BIKE: Austin drivers rank fourth in the world in daily driving!

[Roger Baker]

This  is just too good not to pass on. It underlines my belief that 
those who focus only on bikes and not on the road lobby too are merely 
rearranging the deck chairs of the Titanic as it sinks.

Transpo expert Bill Barker from San Antonio recently submitted some 
numbers to the Governor's Texas Energy Advisory Council on  
transportation reality in Texas. Take a look at the following data. 
First go to this link and then download Bill Barker's PDF file, 
entitled Energy in Transportation, which looks like a powerpoint with 
spiffy graphs.

http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/tepc/092404meeting.html

Then go to page 3 of the 5 page file. You will see a chart that shows 
that Houston drivers drive more per capita than any city in the world. 
Austin is ranked fourth, just above Dallas. In fact, Texas cities claim 
four of the seven top spots in daily driving in the whole world!!!

Texas got that way because an entrenched road lobby has a stranglehold 
on transportation politics in Texas -- primarily for the benefit of the 
real estate and road construction interests.  The BS that they 
endlessly repeat  is that we suffer from congestion due to a lack of 
roads whereas the real problem is a politically corrupt transportation 
and land use planning process. The evidence is everywhere, beginning 
with how the Austin City Council and CAMPO have chosen to ignore the 
compact city, Envision Central Texas alternative preferred by the 
public. The many special interest promoting toll roads are further 
proof.

No biker who wants to commute around Austin is safe from roads 
congested with impatient commuters. Until either we clean house 
politically, or else world oil peaks and soaring fuel costs force a 
change that finally shuts down this insanity, whichever comes first.

-- Roger