this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2026
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Fuck Cars
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A lot of people choose a car even when it is just worse.
My bike ride to work is 8km and takes 20-25 mins. Yet I know people who live and work near me who drive the same route which takes almost twice as long mostly sat in traffic. They spend more on their car than I do on my mortgage and that is before maintenance, insurance, oh and fuel too because despite choosing such an expensive car and never driving over 10km, oh yeah gotta go for ICE.
Suppose at least with such short distances driven that fuel lasts a while. Doesn't stop them moaning about it though. I should start responding with the cost of Cornish pasties to power my bike.
This was kinda the reason I went back to cycling to work when I lived in London (I had lived in The Netherlands before and there it was pretty normal to do so) - it turns out that it was faster to just cycle through half of Zones 1 and 2 than to walk to an catch the tube (at least London actually has a subway, by car it would've been even worse because of traffic, not to mention parking).
This was back when cycling facilities there were a bit of a joke and there were but a few people doing the same as I did.
Further, even though I was doing it in a big city (so air polution was a consideration), my health actually improved from it (more so when I discovered a site with a polution map of London and switched to a route that minimized time in big avenues with lots of traffic and polution).
I would if i could. I hate driving, but I would get killed if i biked to work. Hell, I'd possibly die just trying to get to the nearest grocery store. I need a bike lane.
There’s the trick. Cyclists know that.
We’re just making our hate for existing on this planet a bit more honest.
Used to cycle a lot, first in The Netherlands, later in London (Britain), but where I am now (Portugal) it's very dangerous because drivers here are in my experience some of the worst in Europe (let's just say that, for example, most won't signal their intention to change direction when turning right, which is very dangerous for cyclists), but in a way I'm in a priviledged position, so I chose to live in a small city close where I work, so I just walk to work (about 15 minutes each way) which even has the upside that I'm guaranteed my 30m+ exercise each day, which a study some years ago showed decreases the risk of cardio-vascular problems by 70%.
Yeah, the car lobby really vetoed walkable and cyclable cities to... sell cars.
How are the bike lanes where you are?
Every lane is a bike lane, just ride in the middle of it and take the lane like you are supposed to.
So a jacked up truck trying to go 80 behind me is bearing down on me, swearing and flailing their arms around? I have no problems with this in quiet residential streets, but bikes just are not compatible with most North American roads. They're too slow to play with cars, they're too fast for sidewalks and pedestrians, and too useful and fun to ignore, so bike lanes are the best answer we have.
I'm not that brave.
If they spend most of their time sitting in traffic then that gas tank won't last very long at all.