SANDAG Considers Mileage Tax for Drivers (San Diego, Carlsbad: sales, home, subsidized)

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by citizensadvocate

I guess the idea was much more popular before COVID hit now people shun transit or public transportation because either they are still afraid of getting COVID or don't want to be forced to wear a mask for hours. Dealerships are running short of cars, partially due to high demand and the chip shortage and reduced supply due to 2020.

San Diego is just too large for most people to bicycle far and many places such as along 56 corridor has no transit at all for many many miles. It appears Bike/scooter share were the driving force in more bike lanes as its the only place thats officially legal for e-scooters to run.

As mentioned in other posts, Parking wars seem to increase as developers are getting more and more stingy with parking in residential properties whether its single family home or apartment/condos. I believe some sort of communal parking provision which can be paid should be provided for residential or mixed use development as opposed to having each provide their own parking which cannot be used most of the time when there are no invitees.

The new E bikes have really changed all that. My E bike has a top speed of 41 (CA governs it to 20 mph) but leaving it in a lower setting gets me about 40 mile round trip range. I'll take my bike before any public transportation. Hard pass. Right now public trans is likely the mostly like place you'll be around people with the new covid strains.

[Axxlrod]

Originally Posted by newgensandiego

Nah, I just think we need to optimize and maintain our existing transportation infrastructure rather than keep expanding it. Give people more options, viable options. I'm not a bicyclist, but I do think we need improved bicycle infrastructure especially in urban areas. It's pretty nonexistent given the density of some of our neighborhoods.

Would love to hear your solution instead of a dismissive comment!

My solutions:

More roads
wider roads
more parking
more lanes
stop stealing traffic lanes and turning them into ultra-wide and seldom used bike lanes

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Axxlrod

My solutions:

More roads
wider roads
more parking
more lanes
stop stealing traffic lanes and turning them into ultra-wide and seldom used bike lanes

We could also use:

Future immigration declines for both illegal and legal immigrants or "refugees". We don't want to be LA which is mostly concrete without parks or canyons. Since covid people have proven they can work from anywhere. They don't need to be in San Diego County.

[Axxlrod]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

We could also use:

Future immigration declines for both illegal and legal immigrants or "refugees". We don't want to be LA which is mostly concrete without parks or canyons. Since covid people have proven they can work from anywhere. They don't need to be in San Diego County.

That works for me too. We don't need to take in the entire planet.

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by Axxlrod

My solutions:

More roads
wider roads
more parking
more lanes
stop stealing traffic lanes and turning them into ultra-wide and seldom used bike lanes

So a 1950s plan that never lived up to the hype? cool cool. The national highway system was an awesome idea, but it was meant to support INTERSTATE travel. Widening freeways through urban areas so suburban dwellers can use their car is a failed experiment.

But honestly...where? How many homes are you demolishing? There are so few existing dedicated bike lanes you can't honestly think reconverting those handful would have any notable improvement in vehicular traffic for a growing region of 3.4 million people.

[Axxlrod]

Well I've seen firsthand up here in Cardiff/Encinitas/Carlsbad what happens when the city takes a two lane road, and bottlenecks it down to one lane for cars, and now one huge lane for bicycles.

The result is snarled traffic for cars, and an empty bike lane except of weekend mornings. Stupid idea.

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by Axxlrod

Well I've seen firsthand up here in Cardiff/Encinitas/Carlsbad what happens when the city takes a two lane road, and bottlenecks it down to one lane for cars, and now one huge lane for bicycles.

The result is snarled traffic for cars, and an empty bike lane except of weekend mornings. Stupid idea.

Is anecdotal experience your only evidence? Would love to see traffic data comparing before and after (you aren't really a reliable source and I have had mixed experiences on that stretch).

I want to see XX seconds of added delay, at the intersection level. XX minutes of extra travel time for segments of the corridor. Conditions for all hours (peak/non-peak) and all days (weekend, weekday). Also, # of crashes (bike or vehicular) for safety purposes. Otherwise how could I possibly have an informed opinion without fully understanding the trade-offs? Is XX decline in crashes + the provision of bike lanes worth an added 5 minutes of corridor travel time? Maybe bike lanes aren't appropriate on 101 if the data supports it.

