Maps show how parking lots “eat” U.S. cities

Re:Maps show how parking lots “eat” U.S. cities by loeg on Friday March 31, 2023 @11:20PM (#35396758)

Biking here in the states isn't a problem from a distance perspective -- the problems are road safety and destination security (bike theft is a big problem but typically not valued by police because of the nominally low dollar impact). Walking, yeah.

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Re:Maps show how parking lots “eat” U.S. cities by thomastjeffery on Saturday April 01, 2023 @12:50AM (#35397248)

That depends on the city, and where in it you live.

If you live in a large suburban area (like many Americans), then biking distance is a huge problem.

Sure, making an actually tractable amount of public transit in every suburb would resolve that problem, but that's a huge investment, and the overwhelming majority of Americans can't even imagine what the result might look like.

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Re:Maps show how parking lots “eat” U.S. cities by brewdad on Saturday April 01, 2023 @04:05PM (#35403586)

I would argue biking distance isn't the problem in suburbia, it's biking safety. My rather spread out suburb is about 8 miles across. That's less than an hour for any cyclist and a fit cyclist could do it in half that time. The trouble is that most of those miles are on 45 mph stroads with either no bike lane or a thin stripe of paint for protection from cars and it's full of debris most of the year.

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Re:Maps show how parking lots “eat” U.S. cities by thomastjeffery on Sunday April 02, 2023 @04:50PM (#35415055)

> That's less than an hour for any cyclist and a fit cyclist could do it in half that time.

And how long for a car? 5min? 15min?

If you have a car, then you will likely use it for some percentage of trips. That's a pretty serious motivation to not become "a fit cyclist".

All of these problems work together. This also works in the inverse: a good solution would do something to resolve all of these problems.

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Re:Maps show how parking lots “eat” U.S. cities by antifa on Saturday April 01, 2023 @10:58AM (#35400801)

Google maps says going to work would be a 6 hour bike ride. There is technically a train available to for half of the journey.

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Re:Maps show how parking lots “eat” U.S. cities by ac29 on Saturday April 01, 2023 @01:53PM (#35402355)

Most bikers are going to be able to average at least 10 mph. Working 60+ miles from where you live is a fairly long commute, even by car.

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Re:Maps show how parking lots “eat” U.S. cities by vGPU on Monday April 03, 2023 @12:46PM (#35427055)

At one point my commute was 78 miles each way. It would take me about an hour depending on traffic and speed traps. The shortest commute I’ve ever had is 15 miles. I live in one of the largest cities in America. We have no public transportation. A bike is simply unworkable. A motorcycle isn’t even particularly great here. I drive a mid size SUV and I’ve had people not see me and merge into me. Multiple people I know have been rammed full speed while stopped at a traffic light.

Bicycles are neither safe nor efficient enough for a daily commute in the US.

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Re:Maps show how parking lots “eat” U.S. cities by BeFlatXIII on Sunday April 02, 2023 @09:44AM (#35410401)

Can't forget lack of showers at destinations.

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