Biking to school in Barcelona
2021-11-17 01:13:10.596002+01 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
For various reasons, my trek to work today was at a slightly different time, so I got to see a different dynamic of kids walking, and being walked, to (Grant Elementary) school (along Mountain View Ave). In previous mornings, I've seen kids riding merrily along, and then realizing that the combination of car approaching from behind and parked cars means that they no longer feel safe on the roadway, and need to transition to the sidewalk, but they're in an area of no convenient driveway, so they stop, drag their bike over the flowers in the strip between the road and the sidewalk, and continue.
This morning it was waiting through the interminable line of cars (probably parents who'd just dropped their kids off at school) in order to cross Mountain View.
In either case, I strongly support the notion of a mass of kids and parents taking over Mountain View for a bike and pedestrian arrival at Grant. It'd take maybe 10 minutes out of that street for cars, and every kid on a bike, or walking, to school means one less car trip to and from, the school, morning and afternoon. So 4x fewer car trips past the Mountain View & Mission/Olive intersection and curve (with drivers whipping way too fast through its crappy visibility).
NPR: It started with 5 families. Now hundreds are biking to school together in Barcelona.