Growth means fewer drivers

Aug 2, 2025
Aug 2, 2025 Updated Aug 6, 2025
5

Editor,

San Mateo doesn’t need to fight new neighbors — it needs to encourage driving alternatives.

(5) comments

Taso Aug 3, 2025 2:10pm

An imaginary and unrealistic dream to revert backwards in time where cars no longer exist so that a few bikers can enjoy the open roads all to themselves. And who feeds the people when all ground transport comes to a halt?

Terence Y Aug 2, 2025 9:06am

Unfortunately, Mr. Mautner, not many people live where they work and as such, bike lanes will only serve a small (perhaps very small, according to other contributors) portion of the population. Recreational bike riders can always find alternatives to enjoy the outdoors. The future San Mateo deserves is for folks to get where they need, most efficiently, until they’re able to find a place to live near where they work. That’s the future San Mateo deserves more.

easygerd Aug 8, 2025 3:18am

TBot, It's America and people can choose where they work and where they live. And if people like other people with cars then there are plenty of congested roads and bridges and they can duel each other for the same parking spots. Good for them.

But what about people who don't like being exposed to reckless, drunk, speeding, distracted, road raged, depressed drivers?

How can they opt out of the automotive Utopia?

Terence Y Aug 8, 2025 8:51am

eGerd – TBot here. Those folks can create a bicycle Utopia by taxing themselves to pay for their community and infrastructure dedicated to bicycling. In their master plan, don’t forget they’ll need to plan nearby grocery stores and schools and shops and everything else they may need. But… how will shops receive their inventory? How will streets rid themselves of garbage? How will the multitude of vehicle drivers deliver “stuff”?

easygerd Aug 8, 2025 10:16am

People walking and riding have paid for our trails and roads for the last 6,000 years and more. Even today that payment is already taken care off. Voters keep approving measures that would be paying for all (e.g. Measure A/W) bicycle infrastructure and all of SamTrans ... if politicians like Rico E. Medina, David Canepa, Jeff Gee, Emily Beach, Diane Papan wouldn't keep moving that funding away from bikes and buses towards their favorite projects (mostly real estate and cars of course). So you could start giving back the money we spend on those "Lexus Lanes" of yours to get quicker to Ikea.

But you make a good point about all the necessary 'Residential Service Parking" that is required on any city street on a regular basis: mail, package, food delivery, garbage, contractors, pg&e, nannies, gardeners, what should they do?

And the solution is simple. Get rid of ALL Private Car Storage and use that empty canvas to create livable streets or 'Complete Streets' as Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger intendent.

Every street is 28-36 feet wide, some even 44 and wider. Cars on average will not exceed 7ft, truck won't exceed 8.5ft. Any solid transportation engineer in Europe can accommodate all kinds of solutions on this canvas, only American engineers have no idea what they are doing. They are still living in the dark ages of "speed humps" and "Stop signs" here.

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