Definitely a step in the right direction, although even so, the ideal would be no mechanical dependency at all. If you compare Copenhagen's bike infrastructure New York City's car based infrastructure, you find some interesting differences.
I hate the American dependency on grid based planning. Its ugly and not easier to navigate. Secondly, this notion that the car is the best way to move about.
There are many problems with this. Off the top of my head, the biggest is that it encourages people to buy cars because with our current infrastructure they are the only viable mode of transportation. Also, cars are REALLY expensive, they require parking in secure locations, and lastly building the infrastructure to sustain them is expensive. As mentioned above, this infrastructure is costly to maintain but by inherent design it also makes every other mode of transportation dangerous and less efficient by comparison.
The beauty of a bike though, is that you can ride it anywhere a car can go; and then some... I don't think the lego style grid blocks of a big American city, like Ney York or L.A, matter at all. It just comes down to the human race being stupidly lazy and wanting the easiest, minimal effort way of doing anything and everything, irregardless of cost. And, unfortunately, I think you have the most bone idle race on the earth, with us a close 2nd (maybe if we were as large and populated as your country we'd be higher?). When the revolution kicks in, bike's, runners, horses and carts will reign free on the cobbled streets of the world!
ReplyDeleteI think I agree with you, and that people should learn to question the validity and effectiveness of the options our predecessors lay out for us.
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