Excellent article from this morning's Wall Street Journal on bicycles as a transport mode and ways to increase their usage. I thought folks might be interested.
Excellent article from this morning's Wall Street Journal on bicycles as a transport mode and ways to increase their usage. I thought folks might be interested.
I dont think the issue is making bikes more convenient, it is making cars less convenient.
Read the same artlice this morning, also thought this was a good article. Interesting that Boulder ranks higher than the warmer climes.
Also thought it was strange regarding the confiscation policy rather than ticketing. Confiscation costs more in storage and in tracking of each of violation. (Including the construction of a new storage facility). Prehaps there are some "agendas" that were not in the article "intentionally." The author does allude to the unusuallness of the thought process behind this.
Jeff, I'd say it is a little from column A and a little from column B. You're right that people will keep driving cars unless their made substantially more expensive or less convenient. But in many places, bike travel is inconvenient, unpleasant and downright dangerous. And not just for riders--without proper accomodations, bikes can have a real negative impact on pedestrians and streets (bikes chained to every fixture in site, self-righteous bikers ignoring traffic laws and running down pedestrians, etc.). So I think there's definitely plenty of room for improvement from both angles.Originally posted by Jeff
Sorry about two replies in a row. I think the confiscation policy has two key motives the article talked about:
(1) recovering/preventing stolen bikes. It seems like the confiscation policy is more of a way to screen for stolen bikes and unregistered bikes so as to prevent and recover from bicycle theft.
(2) preventing city streets from being clogged with illegally parked bikes. They quoted the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce as complaining about bike-clogged streets, and noted that a number of higher-end stores have fled the city for car-centric suburbs because of it. Obviously they want to avoid that.
Thanks for posting the link to the article, I forwarded it on to the MPO.
Oddball
Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves?
Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here?
Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?
From Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Are you sure you're not hurt ?
No. Just some parts wake up faster than others.
Broke parts take a little longer, though.
From Electric Horseman (1979)
How are you going to ticket a parked bicycle? If I came out to find that my bike had been ticketed i'd probably laugh all the way home, frame the ticket, and never even think of paying it. Bicycles don't have license plates and registration. There's nothing to tie it to an owner.
Indeed you can usually tell when the concepts of democracy and citizenship are weakening. There is an increase in the role of charity and in the worship of volunteerism. These represent the élite citizen's imitation of noblesse oblige; that is, of pretending to be aristocrats or oligarchs, as opposed to being citizens.
I agree that making cars less convenient is one solution (Jeff). But we could do more ot provide accomodations for bikes. I am often frustrated when I can't find anywhere to park my bike in the 'burbs. I think more efforts should be made towards adopting bike parking ordinances in US towns.
Yeah, what is worse is no biking at all. Where I come from, biking is only thought of by children and never really used or thought of as a means of transportation/mobility. My old middle school took out their bike racks for lack of bicyclists, and my high school doesnt even have anything. Everyone commutes by car; even the high school kids have their own parking lot. crazy!! And I'm talking about a region not just a city.
Today's classic was yesterday's innovation. -Landry
Quote