I personally think that cycling as a means of transit is sometimes oversold. There are a few factors that can make cycling impractical that building good public infrastructure is not able to fix.
(a) People also need a practical way to store their bikes at home. No public infrastructure can provide that. Where I live, I can leave it in the yard, under what is essentially a car port (but for bikes), where it is only partly protected from the elements and not really safe from theft. Or I can store it our basement, which is indoors and pretty secure, but then I have to carry it up a steep staircase to street level every time I want to use it. This factor alone means that for anything less than a kilometre away, for me cycling isn't practical.
(b) Cycling is very sensitive to bad weather. While you might be able to protect yourself from rain with an umbrella while walking, no such luck when cycling. Yes, I know that bad-weather gear for cyclists exists, but in my experience you end up drenched anyway. If not from the outside, then from the inside. Plus, I can't see where I am going because my glasses will be wet. Bad weather tends to affect cyclists more than pedestrians, transit users or drivers.
(c) Speaking about being drenched from the inside, this is a problem especially for cyclists. If you want to cycle a good distance to work, maybe in the summer when it's fairly warm, you practically need a change of clothing and a shower facility when you get there. (And when it's really hot, cycling for that distance can become outright dangerous.) I personally am already half-drenched after getting my bike out of the basement, but even trained cyclists will not be able to ride for a long distance in their work clothes and look their sharpest when they arrive.
Yes, cycling is great, and you can absolutely use it as a mode of transport, but it's not the be-all, end-all of transit as which it is often billed, especially here in Europe. That doesn't mean cycling infrastructure should not be built, but don't think everyone will be able, or willing, to cycle.
Great piece. And your concluding point is right on. We should build more of both. You probably know this already, but there was debate here [Wash DC] about the displacement of a segment of the capital crescent bike trail by a segment of the new Purple Line. The bike trail is the right of way of a closed rail line. Part of the Purple Line is using a segment of the right of way. Some folks got very upset and quite vocal when the trail was closed for the Purple Line construction (ongoing, as you noted in your video on the Washington metro system). It wasn’t clear if the right of way could accommodate both a double track for the Purple Line and a new trail. I’m not clear on whether a solution was found). There have been other conflicts elsewhere in the US when former rail right of ways converted to trails are reconverted to rail, pitting transit against bike and vice versa, although banking those rights of way was always part of the equation. Another part of the capital crescent bike trail - not the part that’s been given up for the Purple Line - is actually an important commuter route for cyclists going into downtown DC to the office. And there are quite a few who do, all weather. There’s only one grade crossing on that segment. And, yes, there’s been one cyclist hit and killed by a driver at the crossing, which is busy. One would have hoped that the county would build an underpass or overpass there for the trail, but so far, no. Frustrating!
I personally think that cycling as a means of transit is sometimes oversold. There are a few factors that can make cycling impractical that building good public infrastructure is not able to fix.
(a) People also need a practical way to store their bikes at home. No public infrastructure can provide that. Where I live, I can leave it in the yard, under what is essentially a car port (but for bikes), where it is only partly protected from the elements and not really safe from theft. Or I can store it our basement, which is indoors and pretty secure, but then I have to carry it up a steep staircase to street level every time I want to use it. This factor alone means that for anything less than a kilometre away, for me cycling isn't practical.
(b) Cycling is very sensitive to bad weather. While you might be able to protect yourself from rain with an umbrella while walking, no such luck when cycling. Yes, I know that bad-weather gear for cyclists exists, but in my experience you end up drenched anyway. If not from the outside, then from the inside. Plus, I can't see where I am going because my glasses will be wet. Bad weather tends to affect cyclists more than pedestrians, transit users or drivers.
(c) Speaking about being drenched from the inside, this is a problem especially for cyclists. If you want to cycle a good distance to work, maybe in the summer when it's fairly warm, you practically need a change of clothing and a shower facility when you get there. (And when it's really hot, cycling for that distance can become outright dangerous.) I personally am already half-drenched after getting my bike out of the basement, but even trained cyclists will not be able to ride for a long distance in their work clothes and look their sharpest when they arrive.
Yes, cycling is great, and you can absolutely use it as a mode of transport, but it's not the be-all, end-all of transit as which it is often billed, especially here in Europe. That doesn't mean cycling infrastructure should not be built, but don't think everyone will be able, or willing, to cycle.
Great piece. And your concluding point is right on. We should build more of both. You probably know this already, but there was debate here [Wash DC] about the displacement of a segment of the capital crescent bike trail by a segment of the new Purple Line. The bike trail is the right of way of a closed rail line. Part of the Purple Line is using a segment of the right of way. Some folks got very upset and quite vocal when the trail was closed for the Purple Line construction (ongoing, as you noted in your video on the Washington metro system). It wasn’t clear if the right of way could accommodate both a double track for the Purple Line and a new trail. I’m not clear on whether a solution was found). There have been other conflicts elsewhere in the US when former rail right of ways converted to trails are reconverted to rail, pitting transit against bike and vice versa, although banking those rights of way was always part of the equation. Another part of the capital crescent bike trail - not the part that’s been given up for the Purple Line - is actually an important commuter route for cyclists going into downtown DC to the office. And there are quite a few who do, all weather. There’s only one grade crossing on that segment. And, yes, there’s been one cyclist hit and killed by a driver at the crossing, which is busy. One would have hoped that the county would build an underpass or overpass there for the trail, but so far, no. Frustrating!