@straphanger@urbanists.social
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straphanger

@straphanger@urbanists.social

Nulla dies sine linea.

Author of Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile. Advocate for bicycles, transit, walking, alternatives to the car...and great cities.

Words in The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian, L'actualité, The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal.

The Lost Supper: Searching for the Future of Food in the Flavors of the Past now out from Greystone. www.lostsupper.blog

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straphanger, to random
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"I happened to be cycling when I realized that my presence aroused a sort of hysteria in bystanders or people passing in cars. They shouted abuse...they threw things..."
—Paul Theroux on how drivers react to cyclists and walkers in the US.
🧵

straphanger,
@straphanger@urbanists.social avatar

More from his essay "Moving Target":
"I asked around...I was not alone. Most cyclists have stories of this kind, and joggers had much worse ones, and women joggers the worst persecution stories..."

straphanger,
@straphanger@urbanists.social avatar

"I have cycled + rowed in other countries, + I have been stared at, but not harassed. The aggression in the American reaction often has a comic veneer...but it is much more serious than it seems and I believe it constitutes an actual threat."

straphanger,
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"The response is so lacking in tolerance that I cannot help but think that at its source is a wild anger, a fear and frustration, at being faced by a free spirit, someone who cannot be controlled."

You've nailed it, Mr. Theroux.

straphanger, to sweden
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The city before the automobile, Scandinavian edition.

Streetcars, bicycles, pedestrians, horses.

A tram ride from Gothenburg, #Sweden 1907.

(Astonishing the number of people walking! Routine exercise, just part of the day...)

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straphanger, to random
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Let me tell you about my trip to #Dublin.

A fair-sized EU city with a pop of 1.28M (2.12M in "Greater" Dublin).

You might expect a city that size to have a metro. It doesn’t.

The Luas trams are great, but limited…🧵

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straphanger,
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…with just 2 lines, with 67 stops and 43 kms of track. Great service (though LUAS, “speed” in Irish, might be a misnomer). But not much coverage.

straphanger, to random
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"What's striking about riding a bicycle isn't that it solves a particular problem‚ but that it's part of the solution to several." —J. Harry Wray

(Photo: bicycle path to parking for 12,500 bikes at #Utrecht Central train station.) #multimodal

straphanger, to london
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I rode the newest-born of ’s underground lines, the Elizabeth this morning. Impressively modern design, wide, comfortable cars, automatic operation, and fast—about 25 minutes from Paddington to Heathrow…🧵

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straphanger, to london
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This is great fun!

I took a ride on the Mail Rail in . An alternative electric Underground that carried packages + letters through 9 miles of tunnels beneath the streets, from 1926 to 2003… 🧵

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straphanger, to cymru
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Here in #Wales, TfW will give you compensation if your train is more than 15 minutes late. In Canada and the US, ViaRail and Amtrak won’t give you more than a shrug. (Their “margin of error” is more in the half hour zone.)

straphanger, to random
@straphanger@urbanists.social avatar

Rather surprised to hear Sir David King, in convo with Ed Milliband (onscreen) at Hay-on-Wye festival proposing Arctic and Antarctic geo-engineering (massive conversion of seawater into ice and cloud) as the way forward in climate emergency.

straphanger, to random
@straphanger@urbanists.social avatar

I’ve been in #Dublin for the last few days. Fair-sized EU city with a metro population of 1.28 million.

You might expect a city that size to have a metro system. It doesn’t. There are DART trains, but that’s a commuter service.

The LUAS tram system is great, but limited…🧵

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straphanger, to Canada
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The press is dying in (pop. 40 million+) and the US (pop 330M +). Here are the daily papers on the newsstands in (pop. 5 million). Irish, English, etc. Dead jealous!

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straphanger, to random
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One of a wandering #straphanger’s great pleasures: nabbing the front seat of the upper level of a (non-tourist) double-decker bus—the 77A, direction Pearse DART station, #Dublin. Putting my Leap farecard to good use!

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straphanger,
@straphanger@urbanists.social avatar

Now riding the DART ( Area Rapid Transit) out to Howth. The city’s electrified commuter rail network, serving 53 stations. A bit like ’s S-Bahn, mash-up of commuter rail and urban service. 10 mn headways, though 35 mn this Sunday.

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straphanger,
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Ok, this is mad. You have to tap your Leap card before you get on the train, but also when you get out of the DART train. But at the Howth terminus, there’s only one card reader. So 100s of passengers jostle to tap out. At least put out more readers! Grumble grumble.

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straphanger, to random
@straphanger@urbanists.social avatar

This is brilliant: #Dublin has “fare capping” on its public transport. When you buy a LEAP farecard, you get charged a max. of €8 a day, or €32 / wk, no matter how many rides you take on commuter rail/DART/trams/buses. More here:

https://t.co/07Wo7uWwbO

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straphanger, to Quebec
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#Quebec City is amazing.

But when it comes to #transit, it deserves more than one funicular, two ferries, and...
🧵

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straphanger,
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...public staircases...

straphanger,
@straphanger@urbanists.social avatar

and a network of buses, none of them true Bus Rapid Transit.

straphanger,
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A tramway should have been a no-brainer! Yet over $500M has already been spent, and not a metre of track laid.

straphanger,
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I dig deeper in my latest dispatch:

https://www.straphanger.blog/quebec-city-can-do-better/

straphanger, to random
@straphanger@urbanists.social avatar

Modified mufflers, stock exhausts, drag bikes—and helicopters.

THE CITY IS TOO DAMN LOUD! 📢

Now NY is using $35,000 anti-noise cameras with mics to fine drivers whose cars go past 85 decibels.

Other cities too...
🧵

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/even-stock-exhausts-arent-safe-181300338.html

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straphanger,
@straphanger@urbanists.social avatar

This one's been installed in . Fines from 90€ to 750€.

https://actu.fr/auvergne-rhone-alpes/bron_69029/grand-lyon-le-premier-radar-anti-bruit-fera-tomber-les-amendes-des-2024_60763500.html

straphanger,
@straphanger@urbanists.social avatar

In re:

NEW RESEARCH: "Desire for a loud car with a modified muffler is predicted by higher scores on psychopathy and sadism."

From a sample of 529 (52% men) undergraduate business students.

https://cipp.ug.edu.pl/A-desire-for-a-loud-car-with-a-modified-muffler-is-predicted-by-being-a-man-and-higher,162006,0,2.html

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