That is correct, the median speed, as a rough guess, from the pizza place near my house, to my house, would be 35mph, including the 2 stoplights in the way. Assuming we had proper bike infrastructure(which we don’t); you’d be hard pressed to top the speed a car can go, and you would still have to stop frequently at lights, just like a car. And remember, that is the nearest place, not the only. And a small sub note, this area is not flat, at all. The gradient changes are brutal for bikes and they can’t sustain a decent constant speed. Well, at least before electric bikes.
I am not defending, in any way, America’s horrible car centric infrastructure. It is what we have though, and as a result, bike deliveries aren’t an option for the vast majority of America. Of course, when you leave the city, it gets worse.
BorgDrone@lemmy.one 1 week ago
Here it’s the exact opposite. There is no way a car can keep up with a bike in the city. Let’s say I wanted to go to the city center by car, which is about 2 kilometers. I would encounter 5 traffic lights just in that short drive. On a working day it would be slow, on a Saturday? Forget it. It would probably be faster to walk. Alternatively, I could go by bike and encounter exactly zero traffic lights. I would ride from my house to the bicycle highway (few hundred meters), and from there it’s an uninterrupted route to the city center. It’s a completely separate path and there are bridges crossing all major roads. Near the city center it turns into a shared space where bicycles have priority over cars. The city center isn’t accessible by car at all, so if you go by car you have to park your car at the edge of the city center (paid) and walk the rest. By contrast, I can cycle right up to any store and park my bicycle right in front of it.