On the Right Track: The 10 Most Improved Cities In the U.S. for Transit, Walking, and

[Yuri]

On the Right Track: The 10 Most Improved Cities In the U.S. for Transit, Walking, and Biking

• Video Link

1. Seattle, WA
2. Oakland, CA
3. San Francisco, CA
4. Chicago, IL
5. Fremont, CA
6. Jersey City, NJ
7. Portland, OR
8. Boston, MA
9. Salt Lake City, UT
10. New York, NY

Dishonorable mentions: Amarillo (TX), Fort Worth (TX), Los Angeles (CA), Fresno (CA), Bakersfield (CA), Modesto (CA), Stockton (CA), Oxnard (CA), Moreno Valley (CA), Corpus Christi (TX), Oklahoma City (OK), Lubbock (TX); and ones that improved but they're still very bad (he theorized that's due immigration): Oklahoma City (OK), Lubbock (TX), Indianapolis (IN).

Very informative video. It's worth watching. I'm subscribed to his channel, lot's of interesting stuff.

[destroycreate]

It's shocking has slow LA has been to improve the pedestrian experience, let alone bike lines. Virtually none of our major boulevards have dedicated bike lanes...yet this could be one of America's best biking cities, it's a shame. So I am not surprised we're on the dishonorable mention list.

[Yuri]

I don't know what's happening with the video, apparently is not working, so here the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mh1UctlSOg

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

It's shocking has slow LA has been to improve the pedestrian experience, let alone bike lines. Virtually none of our major boulevards have dedicated bike lanes...yet this could be one of America's best biking cities, it's a shame. So I am not surprised we're on the dishonorable mention list.

We have horrible leadership with stupid council members that are either corrupt, stupid or more worried about peoples genders and disarming police. We need to get rid of pretty much everyone on the city council other than Traci Park at this point.

[iheartthed]

If NYC and JC occupy 2 of the top 10 spots then that means almost everywhere else in America has made zero progress. NYC was already one of the most walkable places in the world in 2010. It wouldn't take much for almost any other city to catapult past in terms of relative improvement.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

If NYC and JC occupy 2 of the top 10 spots then that means almost everywhere else in America has made zero progress. NYC was already one of the most walkable places in the world in 2010. It wouldn't take much for almost any other city to catapult past in terms of relative improvement.

He noted on the beginning of the video the US as a whole made no move. Car share fell by 1 pt, but it was working from home that increased from 4% to 5%. Transit/bike/walk kept their share. That’s quite depressing as there is so much room for the US to reduce its car dependency, specially in a decade people were heading back to the cities.

[FromSD]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

We have horrible leadership with stupid council members that are either corrupt, stupid or more worried about peoples genders and disarming police. We need to get rid of pretty much everyone on the city council other than Traci Park at this point.

Politicians are loathe to do anything about improving the pedestrian or cycling experience because they get so much blowback from motorists when they do so. When LA took out a lane in each direction on Vista del Mar south of Marina del Rey to add bike lanes and curb speeders, there was an unbelievable howl of protest. That howl included complaints from the City of Manhattan Beach which ironically turns Vista del Mar into a charming, narrow, two-lane shopping paseo when the street crosses its city limits. The City of LA was forced to reverse the Vista del Mar traffic calming and the street is back to being a full-fledged race track.

San Diego is even worse. The city added bike lanes to a modest stretch of 30th Street in North Park. 30th Street is one of two major shopping streets in the North Park area and it has a lot of pedestrian-scale charm. The protected bike lanes meant taking out street parking since the street is only 1 lane in each direction. This small step also provoked an avalanche of protest, from shop keepers and from people who didn't want to lose free street parking. (There is an underutilized paid parking structure available.) The common complaint was that since the bike lanes weren't jammed with cyclists, they weren't worth the loss of parking places. The reasons most bike lanes aren't used in San Diego is because they usually don't go very far and they're usually unprotected. A half-mile stretch of bike lane, in and of itself, isn't going to convince a lot of people to hop on their bikes.

