A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
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In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:
Just to compare, this is the utopian dream for Toronto:
There are approx. 18 cars and trucks in that image.
They are taking up SIGNIFICANTLY more space, and are causing traffic.
Still, we keep saying, "give us more of this, please!".
Insanity or stupidity?
Unpopular opinion: getting rid of cars is good, but if you've ever been to the streets of Amsterdam, it's a bike nightmare.
Streets are generally narrow, so bikers form a neverending swarm and barely regard the pedestrians. From a bikers' perspective, you're constantly riding in a flow, so you can't really afford to stop or turn over for a break.
Amsterdam should either figure out how to manage that flow, or expand the public transportation like buses and trams - which are really the most compact ways to drive people around.
Having cyclists all around comes with all sorts of unwritten rules, people need to get used to it for it to function properly. Amsterdam has a lot of tourist that aren't used to the bicycle-culture, don't know the unwritten rules, and at the same time to local populace expects them to, so that causes problems. You'll notice that other dutch cities like Utrecht and Groningen have it figured out much better, have a far smoother experience, but perhaps have it easier because there are less tourists.
The thing is that these rules are not “unwritten” at all. They are part of the (written down) traffic code. To give an example, you have pedestrian zones where you are not allowed to bike, and you have regular roads where pedestrians need to keep to the sidewalk. Also, you have bicycle paths meant for cyclists only, and sidewalks meant for pedestrians only. When you walk on the road or on a cycling path you are violating the traffic code, not some unwritten rule.