California Alternative Commuting in the News

I woke up this morning to many articles about commuting and bicycles in the news:

• High gas prices are pushing more and more people to commute by bike. You will notice that the article emphasizes how terrifying it is to ride a bike in Los Angeles due to distracted drivers. Despite this danger, bicycle sales for the month of June spiked by 20%. Ironically, for many commuters the biking option is much quicker than driving. Awesome!

I've got to say that there are some major downsides to this spike in bike riders in LA. First, the city has yet to implement its bicycle master plan and thus bike lanes and routes are often not very well advertised or supported. Also, an influx of inexperienced riders on the road can actually be dangerous if no one follows traffic laws. I could tell you stories of the police completely ignoring dangerous cyclists out there. Finally, the article notes that many bike repair shops are completely over-booked with this new influx. New bikes mean that they all have to be tuned-up within the first few months on the road. I guess that I can't just show up at my local shop for a quick diagnosis anymore...

• Apparently with the aforementioned terror of riding with clueless drivers, many cyclists really want to use sidewalks. It is so pressing that the City of West Hollywood wants to abandon its ban of cycling on the sidewalks. This is coming from a city that actually has marked bike lanes! I've got to say that I personally prefer riding with cars than pedestrians. Cars are generally predictable, while pedestrians often aren't looking for anything moving faster than walking speed, let alone a vehicle going 10-20 miles per hour in the path. I think it's great that so many people want to ride their bikes that this is even a consideration, but it sounds to me like a major step backwards.

• Aside from bikes and scooters, the high gas prices are also encouraging southland commuters to use mass transit. No surprise there. I can't wait until SoCal's rail system actually has the capacity and lines to make the transition easier; right now, the system makes very little sense. Just think: it is actually far less of a hassle for my to ride my bike 55 miles south to Laguna Beach than to take a train. None of it makes sense...

• And just when you thought it was safe to live in your car, it seems that the California state government wants to curb the bad habits of its motorists. I'm not talking about talking or texting on cell phones, I'm talking about such offenses as reading a newspaper, painting fingernails, or having one's dog on one's lap. My personal favorite offense is changing an entire outfit while stuck in traffic (which, as a cyclist, I've seen numerous times). If this actually works, perhaps the roads will be more encouraging to the newbie bike commuter and we won't need to have cyclists on sidewalks. I can dream, right?

Bike Moves

Watching these two streetfilms about Bike Moves gave me both a rush of inspiration and a mild sadness. A bike move is when someone changes residence and moves all of their belongings only through the use of bicycles. So cool! (Watch the videos to see how it has been done in Portland, OR and Brooklyn, NY.) I seriously doubt this would work for my next major move after I finish the PhD. Has anyone in the alt transportation or biking blogospheres ever heard of this? Please, let me know. It could make for a fascinating post-graduation event!

Fantasies aside, I doubt this would work and I'm pretty sure that all of the activists in these two films would laugh at me for such a rapid dismissal of a Bike Move's feasability in my near future. ::sigh:: I await answers!

I must admit that I seriously doubt that a Bike Move would work in the LA area. Oh Los Angeles, you have so far to go! Just to clarify the origins of my pessimism, I recently completed a City of LA Bicycle Advisory Committee survey. The questions were rather frustrating (i.e. the very idea that fear of "helmet head" could compete with the dangers of careless drivers or debris in the streets as major deterrents for bicycle commuting). I doubt the city is actually serious about improving things if they don't include other municipalities in their plans. The argument persists that last year's survey resulted in the new bike lanes along Santa Monica Boulevard, but I don't think these lanes are the answer. Until there are safe routes through Beverly Hills, for example, I have very little hope.

Hello!

Is going car-less in Los Angeles a sign of rebellion? I am not sure. But it is definitely disruptive to some people. Nearly every time I ride my bike or scooter to a social event, be it drinks at a bar or a party in Hollywood, my friends look on with concern and often ask if I want a ride home. At first I didn't care. Also, my mother and friends often offer to let me borrow their cars when they leave town for long periods. (To be fair, I have said "yes" a few times, but often the car just sits in front of my apartment unused.) The frequency and consistency of such offers has me wondering if my car-less status disrupts the status quo of happily existing in the Los Angeles area.*

I am sure that some of these generous gestures stem from concern from my friends and family about the danger of riding a bicycle in the single largest car-culture in the country. (Just to settle this right away, I was injured repeatedly during my first year of riding in Los Angeles. One accident involving a metro rapid bus, and most other mishaps had to do with clip-less pedal problems or flat-out stupidity on my part.) And I also gather that many people don't want to "put me out" and "force me to ride," as though it were a burden for me to exercise to get around town. Yes, riding a bike is exercise, and sometimes it is even dirty. I try to take care of this minor problem by carrying an extra clean shirt or by cleaning up before officially engaging in social activities.

I don't need to spend an entire post telling you, my currently non-existent readers, why I love living car-less in Los Angeles. Nor do I feel compelled to discuss the reasons why I think more people should ride bikes in this town. That isn't my point, rather, I just wanted to officially say "hello."

*Full disclosure: I was a car owner in Southern California for 8 years. Six of those years were spent living in the LA area.