A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Freeway, or b-i-k-e = l-o-s-e-r?!?!

My friend and fellow planner, Ed and I were talking as we drove around LA gathering stuff for our Thanksgiving feast. He had been carless like myself last year, but he had his car shipped to him a month ago. And he was loving his newfound freedom!

We were talking about how within certain circles the car versus mass transit debate starts to develop tunnel-vision. We agree that, given the opportunity and access, people should take mass transit instead of their cars. Mass transit increases air quality, reduces nonpoint source pollution, and could even reduce congestion - all of this is assuming that new vehicles do not replace the vehicles that were taken off the road as drivers become riders.

But some times having a car is so much more convenient such as shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Or when one has to buy paper goods. Lugging a 6 pack of paper towels on the bus is no fun for anyone, including and especially the other riders.

At the same time, when did a bike become short-hand for loser? Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: How We Drive and What It Says About Us, wrote an interesting article about the movie Greenberg, whose main character's main mode of transportation is not his own car, and what does that say (or imply) about the man himself?

http://www.slate.com/id/2262214/

I have many happy memories riding my bike as a kid and I imagine that many other people do too. Unfortunately, a lot of people think that bikes are only for kids. But there are literally hundreds of highly educated people who possess bachelors, masters degrees, and even advanced degrees, who use bicycles as their predominant, or only form of transportation, including Dr. Donald Shoup, PhD.

Yet some bikers become so single-minded in their passion that they think that's what good for them should be good for everyone confoundit, to quote Nero Wolfe.

As with many things in life, except chocolate and Italian men, I believe that a little moderation never hurt on either side of the debate.

A View From the Road: my life on a bike

For about two months, in an effort to reduce my carbon footprint and to make a meaningful contribution to society, I biked to work. My intentions weren't entirely altruistic. In an effort to save money in this glorious economy I have been car-less for the past year and counting. . .

Irregardless of my motives, almost everyone I talked to thought that I was crazy for attempting such an idea. I am pleased to report that I survived each trip without incident. (God protects saints and fools.) But it did give me a new-found respect for bikers and also a look at the road from a new angle, not of a pedestrian nor a driver, but a biker.

I'd always been rather dismissive of bikers. Like runners, they never look very happy. If anything, they appear rather grim. This could be said of all participants in any form of exercise, except, maybe Jazzercise, but this is especially true of bikers. Even before I started biking to work I wondered why these crazy people would risk literal life and limb to embark on such an activity. Sometimes I still do.

In any case, being on a bike past the age of twelve is a strange and ultimately invigorating adventure. I gained a much better sense of space, as one would never be able to achieve in a car. I was able to take in more architectural details of homes, landscaping, etc., and felt more physically engaged with my surroundings.

I also noted drivers' reaction time to me, i.e. whether they gave me space by driving closer to the dividing line than usual, or if they nearly ran me over due to their not even be cognisant that bikers DO exist, not just in the Tour de France.

I also learned a lot about the need for a bike light at night, breathable clothing, not putting your keys in your front pocket, the joys of Gatorade, and a good backpack that was capable of both carrying my work stuff and able to handle the inevitable amount of sweat I worked up while biking. I highly recommend vinyl/plastic backpacks circa 1992 or Columbia brand backpacks, which have built in cushions in the back and will help wick away moisture build-up. A back-of-the-bike little rack works for some people, but no matter how I tried to bungee cord my backpack to that thing the sucker wouldn't stay. I partially attribute that to operator error. But I digress.

I always wore a helmet, a skateboarder's style, not a true bicycle helmet, which ironically, Tom Vanderbilt, in his book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), says may be a disadvantage to me, at least statistically. [Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, Tornoto, 2008] To paraphrase his findings from page 38 (of the 2008, first edition) it was noted in studies that cyclists who wore helmets were more "serious, sensible and predictable road users" and thus, drivers did not give the helmet-wearing cyclists as much room on the road as they would a non-helmet wearing cyclist as it was presumed that the helmet wearing cyclist would be less prone to erratic swerving, etc., Great.