San Diego has signed up for a massive cut in green house gas emissions and it is expecting that much of it will be achieved by people commuting by bicycle instead of car. But bike lanes, especially protected lanes, are way down on the list of city priorities, and the lack of new cycling infrastructure is the result.

As far as Traci Park is concerned, I wonder how her positioning as a no-nonsense champion of neighborhood interests will affect her attitude to bike lanes, traffic calming and other measures that many motorists view as obstacles to getting where they want to go as fast as possible. It would be nice if a pragmatic moderate also had the sense to realize that the city can't continue to prioritize the private auto at the expense of pedestrians, cyclists and transit users.

[pdxtex]

I like citynerd's videos. Hes a snob but owns up to it.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by FromSD

Politicians are loathe to do anything about improving the pedestrian or cycling experience because they get so much blowback from motorists when they do so. (...)

That's horrible. People have this idea on how liberal California is and they're getting mad over bike lanes? There is anything more mainstream than bike lanes these days.

Originally Posted by pdxtex

I like citynerd's videos. Hes a snob but owns up to it.

Yeah, he's snob.

But he's good. He avoids clichés, he knows the subject and above all, makes very consistent lists, working very well with concepts such as city proper, metro areas. Moreover, he not only bring rankings and numbers, but what's behind them.

I guess he could venture more outside the US. It's almost like SSP. Very US-focused with some Canadian and Mexican stuff here and there.

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

I like citynerd's videos. Hes a snob but owns up to it.

Yeah. . . they're entertaining. . . hard to deal with that whiny(?) voice sometimes, but he does shed some light on urban issues that leave me with some decent takeaways to think about. . .

. . .

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

I like citynerd's videos. Hes a snob but owns up to it.

I've seen his videos too here and there. They're good, but they can also be kind of tedious to watch. I'll often find myself skipping through it if he does long lists. I find his voice kind of annyoing too, he sounds like a drag queen trying to butch it up.

A few days ago I saw his most recent video, about Las Vegas. Apparently he lives there now, which surprised me, being the urbanist that he says he is.

There's another guy that does urbanist/walkability-type videos that I like, I can't think of his Youtube handle right now, but he's a Canadian who now lives in the Netherlands.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

There's another guy that does urbanist/walkability-type videos that I like, I can't think of his Youtube handle right now, but he's a Canadian who now lives in the Netherlands.

That's "Not Just Bikes".

I like looking at his explanation of Dutch transport infrastructure, not just the bike lanes but the road design. When it comes to transport planning, the Dutch are miles ahead of us and we have a lot to learn from them.

But he can get quite sanctimonious and, like a lot of people who've moved to another country, looks at everything there with rose coloured glasses while shitting on everything back home.

Like he had a video on how Dutch grocery stores are so much better. Not farmer's markets or boutique food stores, but your average run of the mill supermarket. Now if you care about things like bike parking or how integrated a supermarket is into the urban environment, then, sure, your typical European grocery store is better. But when it comes to food selection, opening hours and price, I think I can say with some confidence that we have better stores and more of them, too.

He also had a video on how great the Dutch garbage collection worked, where instead of having weekly garbage pickup from your home, you walked your trash to a large communal dumpster in the middle of the block. Aesthetics aside (because they don't look bad), this kind of system doesn't do anything to reduce waste (the Dutch incinerate everything, too), nor does it handle things like organic waste.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

A few days ago I saw his most recent video, about Las Vegas. Apparently he lives there now, which surprised me, being the urbanist that he says he is.

I saw a recent video where he made a very strong case for transit and HSR for Las Vegas. 45 million people arrive at its airport and everybody goes to the Strip. It's a perfect arrangement for transit as a single line would suffice. Regarding HSR, apparently 25 million people drive from SoCal to there and again, everybody flocks into the Strip.

Originally Posted by sopas ej

There's another guy that does urbanist/walkability-type videos that I like, I can't think of his Youtube handle right now, but he's a Canadian who now lives in the Netherlands.

