notjustbikes

notjustbikes , vor 22 Tagen (Bearbeitet vor 22 Tagen) an Random Englisch

CityBeautiful recently released a great video about how to fix stroads.

It's accurate, and lines up exactly with the advocacy that my wife and I were doing 10 years ago, right down to using StreetMix to redesign streets.

It's also extremely depressing and makes me glad that I don't live in North America anymore.

https://youtu.be/1V679pkDl6k

notjustbikes OP , vor 22 Tagen (Bearbeitet vor 22 Tagen)

None of the following is critical of City Beautiful: he is a great guy and his video is completely accurate, as usual.

In fact, there are several things in his video that are just too accurate.

When redesigning a stroad, you can't take space from cars (except in rare situations), you can't change intersections, and you can't move any utilities.

You need to plan around the scraps left over from a stroad designed for drivers.

So the ultimately, the solution will be a big compromise.

notjustbikes OP , vor 22 Tagen

Dave mentions some typical improvements that can be made to a stroad like this, given the political constraints.

The end result of this kind of redesign looks something like this photo.

This is Wonderland Road in Fake London.

Is this better than the stroad in the post above? Yes.

Is it good? Absolutely not.

And the problem is, streets and roads are only redesigned about every 30 years.

So this is it. This is all you're getting for at least a generation.

Lipstick on a pig.

notjustbikes OP , vor 22 Tagen

This is why Strong Towns does NOT advocate for redesigning stroads like this. There's no point.

It will cost a bunch of money and political capital and those "bike lanes" will be used by only a handful of people (just like on Wonderland Road), which will only serve as something to point to and say, "see? nobody bikes here!"

Chuck's article, "How do you actually fix a stroad?" is useful here.

The answer: you shouldn't.

So what should you do?

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2021/12/2/how-do-you-actually-fix-a-stroad

notjustbikes OP , vor 22 Tagen (Bearbeitet vor 22 Tagen)

Strong Towns advocates for incremental improvements.

Fundamentally, it makes more sense to focus on "downtown", or whatever traditional development still exists in your town.

Making a small change to rejuvenate a traditional walkable neighbourhood will always result in better payoffs than any stroad repair.

See Dundas Street in Fake London.

This cost less than any stroad repair, but will do way more to improve your city than adding bike lanes to 5 lane stroad.

notjustbikes OP , vor 22 Tagen

Do this to every traditional neighbourhood that hasn't been bulldozed.

Relaxing zoning laws in these places to allow mixed-use development.

Add protected bicycle lanes connecting these places.

Increase transit service (even buses) to every 10 minutes between these neighbourhoods and to popular office parks.

Turn old malls into mixed-use developments with high-quality transit connections to those traditional neighbourhoods.

Build great places where people actually want to be.

notjustbikes , vor 27 Tagen an Random Englisch

The latest episode of the Urbanist Agenda with @GarethDennis is now available on all podcast platforms!

We talk about level boarding for trains: why you should want it, and why it doesn't happen more often.

By the end of this conversation you'll realise that level boarding isn't a "nice to have", is something we need to demand for all transit projects everywhere.

https://youtu.be/BUOFPaidfA0

notjustbikes OP , vor 26 Tagen

@riderexmachina @GarethDennis thank you!

gamingonlinux , vor 27 Tagen an Random Englisch

Build the greatest car parks ever in the retro-tycoon styled Car Park Capital https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/06/build-the-greatest-car-parks-ever-in-the-retro-tycoon-styled-car-park-capital/

#IndieGame #Linux #PCGaming

notjustbikes , vor 27 Tagen

@etam amazing. Thanks!

dsc , vor 28 Tagen an Random Englisch

Listened to latest podcast ep from @notjustbikes #theurbanistagenda and today this is in the headlines

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/elizabeth-line-ealing-broadway-bbc-transport-for-london-b1163562.html

"Two travellers have complained they have suffered serious injuries trying to step off the train at Ealing Broadway"

Another (unfortunate) data point for Level Boarding on railways. https://www.levelboarding.org.uk/

#levelboarding #rail #accessibility

notjustbikes , vor 28 Tagen

@mark Yes, that is part of what the podcast he's referring to was about!

https://nebula.tv/agenda/all-trains-need-level-boarding-with-gareth-dennis

notjustbikes , vor einem Monat an Random Englisch

It's annoying when people complain that my content is "too eurocentric". And after making my Shinjuku station video a lot of people are saying that "finally" there's some "non-eurocentric" content. 🙄

I make videos about MY experiences in cities. I don't summarize a bunch of facts you could easily find on Wikipedia, Twitter, or news articles, and then lazily recite it over stock footage.

I actually GO to places, experience them in person, and over 90% of my videos is footage I filmed myself.

notjustbikes OP , vor einem Monat

@tanketom this is so true.

I've been consciously trying to avoid American content online for a few years now and it's not easy. But my recommendations are so much better as a result.

Tangentially, I am so fed up with Americans who expect me to make videos telling them how to fix US cities.

Like, almost all urbanist content online is about the US already, and you want ME to make MORE of it? A Canadian who lives in Europe? Don't ask me! Go bug the >95% of urbanist creators who are American! 🤣

notjustbikes OP , vor einem Monat

@mcv sadly at my scale it's nearly impossible to just ignore the bad ones.

With an audience of over a million, the signal to noise ratio is so bad that the good comments get completely buried.

That's why I try to avoid reading comments entirely.

notjustbikes OP , vor einem Monat

@dkwright yeah, you're doing it correctly. You got inspired, and found Strong Towns and other content relevant to you.

You're not expecting the first urbanist YouTuber you've found to make every urbanist video on every topic you want to watch.

notjustbikes OP , vor einem Monat

@magalhini ironically I actually DO have footage of bikes lanes in the Galápagos Islands.

notjustbikes OP , vor einem Monat

@burne thanks!

notjustbikes OP , vor 29 Tagen

@machinart Thanks!

TechConnectify , vor einem Monat an Random Englisch

This again?

This again.

https://youtu.be/jHP942Livy0

notjustbikes , vor 29 Tagen

@TechConnectify the dishwasher king has returned! 👑