[sustran] Re: Cycling in cities

[Ramón]

Good to hear all these ideas about urban cycling.

1. I don't have a curriculum developed but there are probably other groups
that have them -- the LAB has its effective cycling course but considering
the emotional reaction against Effective Cycling expressed in this group
which I don't really understand . . .
2. I don't agree with how they've adopted the idea in Marikina is all I'm
saying. I had that limited cycling experience in Amsterdam and there were
times that I was confused about right of way, particularly at intersections.
But if studies really show a greater accident rate on cycle paths along
roadways, why shouldn't I be against them? The box and the traffic light
timings seem to me mere compensations for the inherent deficiency of the
facility.
3) I have no idea about what the cycle paths in Colombia look like or their
effect on cycling and MV traffic. This should be one area of fruitful
scientific study -- how much of a factor are cycle paths/lanes in increasing
cycling as against other possible factors? how much more cycling growth can
be expected? what are cyclists reactions to the facilities as they be come
more experienced in urban cycling? that said, I would love to see cycle ways
along limited access highways or train tracks that could get me cross
country in the same relative ease and convenience as car traffic (no stop
lights, no public transport loading and unloading, no MVs weaving in and out
of lanes). but in urban environments? Maybe in the most limited sense as
already been pointed out -- if you need to get somewhere and don't need to
stop anywhere else and that travel is served point-to-point by the cycle
path, then great. that would be like a bike expressway. But who would
actually build a bike expressway?
4) Granted that the west side bikeway wasn't there yet when I was commuting
from Brooklyn to the upper west side but there was certainly a multiple use
path in Riverside Park. I used it for recreation and leisure riding, but
used the streets for regular commuting. Instead of arguing about this, tho,
it'd be interesting to actually see a study of travel time using these
alternative "facilities."
5) As I've said, I learned to cycle commute in NYC, which everybody says is
one of the worst places to cycle. When I got back to Manila, I thought the
road traffic situation was frightening compared to NYC and it took me a
while to get used to the situation here. But now I commute fifteen km. each
way everyday. Sometimes I take public transport and very rarely a car, but I
like riding my old beat up commuter the best.
6) Lastly, I've only recently read John Forester's ideas about effective
cycling and they have only reinforced my experiences on road riding and how
to do it safely.