i live in finland, we have bike lanes everywhere. it's often shorter and faster to use an e-bike if you own one, especially during rush hour. but the new problem is that dumb people have bikes too! i get even angrier on a bike than behind a wheel.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

We are trying to add more bike lanes to city centers in places in Canada at the cost of existing car lanes.

I use to bike everywhere as a young teen in my rural area but once I had access to a car those days were left behind me.

The issue is many people commute daily in from the suburbs over a hour away (up to 120kms or like up to the distance of Hanko to Helsinki) by highway, other roads, and biking these long distances isn't as feasible for those that live outside the city cores which so many do. In the East many drive up to 2 hours each way due to traffic conditions.

It's a huge challenge to rework the suburbian sprawl to the affordable housing in the outlying areas.

In North America we don't think anything of driving 4 hours for a road trip on a weekend. I think that could mean going through a few countries in Europe and often we haven't even left a state or province after 8 hours of driving.

In the west the transit system has vast distances its trying to cover for a lot less people than in the east. It's overloaded often and there's not enough of it in many places. It's a tricky issue with not enough population condensed into a smaller area.

The suggestion of 15 minute cities is viewed as evil oversight by government by some of the car culture people in the rural areas. While it would make more sense to have people living closer to their higher paying jobs many just can't get use to this type of thinking outside of the city cores which many left decades ago for the promise of safety in suburbia.

During covid it was proven working from home is a pretty good option for many so that is a partial solution, however many companies have called these workers back to the offices and the congestion has returned.

Then there is the issue of the homeless in many of the city cores and the rampant bike theft.

For me I do wonder coming from a wet most of the time in winter Vancouver how those that commute by bike in the rain stay dry?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

i value my time so much i could never accept a job from 120 km away, or really anything over 20 km or 20 mins by car. and biking in the rain ain't that bad, you can get all kinds of waterproof clothing. personally i find it easier to just get wet and let it dry off in school or work. it's a horrible thought but you get used to it pretty easily, though i wouldn't do that if i had to commute for longer than 15 mins.