When I think of transportation in Japan I think Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift and bicycles. I think bicycles because I see pictures all the time when I see pictures of Japan. So to me it is amazing that they don’t have an infrastructure for cyclists when my area spends millions of dollars on it and we have no where near the amount of people on bikes. Especially for economical reasons. Most people around here do it as a leisure activity or to stay in shape.
Here are some things said about wanting the infrastructure.
I think it’s necessary to make bike lanes. Even just having a line on the side of the road to demarcate where bikes can ride would be a help.
If you really want people to use bikes on the scale we use them in Denmark, where I am from, you have to implement infrastructure. I think bike lanes are the way to go. The only reason the chaos of Tokyo’s roads works is because the drivers are so patient and careful.
The important thing is that bike riders and car drivers have to learn to share the road. I often get car drivers tooting at me as though I am in their way. I think in terms of budgets it may be too much to expect them to make new bike-only roads or bike lanes, so we have to work on people’s awareness.
So after reading that I was all well come on lets get going why isn’t there any infrastructure lets get going. Unfortunately I fell into the trap of only listening to one side and not ALL sides of the issue. Which led me to some of the opposition to them, at least in terms of implementation of the infrastructure.
While you can’t really solve pain in the butt drivers there is one fairly un-seen victim to this. The small businesses. In another article I read on this issue there are 93 different places they are adding riding lanes, but there implementations are less than stellar. Here is the main issue quoted from the article.
That was until traders complained they would no longer be able to pull their cars up to the curb and unload their wares.
Some people may see this as a non-issue, but if you can’t get stuff into your store then it makes it rough to sell stuff. And really a bit pain if you have a BIG inventory to restock. There are solutions to the problem, but this just shows that things need to be a little more well thought out before they go large scale which it looks like the government in Japan is looking to do. Hopefully in the next years to come they will find the best solution for all and get some safe bike lanes for cyclists.
Original News Articles:
Cyclists unite in calling for new road-sharing infrastructure
Traders squeal at bike lane
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Isn't riding bikes a major source of transportation in Japan? wow, they really need to get started on bike lanes…
Here in Sweden pedestrians and bikers share the sidewalk, but bikers use the roads when there are no bike lanes on the sidewalk. I think it works well. Do they really need lanes though? It's not like you hear about bike accidents very often.
That is my thought too, but I don't live in Japan to know the pedestrian situation there. There seems to be a lot of people in favor of the places that did put in bike paths, but then people always like when you give them something.
In Japan they just share the sidewalk with pedestrians. Most roads are narrow anyways and there really isn't much constant car traffic other than on the main roads. Main roads usually have pretty decent sized sidewalks. The bikes in Japan are also often equipped with a bell you push with your thumb. Usually used if you're going to approach someone sort of close from behind.
The part that gets confusing is the the tons of bikes parked at the train station and when they get jammed all together or fall down.
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