Either doesn't know non-car options or just lazy

[PamNY]

Is there something in the culture where you live that might make him afraid he would be judged for using a bike or public transportation? I am often stunned by the things you post - you seem very worried about how people will react to your cycling, wearing cycling attire, etc.

Also, whether he has children has nothing to do with anything. His personal life is not your business.

Whether you should have said anything -- does he report to you? Or was your work/life negatively impacted by his absence to an extent that would justify your commenting?

[shootingstar]

Is there something in the culture where you live that might make him afraid he would be judged for using a bike or public transportation? I am often stunned by the things you post - you seem very worried about how people will react to your cycling, wearing cycling attire, etc.

Also, whether he has children has nothing to do with anything. His personal life is not your business.

Whether you should have said anything -- does he report to you? Or was your work/life negatively impacted by his absence to an extent that would justify your commenting?

Pam, I was profiled on corporate front intranet front page for 14,000 employees in our organization for my commuter cycling lifestyle just 4 months ago. I never worried. People thought it was great.... or those that said it. Others were amazed. I don't care and haven't for past....2 decades. Since when did I express being worried about my cycling attire at work on TE forums? It may have been other wannabe commuters. If I did, I would have stopped cycling.

You're right, personal details shouldn't matter. Re children or no children---- except occasionally working mothers tell me flat out they can't bike commute because of children xxxx...and I respect that. So I am mindful of parents with small children.
That's why in responding to Blueberry's idea that suggesting stuff, wouldn't work since he doesn't report to me. (THank goodness.) But we're on the same team, working together on some projects. Anyway, enough about him.

I do use and know public transit...because I use it for non-cycling days as well I have mixed multi-modal options in single trips. I had to for some employers' locations. It's been this way for me..last 30 yrs.

What was NYC like during the first days after flood? Am curious since NYC is so much more denser population-wise.
Our downtown was a whole lot quieter in car traffic for a few wks. after flood because of road repairs, etc. The mayor several times plus our transportation dept., were strongly encouraging the public to take transit, bike or walk because of congestion for the few open roads to get in and out of downtown. Of course, 50% of our light rapid rail was damaged and non-functional for 2 wks.

[shootingstar]

It's partly due to personal friends making judgments about my commute. Believe me, I've tried. I've gotten creative. There's no good way. If there were, I and the 20 people I've talked to about it would have found it. But people still judge. I'm sure you have tried. And it's enough just to tell people that you did after all. (At least for me it would be good enough.)

I have a real face to face friend who does work on cycling matters for city as part of job, but she drives-commute or on certain weeks is part of a car-pool. Latter has been complicated because she tends to work long hrs. So she's happy to drive commute, but as part of her paid job, promote car-pooling, paid car-share, cycling and transit. It makes the other part of job "easier", which is measuring car traffic demand on our local roads. More congestion over the years, because our city is the fastest growing in Canada.

[lph]

Well, I can understand you feeling puzzled and being irritated that he didn't use the options that were obvious to you. Nothing wrong with being annoyed, after all we have a lengthy "Dear So-and-so"-thread dedicated to ranting about stuff that bugs us. And you certainly could have pointed it out to him, but it sounds like you don't like the guy much so maybe casual conversation is out.

But you're rather strongly implying that he "should" have known about and used other forms of transit, and it's not a question of "should". He didn't know, or didn't want to use it for whatever reason, and unless it affects you personally you're not really entitled to an opinion apart from a casual comment. People make rational and irrational decisions all the time and that's free will.

Every winter I will overhear some colleague who drives to work going on about some cyclist who "shouldn't have been out there" as if it were a moral imperative, because they saw a cyclist struggling in the snow, without knowing anything at all about why this person chose to cycle. Emotional ranting is one thing, but seriously discussing that someone should be doing this or that gets my hackles up. (They usually shut up when they see me coming though )

[PamNY]

What was NYC like during the first days after flood? Am curious since NYC is so much more denser population-wise.
Our downtown was a whole lot quieter in car traffic for a few wks. after flood because of road repairs, etc. The mayor several times plus our transportation dept., were strongly encouraging the public to take transit, bike or walk because of congestion for the few open roads to get in and out of downtown. Of course, 50% of our light rapid rail was damaged and non-functional for 2 wks.

