Between 2020 and 2021, cycling traffic in Paris grew by 70%.
Since Paris started this broader project about two decades ago, car ownership has fallen from 60% to 35%
People don’t like to talk about this after they’ve dropped 50k on a toy but nobody actually likes driving. If a city is built so you don’t need to drive, very few actually will.
I don’t know about “nobody.” Nobody likes traffic, and nobody likes being required to drive. But there are some really freaky people out there who enjoy the whole deal with cars, from the engines to the driving to the cruising to the racing. I used to be one of them, though I largely got that out of my system as a teenager.
But the thing is, deprioritizing cars in cities benefits them, too, because the enjoyability of driving has very little to do with speed or convenience and is inversely proportional only to the number of other cars on the road; so reducing car usage by 50% means that, for the people who do drive, their enjoyment goes up by 200%. Car people should be thrilled to see more dedicated bus and bike lanes.
I’m in Paris, just a few years shy of your age, haven’t had a car for litterally decades. Very rarely, I rent or borrow one. I use my bicycle or the transit system (or I walk). I can hitch a little carriage at the back of my bike. All my options are faster and more convenient than a car ever was. Also much cheaper.
Jesus
People don’t like to talk about this after they’ve dropped 50k on a toy but nobody actually likes driving. If a city is built so you don’t need to drive, very few actually will.
Sure but that’s crazy fast. I’d understand all those people being pissed off that the $50k slab of steel and rubber was suddenly so inconvenient.
I’m also used to the concept that changes to the layout of a city like that might take a generation or more.
I don’t know about “nobody.” Nobody likes traffic, and nobody likes being required to drive. But there are some really freaky people out there who enjoy the whole deal with cars, from the engines to the driving to the cruising to the racing. I used to be one of them, though I largely got that out of my system as a teenager.
But the thing is, deprioritizing cars in cities benefits them, too, because the enjoyability of driving has very little to do with speed or convenience and is inversely proportional only to the number of other cars on the road; so reducing car usage by 50% means that, for the people who do drive, their enjoyment goes up by 200%. Car people should be thrilled to see more dedicated bus and bike lanes.
When i was a teen I used to think there was something wrong with me for not liking driving, now im 60 ,fuck driving.
My partner amd I managed to live car free for a few years before we moved and it was glorious.
I’m in Paris, just a few years shy of your age, haven’t had a car for litterally decades. Very rarely, I rent or borrow one. I use my bicycle or the transit system (or I walk). I can hitch a little carriage at the back of my bike. All my options are faster and more convenient than a car ever was. Also much cheaper.
no one likes driving, people like cruising
I’m not sure if this is a sex joke.
When there is a will, there is a way.