The Dutch experience with cycling should be our vision for connected, safe cycling for young and old. Could we do this? Would we dare?
http://www.youtube.com/v/rn2s6ax_7TM.swf
Dare to dream!
You'll get people who'll say "jacksonville is too big" for stuff like this. On the contrary, we could use that to our benefit. Imagine the whole city with "real" bike lanes, throughout the whole county. Other cities are doing it, why not jax?
I will be cycling the Dutch way (for transportation purposes) on the side-walks of San Jose Blvd.
Of course, my DNA is pure Dutch. ;D
Step One would be to ablish school bus use for elementary schools.
The Netherlands doesn't have any school buses, so parents and children cycle together or alone to school on safe, elevated bike paths (like our side-walks with curbs).
Can you imagine what that would do to our childhood obesity problem?
Ever see a Dutch over-weight person?
Quote from: FayeforCure on October 04, 2011, 08:38:06 PM
Step One would be to ablish school bus use for elementary schools.
I like the idea, but we're no where near that yet
We'd have to have something better than 1ft wide bike lanes, along roads where people are driving 55mph. We need good biking infrastructure before we can abolish school buses.
Let's add another 1% gas tax that goes directly to promoting cycling.
Quote from: coredumped on October 04, 2011, 09:09:34 PM
Quote from: FayeforCure on October 04, 2011, 08:38:06 PM
Step One would be to ablish school bus use for elementary schools.
I like the idea, but we're no where near that yet
We'd have to have something better than 1ft wide bike lanes, along roads where people are driving 55mph. We need good biking infrastructure before we can abolish school buses.
Well maybe we need to highlight a local school where much of this is already happening: JUlington Creek elementary. Their bicycle parking lot reminds me very much of those in the Netherlands. The kids use the side-walks for safe riding.
Those 1 foot lanes (unseparated from car traffic) have always been laughable to me................and are in typical american fashion.
If you don't want to do something.............you provide some symbolic lip-service to the cyclers to shut them up.
I don't know why cyclers have been so grateful for that crap.
We stayed in Delft for a short time and cycled around the town. Everyday we took the train to another city or out to the country. At the train stations we rented bikes for a very small amount of money, got a free bike map of the area and took off. In the evening, we returned the bike, caught the train back to Delft.
We rode from the station to museums in Amsterdam, on canal pathways in the country, to wildlife refuges, in other towns. Sometimes there were bike lanes, or separate paths and sometimes not. But the motoring public knows how to behave around cyclists. Lots of people everywhere on bikes - not just a few on weekends. Cyclists were courteous and careful. I saw no one wearing spandex cycling clothes - just normal working or casual outfits. Many women wore skirts and it didn't slow them down. Just like in the movie, bike parking was everywhere.
The point of this movie is that cycling is transportation and everyone does it.
I love the idea but unfortunately I don't think it would work.
Another thing that I think is that the trains are a perfect idea that could be implemented.
I'm a 6th grader myself and if they had trains running there it could cut down on the massive traffic.
I am a cyclist and I would love to see more and better cycling ROW, but the realist in me must point out that it is hot, humid, and often wet in Florida. I don't know that our climate is as condusive to cycling as transportation as much as many European countries. That said, I would like to see more kids and families on bikes!
Quote from: NotNow on October 12, 2011, 09:04:46 PM
I am a cyclist and I would love to see more and better cycling ROW, but the realist in me must point out that it is hot, humid, and often wet in Florida. I don't know that our climate is as condusive to cycling as transportation as much as many European countries. That said, I would like to see more kids and families on bikes!
Well we could all decide to go to our local Starbucks by bicycle, or our local Winn Dixie.
Not sure if you know about the Netherlands, but the number of rainy days outnumber the dry days......... and that is certainly not the case in Jax. The heat I can see as a problem.......nobody wants to get anywhere all sweaty.
But the majority of bicycle transportation would be in the early morning hours going to school or work..........and again evenings for the return trip.