My experience while living in Tokyo is that I often cycled to a station and left my bike at the station. I almost never do that in Vancouver where I live now.
Thanks for this, Sam! It sums up beautifully, a whole lot of what I felt in Osaka.
When Suhee and I would bike longer distances in the city, we would memorize the landmarks that were linked by those old 'terrain following' streets. Then take a general heading between that string of landmarks to get to the destination. Getting slightly lost and/or purposefully taking slightly different routes each time was part of it. I felt like that is a part of getting to know the city which is discouraged by modern street grids.
It is hard to get lost on the Manhattan grid. Personally I consider that a design flaw of NYC😂
25 years now bicycle commuting from Kawasaki to Sangenjaya (12km) where I use main streets only to cross the river. So you are right. But in addition the fact that cars on these streets are going slower than I am, and the traffic laws which assume the larger vehicle is always at fault in a collision, I feel far safer here than anywhere else in the world.
Yes agreed, in Tokyo the fear of cars feels like a smaller factor than the threat of falling on your own or bumping into a pedestrian. Such a liberating feeling. When I biked 15 km to Brooklyn it was all on bike lanes, but I was always getting squeezed by cars and semi trucks and had to be constantly vigilant at intersections. I'm sure I was less likely to die thanks to the bike lanes, but you still feel like a second-class user of the road.
It's not just the poky windy streets, it seems to me that Tokyo (and Osaka and some but not all other Japanese cities) deliberately makes driving a car in the city annoying and expensive. The traffic lights are generally poorly synchronized so you are in start stop traffic even on major routes and it isn't very busy - something I've observed taking taxis at various times of the day, including late at night when the streets are deserted. Parking is generally expensive and inconvenient. If you avoid the surface streets by getting on the expressways then it is fast, but it's also relatively expensive. Since there's generally lots of public transport that is of similar or lower cost and which is about as fast and convenient it makes no sense to drive and so most of the time most people don't
Back in the day when I cycled in Tokyo I used this thing called a paper map to plan my longer routes. These days I'd probably use google, but I'd set it for walk rather than car and check the route from time to time rather than ask it to guide me. In fact that is more or less what I do when I run in Tokyo.
Bravo! A striking, accessible comparison that deserves the widest possible circulation.
Very interesting Sam!
Biking with you in Tokyo contributed to your mom getting an e-bike!
My experience while living in Tokyo is that I often cycled to a station and left my bike at the station. I almost never do that in Vancouver where I live now.
Yes, bicycles at a micro scale complement & integrate with transit at metro scale
Thanks for this, Sam! It sums up beautifully, a whole lot of what I felt in Osaka.
When Suhee and I would bike longer distances in the city, we would memorize the landmarks that were linked by those old 'terrain following' streets. Then take a general heading between that string of landmarks to get to the destination. Getting slightly lost and/or purposefully taking slightly different routes each time was part of it. I felt like that is a part of getting to know the city which is discouraged by modern street grids.
It is hard to get lost on the Manhattan grid. Personally I consider that a design flaw of NYC😂
25 years now bicycle commuting from Kawasaki to Sangenjaya (12km) where I use main streets only to cross the river. So you are right. But in addition the fact that cars on these streets are going slower than I am, and the traffic laws which assume the larger vehicle is always at fault in a collision, I feel far safer here than anywhere else in the world.
Yes agreed, in Tokyo the fear of cars feels like a smaller factor than the threat of falling on your own or bumping into a pedestrian. Such a liberating feeling. When I biked 15 km to Brooklyn it was all on bike lanes, but I was always getting squeezed by cars and semi trucks and had to be constantly vigilant at intersections. I'm sure I was less likely to die thanks to the bike lanes, but you still feel like a second-class user of the road.
For better or worse I’ve come across a lot of mothers and older people on bicycles that ride around absolutely fearlessly.
It's not just the poky windy streets, it seems to me that Tokyo (and Osaka and some but not all other Japanese cities) deliberately makes driving a car in the city annoying and expensive. The traffic lights are generally poorly synchronized so you are in start stop traffic even on major routes and it isn't very busy - something I've observed taking taxis at various times of the day, including late at night when the streets are deserted. Parking is generally expensive and inconvenient. If you avoid the surface streets by getting on the expressways then it is fast, but it's also relatively expensive. Since there's generally lots of public transport that is of similar or lower cost and which is about as fast and convenient it makes no sense to drive and so most of the time most people don't
Back in the day when I cycled in Tokyo I used this thing called a paper map to plan my longer routes. These days I'd probably use google, but I'd set it for walk rather than car and check the route from time to time rather than ask it to guide me. In fact that is more or less what I do when I run in Tokyo.