lazerphace t1_isqecka wrote on October 17, 2022 at 10:41 PM

Reply to comment by werecat in ‘A NIMBY City Hall’: Adams Appointees Thwart Key Bike and Bus Projects by kapuasuite

okay i’ll let my parents in PA know you want more bus lanes bro.

werecat t1_isqjcnc wrote on October 17, 2022 at 11:20 PM

That's great, I'm glad you understand that car dependency is bad for everyone. No one should have to drive to go to work or pick up groceries. Unfortunately there is a lot of work that needs to be done before the entire nation can get there. NYC however is uniquely situated in the USA for its transit system, where most New Yorkers don't need a car at all, but this is less true in the outer boroughs.

Your flair says you are from East New York, and having been there myself I can agree that the current state public transit could be a lot better, so we should be advocating for change there. The interborough train line in the works will help but there will still be many underserved areas. There are buses there but they are often very delayed or just non-existent. This is a policy failure. Thankfully bus lanes will help address this.

In general, people don't care what mode of transit they use to get from point A to point B, they care what option is the fastest, safest, and most convenient. Buses are a great way of moving many people, but they have a big problem in most places where they just get stuck in traffic, making them late and inconsistent. If we want buses to be fast and consistent, we shouldn't let them get stuck in traffic, and yet many buses in that area are forced to share the street with cars. With bus lanes in place, suddenly buses won't get stuck in traffic. We could do even more such as giving buses priority at traffic signals, though that is out of scope of the topic today. With buses made better, fewer people would need to drive in East New York, which means fewer cars on the road, meaning the people who would still need to drive would face less traffic. It's a win for everyone!

lazerphace t1_isqlxjo wrote on October 17, 2022 at 11:41 PM

can’t wait for the government do exactly what you’re suggesting. in the meantime imma sell my car and just go into stasis 🥶

werecat t1_isqsky1 wrote on October 18, 2022 at 12:34 AM

Well then we should probably get together and yell at the politicians who are obstructing the very thing I'm talking about. Like Tiffany Raspberry, Menashe Shapiro, and Francisco Moya, who were listed in the article on this post.

I'm not saying you owning and using a car is an unreasonable decision. And I don't fault people for using a car to drive to work or pick up groceries. In most places in the US people don't have any other choice -- biking is way too dangerous as it is usually forced to mix with cars especially at high speeds, equivalent bus trips would take way too long due a mixture of infrequent slow buses and ineffective bus routes, and the distances are generally too far to walk. But with the right changes, we can make those alternatives viable for many more people in the city. I don't want people to take a suboptimal route because they don't want to use a car, I want the optimal route to not need a car at all.

The whole topic of urban planning is quite big with sometimes counter-intuitive results. I used to think that adding more lanes on a highway would relieve traffic congestion, but as it turns out it makes it even worse due to induced demand. The amount of lanes that you would need to be able to counter induced demand would be astronomical. The true way to solve traffic congestion is to give viable alternatives to driving so that people don't need to drive. If you want to learn more about this topic I highly recommend the youtube channel Not Just Bikes, in particular the video on "Stroads" is a good starting point as well as The best country in the world for drivers though all of his videos are great.