London looking to NYC example to "tame the car."
01-31-13, 02:17 PM
#1
genec
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: West Coast
Posts: 27,079
Bikes: custom built, sannino, beachbike, giant trance x2
Mentioned: 86 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 13658 Post(s)
Liked 4,532 Times
in
3,158 Posts
London looking to NYC example to "tame the car."
https://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/bri...the-car/013969
Folks take note... if you run a business and are looking for walk-in customers, you need to get your city thinking "complete streets. Peds and cyclists on average frequent and spend more than motorists.
Of course I don't have that study... which no doubt some here will deny, but it sounds like Transport for London is taking note and pushing this in the old city.
London sees itself as a global city, but then so does New York. And New York is getting rid of cars further and faster than London. Boris, take note, your counterpart in NYC has said: “The streets were there to transport people. They are not for cars…Cyclists and pedestrians and bus riders are as important, if not, I would argue more important, than automobile riders.”
After the construction of a protected bicycle lane on 9th Avenue, shops saw a 49 percent increase in sales. In the rest of Manhattan, shops saw only a 3 percent increase in retail sales. When the city converted an underused parking area in Brooklyn into a pedestrian plaza, retail sales increased by 172 percent.
And a US study has shown that people getting about a city on bicycles spend more in cafes and shops, over any month, than motorists. People who drive to these establishments spend more per visit; but those on bikes visit more often and therefore spend more overall.
After the construction of a protected bicycle lane on 9th Avenue, shops saw a 49 percent increase in sales. In the rest of Manhattan, shops saw only a 3 percent increase in retail sales. When the city converted an underused parking area in Brooklyn into a pedestrian plaza, retail sales increased by 172 percent.
And a US study has shown that people getting about a city on bicycles spend more in cafes and shops, over any month, than motorists. People who drive to these establishments spend more per visit; but those on bikes visit more often and therefore spend more overall.
Of course I don't have that study... which no doubt some here will deny, but it sounds like Transport for London is taking note and pushing this in the old city.
01-31-13, 02:27 PM
#2
Randomhead
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,396
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,696 Times
in
2,517 Posts
we have a particularly pathological addiction to the car culture here. The downtown is across the street within walking distance from 100000 people (on a work day). Any of those people that go downtown do it on foot. Yet business owners are afraid to make downtown more pedestrian friendly by taking anything away from cars. People that would rather go to the mall feel that way because they can walk around without worrying about getting run over. If downtown was arranged in such a way as to make it so they wouldn't get run over, there would be more people there. It's nuts.
Last edited by unterhausen; 01-31-13 at 05:28 PM.
01-31-13, 02:59 PM
#3
genec
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: West Coast
Posts: 27,079
Bikes: custom built, sannino, beachbike, giant trance x2
Mentioned: 86 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 13658 Post(s)
Liked 4,532 Times
in
3,158 Posts
we have a particularly pathological addiction to the car culture here. The downtown is across the street within walking distance from 100000 people (on a work day). Any of those people that go downtown do it on foot. Yet business owners are afraid to make downtown more pedestrian friendly by taking anything away from cars. People that would rather go to the mall feel that way because they can walk around without worrying about getting run over. If downtown was arranged in such a way as to make it so they wouldn't get run over, there would be more people there. It's nuts.
Some of the nicest areas I have ever visited have large walking squares for PEOPLE on foot near and around stores and shops... Oulo Finland had a wonderful large central core area... for pedestrians and cyclists. They even allowed the occasional taxi into that area. The bottom line is that if you want foot traffic, you have to encourage FOOT traffic.
01-31-13, 04:02 PM
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Eugene, Oregon
Posts: 7,048
Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 509 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 9 Times
in
8 Posts
We're having the same problems here in Eugene, where we are hemorrhaging cyclists (one-third have disappeared in the past three years). The city is attempting to do a road diet on a five block stretch of largely retail area. The street would go from two narrow travel lanes each way, which are constantly blocked by left-turning vehicles and buses in the left and right lanes respectively, to one travel lane each way plus a two-way left turn lane and bike lanes on each side. The owners of several businesses are publicly advocating against the road diet and are calling the cyclists who would like to get to their businesses selfish.
I'll forward the article along to the folks who are fighting this fight. Thanks for posting it.
I'll forward the article along to the folks who are fighting this fight. Thanks for posting it.
