The Bike Lobby is too powerful in DC...
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Anonymous
I would prefer this as a motorist so that the bikes would stay in their lane at all times and not pick and choose their route, which sometimes includes the road and sometimes the sidewalk. |
Anonymous
I (a woman) biked my kids to school regularly for years while en route to my fancy downtown office job. There was a gym onsite, so I could shower and dress there. |
Anonymous
The law, however, does not restrict bikes to the bike lane, it only says cars can't drive in it. Generally, when there's a protected lane, most cyclists will stay in it, and if they're riding elsewhere, it's because there's some obstruction. (Like, for instance, a parked car.) Low concrete, rather than Jersey barriers, would be great, though — something like what they have in a lot of lanes in Montreal, which isn't really visible unless you're next to it but makes it very difficult for cars to drive into the bike lanes (they essentially have to hop two curbs to do it). |
Anonymous
+1, at many offices, it's very easy to "show up sweaty wearing biking clothing" and then just shower and change before you go upstairs. Does depend on when you have to be in the office vs. when you have to be at school for dropoff, but this idea of PP's that it's completely impossible for (a) parents or (b) specifically moms to bike to work is silly. You also don't have to bike in "biking clothing," though it is often more comfortable. (At my kid's elementary school in upper NW, drop-off is very dad-heavy, anyway.) |
Anonymous
the vast majority of people do NOT have the luxury of a full service gym on-site with shower. Get a grip. Adding more bike lanes is no different that reducing taxes on the rich. They benefit a very small subset of people. |
Anonymous
Ummm no New Mexico Avenue has not lost all of its parking - parking was only removed on the west side of New Mexico. In total the parking utilization rate along the corridor is only 20% and almost all of that is in two locations - for long stretches of the road there historically have been few if any cars parked on New Mexico. And the two commercial buildings in Foxhall Square have an absolutely massive and lightly used parking garage in the back. And the comment that you have seen cyclists not using the lane is just stupid - the lane is not even fully installed yet nor is it signed or striped. |
Anonymous
Car brain really does make people stupid. Most trips aren't driving to work and at this point a lot of people aren't even going to work. Most trips are around people's neighborhood - going to and from school, baseball practice, dinner, the grocery store to a play date etc. And most of those trips are less than a mile and can comfortably done on a bike and are trips that have no shower requirement. And FWIW most people who have biking as a component of their daily commute are biking to get to a Metro station where they switch modes. I have a neighbor who is a Federal judge who does just this year around in a suit - he bikes about half a mile to the metro, locks his bike and does the rest of his commute on the train. |
Anonymous
I said "many" offices, but I suspect it's more than you think. I would never have bothered looking into whether my office had a gym/shower if I hadn't been bike-commuting. But it does, as did the midcentury building my company was in until a few years ago, as do all of the office buildings where my wife has worked in the last decade. It's also possible to bike to work and just change your shirt, especially when it's not 90 degrees, which is what I did in a previous job. (In that job, I made less than $100,000 a year, so biking for work is also not just for rich people. That company's office is now in a building with a shower, I just don't work there anymore. I'd be surprised if anyone there makes over $100,000.) I'm not trying to argue that biking to work is just as convenient from start to finish as driving, but it's absolutely possible, and a lot of people do it, and just because it doesn't work for you doesn't mean no one else is making it work for them. I promise you many more people benefit from bike lanes than just whaever small subset of people you think. |
Anonymous
DP. How did you get from "shower" to "full service gym on-site with shower"? I do not have a full service gym in my home, but I do have a shower. Montgomery County government can require buildings to have showers on-site for people who bike to work. There's no reason the DC government couldn't do that too, if they don't already. And then, of course, there's the whole issue of all the trips people make that aren't the trip to work. What's your reasoning for why people can't make any of those trips by bike? |
Anonymous
Showers in fact are now required in the DC Zoning Code - I believe they've been required since 2016. |
Anonymous
You do realize that bicycles are cheaper than cars, don’t you? Even those fancy electric bikes some people get these days? And that there is no obligation to wear special biking clothing or even to get super sweaty (either by using an aforementioned electric bike or even just allowing more time and not exerting yourself to the point you get sweaty)? If you’ve ever been to one of those magical European cities where people regularly get around by bicycle, you’ll quickly realize that dressing like you’re in the Tour de France for your morning commute is pretty much a US/Canadian phenomenon. |
Anonymous
One of the ways you can tell someone doesn't really bike is they fall back on this canard about how difficult and vigorous biking is. I suspect many people who bike to work don't feel any need to shower or even change - I've had two different jobs over the years where I primarily biked to work and I wore my work clothes and never showered and it was never an issue. And from what I've observed in recent trips to London, Paris and Amsterdam it appears that almost everyone is biking to work in their work clothes. Now I will grant my commutes were relatively short (one was about 15 minutes and the other 20) but if you take it easy and bike regularly and are in shape biking just isn't that vigorous of an activity and with e-bikes it is less vigorous than walking. But a big part of biking leisurely is feeling you are safe when you are biking - as someone who bikes in a variety of contexts when you bike in traffic you feel the need to hustle because it is both unpleasant and unsafe plus you have anxious drivers bearing down on you. When I'm in a protected bike lane or a trail I just relax and take my time. |
Anonymous
| People who don't really bike also tend to underestimate how far things are by bike. I know someone who used to drive 2 miles to the Metro, then park and get on the Metro. That's an easy 10 minute bike ride. In fact it would probably have saved time, because bike parking was closer than car parking. |
Anonymous
E-bikes have certainly made biking less difficult and accessible for more adults. That said, with the way DC seems to design bike lanes, I worry about what happens when some heavier e-bike or cargo bike slams into an elderly lady who is crossing the bike lane from a Metro "bus island" to the curb. |
Anonymous
Do you also worry about what happens when some heavier (multi-ton) motor vehicle slams into an elderly lady who is crossing the street from a bus stop? Because bike lanes reduce the opportunities for that to happen. |