Best thing about...
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sarah D. on
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+1 h'
I am enjoying the discussion and this is the stuff that endears me to Chainlink. I love to hear from Duppie' experience - and from Lisa, and everyone - and it's obvious to me that "bicycle-friendliness" is relative (and, I hope, changing). My initial reaction was just like Willow's - we have no idea what that is like...yet!
h' 1.0 said:I don't know Amanda but I would guess that she can speak for herself if she doesn't like the direction this thread has taken rather than waiting for big strong Dug to rescue her.
In this case you have people who have experienced "bicycle friendly" cities offering an informed opinion.
Never hurts to learn something from another's perspective.
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Permalink Reply by Michelle S on
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I lived in a bike-friendly city when I was in Beijing for a few years in the early 1990s, when bicycles were still king, and rivers of people on their bikes were seen on every street. The only motor vehicles were electric buses, government-owned limos, and highly regulated taxicabs. They were all sorely outnumbered by the bicyclists, so it was like Critical Mass 24/7, with MV drivers conditioned to patiently wait for the river to part before proceeding. Sadly, we will likely never get to that point in Chicago in my lifetime, but in my 20 years of riding in Chicago, we've certainly taken a few mini-steps in the right direction, with bigger numbers of people on bikes, and a noticeable uptick in respectful driver behavior toward those of us on two wheels.
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on
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Me too, and he is, but it is more fun to keep up the facade here. ;-)
Come to think of it, aren't all of our great LBSs evidence of a bike friendly city?
And while I am at it, I never lived in China, but I visited a couple of cities in China in the early 90s. It was great for bikes but being a pedestrian was as bad as being in a car!
Chi Lowe 12.5+ mi said:+1
I met NotoriousDUG IRL back when he worked at Rapid, and I'll witness this. I may be further blowing his cover as a curmudgeon here, but the dude is real nice, real chill, and real real.
notoriousDUG said:Sometimes I'm nice...
Lisa Curcio 4.0 mi said:+1 but who are you and what have you done with the real notoriousDug?
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Permalink Reply by Duppie on
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You bring up a good point. The Netherlands weren’t always a bike friendly country. Especially after WWII car culture became more prevalent. But the energy crisis in the early 70s changed many people’s viewpoint and started to change the policies of all levels of government. It probably took a few decades but by the early 90’s I remember the Netherlands overall being very bike friendly.
There is no good reason why Chicago can’t become a real bike friendly city, but it will require a lot more than painting a few bike lanes on a few streets. It will require an coordinated approach by all levels of government. From education about and enforcement of traffic rules, to real complete streets design. From plenty of secure bike parking, to liability laws that place the burden more on those causing the damage, all of that, and more, is needed to make Chicago a truly bike friendly city.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to another summer full of riding in this somwhat bike friendly city of ours.
David P. said:When my parents lived in Amsterdam in the late '60s, it was a typical European city for the time in that it was fairly car-centric. I believe that the changes in Amsterdam began after the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, but I'm not sure where I read that so I can't vouch for it 100%.
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Permalink Reply by Beans on
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Well said. Bravo!
Duppie 13.5185km said:There is no good reason why Chicago can’t become a real bike friendly city, but it will require a lot more than painting a few bike lanes on a few streets. It will require an coordinated approach by all levels of government. From education about and enforcement of traffic rules, to real complete streets design. From plenty of secure bike parking, to liability laws that place the burden more on those causing the damage, all of that, and more, is needed to make Chicago a truly bike friendly city.In the meantime, I'm looking forward to another summer full of riding in this somewhat bike friendly city of ours.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on
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We also need to involve businesses, particularly businesses in the downtown area. For example, Grub Hub recently relocated their offices into the loop and their employees demanded a bike friendly environment. It's also a health and fitness issue. A healthy and fit workforce is a cheaper pool of labor to insure, saving the participating businesses, and their employees, money.
Duppie 13.5185km said:There is no good reason why Chicago can’t become a real bike friendly city, but it will require a lot more than painting a few bike lanes on a few streets. It will require an coordinated approach by all levels of government. From education about and enforcement of traffic rules, to real complete streets design. From plenty of secure bike parking, to liability laws that place the burden more on those causing the damage, all of that, and more, is needed to make Chicago a truly bike friendly city.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to another summer full of riding in this somwhat bike friendly city of ours.
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on
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Definitely not the response I would have expected from notoriousDUG, but you are right. My intent was to celebrate the positive strides that our city has taken towards bicycle safety/awareness. I just spent the last 4 days in NYC, and let me tell you, I couldn't wait to get back to my beloved Chicago! It's not perfect, but we have so many things to be thankful for here.
notoriousDUG said:Me thinks that this thread has taken a nasty turn from its intent...
Seems the OP was looking for a celebration of the things that are nice about biking in Chicago and ya'll have turned it into a festival of taking things for granted and sounding entitled. Rather than wasting time and space here gripping about what we don't have, what places are better and how much there is still to do how about we celebrate what we do have?
Stop for a second and think about how spoiled we are here compared to a lot of other cities when it comes to biking. Could it be better? Could we be bike friendlier here as a city? Yes, of course we could but there is no city anywhere in the world where the answer to those questions would not be yes.
