this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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Environment
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Bikes, unfortunately, won't help many people with their commutes. The drive alone can be over and hour, often several hours. I'm sure some people could bike that, but most people would rather not do that twice a day.
Better public transportation as a whole could be helpful though. BART has been improving over time, but it's hard to say that it's enough (or that it ever will be at this rate).
Not everyone can afford an EV. Not everyone can practically ride a bike to work. Seems to me like the two could complement each other. Currently though there are people driving who could be cycling.
Both would be good, one does not need to exclude the other. Neither is going to be enough on its own though. More EV availability would overall reduce carbon footprint, but more can be reduced by increasing biking availability and encouraging it more where possible.
I can say from experience though that the $40+/hr parking in some areas of SF make me never want to drive there again though. BART does help though, since you can get around SF pretty well on public transit alone. Other cities in the area also benefit from BART, but not as much, and could generally have better public transportation (busses and such).
Better bike infrastructure would lead to some people living closer to their jobs.
Maybe the difference can affect some people, but housing/rent prices in and around SF are astronomical, and I know of several people who can only afford where they live because of their commute. They'd love to bike to work, trust me.
Better bike infrastructure by itself won't solve the problem. It wouldn't hurt, but the core of the issue is the cost of living around where people work pushing them to live far away from their workplace. And no, the people I know can't just look for closer jobs. I've asked. The jobs don't pay as well.
Most cities aren't SF, that's an outlier case.
I'm confused by this comment. The entire Bay Area is closed to SF. No single city there is not close to it, and people commute from the entire Bay Area to SF. Not everyone commutes there of course, but traffic patterns primarily cause traffic towards that city in the morning and away in the afternoon.
Each other city in the Bay Area also have their own jobs and individual traffic patterns of course, but housing prices are expensive in the entire Bay Area, often increasing as you get closer to SF but also to other city centers. The cost of living in the entire Bay Area is prohibitively expensive to most people, with people often needing to compromise between proximity to work, the size/quality of their home/neighborhood, having roommates to help pay (I have friends who have roomed in groups of 4 to cover rent), etc. SF isn't the only expensive city in that area.
I essentially agree with your comment, but I don't understand what your point is?
It might help if you explain what yours is. Perhaps you'd like to elaborate on why saying most cities aren't SF is relevant in any way to a discussion about an article about the Bay Area?
I highly doubt that. If I was able to choose a location closer to work, I wouldve done so already. Truth is most people have to settle with a long commute because they are unable to live closer to where they work. Having a better bike infra wouldnt help with that at all.
People can get rid of their car payments, insurance, fuel, registration, tickets, tolls, maintenance, and more, then put that towards better housing.
Ball parking the number but that would be saving about $30-70k? Wouldnt make a dent in the amount I would have to pay to live closer. But even if I could afford it, I might still choose to live where I am instead of closer, given different circumstances. There is a lot more to why people choose to live farther from work than just money.
I would take anecdotal evidence though since thats all we got. Do you know anyone who would move closer to work if there was better “bike infrastructure”? Is it currently not possible to ride a bike to your work place from a nearby home/apartment?
Just to add, I would appreciate better public transit way more than bike infra
Ditching a car would save some people $1,000/month, which would open up way more housing options for most people. Regardless of your personal feelings or preferences, people around the world are moving into cities. Making them bikable makes them more livable in many ways.
That's without even considering the quickly growing number of people on personal electric vehicles, which use the same infrastructure.
I agree more public transit would be great. Even though I don't use it often, it's a critical part of a healthy city.
There are no solutions that involve personal car ownership. Appealing to entitlment just makes it worse, will it be inconvenient? Yes, but the only other option is the collapse of civilisation.
Here's the IPCC https://mass.streetsblog.org/2022/04/22/international-climate-report-demands-systemic-changes-to-transportation-and-urban-planning/
https://social.rebellion.global/@ScientistRebellion/110235597189756736