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Share the road with bikes!
09
January
1/9/2009:
They’re starting to put up “Share the Road” signs around Hoboken.
Like this “super highway” (i.e., side street) on 9th Street between Bloomfield and Washington. From what I understood, however, there was a dispute a few weeks ago between a driver and a bike rider who was almost hit by the car.
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January 14th 2009 - 15:15:34 |
dont-cha-know, good points. if you build it, they will come. it’s got a lot of merit to it. the problem is, some hobokenites do need their cars. like me and my wife. i work in the city. i have no need for a car. my wife works in Kearney. She needs it. I’d love it if we didn’t need it. I’d even love it if she could just do something like zip car on the days she needs it. Or if there was a logical group of people she could carpool with, but that wouldn’t work either.
so her car is never going away and needs a spot. i’m sure there are some people who have a car for wasteful reasons, but my bet is that most hoboken cars, sadly, are really necessary.
i know most cars in my garage are gone every weekday. so i’m assuming they all have to drive to some town. maybe some are accesible by train though. who knows?
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January 14th 2009 - 17:47:27 |
Brady, of course I know that some people actually need their cars, and I would never expect them to disappear from here entirely, but I’m just talking about a shift. Perhaps the many couples who have two cars deciding to make do with one. Or the person who needs a car to drive outside of Hoboken making an effort not to drive within Hoboken when they could just as easily walk or ride. Or the person that only needs a car once in a while giving up owning and using either Zipcar or rentals when necessary. In my own case, I grew up in the suburbs and got my license the day I was eligible. Driving was a way of life for me. I kept a car here for quite a long time, and for a period of time I was in a relationship where we both had cars (eventually we pared down to one). At a certain point, however, coincident with the parking situation really going south, I started to question whether I really a car at all and eventually decided to forgo it. It was a truly liberating move in many respects, and it has made me a healthier person, both physically and mentally. As you obviously know, Hoboken is especially well suited to it. Small enough to be able to walk or ride around, and easy access to public transportation. If only more people could follow my example and make the break. There is life on the other side, and it would improve the quality of life in this town immeasurably.
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January 14th 2009 - 22:41:39 |
Interesting. You know, dont-cha-know, if you’d step away from your throne, you’d be surprised by the number of people out here who do have cars and choose not to power them on a good 95% of the time. My spouse is one of them, actually. And guess what? The car in the garage (came with the rental) ain’t an SUV, nor is its price-tag anywhere above $17k.
We don’t approve of bike-riding in this town of 45,000. Not because we’re selfish, arrogant, me-me-me types. But because bike-riding can’t possibly be as pleasurable an activity in such a crowded community, one chock-full of heavy foot and automobile traffic. It simply creates unnecessary hazards not just for pedestrians and drivers, but for the cyclist as well.
Whether or not you elect to ride your bike ’round here is your choice as well as a huge responsibility. But to us, and certainly lots of others, a cyclist may as well ride his/her bike in a messy closet.
My perspective should not go overlooked just because it makes you feel better, for it is realistic and it speaks volumes about the truth of the town we live in. It’s small, quaint, convenient and heavily-populated. And you can defend your “privileges” and “entitlements” until you’re blue in the face. But no amount of signage or protesting is gonna make Hoboken a bike-friendly town. Not to mention that we have bigger fish to fry, anyway.
Run me over, will ya’? Cute. But I don’t doubt the possibility of that.
On the plus side, I’m not shakin’ in my boots. And as you’ve witnessed, I do not go down without a fight.
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January 14th 2009 - 22:56:47 |
mooshu – would you be surprised to learn that a city in europe with a city population of 510,000 and a metropolitan population of 1,160,000 has 60%+ of all trips made by bicycle? 36% of all citizens in this city bicycle to work every day? the population density of the entire metro area is 16k per square mile, but there’s a much larger concentration in the city center. i just can’t find the actual density.
it’s one of the biggest bike cities in the world though. and it exists because they built the structures to support cycling.
i don’t see why it’s impossible for a city of 40,000 people to have cyclists in it.
if you choose not to because you don’t see the benefit, that’s fine. but that doesn’t mean those of us that do are arrogant or entitled. i really just don’t understand that logic at all. biking it a quite enjoyable method of transportation and recreation, not to mention exercise. if there’s a lot of people in the city that want things done to help make it safer, why is that a bad thing?
