Quote:
Originally Posted by squiggs96
I often hear drivers complain about the volume of traffic. With an increasing population, and people that need to get downtown, wouldn't it make more sense to find ways to get people downtown that don't involve cars? Instead of discouraging cyclists, you should be encouraging them. The more cyclists on the road, the less cars there will be.
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Firstly, that's a blanket statement that isn't true. For it to be true, there would have to be the same volume of people going downtown each day, and for every new biker it's one less motorist. This isn't a directly proportional amount. As you point out, our population is increasing and where do new migrants generally live? In sprawling communities. Communities in which it's simply not feasible for the average person to cycle downtown, and making it more likely for one to take transit or drive - not cycle.
That's not to say that I entirely disagree with instituting bike paths, but I would be curious to see the effects on congestion in 3/5/10 years.
Research shows that bike lanes don't necessarily cause congestion, but that's dependent on how intelligent cities are with respect to where they build them.