this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2025
77 points (98.7% liked)

Fuck Cars

10483 readers
209 users here now

A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

Rules

1. Be CivilYou may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.

2. No hate speechDon't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.

3. Don't harass peopleDon't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.

4. Stay on topicThis community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.

5. No repostsDo not repost content that has already been posted in this community.

Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.

Posting Guidelines

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:

Recommended communities:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
grue
Toaster1
77
[discussion] Frustrated that cars get FOUR lanes on a one-way downtown street, while cyclists get nothing. (lemmy.ca)
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/fuckcars
7 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A bit of a rant, but my municipality is building a "community square" in their downtown, but I noticed that there are no safe ways to get there by bike (or e-scooter, since we partake in a shared e-mobility program).

I emailed my city to voice my concern, and they said to contact the Region, who manages the main North/South road that brings you to the footsteps of this planned square.

They said that since there were no plans in the Regional cycling plan to add infrastructure to that particular road, we should just ride with mixed traffic.

For context.... this road is one-way, and four lanes. Two (one on each side) is taken up by street parking, despite us having quite a few parking lots and a large parking garage close by.

Example (and yes, the black car on the far right is illegally parking... there's another car behind them illegally parking, too............. ):

I asked if they could at least remove one parking lane to make a bi-direction bike lane that would connect two (East/west) bike lanes, and they said not a chance.

To expand, removing one parking lane would only "take away" 12 spots. 12 spots for sitting vehicles that take up two blocks, is more important than providing a safe passage for vulnerable residents to get to a public, outdoor community space??

This is pretty unbelievable, since our local businesses are all hurting downtown, and it only seems alive when we block off vehicle traffic during special events.

Seems insane how we bend over backwards for cars.

Rant over.

top 7 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] NarrativeBear 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

What gets me when calling the city is whenever a concern is brought up it always seems to be shutdown by the first person that pickups up the call on the other end.

City staff should be taking the calls and writing down the concerns with no bias/opinion when doing so. The items should then be brought up in city meetings and voted on collectively by city officials.

A city staff member should not be "screening the calls" and voicing their opinion such as telling a person "not a chance". That kind of remark makes me think the person working at that desk drives into work and may hold bias.

Advocating for better city infrastructure is in the better interest of all people, and especially for local residents/business. Bike infrastructure always seems IMO to be portrayed as in the benefit of one group, but its really in the benefit of all groups, including pedestrians, and people of all ages and physical ability.

[–] JubilantJaguar 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Rant completely justified! They are on the wrong side of history and you are on the right side.

I emailed my city to voice my concern

This is what good citizens do, at least to kick things off (and what I, for example, have been too lazy to do). We all depend on people like you. So don't be discouraged, keep at it. In the end you will win and that lane will be converted.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

This is what good citizens do, at least to kick things off (and what I, for example, have been too lazy to do). We all depend on people like you. So don’t be discouraged, keep at it. In the end you will win and that lane will be converted.

I appreciate that. Being a cyclist over the last few years really helps to connect me to my community. It's hard to describe unless you're a cyclist. :)

But I have made it a point to get involved more with our local and regional transportation and trail plans. You see the world from a completely different lens when accessibility and safety become your priorities.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

Come to Minneapolis. We have:

  • 16 miles of on-street protected bikeways.
  • 98 miles of bike lanes and 101 miles of off-street bikeways and trails.
  • something like 40 miles of converted light rail, completely off-road, crisscrossing the southwest area

Bike map.

If you like to bicycle, The Cities is one of these best places in the continental US. Also, if you live in the city, there are 20 miles of completely enclosed foot traffic - overpasses, through-building, and tunnels - allowing you to get almost anywhere downtown without ever going outside. Which is important, because in the winter it's been known to get down to -50°F.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is pretty unbelievable, since our local businesses are all hurting downtown, and it only seems alive when we block off vehicle traffic during special events.

Promise you these businesses would be the ones protesting if they tried to remove 12 parking spaces to replace them with a bike lane.

But yeah, I love an "activated pedestrian square" with no means of access other than driving.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

For sure, they always do, until they realize the massive benefits that not having parked cars out front can bring.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Great street setup to get doored :)