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Comment by rapht | Hacker News Reader

This article omits so many negatives from the "cyclist's paradise" vision of Hidalgo's 2 terms that I don't know where to start. Families are the first casualties: the Paris metro is nowhere near accessible to strollers except if you are willing to go to the chiropractor after each week end, and using your car - hell, even parking your family car - is a no go as soon as there is some kind of hipster sports event or just as soon as you are after 10am on week end mornings. Local parks and generally streets are so dirty that you have to wash your children from head to toe as soon as they have set foot outside. And I'm not even talking about used seringes and broken glass in certain parts of the city. I'm actually so ashamed of my city at this point.

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About the accessibility issue in the Paris metro: this can be mitigated by using the buses (that's not the best experience but it works fine), and in some parts of Paris (in my experience, east and suburbs) people usually quickly help you in the stairs with your stroller (it's not convenient or comfortable to rely on others but in practice it seems to work). Anyway this is not like Paris mayor has any power on that, the transport authority though announced a few years ago that the main priority after the Grand Paris Express will be making the historical Paris network accessible. And fortunately after two years hopefully your kid can walk and you can carry it without a stroller.

> Local parks and generally streets are so dirty that you have to wash your children from head to toe as soon as they have set foot outside.

Maybe if it is a newborn, and if you don't bring the stroller nor any clothes, on rainy days it can be that bad. Don't get me wrong, Paris is not a clean city, there are empty nitrogen tanks, puffs and cigarettes lying on the ground pretty much in every arrondissement, but syringes, even on the colline du crack I can hardly remember having seen even one (but it is very dirty there! with packaging, paper, cardboard, bottles).

I still think there should be a higher priority on sanitation but I also think you are exaggerating a bit.

People took their children places for centuries without strollers and cars. The dependance on wheeled conveyances for children is baffling to me, I feel like some parents have an aversion to holding their kids. Especially the ones who clip a carseat into a stroller and never take them out.

We were gifted a big heavy modern stroller and almost never used it, when the kids were babies we wore them and now they can walk a little we just do that and take breaks. If it's going to be an all-day thing (like a theme park) we'll bring a lightweight umbrella style stroller and those are trivial to fold up and carry.

The accessibility argument makes sense for folks with disabilities but not so with children.

Accessibility is always important, regardless of what other options exist.

I loved carrying my kids as babies, and rode them everywhere on my bike, but there will always be people for whom bikes, walking or cars aren't an option, which is why accessible public transport is always important.

Stroller access makes the USA look like a paradise compared to an old metro Europe.

A week with a double stroller in Paris will make you appreciate ADA wheelchair ramps, kerb cuts, and elevators.

Only 30% of Parisians drive in the city. There are real accessibility issues, but cars are probably the worst solution. We could add elevators to more metro stations, or improve bus service, etc. But having a car in the city and parking it is a costly provilege that not many can enjoy. Also cars are super bad for public health, noise pollution and the environment.

> Local parks and generally streets are so dirty that you have to wash your children from head to toe as soon as they have set foot outside.

That's an insane hyperbole.

> And I'm not even talking about used seringes and broken glass in certain parts of the city.

Not my experience, at all.

Surely the school streets are a great benefit for families, yes? That seems as pro-child as public space allocation could be.

No elevators to the metro? That's a problem independent from the cyclist's paradise. A city like Paris should have an accessible metro. Amsterdam has elevators at I think every single metro station (though our metro system is far less extensive than Paris' of course).

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