General University Area Updates and Rumours

[danbrotherston]

Dude...I know you love bikes but you fail to see the bigger picture most of the time. You can cite all the studies and anecdotes you want but those don't matter to most people. Using your logic, horse and buggy is still viable. And sure, technically it is, but how many people in this century are going to use that? Or dump their car and haul their groceries home from Costco?

--snip--

A lot of posters on this forum have truly never studied urban development in depth and it shows. Things aren't as black and white as you imagine them to be. Call me objectively wrong all you want if that helps, but I'm really not. My entire career is devoted to researching this stuff. I've written a thesis on alternative transportation, but the truth is people still need and want vehicles and we need the infrastructure to support that.

You're 100% right.

That is a problem here -- you have some that are so hardcore with their bikes and belief that everyone can -- and should -- be riding one. Reality, the majority own personal vehicles because of their convenience, protection from weather, they're self-employed, they take care of elderly parents, multiple appointments per day, etc. Public transit doesn't cut it either, especially with its very limited service.

In regards to public transit, as I had mentioned before, my daughter was molested on GRT, and no one f*cking cared. She had to take the GRT to school as it was out of our boundaries (we're in Forest Heights territories, she was going to KCI) -- but in the end, the WRDSB and STS got her a yellow bus. She's not alone with the assaulting and molestations that occur on transit when you have rift raft using it and zero policing. My guess is that most of the posters on here (not all, but most) are male and likely never have had to deal with things that young females have to deal with. 

I am good with infrastructure spending on bike lanes and transit, but the very vocal minority (though seems like a majority at this site) need to respect those of us that have to drive, for whatever reason.

Again, I don't think anybody here has ever said, everyone must ride a bike. What we say is that given the right infrastructure, MOST people WILL ride for at least SOME trips. And excuses made of why you cannot ride doesn't apply to most people for all trips. Again, even people who care for elderly parents don't make every single trip with an elderly parent. And multiple appointments per day is easy to do on a bike, in fact, it's very easy, because you might only use the bike for some of them, as I often do.

Again, I find this a very common blindspot of people who drive for their transportation, the idea that you must use the same means for every single trip you ever take is a strange one, and one that is only held by people who use a car for their transportation.

I'm sorry about what happened to your daughter. Our society, and especially our police force does not take sexual assault seriously. It makes me very angry. You're right that I don't experience it, but I do see it, I've seen my partner get cat called while we were cycling. It's infuriating, and it's not right, and I want us to do something about that. But if the solution is to just stick everyone in cars, well then I feel we have truly failed as a society.

Please define "respect". I don't disrespect anyone for driving, I don't think it's a choice they're making, they are responding to the incentives we've built into our society. I do argue we should stop subsidizing driving. Do you think it is disrespectful to suggest that drivers should pay for the resources they are consuming? And I'll admit, I do disrespect people for making toxic choices like driving an excessively large pickup truck in an urban environment, largely as a result of advertising appealing to toxic parts of our culture.