What a bunch of '*****....

[Immortal Wombat]

Cars
Bikes
Public transport
Singapore's public transport

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Dissident
how do you carry all your groceries if you are riding a bycycle?

green freaks

Backpack, or cargo bags on the bike.


If you're a real glutton, you could get an attachable trailer.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Boshko
Would never fly in Korea. Too many goddam hills

Wuzz

[Patroklos]

Simply put European cities were built when there were no cars, so cars are an unplanned addition.

American cities were designed for fars, so things naturally spaced themselves because they could.

Now it is possible for me to walk across Norfolk (a medium sized city) but not for practical buisness.

American cities on teh East Coast, are actually quite small

You must be talking about a different East Coast.

[Tingkai]

Cars are stupid, throw rocks at them.

[Asher]

The cyclists in Toronto are ****ing morons.

They abide by rules of the road and pedestrians, whenever it's convenient. They'll take up a whole ****ing lane of traffic going pathetically slow, they'll cut you off without signalling, they'll drive on the shoulder just enough so you can't pass...

Boo to cyclists. Take public transit or walk or drive a car, get off the f*cking road.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by General Ludd
I'll often ride my bike 20-30km in a day. Even living in the cambrian shield, with hills all over the place, I get by fine. I just wish there where less highways and more bike lanes and trails.

And you do that in February too, do you?

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Dry

Most cars. From 8 AM to 7 PM.
As stated above ambulance, police, firefighters, public transports, taxis and some professionals (doctors, security) are allowed.
You may get also a special permit under special circimstances (handicap people, ...).
Driving rules still apply, but the speed limit is set to 30 kph for non-emergency vehicles (taxis, ...).

Is this just in the downtown business area? Does it apply to side streets.

The one problem I see with this idea is what happens if you live in the no-car zone? Let's say you go away on a trip and arrive back in town on a Sunday. Would the no-car rules allow you to drive home?

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
Without cars, riding a bike around a major city in Europe or on the east coast would be a breeze. What you fail to appreciate is that most European cities, and most American cities on teh East Coast, are actually quite small, and easily bikeable. You don't get to hideous, sprawling metropolises until you move further west.

No cars would mean a lot more bikes, and potentially bike traffic jams, bike traffic laws, etc.

[notyoueither]

He is also counting the cities of the Americas that are not snow infested, sub-zero wastelands for 3 to 4 months of the year. What do people do then? The whole city takes an extended vacation to Florida?

[OzzyKP]

Plus, not that this is a reason to necessarily keep cars around, but there is a hell of a lot of this economy that is involved in cars.

Gas stations, mechanics, stores that sell autoparts, autopart manufacturers, auto makers, auto dealers, used car lots, newspapers that get revenue from selling car adspace and classifieds, etc. I work at an autoparts store, and I'd wager cars make up a nice percentage of the economy with all that goes into and out of them.

Just an observation. I know the economy would adapt.

But Americans love their cars. Its too intertwined in our culture to ever change.

[notyoueither]

Not to mention that 3/4s of the continent would not be viable for significant population at an acceptable standard of living without motor vehicles.

Take the areas outside of the Washington-Boston corridor, LA to SanFran, and Montreal to Windsor and the simple realities of distance and population densities mandate that autos will be required for most people to live and work.

[notyoueither]

And I think there's only decent train service in one of those three areas of large population density that I mentioned.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by OzzyKP


No cars would mean a lot more bikes, and potentially bike traffic jams, bike traffic laws, etc.

Yeah, but bikes are a lot smaller and more maneuverable than cars. And don't leap to the "cars can carry more people argument"; look around any urban traffic jam, and what you'll see is almost everyone sitting in their cars alone.

In fact, recently my family and I had to drive to Pittsburgh from DC on a Friday night. DC traffic on a Friday is murder, but we had no problem. Why? Because we were one of of the few vehicles on the road that could use the HOV lane. But going in the same direction were 4-6 lanes of traffic, all sitting at a standstill, all with one driver per vehicle.

Sorry, but America's love affair with the car just plain sucks.

Walkable cities:
Bikeable cities:
Cities with good public transit:
Amsterdam:

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by OzzyKP
But Americans love their cars. Its too intertwined in our culture to ever change.

I'm looking forward to owning a car when I move back to Canada, but at the same time, I like living in a city where I don't have to drive. It's great being able to get everything I need within walking distance.

North American cities are designed for cars, but this isn't something written in stone. If North Americans implemented a toll system like the one in Singapore (it cost money to drive into the downtown core) then people and building designs would adapt.

A starting point is to permanently close off a section of road (say aobut 1km) and turn into a open-air mall.