You can have slow-growing hedges at a slight distance (~0.5 m to 1 m) from the path, or the plants could be in boxes.
Something like this is also possible:
The hedges typically don’t really require weekly maintenance - once every few months suffices.
Alternatively, trees could be used, with grass and flowers inbetween.
I’m Dutch and those ““painted”” and “sharrow”" wouldn’t even count as bicycle lanes. You’re surrounded by cars on both sides, there’s no clear markings it’s for bicycles, nothing nada.
If I were an urban designer/mayor I’d fire whoever thought it’d be a good idea to build it that way.
In my view, these would be requirements:
Painted:
Protected:
edit: added last point, and added to first point of ‘protected’.
I mention 30 km/hr. This is crucial, because above that speed, the mortality for anyone (regardless of whether they wear a helmet or not) increases rapidly. Especially if the car is tall, and has a flat end, rather than sloped. If you then get ran over, you don’t get crushed under, but ‘glide’ onto the car’s front. That is safer.
And for either kind of bike lane/path, I think it’d help that if a motorised vehicle crashes into a bicyclist or pedestrian, then the fault should be assumed 100% on the driver and the driver should pay all damages, unless if it’s shown that the bicyclist or pedestrian was at fault, in which case it’s 50/50. This is important, since motorised vehicles are much heavier and can cause deaths while the others don’t really do so. It helps to deter drivers from driving over others and going off scot-free.
The rule is also, in all areas where there’s only a painted bikelane with non-continuous lines going like - - -, and the road has a single car lane, this is what you do. When you see a bicyclist, you’ll have to slow down to 30 km/hr, but then can overtake them (temporarily driving on the bike lane). You’re not allowed to park or stop there, however.
If the line is continuous, such as ——, then you cannot drive over on the bike lane.
You’ll also need to motivate a lot of car drivers to try out bicycling, decoupling the fiction of a “car driver” identity as separate from a “bicyclist” identity. At the end of day, they are both merely modes of transportation, though the latter is generally much better. Tell them for example that bicycling makes you healthier, costs less, and gives you independence.
I’m not sure how “rarely talked about” we’re talking about, but it doesn’t get brought up often enough that Reagan and Thatcher were involved in Operation Cyclone, a CIA and MI5-backed financing of terrorists. specifically, they financed the deeply religious mujahedeen, and even met their leaders.
Those groups opposed labour rights’ movements around the world, which would greatly have benefited engineers, plumbers, electricians, nurses, farmers, scientists, and so on around the world.
My hot take there is this. Osama used to help the mujahedeen, so in retrospect, most theocratic violence (yes, even 9/11) was caused by the aftereffects of Reagan’s and Thatcher’s politics backing religious fundamentalists, rather than y’know, moderate socialists. Capitalists remain capitalists, after all.
Does iodé allow for an iOS-like look? A minor thing for me, but nonetheless…
CalyxOS was founded by someone who worked for the feds through Raytheon, no? I’m doubtful… granted, he got threatened by the FBI, so there’s that.
LineageOS or iodéOS are options, the latter being better if what this summary says is true..
Unfortunately, iodé doesn’t sandbox apps, nor has per-app storage & contact scopes, which are pretty big things. Verified boot is also not thorough, excluding app updates.
And doesn’t Nothing have a privacy policy where the data that they transfer and store, can be outside the EEA/UK? See point 9 there.
Samsung is too big tech for me, so that’s out of the question. Asus would be an option, but the short support is indeed questionable.
Nokia is a possibility, but they got into the AIslop.
Then what is the next best?
As far as daily drivers go and if your threat model would say your risk is low, I think Fairphone with e/ is a great choice, yeah. I was thinking of the Fairphone 6 for that case, actually.
But if your threat model is higher, or if you want to support people with higher threat models, or want to prioritise security, I think GOS seems better. My worry is primarily about the ethics of a Motorola or Pixel, considering where Motorola is based and who owns it.
They are, yes. But it feels all very paradoxical.
A company owned by a country with pervasive surveillance, set in a country with pervasive surveillance laws, cooperating with a OS developer for anti-surveillance measures.
Granted, I could see that from places with pervasive surveillance, a need arises for something that removes all that surveillance. But then, would governments not be harsh on that?
Sadly so far only Belgium, Germany, and France. Why those already managed to put in Wero while the rest hasn’t, is beyond me.
