Tag: transportation alternatives

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Fiscal Responsibility vs. Bike Lanes

Ballotpedia.org  reports that the total indebtedness of the fifty states is approximately $1,149,926,081,000. U.S. Governmentdebt.com estimates that New York has the highest debt of any state in the nation.  This is in addition to the federal government’s $21,000,000,000,000 debt.

The states, of course, do not have the right to print money, so their debt problems begin to hit crucial interests more rapidly than Washington’s.  State and local pensioners could soon feel the impact. That is why spending programs both large and small need to examined. It is vital to consider whether funds committed actually fulfill a valid purpose, or are they merely a cave-in to vocal advocates and special interests.

One popular concept that has spread across the nation is the dedication of portions of roads to bike lanes, and the use of tax dollars to carve up roads to prove greater safety for cyclists. As this column has previously reported, despite the diligent lobbying of politically active and media-savvy supporters, this is a prime example of how state and local funds are wasted.

Seattle Curbed recently released a  report on a study in their city, which has a weather climate, an urban geography much more conducive to cycling than many municipalities, and a population that is quite enthusiastic about the practice of bike commuting. Despite all those advantages, it found that commutes by bikes or mopeds accounted for only a “tiny fraction…0.6%” of commuters.

Despite the ardent support of politicians seeking to gain from their association with the activists, this is a very small portion of commuters to justify the expense and the inconvenience caused by bike lanes. Despite that, as noted by Crain’s New York,  Mayor De Blasio’s “Department of Transportation vowed…to add 10 miles of protected bicycle lanes and allocate 50 lane miles of regular bikeways annually starting this year…The number of bike paths citywide has more than doubled in the last decade, to 1,133 miles from 513 miles in 2006. Of the existing paths, 425 miles are protected, meaning they are protected from automobile traffic by a physical barrier, not just paint. Last year, the city installed a record 15 such paths.”

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There have been reports of citizen revolt against bike lanes.  The Wall Street Journal  reports that in cities including Baltimore, Philadelphia, Seattle, Boulder and even the trendy-friendly borough of Brooklyn, NYC, citizens are rising up against the practice of carving up roads for bike lanes. The publication found that ““Retrofitting city streets for protected bike lanes can be pricey. A master plan prepared for Baltimore’s Transportation Department recommended adding 52.5 miles over five years at a cost of $26 million, a tab the plan said could be covered by a mix of local, state and federal funds.”

Author and futurist Syd Mead, writing in The Los Angeles Daily News provides this analysis: “While the bicycle has many virtues, it also prompts people to go overboard. It’s often lauded as the transportation of tomorrow and the savior of cities. It is not. It is called transportation. It is not… It … operates under rigid limitations: the physical condition (and therefore age) of the rider, seasons and weather conditions, and terrain…Today there is an almost messianic insistence that bicycles should be a part of the urban transit mix. …In large urban centers…using a bicycle to traverse 10, 15, or 20 miles one-way is simply not a feasible proposition…A typical busy lane gets used by dozens of automobiles per minute. A bike lane is lucky to be used by dozens of bicyclists in an hour. Imposing bicycle accommodations onto an existing vehicular culture and street alignment is prohibitively complex and preposterously expensive on a per-mile basis. Given the relatively small number of commuters who would use such lanes in comparison to car drivers, any cost/efficiency formulae that purport to justify such infrastructure enter the realm of pure fantasy.”

Unfortunately, practical and fiscally responsible analyses of bike lanes are drowned out by the enthusiasm and political sophistication of bike lane supporters.

Photo: NYC Dept. of Transportation

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Are Bicycles a Valid Transportation Option?

There are times when wholly incorrect ideas become so established that hardly anyone challenges them.  Those that do frequently get ostracized from the marketplace of public conversation. This occurs because a passionate belief in a particular viewpoint  overwhelms common sense. Consider, for example, the mass hysteria of Salem, where many young women were executed for being witches.

There is something similar occurring today in transportation planning.

Many urban specialists openly propose that their cities spend funds and devote road space for a transportation mode that would be usable by only an average of 1.2% of commuters, and probably a lot less during the numerous inclement weather days. Add to that, those who do travel this way put their lives at risk.

Object to that proposal at your own political risk, because advocates of the concept—the establishment of bikes lanes—are one of the most organized, outspoken and active pressure groups in city planning today. But a number of voices are starting to be raised, urging a more careful, and far less emotional, examination be done. Earlier this year, an article in the Washington Post  noted: “As it turns out, bikes are the most dangerous way to get around with the exception of motorcycles…Nationwide, you’re more than twice as likely to die while riding a bike than riding in a car, per trip, according to a 2007 study led by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist Laurie Beck. Bike riding is also about 500 times more fatal than riding in a bus. In addition to accidents, cyclists face another major health risk: Air pollution. Bike commuters inhale about three times as much air pollution as drivers, according to a 2015 study conducted in Fort Collins, Colo.”

Supporters of biking as a city-supported transportation option often point to Europe as an example of what should be done in the U.S.  A closer inspection, however, reveals that the comparison does not work out the way they want it to.
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American cities are sprawling affairs, not like their more compact counterparts in the Old World, many of which are derived from ancient, walled cities. A British article reports that “Cycling is not practical for the transportation or commuting needs of most people.”

That is even more obvious in geographically-large U.S. cities.  Consider New York, for example, which rests within 305 square miles. The major job center rests in downtown Manhattan. The majority of the city’s population lives in the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island and The Bronx. While many residents work in their home boroughs, many do commute to Manhattan, and the distances can be significant. Even a relatively small distance, say, seven miles, turns into a fourteen-mile round trip, which can be extremely challenging. In Winter cold and summer heat, it could be quite an ordeal.

Author and futurist Syd Mead, writing in The Los Angeles Daily News provides this analysis:

“While the bicycle has many virtues, it also prompts people to go overboard. It’s often lauded as the transportation of tomorrow and the savior of cities. It is not. It is called transportation. It is not… It … operates under rigid limitations: the physical condition (and therefore age) of the rider, seasons and weather conditions, and terrain…Today there is an almost messianic insistence that bicycles should be a part of the urban transit mix. …In large urban centers…using a bicycle to traverse 10, 15, or 20 miles one-way is simply not a feasible proposition…A typical busy lane gets used by dozens of automobiles per minute. A bike lane is lucky to be used by dozens of bicyclists in an hour. Imposing bicycle accommodations onto an existing vehicular culture and street alignment is prohibitively complex and preposterously expensive on a per-mile basis. Given the relatively small number of commuters who would use such lanes in comparison to car drivers, any cost/efficiency formulae that purport to justify such infrastructure enter the realm of pure fantasy.”