Things that have been said about cars before but I feel like saying them again
Some pretty streets without street parking I've seen on this trip 😍
Though the Japanese ones are much more pleasant to walk or cycle than the French ones. Perhaps partly design - speed limits and the French street having a tiny footpath, implying that pedestrians should stay there, versus small Japanese streets often having either wide painted footpaths or no footpath - but a lot of it is just the driving culture.
At least the interminable Eurostar line has a pleasant view of Gare du Nord
Aside: you can play spot the dog here, and compare to the number of humans waiting. Whenever the topic of pets on public transport comes up in Sydney, people seem to imagine every carriage full of fur. But in places it’s allowed, I usually see proportions like this - perhaps 1-2% of people with a pet. And this is off peak - long distance lines at 11am on a Thursday. I imagine on commuter services it’s even lower.
One of the food ones (they are chosen at random from a list of half a dozen or so, it appears).
Translation: For your health, practice a physical activity regularly. www.[eatingmoving].fr
Something surprising for me: French TV showing sustainable transport messages below car ads! No idea if this actually does anything, but certainly a different government mindset, can’t imagine it in Australia.
Also they only appear for 3 seconds so they’re hard to photograph, sorry for the blur. Unlike the equivalent food ones (in reply) which appear for the duration of the ad.
Translation: For short journeys, privilege walking or cycling. #GetAroundPollutingLess
Visited a friend in an interesting deck-access/breezeway-type building near Rennes yesterday, 'Utopia', Bruz.
Some English description: https://www.stirworld.com/see-features-bruz-utopia-housing-by-champenois-architectes-explores-idyllic-community-living
The courtyard seems quite dominated by the footbridges at first, but there was plenty of light at the base when we visited. Probably lets more light to the internal windows on the ground floor than a conventional corridor design. Will be interesting to see how the plants are doing in a few years.
Only flaw my friends said...
(1/2)
Trains of the day a few days ago
Got the Shinkansen for one stop back to Nagasaki, as we have JR passes so it’s the same price. 8 minutes vs 24 minutes on the Seaside Liner. Speed doesn’t look that different out the windows but it spends a lot more of the distance in tunnels. Shows how that kind of straightening, and not having stops, contributes to the effective speed of high speed rail. (The driving time would be similar to the slow train).
Trains of the day a few days ago
Sadly, they are building a new freeway next to the train line, instead of perhaps upgrading it from a single track, once an hour service…
Trains of the day a few days ago
On the way back we took the train from Aino to Isahaya, which is basically a glorified bus, 1 car. Apparently the most expensive train to maintain per passenger in the world? Or was it Japan? Latter seems more possible (I have not verified this at all)
Trains of the day a few days ago
Bikes at Isahaya station. Have seen very few locked bikes in Japan!
Petition for another light rail stop in Surry Hills: https://www.teamclover.com.au/wimbolightrail
I've signed mostly because I don't like the argument that stops would be too close together because of a fixed '400m catchment', which is outdated and not representative of mode choice decisions & experience for shorter trips.
Having registered my opposition to catchment analyses... here's a rough one anyway.
Went out of my way just to enjoy this nice new #bike crossing on Mitchell Road.
Still some awkwardness where the two-way cycling becomes one-way (behind the pedestrians) but it’s a very quiet street over there so it’s probably ok.
minor leagues #carryshitolympics - my partner is recovering from knee surgery with the aid of his new e-bike conversion. He brings the crutch to work because he still has trouble with stairs and getting up from seats.
PhD student at UNSW City Futures Research Centre. Committee member of WalkSydney (https://walksydney.org/). Interested in access, walkability, sustainable transport in general, open source urban analytics. Transport cyclist, climber, plant based.