Are there actual, practical reasons? Or are other countries’ governments being lobbied too hard to not put through with Wero?
iDEAL from what I know is basically Wero, just local. So you’re already kind of using it, if you do so.
fascist*
Should also add that a lot of libertarians in reality tend to be more of the “I want the freedom to repress others” people, eg wanting homeschooling (which can increase abuse), opposing measures that would improve every person’s quality of life (such as universal healthcare) etc.
Anarchists on the other hand, tend to be more often on the socialist or communist kind, in where they favour the abolition of hierarchy and thus favour an egalitarian society, by abolition of private (but not personal) property.
Yeees… yees… all is going according to plan
Been around in both areas often, I’m Dutch and went to Oslo. Family has visited Copenhagen. All are walkable by US standards, by European standards as well. For Dutch standards, it varies a bit.
Overview
As for public transit, generally I’d say the NL are the second best in the world (Switzerland is somewhat better in its quality and reach to smaller towns, and Luxembourg actually has it for free). Still, all capitals and 100k+ cities in the Nordics and NL should be decent in terms of public transit, walkability and bicyclability. Don’t expect a utopia of perfection. Like every country, we have our nice things, problems and issues, just a bit differently.
That said, it’s certainly better than NYC, which I’d consider the most STEW-friendly big city in the US. Cambridge, Massachussetts might be better than NYC, though (higher total bike & pedestrian & public transit share).
STEW is how I translate the Dutch priority system for infrastructure, that we use:
Stepping - Pedestrians
Twowheelers - Bicyclists
Everyone - Public transit
Wheels - Cars
For an environment to be car-friendly, STEW is absolutely necessary (thus, bicyclists, pedestrians, public transit, all those make it better for car drivers, as there’s fewer traffic jams!).
My recommendation, if you are going to live a few km outside of the city, get an e-bike, or live near a public transit stop.
Nordics
Of the big Nordic cities, Copenhagen is the most bicycle friendly, clearly the winner. I’d even go as far as to call them excellent for Dutch standards. The rest of Denmark is likewise decent. Odense pops out most in mind, they have a particular extra focus on bicyclists.
In Norway, Oslo is a relatively good one as well, lots of bicycle paths. Stavanger and Bergen are also okay, but not as good. (And they’re way rainier!). Most Norwegians will take you into account when you bicycle along the roads, by driving a bit slower near you.
In Sweden, Malmö, Umeå, and Uppsala are fairly good for bicycling. Stockholm, compared to other Nordic capitals, has a better cuisine and nicer architecture, but the biking is meh.
For Finland, the capital Helsinki according to the Copenhagenise Index, is number 6 out of all cities, so should be pretty good (the index only takes into account cities with 100k+ people, though).
Iceland is a beautiful country, but it’s unfortunately still very car-focused. Reykjavík has quite some bits to improve regarding bicycle friendliness. It could be considered walkable, though it is not quite bicycle-friendly yet.
Faroe Islands: sorry buddies, I don’t know too much about you. Only that it’s walkable, but no idea about bicycling and public transit.
Greenland: same issue as Faroe Islands. Don’t know much, but I know there’s a bus line in Nuuk.
The Netherlands
Amsterdam is on par with Copenhagen and good (but so are virtually all Dutch cities), though it suffers from a lot of tourists walking on the bloody bicycle lane. I’ve had to ring more than often to yell them away.
Utrecht I’d actually label more bike-friendly. It has or is going to have a neighbourhood that’s completely car-free. The mid-sized cities Groningen and Nijmegen (nicknamed “Havana at the Waal”) are great as well.
Of Dutch big cities, Rotterdam and The Hague are imho the worst. They have a more carbrained infrastructure. On a global (and even European) scale it’s still bicycle friendly, but you will encounter wide roads where other Dutch cities instead have bus lanes, bicycle lanes, etc. It’s improving, though.
Discrimination
Most of the Nordics as well as the Netherlands are actually fairly sympathetic to Cuba and we like Cubans (not the far-right ones in Florida though, we detest those that voted for Trump).
With regard to discrimination, I think you’ll find that it depends on how well you learn the national/local language. Most people in the NL and Nordics can speak English decently, but socialise in their native language. The better and sooner you learn that, the easier it’ll be adapting. Discrimination isn’t as overt or common as in the US, but usually is more ‘casual’, more subtle. Think à la, not getting hired as fast because of foreign names, lower salaries, that stuff.