Conditions in NYC varied a lot. Power was out to lower Manhattan for several days, so businesses were closed and there were no subways. Coastal areas that had flooded were completely shut down. Other parts of the city were almost normal -- I made a scooter trip to Brooklyn the first day, and you would never have known there was a storm.

Some buildings that flooded were closed for months, and parts of coastal areas are still not back to normal. Subway tunnel repairs are still underway -- one line that running after temporary repairs was recently shut down -- it will be out for 14 months as more repairs to the tunnel are needed.

[shootingstar]

Yea, some parts of our city never got flooded.
We did have some flooding in transit train tunnels. The big time driver to get the LRT system fully operational, was readiness for the annual Calgary Stampede which brings in millions of dollars into the economy. (However this year, there were a lot less free pancake breakfasts, slightly lowered visitor attendance, etc.) Yup hunks of our downtown businesses were non-functional for a few weeks. City has repaired 200 sinkholes across the city due to collection of water underneath.

Were you evacuated? I was for 5 days. They cut the power in our neighbourhood otherwise the power transformers will catch on fire/blow apart with water. Our condo building basement got flooded.

Our organization's telephone landlines for 10,000 staff phones was completely destroyed/flooded. Got replaced with long overdue voice over Internet phone system. (That was already being planned prior to flood. The flood super ramped up the implementation.) Water filled up in parts of our 7-level all underground parkade and won't be fixed until Dec. I had heard even some fish from the river got swept into the parkade.


Methinks some of our city engineers contacted NYC engineers for lessons learned/share experiences. All good when that happens.

There's a huge controversy now, that the provincial govn't decreed there may be no financial aid for people who choose to live in the flood plain, floodway when a flood happens next time. Of course, Calgary should have never permitted developers to build homes in those areas. Toronto came down hard on no-homes in their zone, after their 1950's hurricane and loss of 80+ lives. Their flood plain area since then was turned into a large park conservation area..where actually Toronto's decades old bike-pedestrian path network system.

Our park greenbelt areas were severely damaged in certain areas..meaning washout of some key bridges for bike commuters, gouging various path pavement areas, etc. This is the weakness for any city to rely too much their parks' path system for their cycling infrastructure (and not expand to road surface cycling infrastructure).

We also had a train derailment just 3 days after the flood, which a freight train nearly collapsed with petroleum distallate, over a train bridge trestle that crossed over the flooded river ..... Same train bridge runs over a busy underpass bike path section by the river that floods.

Sad thing, about all this, is that another flood will happen again. The city has lived through over 10 damaging, widespread floods in the past 120 years. The rivers that flood are fed by the snow melts from the Rockies (120 km. north of us) and heavy rain which we normally don't get.

[PamNY]

We weren't required to evacuate after Hurricane Sandy, but most people left because the power was out. I stayed because I wasn't sure my elderly bulldog could make it down 26 flights of stairs even once. I was well-prepared with water, etc. so it was unpleasant but not dangerous.

There is some controversy here over rebuilding, too. Some buildings that had been built to withstand flooding did very well -- I hope lessons were learned from that.

I remember reading about the train derailment.

I just read about an issue with trees in the park near me -- apparently their roots were weakened by being submerged in salt water, and they are now more vulnerable to winds.

[shootingstar]

When I returned to the city, it was still repairing roads, paths and cleaning out damaged buildings.

Admittedly my drive to cycle far out post-flood hasn't been as strong. A major flood for myself personally reminds me of other major losses in life. But not property loss. I can appreciate those who lost homes or serious home damage, as a process of loss..which dredges up other personal losses from the past.

[Crankin]

None of my "regular" friends ride or use public transportation for work. They occasionally use it for going into the city at times parking would be hard to find. The people I work with (ages 20-45, mostly) think I am nuts for riding anywhere.
Sometimes our own personal experiences color the way we view things, especially values from our family of origin.
I just try really hard not to be judgmental; my social circle has dwindled a lot since I started riding, but I can't let that be the only thing to base friendships on.