
The Problem with Bicycles (2010) - oftenwrong
http://newworldeconomics.com/the-problem-with-bicycles/
======
eesmith
I found it difficult to make sense of that essay.

It used two polar extremes: "Suburban Hell" and "Traditional City".

But when people talk about bicycles in a city, they tend to look to Amsterdam
and Copenhagen - places which are _not_ "optimized for bikes".

Oddly enough, the author classifies Berlin as "Traditional City". Yet it's
regularly on the top-20-or-so list of bike friendly cities in the world. (Eg,
[https://www.wired.com/2015/06/copenhagenize-worlds-most-
bike...](https://www.wired.com/2015/06/copenhagenize-worlds-most-bike-
friendly-cities/) )

The author makes comments like "People tend to wear much nicer clothes in the
Traditional City." My experience with Amsterdam is that, yes, they tend to
wear nicer clothes than in the US. And yet they are a very pro-bike place.

"“That stripe on my back is where I rode my bike though the puddle.”" ... Umm,
that's because the bikes we have in the US are crap for real-world city bikes.
The US has road bikes and mountain bikes. Neither are good for getting around
the city. The European city bike has full fenders with mudguard flaps to keep
that from happening.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_bicycle#Typical_features](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_bicycle#Typical_features)
lists many more features to make it possible to wear nice clothes and bike.

"You would need bike parking for fifteen thousand bikes" \- which is what the
Netherlands does. Multi-level bicycle parking next to the train stations.

"surround the train station with lots of free parking" \- except that they
don't, ad least not universally. For the densest places, it costs money.
[https://www.ns.nl/en/door-to-door/bicycle-storage/bicycle-
st...](https://www.ns.nl/en/door-to-door/bicycle-storage/bicycle-storage-at-
amsterdam-amstel.html) says €1.25 per 24 hours, starting after the first 24
hours.

It's as if the author isn't aware of what people mean when they talk about
using a bicycle in the city.