The far right sadly also grows everywhere in the world, due to rich people funding those through algorithms – and so violent incidents increased. Regardless, discrimination should and must always remain prohibited, and so please do report it! I’d welcome you as one of us.
That said, on how you’ll be treated, approximated, you’ll be fine. People are curious and like to hear from elsewhere. Jamte’s law applies. Don’t stick out too much, don’t brag about being rich, don’t put other people down, that all helps.
And, this goes for everyone (even native people included), but it’s harder to get yourself into friend circles as an adult. Not impossible, though! Your best bets are through study, work, and hobbies. So seek those out.
More like, why does the street cross the bike lane like that.
Also, just noticed, but the photo in the article is photoshopped. It’s in the Netherlands lol.
Doubt it’s that expensive. A locker can be made for like $500. But then you’re thinking of sheds with a simple lock. If you want something actually safe, you’d need a bike garage, and those can go up to like $4k a piece., or $5k if we’re counting cargo bikes.
To install them, you need labour as well. Assuming a $40/hr wage (could arguably be higher, depending on source), and a team of 8 people doing this for 8 hours a day, that’s $2,560 a day for labour in total. Two isolate the area, keep the area clean, two drill holes in pavement and breaks up stuff so the boxes can get in there, two transport the materials, and two assemble.
So, assuming 4 boxes a day of $5,000 each, so it’s now about $22,560 in total per day (wages included). Let’s assume $22,500 here per day. 500 lockers divided by 4 (amount installed per day) then yields 125 days (4 months, 3 days) to install all of them. Thus, that’s $2,812,500 in total.
But we’ll also need permits. The build plan needs to be assessed for transparency, environment, construction drawings, and the impact for the neighbourhood. It’s complicated, but let’s say $500 per balcony-like area (a balcony being about as big as one of those 3-bike boxes). So that’s $250,000 in total for the permits.
We then end up with a total cost of 3,062,500, or let’s call it 3,100,000. Because building often has additional hidden costs and maintenance, I’m assuming 1/3 extra, so it’s even better when it turns out to cost less. Then we end up with about $4,000,000, or $0.45 per NYC inhabitant.
Even if wages were $250/hr, it’d end up costing only $36,000 a day total (labour+construction), and thus totals $4,750,000 (including permit). Hidden costs, delays and maintenance included, that’s $6,175,000 in total, a fraction of the $25,000,000 that is claimed, with 6 months build time in total (the 2 extra months are part of this ‘extra cost’ if that happens).
This would mean all of the 500 boxes cost less than a dollar for all NYC inhabitants in total!
That while it gives much more freedom in the form of bicycles. There are no additional fuel costs, yearly checkups, and so on, and you get fitter and stronger, thus reducing your healthcare costs. Bikes literally make you richer.
As a Dutch person, my recommendation:
get a folding bike. They’re pretty cheap and useful primarily for biking a few km.
Alternatively, get an omafiets, make it look rusty and shoddy, but give it a few distinct characteristics so you can recognise it easily when stolen. Nobody wants to steal a bike that doesn’t look valuable, and yet is recognisable. You can also twist how it steers, takes training to bike on it, but thieves will always fall.
I think it is possible to establish a society that is not militaristic. It must always be prepared to combat fascism and capitalism; but it must also have freedom of speech.
An anarchocommunist society must prevail through the full liberation of all people; it must mean that basic needs are taken care of, and that all can discuss freely without hatred, without fear of state repression. It must mean that corruption and oligarchism is nonexistent.
I do not believe in a society where everyone lives in fear; I believe in a society where everyone lives in joy for the next day.
What @[email protected] said, goes. But as for the amount of lanes, I do think I overlooked that one, so I edited my comment just now. I do think it’s worth in general to reduce the amount of car lanes (given that induced demand’s a thing).
Still, for protected bike lanes that are fully separate from car lanes, by a strong barrier (not just an elevation), I think you could do with 4, maybe 6 lanes. More would be unnecessary or dangerous for all, though.
We also have ‘bicycle main pathes’ where car drivers are ‘guests’. That is, cars must drive behind bicyclists and not overtake them. They generally are in 30 km/hr zones, and the width of 2-3 car lanes (so about 7-10 m). Sidewalks are also present there, of course.
Typically, those are in residential-heavy areas where a lot of people bicycle (often near the city centre where most stores are). They provide that cars can drive around the centre, while bicyclists can easily go in and out of the centre.