B1 – Intermediate
In cities like Amsterdam, cycling is a way of life. Is it really good for cities to encourage the use of bicycles around the city/neighborhood?
Watch the video below and be ready to have a discussion.
Discuss:
1. Are there any bicycle lanes in the UK? Why is it important to have bicycle lanes?
2. In your city, are bicycle lanes made to encourage the use of bicycles?
3. How would you describe roads and motorways in your country?
4. Do you think that using bicycles will help lessen the traffic in big cities? Why?
9 replies on “Is Cycling Good for Cities?”
1. Are there any bicycle lanes in the UK? Why is it important to have bicycle lanes?
There are bicycle lanes but not in everywhere. I think is important to have bicycle lanes because the people could to go to anyplace, it is a good way for the envoirment, the pollution could be reduced, and also de traffic in the city, because the people could moved in bicycle.
2. In your city, are bicycle lanes made to encourage the use of bicycles?
Yes, in my city there are bicycle lanes, but you need to be careful with te traffic, because you have close to you a car or a taxi, or a motorbike. In my city is not safe use a bicycle.
3. How would you describe roads and motorways in your country?
In my city there are a lot of traffic, the roads are good because there a lot of rails for the cars and the motorbikes, but there are a lot of cars in the roads. The motorways are good, you can drive from one city to another and you do’nt have problems for drive it, are very safe.
4. Do you think that using bicycles will help lessen the traffic in big cities? Why?
Yes, i think that if more people use a bicycles, the numbers or cars in the city would be reduced, and the traffic also. But for this, the bicycle lanes would have be better, and not dangerous, and people could be drive a bicycle more safe.
What a good way to express your thoughts. Good job! Here is a suggestion on how you can say this sentence better:
… the roads are good because there a lot of rails for
thecars andthemotorbikes,but there are a lot of cars in the roads.> … the roads are good because there are a lot of lanes for cars and motorbikes but there are too many vehicles on the roads.
Keep doing your best in your writing practice.
1. Are there any bicycle lanes in the UK? Why is it important to have bicycle lanes?
If a city wants to encourage people to move around the city by bicycle, it is very important to have bicycle lanes. Indeed, bicycles are such a good means of transport as it is clean, and also it helps people to get fitter, as it is a way of doing some exercise while you are going to work, for example. Specially in big cities, bicycle lane are esential to riders to move around safety.
2. In your city, are bicycle lanes made to encourage the use of bicycles?
In my city riders are very well considered and we have a lot of kilometers of bicyle lanes in order to accommodate them all. In fact, we have a very big bicyle lane all around the city so you can surround the city and enjoy the nature by bicycle in a bicycle lane.
3. How would you describe roads and motorways in your country?
It depends on the city you talk about. In my opinion, roads and motorways in my country are well built and we can move around without any problem.
4. Do you think that using bicycles will help lessen the traffic in big cities? Why?
Of course. I think the use of bicycles reduce the traffic. For example, in Madrid in recent years it has been promoted the use of bicycles with a bicycle rental and a large increase in bike lanes, by including them in the roads. Nevertheless we need to improve on the use of the bycicles and the way cars and motorbikes are dealing with bicycles.
Those are well-written responses. Keep up the good job! Here’s one sentence you can improve a bit:
For example, in Madrid in recent years it has been promoted the use of bicycles with a bicycle rental and a large increase in bike lanes
,by including them in the roads.> For example, bicycle rentals have been promoted more and there has been a large increase in bike lanes by including them on the roads in Madrid in recent years.
Keep working at it. Well done.
I think cycling is not good for cities, because in the cities like, for example, UK, there is a lot of traffic and it can be dangerous for all people, for who are cycling, driving and/or walking.
Thank you for taking the time to respond to these questions. Please see how your can write this better:
I think cycling is not good for cities
,because in the cities like, for example, UK, there is a lot of traffic and it can be dangerous for all people, forwho are cycling, driving and/orwalking.> I think cycling is not good for cities because there are a lot of vehicles on the roads in cities and it can be dangerous for everyone who is cycling, driving, and walking.
See you again here. Cheers!
1. Are there any bicycle lanes in the UK? Why is it important to have bicycle lanes?
There are some, but not everywhere. It is important to protect cyclist and to promote environmental travel.
2. In your city, are bicycle lanes made to encourage the use of bicycles?
Yes, there are.
3. How would you describe roads and motorways in your country?
Chaotic.
4. Do you think that using bicycles will help lessen the traffic in big cities? Why?
No, I don’t think so. Mainly because people are always in a hurry, and they believe that cars are faster than bicycles.
Hello freiends.
In the last years the London cycling network has been greatly improved, with more bike lanes and the introduction of the bicycle rentals. Respecting the appropriate safety measures, the bicycle is a unique means to live the city and enjoy it. But in this city it is not like in Berlin or Amsterdam that cyclists are not so respected by drivers.
I live in Madrid, and in recent years it has been encouraged to promote the use of bicycles with a bicycle rental and a large increase in bike lanes, but we still do not have the culture of cycling in the city. In adictiion to this to the great traffic and the size of the city becomes difficult to establish this transport system so healthy for people and for the environment
Bye
There are few bicycle lanes in UK so they are implementing them in main roads. Some people are disappointed with this decisión as they argument that cycling lanes take a lot of space on the road and slow down the traffic. Anyway, cycling is a environmentally friendly way to move around the city as it doesn´t contaminate and aditionally bicycles are not as dangerous as cars for pedestrians.
In my own city, Bilbao, there were no bicycle lanes few years ago but actually it´s posible to move almost around the whole city by bike. They have created bicycle lanes close to the roads and nobody complaints as these lanes don´t disturb the traffic. However, as there are lot of hills in Bilbao and few people from Bilbao that work in the city, the traffic doesnt change significantly. In general, bicycle users are student that can get to the university by bike.
Anyway, I would ask politicians to créate more bicycle lanes and encourage the use of them due to the fact that cycling would be healthier for everybody, for rider who is doing sport and for pedestrians that would not smell the CO2 from cars.