Btw, loved that you ignored the rest of my post. How many homes and neighborhoods are you ready to bulldoze to expand those roadways? You can't just do freeways alone--need expansions of arterials too or it will cause chokepoints. So which roads are we expanding?

[ddeemo]

Originally Posted by newgensandiego

Is anecdotal experience your only evidence? Would love to see traffic data comparing before and after (you aren't really a reliable source and I have had mixed experiences on that stretch).

I want to see XX seconds of added delay, at the intersection level. XX minutes of extra travel time for segments of the corridor. Conditions for all hours (peak/non-peak) and all days (weekend, weekday). Also, # of crashes (bike or vehicular) for safety purposes. Otherwise how could I possibly have an informed opinion without fully understanding the trade-offs? Is XX decline in crashes + the provision of bike lanes worth an added 5 minutes of corridor travel time? Maybe bike lanes aren't appropriate on 101 if the data supports it.

Btw, loved that you ignored the rest of my post. How many homes and neighborhoods are you ready to bulldoze to expand those roadways? You can't just do freeways alone--need expansions of arterials too or it will cause chokepoints. So which roads are we expanding?

It is not anecdotal if it is about a specific location - it should not require a study to confirm a stupid design that is not being used. There are other places they have done similar - in North Park they took out 400 paring spots in front of businesses on 30th st to make a bike lane - they could have moved the bike lane one block over and had much less impact. What they did in these cities was probably worse - it was a blatant choice of dedicated Bike lanes who make up less than 1% of the traffic and can use the road anyway over cars that make up most of the rest.

[Axxlrod]

Originally Posted by newgensandiego

Is anecdotal experience your only evidence? Would love to see traffic data comparing before and after (you aren't really a reliable source and I have had mixed experiences on that stretch).

I want to see XX seconds of added delay, at the intersection level. XX minutes of extra travel time for segments of the corridor. Conditions for all hours (peak/non-peak) and all days (weekend, weekday). Also, # of crashes (bike or vehicular) for safety purposes. Otherwise how could I possibly have an informed opinion without fully understanding the trade-offs? Is XX decline in crashes + the provision of bike lanes worth an added 5 minutes of corridor travel time? Maybe bike lanes aren't appropriate on 101 if the data supports it.

Btw, loved that you ignored the rest of my post. How many homes and neighborhoods are you ready to bulldoze to expand those roadways? You can't just do freeways alone--need expansions of arterials too or it will cause chokepoints. So which roads are we expanding?

Uh, I don't work for the traffic department, so I don't have access to that data. If you don't want believe me because I don't have a formal traffic study for what I'm saying then fine. I don't need one. I live here. I see it everyday.

You're right. Homes can't easily be relocated or demolished. Which is why it's even more ridiculous to bottleneck the existing roads we already have just so some middle-age lawyers can suit up in their spandex and ride to Starbucks every Saturday morning. It's funny that you mention expanding freeways alone will cause chokepoints... because that's exactly what happens when you take away a lane for cars and give it to bikes.

Businesses are fighting for their life, and have been for the past 18 months. Removing the street parking in front of their businesses is just another nail in their coffin.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by Axxlrod

Well I've seen firsthand up here in Cardiff/Encinitas/Carlsbad what happens when the city takes a two lane road, and bottlenecks it down to one lane for cars, and now one huge lane for bicycles.

The result is snarled traffic for cars, and an empty bike lane except of weekend mornings. Stupid idea.

I bike that route a lot and will have to agree with you. There was already a dedicated bike path to the west about one block. The problem was cyclists that decided they didn't want that detour and kept going where there really was no bike lane. A couple riders got whacked by illegals, some drunks and people backing out of the eateries. For that reason I still take the bypass route, much safer. The drunks, illegals and people not paying attention backing out still whiz down that section or road. The lane was the over-reaction to those deaths. The better solution would have been better signage directing riders to the existing bike path.