Go ride a bike in Memphis, or Nashville, or St. Louis and let me know if you still want to complain about the bicycle infastructure and support we have here.
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I do appreciate the knowledge of places afar! I have never been abroad, but I'd imagine that other countries are much further along in their use of bicycles as a respected means of transportation. For now I was just wondering more about what people liked/appreciated about riding in Chicago.
h' 1.0 said:I don't know Amanda but I would guess that she can speak for herself if she doesn't like the direction this thread has taken rather than waiting for big strong Dug to rescue her.
In this case you have people who have experienced "bicycle friendly" cities offering an informed opinion.
Never hurts to learn something from another's perspective.
notoriousDUG said:Me thinks that this thread has taken a nasty turn from its intent...
Seems the OP was looking for a celebration of the things that are nice about biking in Chicago and ya'll have turned it into a festival of taking things for granted and sounding entitled. Rather than wasting time and space here gripping about what we don't have, what places are better and how much there is still to do how about we celebrate what we do have?
Stop for a second and think about how spoiled we are here compared to a lot of other cities when it comes to biking. Could it be better? Could we be bike friendlier here as a city? Yes, of course we could but there is no city anywhere in the world where the answer to those questions would not be yes.
Go ride a bike in Memphis, or Nashville, or St. Louis and let me know if you still want to complain about the bicycle infastructure and support we have here.
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Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on
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No car payments
No paying for gas
No car insurance premiums
No parking tickets
No moving violation tickets
Small maintenance costs
No parking costs
Faster commutes
A greener footprint
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:-) me too!!!
Duppie 13.5185km said:You bring up a good point. The Netherlands weren’t always a bike friendly country. Especially after WWII car culture became more prevalent. But the energy crisis in the early 70s changed many people’s viewpoint and started to change the policies of all levels of government. It probably took a few decades but by the early 90’s I remember the Netherlands overall being very bike friendly.
There is no good reason why Chicago can’t become a real bike friendly city, but it will require a lot more than painting a few bike lanes on a few streets. It will require an coordinated approach by all levels of government. From education about and enforcement of traffic rules, to real complete streets design. From plenty of secure bike parking, to liability laws that place the burden more on those causing the damage, all of that, and more, is needed to make Chicago a truly bike friendly city.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to another summer full of riding in this somwhat bike friendly city of ours.
David P. said:When my parents lived in Amsterdam in the late '60s, it was a typical European city for the time in that it was fairly car-centric. I believe that the changes in Amsterdam began after the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, but I'm not sure where I read that so I can't vouch for it 100%.
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We were in Manhattan, and like Chicago they had bike lanes. I expected a HUGE bike scene in NYC (I've seen too many movies with NYC messengers), but I saw more bikes locked up at daily renting stations than on the road. The bikes I did see being used, were mountain bikes which I wouldn't say is common on the roads here in Chicago. They have bicycle traffic lights like we are starting to see here as well. There were tons of bikes in Central Park. Seemed like that is the place that the road race type riders road. There is a part of me that can understand why I didn't see too many bicycles on the road. The traffic there is a COMPLETE nightmare! It was almost like taking your life in your hands every time you approached a street. Overall I'd say we have a much more developed bike community here in Chicago. We do have some things here that they don't have there. We have the lake front trail. They are surrounded by the Hudson, but there isn't a path that follows along it like we have here. The island is also only 12 miles long and 2.5 miles wide. I think that it's really too crowded to even have a decent ride. You'd have to stop so often for pedestrians, and cars, it'd be faster to walk. NYC is really not my cup of tea. I was happy to get back home for sure!
h' 1.0 said:Would be interested to hear how you would compare/contrast NYC and Chicago in terms of bike friendliness.
Amanda said:Definitely not the response I would have expected from notoriousDUG, but you are right. My intent was to celebrate the positive strides that our city has taken towards bicycle safety/awareness. I just spent the last 4 days in NYC, and let me tell you, I couldn't wait to get back to my beloved Chicago! It's not perfect, but we have so many things to be thankful for here.
notoriousDUG said:Me thinks that this thread has taken a nasty turn from its intent...
Seems the OP was looking for a celebration of the things that are nice about biking in Chicago and ya'll have turned it into a festival of taking things for granted and sounding entitled. Rather than wasting time and space here gripping about what we don't have, what places are better and how much there is still to do how about we celebrate what we do have?
Stop for a second and think about how spoiled we are here compared to a lot of other cities when it comes to biking. Could it be better? Could we be bike friendlier here as a city? Yes, of course we could but there is no city anywhere in the world where the answer to those questions would not be yes.
Go ride a bike in Memphis, or Nashville, or St. Louis and let me know if you still want to complain about the bicycle infastructure and support we have here.
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Permalink Reply by yai danche on
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amanda, did you bike the greenway? it's sorta along the hudson. but it's got nothing on our lakefront trail! and the hudson is hideous. i typically don't go through chicago downtown, but had to recently for some weekday errands. last year, i would've taken the cta, because it felt like a death trap to ride downtown. however, now i feel like riding downtown is do-able and not just for the hardcore messenger types.
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