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January 14th 2009 - 23:27:41 |
mooshu wrote:
No, your perspective should be overlooked for it’s self-centeredness/non-openmindedness, and, frankly, bizarreness. Not only do you “disapprove” of bike riding here, but you presume to decide for those who choose to ride that it’s not worth their while to do so? You’re really out there, man. And btw, lest you think it’s just me who thinks so, read all the other responses to your comments.
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January 14th 2009 - 23:34:22 |
You guys need to stop engaging moo moo. She’s a nut job. There is nothing to be gained it.
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January 14th 2009 - 23:42:20 |
Brady- yeah. There’s more on that here:http://www.virgin-vacations.com/site_vv/11-most-bike-friendly-cities.asp
But biking is still not as popular here as walking, even running (also great methods of exercising)– no way. Hoboken’s population plus its too-narrow blocks make such an activity a not-so-good-idea. Maybe for kids biking is doable (since they have use of a number of parks as well as the waterfront). But not for big boys and girls like you ‘n me.
If cycling were a great idea here, then I’d probably see tons of bikers on our streets. But I don’t, and I walk around here everyday. And unless you get all the street-parked cars out of the way to make room for bike-lanes (which is obviously not going to happen anytime soon), our town is not going to be one of those “safest/best cities for biking” that we read about in the ‘zines.
Those signs have gone up because cyclists have, unfortunately, become hurt or tragically killed in this town. And the light that went up right around Newark, by the PATH? That light was needed by everybody (pedestrians and drivers included– not just cyclists).
To push the issue further by making believe that we’re living in a bike-friendly town is not going to change the town we live in. I know “it’s not fair”, but so many things aren’t, and we should adjust to our reality. Only in that way are we going to better tolerate one another, because the ego-infused competitions for “my space” and “my recreational ‘rights’” and “my this-that-and-the-other” haven’t been working– they never have and they never will. And, forgive me, but they piss me off.
Perhaps if more of an eco-friendly dynamic played into this, we could see some real changes with regards to biking rules and privileges and so forth. But that’s gonna take a long time to achieve– it’ll take years– and we know it. So maybe we should just be patient about all of it, or simply accept our reality as it is, even if for the time being…
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January 14th 2009 - 23:42:51 |
chili agee wrote:
Go get laid.
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January 14th 2009 - 23:44:16 |
dont-cha-know wrote:
Hope that you feel better about yourself.
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January 15th 2009 - 08:29:42 |
mooshu wrote:
we’re not making believe that it’s a bike friendly town. really, no town in the US is, relative to other countries. Portland has come a long way, but still, something like only 5% of all trips are made by bike. That doesn’t touch places like copenhagen or amsterdam.
we’re not advocating safe things for cyclists ONLY. we all like the light by the PATH, as it’s good for all commuters (except the pedestrians that ignore it and still cross at will).
i don’t know why you don’t see tons of cyclists. i see people on bikes pretty much every day. i see tons of bikes locked up by the PATH also. I see bikes locked up by NYSC on newark.
there’s no reason to ever accept the status quo if you believe something improves the quality of life. if you disagree that it’s a good thing, that’s fine – so don’t participate and keep walking. i’m sure you enjoy your life. but for those of us that enjoy our bikes, we’ll continue to try to make it safer for everyone – awareness, education, and infrastructure.
that’s all about biking that i’m going to discuss directly with you. i honestly just don’t understand how anyone, about any issue, should just accept “reality” and not try to change things for the better. but oh well, whatever floats your boat.
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January 15th 2009 - 10:25:14 |
Well said Brady (and what more could possibly be said at this point?), but alas, most likely in vain. Apparently, there is no reasoning with this person. Makes one wonder if there’s any hope of people ever truly getting along with one another.
In the meantime, you and I and the many others who choose to ride here can remain secure that it is both a benign and laudable activity, and a good example to others, despite whatever hostility and intolerance we might be subject to from the “community”. And, perhaps counterintuitively, I believe the more of us that do it, the safer it will actually become. So don’t yield to the bastards! (Except, of course, where they might have the right-of-way.)
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January 15th 2009 - 13:58:20 |
i think down the road – it may take a while – but Hoboken is a prime city to have various bike rental stations. they are experimenting with this in D.C. copenhagen does it. you pay a deposit. and then when you return the bike at another station somewhere in the town – you get your deposit back. that way you can me one way trips or just be able to conveniently secure the bike while you go into the shops or restaurants. Hoboken is a prime setup for a program like that.
It would render taxis almost useless too and take some of the worst offenders – as far as vehicles go – off the road. but i know i’m dreaming if that actually happens while i live here. lol
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