walkable". A better term is "active travel")

Yup. Except for some dedicated cycleways, not bike friendly at all. Unless you have a deathwish, like this guy:

https://youtu.be/WyV894c8oqI

In Tokyo it is possible to just randomly walk out onto most streets and expect cars to work around you. There are obviously a number of busy roads that would be dangerous but cars will still stop (for example if you were to misjudge crossing a street) and of course the highways are off limits (but there was a case recently of a man standing in the middle of a highway redirecting traffic who was hit by autopilot telsa).

> there was a case recently of a man standing in the middle of a highway redirecting traffic who was hit by autopilot telsa

Slef driving would probably make the car problem worse.

As a pedestrian and cyclist in NYC, "fully" is not accurate.

I’d like to see less permanent scaffolding, and a better trash management system so that it doesn’t take room from pedestrians (not to mention the hygienic benefits). And the city could crack down more on the drivers who blow through red lights or stop across crosswalks.

But it’s hard for me to think of a city I’d rather walk between to random points in.

> But it’s hard for me to think of a city I’d rather walk between to random points in.

In the US? Sure. Now imagine a place where there are hundreds, thousands of cities that walkable or better, and you don't have to be a gazillionaire to live in one.

> And the city could crack down more on the drivers who blow through red lights or stop across crosswalks.

Based on my recent visit to New York, the main traffic issue I saw was really bad light timing. This trains both pedestrians and drivers to ignore the traffic signals.

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