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Changes since congestion pricing started in New York

(www.nytimes.com)
437 points Vinnl | 2 comments | 13 May 25 10:43 UTC | HN request time: 0.735s | source
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choeger ◴[15 May 25 06:26 UTC] No.43992350[source]▶
I wonder if this will eventually lead to increased density and if that then leads to congested bike lanes. Will the cities of tomorrow regulate traffic between individual buildings?

Make no mistake, bikes are much, much, better for urban centers than cars. But the overall problem isn't cars, it's individual traffic in densely populated areas.

Certain policy here in Europe simply assumes that people stay in their surroundings ("15 minute city") and rarely, if ever, visit parts that are farther away individually.

Public transportation, however, is naturally biased. It can be much quicker to get 10km north-south than 5km east-west, or the other way around, depending on the city. And, of course, public transportation is often lacking quality compared to individual traffic. (Taking a bike across a bicycle road vs. getting into a crammed subway train in July, for instance.)

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1. HPsquared ◴[15 May 25 09:24 UTC] No.43993255[source]▶
The other problem with public transport is anyone wanting to go from, say, the northeast to the southeast outskirts of a city. Public transport will tend to take everyone via the centre whereas a direct route would be much shorter.
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2. presentation ◴[15 May 25 09:38 UTC] No.43993340[source]▶
That’s a problem if the public transit system is solely geared towards sending people to the center. As a counter example there are lines in Tokyo that take different paths, like JR Musashino and Nambu lines, which do a big arc in the outskirts, or the Tokyu Oimachi Line, that does a line through southern suburbs, to name a few. Buses also fill in connections between lines that lack a direct rail connection (or you can go with scooter/bike shares)