I pride myself on always being a "good" driver, this is a relative term, as discussed in Mr. Vanderbilt's aforementioned book in Chapter Two and will also be examined later in this blog. But I like to think that I am mindful of cyclists, pedestrians, small children, squirrels and other creatures with whom I share the road. However, now when I see a cyclist I know what exactly what his or her P.O.V. is. Don't think I ever want to tackle the perspective of the jogging mom with the stroller though.

the Ethical City

My latest interest that I wished to expound upon has been traffic. My review of Tom Vanderbilt's book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) is forthcoming, but I predict that it will be glowing.

In my research to gain a better understanding of this subject called traffic and how it affects people's lives I have also been thinking about what makes an ethical city?

And while we're on the subject, what makes a city?

The reason why my thoughts jump from traffic to ethics and the concept of the city itself is because traffic affects literally everyone. Not everyone will go to the new baseball stadium that the city is building or even the new shopping complex that they hope will increase revenue. But like it or not, your life will be affected by traffic, be you a pedestrian or driver/passenger.

A city is composed of so many elements and traffic is the common thread that binds it all togeter, for better or for worse.

Everyone is quick to jump on their high-horse and talk contemputously of those who refuse to "go green." But what about those who are less fortunate than us? Where are their prominent and highly visible advocates? Poverty continues to be an ugly stain on the cloth of society and regardless of whom you are voting for in the fall election and whoever wins, poverty and having an ethical approach to a city is vital if we want to be anything resembling the greatest nation on earth, for the right reasons.

I do not intend to imply that no one is doing anything to help aid the poor. There are so many people who tirelessly give of themselves daily. But unfortunately, poverty lacks that chic cache that being environmentally conscious has been experiencing of late. I would recommend the unlikely Mel Brooks movie, "Life Stinks" to see how truly degrading being homeless can be, an extreme aspect of poverty, but important nonetheless and from the most unlikely of sources.

It's no secret that most poor people are forced to use the less than glamorous public transportation system to get around. In fact, it's often implied in many towns, including all the ones that I have lived in that "only the poor and the crazy" ride the buses. A happy exception is Chicago, where one may rub elbows with a suit or purse that costs more than you make in a week. But like I said that was an exception. The socio-economic status of those who utilize public transportation should not have any relation to the determination of implementation of improvements to the public transport system.

There was an interesting article in the spring 1999 issue of UCLA's Critical Planning Journal, entitled, "Rethinking Bus Stops" by James T. Rojas, which points out the obvious, but important, concept that mass transportation isn't a high priority for the inhabitants of the suburbs, where the majority of people get around in their own personal car. But in the cities and especially in the poor sections of town, the majority of people rely on public transportation to get to their jobs and go about their daily business. However, the majority of these people not only lack personal means of transportation, they are also in lack of political power to put pressure on politicians to bring about needed change (this is a paraphrase from page nine in the section "Lack of Commitment Pressure")

UCLA's School of Public Affairs expands on this in their Masters of Arts (M.A.) in Urban Planning concentration section under "Transportation Policy and Planning"

"Transportation Policy and Planning comprises the whole context of economic, social, and political actions that determine the distribution of development, goods, and services. Economic development planning, environmental planning, housing and community development, and urban design are all linked by travel and transportation systems. Transportation access significantly affects quality of life, and differences in opportunities between rich and poor, men and women, young and old, and people of different racial, ethnic and social origins. Thus, the analysis of transportation policy includes questions of production and distribution - how efficiently are services provided, who pays, and who benefits. Such transportation questions in turn lead to more fundamental ones about the functions of planning and public policy. "

To say that traffic is just cars and roads and pedestrians takes a tunnel vision (pun intended) approach to a broad subject.

To be truly ethical in our dealings we must understand that traffic is only a section of what makes a city and each decision to where to put a roadway, a stop sign, a freeway ramp, etc., has a ripple effect on the rest of the city. Traffic definitely does not exist in a vacuum. Obviously, one shouldn't become paralyzed with over-analysis of each little sidewalk or painted road divider. But one should be mindful that each decision does have an impact on other areas.