BIKE: Proposed law for $5 MB trails set-aside

[David Dobbs]

At 10:11 -0600 4/5/05, Hill Abell wrote:
>there are many recreational
>cyclists who use their bikes for transportation as well.  I know that for a
>fact because my staff and I at the store encounter them daily, and we see
>the number of people interested in using their bikes for transportation
>growing in proportion to the folks interested in fun or fitness.  So much so
>that we are about to create an entire new section of our store devoted to
>urban cycling/commuting needs and touring equipment, dropping one of those
>dreaded recreational categories (triathlon) to make room for it.

First, thanks to Hill Abell for alerting us to a wider view of the 
bicycle tax and it's potential benefits.  As everyone on this list 
knows our transportation funding mechanisms and policies are only 
logical from the golden rule perspective, i.e., those who have the 
gold make the rules and those folks mostly drive cars, build roads, 
speculate on land, and loan money in pursuit of the existing sprawl 
paradigm.

That said, there is a strong current of new urbanism in America that 
is gaining strength with each passing day and with every transit 
improvement that cities make, and bicycles are a key part of that 
movement.  A couple's first home tends to be a commodity purchase in 
the "burbs," but second homes are more a matter of location, often 
older dwellings, in the the traditional city.  Newsweek recently ran 
an article about the move of many baby boomers to the inner city.  If 
suburban families have biking facilities near them they are much more 
likely to buy and use bicycles, and when they make the move back to 
the city they are likely to continue biking, now in their inner city 
neighborhoods.  Count on rising gas prices to accelerate the move 
back to the cities.

My own case mirrors this experience, only the city moved out to me. 
For the first 23 of the 35 years I lived in Austin, a bicycle was 
simply not an option.  My only access to the world was Slaughter 
Lane, which, until 1991-92, was a two lane county country road sans 
shoulders, full of potholes and loaded with traffic that crossed the 
Union Pacific at grade just east of Manchaca Road, which was also a 
two lane country road without shoulders.  In the early 1970's I 
actually tried to bike to work in East Austin, but gave up lest I be 
killed.  In 1991 all changed for the better as the road became six 
lanes with a railroad overpass, sidewalks, and regular bus service. 
I have neighbors all around me now and two shopping centers about a 
half mile away where most of my shopping is done (you got it) on my 
bike.

I visit Bicycle Sports Shop on Lamar frequently as it is where I 
bought my Trek and have it serviced.  Since I ride 40 to 60 miles a 
week on Austin's streets, I not only see an increased number of 
people using bikes for transportation, I talk to them at BSS.  Some 
of these folks are as old as I am (66), but many are in the prime of 
their lives and find that cycling works well for getting around and 
especially so with Capital Metro's fully equipped buses with bike 
racks.

There's no such thing as a free lunch and in a rational world where 
transportation funding was truly tailored to the most effective 
transportation solutions, perhaps there would be a better source of 
funds for bicycle infrastructure.  Right now in a legislature where 
Republican rule and the suburbs are their focus, this looks like a 
winner.  And it does, after all, link the infrastructure costs to the 
user, which is a sound principle of public finance.

Dave Dobbs
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Texas Association for Public Transportation
9702 Swansons Ranch Road
Austin, Texas 78748
Ph 512.282.1149

Visit our website at  http://www.lightrailnow.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++










At 10:11 -0600 4/5/05, Hill Abell wrote:
>On 4/5/05 6:53 AM, "Patrick Goetz" <pgoetz> wrote:
>
>
>
> >Consider, for
> > example, that 99.9% of recreational bicyclists load their bikes on a car
> > in order to drive to location they plan to bike at.  Clearly
> > transportation and bicycling are not concepts that are in any way
> > connected in their minds.
>
>Patrick, as usual you pull your arguments out of thin air with absolutely
>nothing to substantiate them other than your own narrow worldview.
>
>I wasn't stating that the majority of recreational cyclists use their bikes
>for transportation, but that very few cyclists become transportation
>cyclists just because they get tired of driving their car to work every day
>and decide to start riding their bikes.
>
>Most of us who grew up in the 60's and before used bikes for transportation
>just like you did, then as soon as we could drive a car we began doing so.
>But many of us from those generations began cycling again in our 20's or
>later for fitness or just plain fun (oh perish the thought!  Cycling is
>serious business and how are we going to save the world if we don't take
>bikes seriously!) but, contrary to your opinion, there are many recreational
>cyclists who use their bikes for transportation as well.  I know that for a
>fact because my staff and I at the store encounter them daily, and we see
>the number of people interested in using their bikes for transportation
>growing in proportion to the folks interested in fun or fitness.  So much so
>that we are about to create an entire new section of our store devoted to
>urban cycling/commuting needs and touring equipment, dropping one of those
>dreaded recreational categories (triathlon) to make room for it.
>
>
>
>
>
>Hill Abell
>Bicycle Sport Shop
>http://www.bicyclesportshop.com
>
>off # 512-477-1551 ext 105
>mob # 512-422-3648
>
>It's time to ride!
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Get on or off this list here:  http://BicycleAustin.info/list

==================
Dave Dobbs
ddobbs
Austin, Texas
==================
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