Yesterday I biked by an Amsterdam school during parent pickup. There were only two cars and dozens of bikes. The parents who needed the cars got their kids loaded up in a couple of minutes instead of waiting half an hour. This is what bike-friendly infrastructure means: people who need cars can use them more efficiently and everyone else is enjoying their bike ride home with their kids https://mastodon.social/@TheWarOnCars/111089095480660738
Besides bike rides being more fun physically than cars for kids, the trips are shorter, it’s harder to get “bike sick,” and kids get to bike themselves to school and hangouts with friends at a much earlier age than in car-centric infrastructure. I spent so much of my childhood bored and sick in cars, even though I did relatively a lot of biking to friends’ houses
Something I think people should emphasize more about bike-friendly infrastructure is how happy the kids seem! Yesterday I saw a kid facing backwards on the bike seat behind his dad, grinning with happiness at riding the “wrong” way. So so many dads riding with babies in front, snuggled up between their arms, or two toddlers in a cargo bike together laughing. The difference between happy little kids on bikes and sullen bored kids with tablets in their car seats is stark