Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2009 11:01:02 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Vanagon emissions
In-Reply-To: <950178.52615.qm@web45314.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 9:56 AM, Poppie Jagersand
<poppie.jagersand@yahoo.ca>wrote:
> I was first going to write an emotional ode to the virtues of the
> bus/vanagon, but then I realized that all posters to this thread have valid
> points. It is just a matter of figuring out under what
> assumptions/preconditions those hold.
>
> Finally, like Tobin points out, for most city trips a bike is just as good
> as a car. So the most environmentally friendly alternative would be to own a
> relatively fuel miserly camper for weekend outings, or whenever something
> heavy needs to be transported and ride a bike for daily commuting and
> errands. Research in cities from medium size Vancouver
> to large Sao Paolo that bikes get around town much faster than a car
> anyway. In Vancouver these results are prominently posted around the city:
> average speed of a car is only 24km/h. You can bike at about the same speed
> or take the public transport skytrain at twice the speed.Martin
>
I read somewhere that the average speed on Los Angles area freeways is
18mph. In my experience, that is about right...either stopped completely
most of the time or going 90mph for a few miles till the next jam. And yet
in that part of the world, the Automobile is Really Important. You see
'beater' 911s with teenage drivers, almost everybody drives a new shiny
car. Vipers and Ferraris are the "Fords and Chevys" of the upscale urban
dwellers around there..Like you really need a 200+ mph capable sports car to
average 18mph...
On the other hand, one would not long survive trying to get around the LA
area by bicycle..Nope! Imagine riding through the normal gridlock on any of
the freeways on your bike...doing 20-25mph (a easy sustainable pace for a
fit road cyclist) past literally hundreds of thousands of fuming and
stationary drivers...You would very soon be a victim of road rage.. "If I am
stuck here in this traffic, that frikken' lycra-clad bike f-- is not gonna
go anywhere either" And on the rare occaisions where traffic is not
stalled, the drivers are so exhuberent that they could give a crap about
some cyclist on the shoulder...No Mercy for bikes there..and no public
transportation either.
Happy friday
Don Hanson
>
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