So I did some crude Googling and it looked like most of the Netherlands averaged 7-12 inches of snow each winter, where in WNY we can get more than that in a single storm. Covered bike tunnels all over a city might get you to and from someplace in the snow, but you can’t make them door-to-door for everyone. And some people are just not going to be fit enough, or healthy enough, or just want to lug a bike through a 2 foot snow bank to get to a bike tunnel to ride to work and then park their bike in a snow bank and hope they can get it back out 8+hrs later.
Looks like the highest monthly average is January with just over 8 inches. How does this change anything I said?
Edit Contrast this with Buffalo, NY that has a seasonal average of 104 inches over the last 10 years.
Edit #2 Just read this piece from a couple years ago. My main take away is that it is still a small percentage of bikers overall still, but they are working on it (which is good!). It also specifically states that the city was designed around biking being a bigger priority than cars, which is how all the debating in this post started. I think we all agree this is what is needed before we are going to push any majority away from cars, as without the infrastructure and making it a viable alternative we are never going to get there in the US at least.
So I did some crude Googling and it looked like most of the Netherlands averaged 7-12 inches of snow each winter, where in WNY we can get more than that in a single storm. Covered bike tunnels all over a city might get you to and from someplace in the snow, but you can’t make them door-to-door for everyone. And some people are just not going to be fit enough, or healthy enough, or just want to lug a bike through a 2 foot snow bank to get to a bike tunnel to ride to work and then park their bike in a snow bank and hope they can get it back out 8+hrs later.
Okay, now do some crude Googling about how much snow Oulo, Finland gets.
Looks like the highest monthly average is January with just over 8 inches. How does this change anything I said?
Edit Contrast this with Buffalo, NY that has a seasonal average of 104 inches over the last 10 years.
Edit #2 Just read this piece from a couple years ago. My main take away is that it is still a small percentage of bikers overall still, but they are working on it (which is good!). It also specifically states that the city was designed around biking being a bigger priority than cars, which is how all the debating in this post started. I think we all agree this is what is needed before we are going to push any majority away from cars, as without the infrastructure and making it a viable alternative we are never going to get there in the US at least.