<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Blue lanes, cage locks, and cyclibraries]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by Biodiversivist http://www.grist.org/article/more-of-what-bike-friendly-looks-like/ Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:14:13 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/more-of-what-bike-friendly-looks-like/1 I really don't think our politicians are serious

about bicycles. There is a power struggle between bicycles, buses and cars for street surfaces. Who holds most of the power? For example, Stoneway Avenue intercepts Seattle's main bike trail. However, the business interests have won out and there will be no bike path on Stoneway until you get five blocks away from the trail making bikers run a very dangerous gauntlet, about as useful as a chain with missing links.

If the politicians were serious about CO2 emissions, they would promote safe bicycling like there is no tomorrow. There are about 300,000 people in Seattle of working and biking age. What would happen if you could motivate 3,000 Seattleites who also work in Seattle to commute by bike (1% of total working population). Lets see, this is equivalent to about 100 metro buses with a fleet average of about 38 MPG, each spewing CO2, and consuming a lot of precious liquid fuel (95% of which is regular diesel). Bump that number to ten or twenty percent and your city would win any CO2 reduction contest.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

]]> I really don't think our politicians are serious

about bicycles. There is a power struggle between bicycles, buses and cars for street surfaces. Who holds most of the power? For example, Stoneway Avenue intercepts Seattle's main bike trail. However, the business interests have won out and there will be no bike path on Stoneway until you get five blocks away from the trail making bikers run a very dangerous gauntlet, about as useful as a chain with missing links.

If the politicians were serious about CO2 emissions, they would promote safe bicycling like there is no tomorrow. There are about 300,000 people in Seattle of working and biking age. What would happen if you could motivate 3,000 Seattleites who also work in Seattle to commute by bike (1% of total working population). Lets see, this is equivalent to about 100 metro buses with a fleet average of about 38 MPG, each spewing CO2, and consuming a lot of precious liquid fuel (95% of which is regular diesel). Bump that number to ten or twenty percent and your city would win any CO2 reduction contest.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

]]> Comment #2 by caniscandida http://www.grist.org/article/more-of-what-bike-friendly-looks-like/ Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:30:10 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/more-of-what-bike-friendly-looks-like/2 cyclibraries

That is a pretty klutzy neologism, and I hope we are not stuck with it forever.  Still, the concept is admirable.

Too bad that the Portland experiment did not work.  But I thought they had more success in Amsterdam.  It will be most interesting to see what happens in Paris: if they achieve what they hope to there, that is likely to provide a model for many other cities, including NYC.

Our mayor Michael Bloomberg has his heart in the right place, but this city is a jungle of competing interests.  Still, I fail to see why business interests, as BioD suggests is the case in Seattle, should be anti-bike-friendly.

Chickens are our cousins! So are other sensitive animals! Enough is enough! No more factory farms!

]]> cyclibraries

That is a pretty klutzy neologism, and I hope we are not stuck with it forever.  Still, the concept is admirable.

Too bad that the Portland experiment did not work.  But I thought they had more success in Amsterdam.  It will be most interesting to see what happens in Paris: if they achieve what they hope to there, that is likely to provide a model for many other cities, including NYC.

Our mayor Michael Bloomberg has his heart in the right place, but this city is a jungle of competing interests.  Still, I fail to see why business interests, as BioD suggests is the case in Seattle, should be anti-bike-friendly.

Chickens are our cousins! So are other sensitive animals! Enough is enough! No more factory farms!

]]> Comment #3 by ac5p http://www.grist.org/article/more-of-what-bike-friendly-looks-like/ Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:54:20 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/more-of-what-bike-friendly-looks-like/3 Incentives

I wonder if projects for adding bike lanes and improving public transportation could be financed by the carbon trading markets.  Some power plant wants to offset their emissions, their money goes toward improving bike lanes which reduces congestion & drivers and offsets their pollution.

]]> Incentives

I wonder if projects for adding bike lanes and improving public transportation could be financed by the carbon trading markets.  Some power plant wants to offset their emissions, their money goes toward improving bike lanes which reduces congestion & drivers and offsets their pollution.

]]> Comment #4 by SustainableGreen http://www.grist.org/article/more-of-what-bike-friendly-looks-like/ Fri, 01 Jun 2007 01:10:17 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/more-of-what-bike-friendly-looks-like/4 Anti-Bike Bias in U.S. or just ignorance

Hey, all:

"Cyclibraries"?  Uh, like where are, ya know, like, the books?  Yeah, I agree the term is rather clumsy.  

I admire the vision of cities like Seattle and other progressive places, but what I found with my years in transportation agencies is either bias, ignorance, or dismissal regarding bicycles.  I have even had planners dismiss potential bicycle facilities out-of-hand for congested urban commercial centers.   Few states or cities are very supportive, for the reasons mentioned here.  

Most transportation engineers I know are very conservative, have a narrow comfort range, and have been trained to focus on the private automobile, pretty much entirely--which is one big reason why we have such a problem. This is in spite of agencies calling themselves "multi-modal", and in fact being charged by law with the responsibility.  So when politicians have no interest they are merely following the money of the corporate oligarchy, in which bicycles have no say in the U.S.A.

David
Sustainability For Life

Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!

 

]]> Anti-Bike Bias in U.S. or just ignorance

Hey, all:

"Cyclibraries"?  Uh, like where are, ya know, like, the books?  Yeah, I agree the term is rather clumsy.  

I admire the vision of cities like Seattle and other progressive places, but what I found with my years in transportation agencies is either bias, ignorance, or dismissal regarding bicycles.  I have even had planners dismiss potential bicycle facilities out-of-hand for congested urban commercial centers.   Few states or cities are very supportive, for the reasons mentioned here.  

Most transportation engineers I know are very conservative, have a narrow comfort range, and have been trained to focus on the private automobile, pretty much entirely--which is one big reason why we have such a problem. This is in spite of agencies calling themselves "multi-modal", and in fact being charged by law with the responsibility.  So when politicians have no interest they are merely following the money of the corporate oligarchy, in which bicycles have no say in the U.S.A.

David
Sustainability For Life

Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!

 

]]> Comment #5 by Delay And Deny http://www.grist.org/article/more-of-what-bike-friendly-looks-like/ Fri, 01 Jun 2007 01:39:05 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/more-of-what-bike-friendly-looks-like/5 No Curb, No Deal


To me, just "painting" a bike lane is not the same as a real bike lane.   A real bike lane is defined by a curb which separates it from the automobile traffic.

Unless there is a curb, there is nothing to keep a car or bus from taking a swerve into the bike lane, or making a right turn into it at will.

John Bailo, The "Denier Guy"
You Read It Here First


]]> No Curb, No Deal


To me, just "painting" a bike lane is not the same as a real bike lane.   A real bike lane is defined by a curb which separates it from the automobile traffic.

Unless there is a curb, there is nothing to keep a car or bus from taking a swerve into the bike lane, or making a right turn into it at will.

John Bailo, The "Denier Guy"
You Read It Here First


]]>