Comments on: Bikes = Economic Catastrophe

By: Grocery Run: Impossible! | Bike Style Spokane

Grocery Run: Impossible! | Bike Style Spokane — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 01:13:02 +0000

[...] Bikes=”Economic Castrophe” on cyclelicio.us: This post came out in March 2010 when US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood called for a more balanced approach to transportation funding, which triggered the piece in the National Journal that quotes Mr. Professional Engineer. The research and points cyclelicio.us makes are still valid today. [...]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:01:10 +0000

[...] Cyclelicio.us Mandar a un amigo | | Comentar new TagImageCarrouselClass('377709', [...]

By: Monday morning report » Cyclelicious

Monday morning report » Cyclelicious — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:01:37 +0000

[...] 2 cents worth on bikes and economic catastophre. And I’m not talking about Walmart’s “fixed speed” [...]

By: Streetsblog.net » What’s So Scary About Bicycle Infrastructure?

Streetsblog.net » What’s So Scary About Bicycle Infrastructure? — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:04:42 +0000

[...] network member Cyclelicious responds to some of the backlash to LaHood’s words, pointing what should be obvious: being in [...]

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:17:27 +0000

Is reverse conversion necessary to make our transportation choices more efficient and less dependent on imported oil? Will cyclists get upset if trails created by Rail-to-Trails is reversed and become full of trains once again?

MoDOT wants to use federal dollars to build “Trucks-Only” lanes on highway 70… how crazy can we get in supporting unsustainable choices?

By: Cyclelicious

Cyclelicious — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 03:53:18 +0000

Thank you so much for your comment, Keith. I agree with you that increasing bicycling for transportation will have modest benefits overall, but you're correct that we can get a lot of bang for the buck in investing in cycling.

By: Jym

Jym — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 00:50:15 +0000

=v= You want to move freight efficiently, resurrect the country's rail system. Apparently it's good enough for Warren Buffett.

By: Peter Smith

Peter Smith — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 20:34:14 +0000

He left out the multiple, huge, and ongoing car bailouts over the decades, famously starting (I think) with Chrysler. He also left out that the bicycle business is already creating jobs and will continue to do so — look at bikeportland's many bike-related job creation stories.

the one critique i'd have of 'the bike people' here in the US is that all manufacturing is shifted overseas, which seems a bit of a travesty. i can't imagine that building bikes domestically is such a complicated and expensive process that it can't be done profitably here in the US.

By: keithlaughlin

keithlaughlin — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 20:05:25 +0000

Excellent summary. The only point that I would add is that it's laughable to assume that an increased focus on cycling in federal transportation policy would have any appreciable impact on the movement of freight, let alone cause "economic catastrophe." At present, walking and biking account for about 1 1/2 cents of every federal surface transportation dollar. If we were to realize our goal of doubling that, the amount would be huge from our perspective but negligible in terms of what is spent on highways. In addition, our other big ask is the full embrace of complete streets policies. Again, the costs to roads would be small potatoes because it wouldn't divert money away from roads, it would only ensure that the needs of cyclists and pedestrians were fully considered in the design of road projects. That's simple common sense.

Finally, I like how you neatly wrapped up all the macroeconomic issues from the consequences of peak oil to sprawl to bank failures. Because the road gang so often engages in hyperbole -- like wild claims of "economic catastrophe" -- I'm hesitant to imply that bicycling can save the world. But with relatively small investments it can produce significant returns that will contribute to solving a wide variety of problems.

Best,

Keith