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ClarkFable t1_ito8859 wrote

Reply to comment by taylorhayward_boston in The NIMBYs are reviving the traffic board to hold up bike lanes by IntelligentCicada363

When you look at the number of commuting trips, biking's percentage is in the single digits. Not too surprising considering winter is a thing around here.

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Master_Dogs t1_itolphi wrote

Winter isn't a factor in many northern European countries where they:

  1. Actually have bike infrastructure which is more convenient than driving
  2. Actually maintain their bike infrastructure year round, like plowing bike paths and lanes
  3. Maintain their paths properly; for example, they're able to keep paths mostly ice free in Sweden by not salting the path but instead packing the snow down while plowing.

Those 2/3 things are key. We're hardy New Englanders, a bit of cold and snow doesn't bother us IF it's out of our way. Otherwise why would people continue to drive all winter long? Why is skiing, snow boarding, ice skating, hockey, etc such big things for us? Clearly we don't mind the cold if it's fun. Biking on a freshly cleared bike path IS fun. What's not fun? Riding in a snow filled roadway because the bike lane wasn't cleared and fighting with motorists who don't want you there. Maintenance and infrastructure are key if we want to provide alternatives to driving. And that goes for everything: people won't walk if the sidewalks aren't cleared and won't want to take public transit if the bus stop is filled with snow.

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ClarkFable t1_itpkarx wrote

At the risk of sounding like a complete wimp, Boston’s average winter low temps are much lower, we get significantly more winter precipitation, and the wind is way worse than a place like Copenhagen.

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Master_Dogs t1_itpmfsc wrote

I said Sweden, not Denmark. But regardless Sweden's Capital of Stockholm actually has a lower temperature than Boston, while Copenhagen has roughly the same average temperature as Boston.

If you want another example, see how Montreal (a city a few hundred miles north of us) actually clears their bike lanes at the same time as they clear the streets: https://montreal.ca/en/topics/cycling-and-bike-paths

Again: IT'S INFRASTRUCTURE AND MAINTENANCE. You may personally be a wimpy car driver but there's plenty of people out there that will bundle up and walk, bike or transit if we fucking bothered to clear snow off our sidewalks and bike paths. Those people may be car drivers today who add to traffic when they'd be perfectly fine using an alternative if we bothered to build and maintain it year round.

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ClarkFable t1_itpzmpw wrote

>Stockholm

Stockholm's commute share from biking isn't far off from Cambridge. Copenhagen's share is well above. Montreal's is much lower.

This further illustrates why low temperatures and precipitation matter a lot (not average annual temps).

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