The Extra Dimension

Ian R Buck and Brian Mitchell discuss transportation and cycling.

Transportation Miniseries

• Public Transit
• Individual Car Onwership
• Long Distance
• The Future

• Pros
• Good exercise
• Correlated with increased happiness
• Good for environment
• Cheap
• If more people bike, roads are safer
• Easy to park
• Cons
• WAY slower than driving when destination is more than a mile or two
• Tiring; only suitable for those physically capable of keeping it up
• At the mercy of the weather
• If city is not set up with bikes in mind, it can be quite dangerous
• Quite often, people who commute by bike are not doing so by choice; they’re just doing it until they can afford a car

• The future of commuting – Vox
• Why Minneapolis was voted the most bike-friendly city in America – Vox
• The Copenhagenize Index 2015 – Bicycle-friendly Cities
  Things cities can do to be more bike friendly:
• Bike lanes
• Bike trails
• Bike sharing programs
• Bike spots on public transportation
• Lower speed limits
• Fewer than 4% of Americans walk or bike to work. Here’s how to change that. – Vox
• No cul-de-sacs
• Cul-de-sacs might not be so bad if they had trails leading across, where cars cannot go
• Allow for mixed-use neighborhoods, so more amenities are available within walking/biking distance of their homes
• Narrow lanes, convert lanes into turning lanes
• Connect bike lanes/trails
• “THE FREE PARKING SUBSIDY IS WORTH AS MUCH AS $127 BILLION ANNUALLY”
• Walking in the Twin Cities: It’s hard out there for a pedestrian – StarTribune.com
• Biking or walking to work will make you happier and healthier – Vox
• Bike share users are mostly rich and white. Here’s why that’s hard to change. – Vox
• People who use them don’t really need them
• Concentrated in wealthier neighborhoods
• Often laid out with tourists in mind, not long-term users
• Supply is unreliable, especially on warm days
• Again, most low income bikers are not doing it by choice
• Where ‘Share the Road’ is Taken Literally – The New York Times
• It’s not just hipsters on bikes – cycling is most popular for poor people – Vox

The Extra Dimension is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to https://thenexus.tv/ted13.

This episode of The Extra Dimension has a Fringe episode. You should really listen to The Fringe #387: TED #13 — Mom, Do You Have A Car I Could Borrow?!

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