sunburst

Inspiring example of bike commuting, or living car-free.

https://www.ecospace.cc/pg/blog/eilee...banbikeculture

LesMcLuffAlot

Sounds nice, but if most had the resources most would drive. Just saying.

tingjunkie

Would make an excellent documentary or photography project... hmmm, I'll tuck that idea away for later.

Grim

GO Communism!
They ride bikes because their economy is crap, they have no Automobile supply and you can only rebuild the 50's Chevy's they had before the Cuban missile crisis so many times before there is not enough parts to keep them running and the larger part of their population lives below the US poverty level.

Sorry but the point was totally missed on that story and how you interpreted it. They are a third world country with little to nothing going for them. Why do you think so many risk their lives trying to escape?

Read a little about the county before you try to romanticize it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba

City_Smasher

Great article. Looks like a superpower like America, can still learn a few things from a third world country!

lil brown bat

Maybe you should read about the meaning of the term "third world country" before you use it.

I don't think that OP or the article made the point well, but looking at Cuba could be looking at the future of transportation for our country, too. Our auto-based way of life isn't sustainable. When people can't have cars for whatever reason -- because of a blockade or because they're simply beyond the average person's means -- they're going to get creative with other methods of transportation. They have to.

bugly64

Yeah! Who wouldn't want to live in Cuba? BTW, someone at the BBC thinks Cuba is a third world country too. "Under his leadership, Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces became one of the most formidable fighting forces in the Third World with combat experience in Africa, where they defeated South Africa's army in Angola in 1987."

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/ame...es/1203299.stm

gerv 

Here's a Cuban idea that could get traction in the US :

My feeling is that we should use a good idea, even if it comes from a "Third World" country.

lil brown bat

Gotta read for content. They're clearly referring to the fact that they did their fighting in Angola, a third-world country.

sunburst

Not trying to romanticize it, but it probably seemed that way. And I'm aware of the economics that forced the situation. But I'd certainly like to be in an environment where bikes were more important and plentiful than cars, and were being accommodated, like with the separated bike lanes. The "inspiring" part is that people are actually out using bikes, whatever the reasons. Good for their health and environment.

I started living mostly car-free this summer, and I'm definitely in the extreme minority in Silicon Valley. I realize that every time I leave my little neighborhood and hit traffic.

Now the scary thing is the reverse trend, where in China, bikes are being abandoned for cars as they become more prosperous. And people don't necessarily want mass transit options to replace bikes either, they want to drive.

mconlonx

See post #2...

India is going the same way. Most countries do. If someone can afford a motorcycle or scooter over a bike, they'll go motorized. If they can afford a car over a motorbike, they'll get a car. I'm sure there's probably people riding bikes in Cuba, China, and India, shaking their heads at crazy americans who bike by choice when they have the resources available to have motorized transport... Car-centric culture is not limited to those affluent enough to actually be driving cars.

mkael

In Europe where do you guess SUV style cars are most popular, if only in percentages ? The places which made cars people make fun of today... And what cars were available to them 20 years ago? 25 years?

If Cuban had access to cars overnight it would the heaven of car makers. People associate bikes with being poor. Thats bad. There is a mental adjustment period. I think the situation needs to mature a long time for it to return to normal, like several decades.

Bat22

Another shortage in the workers paradise are bath tubs.
A lot of mariners head out in search of the pink cadillac.

lil brown bat

What makes you don't think they have "access to cars"? They trade with Canada, and most other countries, just not the United States. They have access to cars; what they don't have access to is money.

In the United States. Not every country is like the United States.