I've came across with his channel, in a video bashing a Houston boulevard/freeway. It has bike on the name. I don't remember.

Other very good channels are CityBeautiful, RMTransit and Stewart Hicks. They are all more friendly than CityNerd. I strongly recommend them.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

That's "Not Just Bikes".

I like looking at his explanation of Dutch transport infrastructure, not just the bike lanes but the road design. When it comes to transport planning, the Dutch are miles ahead of us and we have a lot to learn from them.

But he can get quite sanctimonious and, like a lot of people who've moved to another country, looks at everything there with rose coloured glasses while shitting on everything back home.

Like he had a video on how Dutch grocery stores are so much better. Not farmer's markets or boutique food stores, but your average run of the mill supermarket. Now if you care about things like bike parking or how integrated a supermarket is into the urban environment, then, sure, your typical European grocery store is better. But when it comes to food selection, opening hours and price, I think I can say with some confidence that we have better stores and more of them, too.

He also had a video on how great the Dutch garbage collection worked, where instead of having weekly garbage pickup from your home, you walked your trash to a large communal dumpster in the middle of the block. Aesthetics aside (because they don't look bad), this kind of system doesn't do anything to reduce waste (the Dutch incinerate everything, too), nor does it handle things like organic waste.

I have a problem when people are extremely harsh criticizing a place while is incredibly lenient towards other. We're all biased at some levels, but we should avoid such extremes.

Regarding Netherlands, for example, we could argue their bike culture is a bit hostile to pedestrians in more dense areas. Amsterdam also has a massive number of space dedicated to parking. Cars lining up everywhere. Small problems compared to most places? Sure. But it's not like they are the best on everything.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

Yeah. . . they're entertaining. . . hard to deal with that whiny(?) voice sometimes, but he does shed some light on urban issues that leave me with some decent takeaways to think about. . .

. . .

It's the whiny voice that made me fast forward through this video.

[SIGSEGV]

Hmm I must know different kinds of people because CityNerd's voice sounds pretty normal to me. Maybe I hang out with too many physicists...

[mhays]

He speaks like a lot of Pacific Northwest professionals who believe they really get what our society needs, and want others to get it too. Kind of a normalized version of South Park's "Smug" episode. (I say that as a PNW professional who believes perhaps incorrectly that I really get it.) But, while I don't agree with all of his methods or conclusions, he makes a lot of good arguments and showing google views brings it all alive.

Not Just Bikes is good too. I agree that he's too easy on the Netherlands and too hard on Canada.

I like Michael Beach's videos too. Looks like he doesn't do them anymore. https://www.youtube.com/c/MichaelBeachNYC/videos

[Chisouthside]

From my experience living in California, people are almost feral when it comes to defending their car infrastructure/parking lots so i can see why local gov is hesitant to propose bike/pedestrian friendly alternatives.

[Crawford]

Complete streets advocates always go crazy for Netherlands. Yes, it's more bikeable than almost anywhere else (I think Denmark would be a serious competitor). Otherwise, it doesn't have particularly impressive urban form or transit infrastructure, at least for Western European standards. But for some reason, Amsterdam is this idealized Nirvana.

Growing up not far from the Dutch border, the stereotype was that Dutch local trains were crap compared to German and French local trains. I have no idea if this is/was true, and/or whether bikes kind of made up the difference. I don't think they're Italy-level bad but don't think they have the type of service you expect in Germany/France either.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by Yuri

On the Right Track: The 10 Most Improved Cities In the U.S. for Transit, Walking, and Biking

• Video Link

1. Seattle, WA
2. Oakland, CA
3. San Francisco, CA
4. Chicago, IL
5. Fremont, CA
6. Jersey City, NJ
7. Portland, OR
8. Boston, MA
9. Salt Lake City, UT
10. New York, NY


Very informative video. It's worth watching. I'm subscribed to his channel, lot's of interesting stuff.

Already walkable cities become more walkable?

What kind of idiot list is this? Most improved is absolutely going to be sunbelt cities