Question for the anti-bike / anti-bus people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about the pro-bike / anti-bus people? Seems to be the main category of cycling advocates in the area.

Is it okay if someone is anti-bike / pro-bus? That seems to be the main category of anti-bike people in the area.

I don't know that I've ever met a pro-bike anti-bus person. Maybe there are a few that exist, but I don't think that's much of a thing.

Every single red shared bus and bike lane is pro-bike and anti-bus. The idea that a bus load of people should be inconvenienced in a priority lane for one person on a bike going 5 miles per hour is very much a pro-bike and anti-bus.

Most bike commuters go faster than 5 mph, and it's very easy for buses to pass them, anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a small group of people - and I think many of us know exactly who they are - who seem to think that the best way to preserve that which they hold dearest (and which they irrationally believe to be threatened by bike lanes) is to try to pit cyclists against bus riders, cyclists against disabled people, cyclists against black people and so on and so on. It has utterly no basis in reality whatsoever and is utterly pathetic. Sites like this debase themselves by permitting this nonsense.

There are two types of people. One type are people who think that the world revolves around them. The other type are people who try to figure out how we can all get along as best as possible together.

The bicylist holding up the bus “because they can” is the same person as the person who jogs in the middle of the street and the same person who doesn’t yield their car to pedestrians in cross walks. Same behavior, same person.

There are plenty of streets where jogging in the middle of the street is perfectly fine during the weekday (like, most of upper NW). If a car is coming, you have plenty of time to move over or hop up onto the curb. If you're jogging on the sidewalk, then you're inconveniencing people who are trying to walk there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a small group of people - and I think many of us know exactly who they are - who seem to think that the best way to preserve that which they hold dearest (and which they irrationally believe to be threatened by bike lanes) is to try to pit cyclists against bus riders, cyclists against disabled people, cyclists against black people and so on and so on. It has utterly no basis in reality whatsoever and is utterly pathetic. Sites like this debase themselves by permitting this nonsense.

There are two types of people. One type are people who think that the world revolves around them. The other type are people who try to figure out how we can all get along as best as possible together.

The bicylist holding up the bus “because they can” is the same person as the person who jogs in the middle of the street and the same person who doesn’t yield their car to pedestrians in cross walks. Same behavior, same person.

There are plenty of streets where jogging in the middle of the street is perfectly fine during the weekday (like, most of upper NW). If a car is coming, you have plenty of time to move over or hop up onto the curb. If you're jogging on the sidewalk, then you're inconveniencing people who are trying to walk there.

Thanks for confirming that you are one of those people.

[Anonymous]

I was very against the bike lane in my neighborhood (Kenyon St NW) because I thought it would just take up parking space and go unused like other bike lanes nearby (Warder, Park Pl). Instead it connected the area and now I see dozens of cyclists during my commute. So I’ll eat my words - it’s been fantastic for the neighborhood! It hasn’t added much traffic either, my commute time by car hasn’t changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was very against the bike lane in my neighborhood (Kenyon St NW) because I thought it would just take up parking space and go unused like other bike lanes nearby (Warder, Park Pl). Instead it connected the area and now I see dozens of cyclists during my commute. So I’ll eat my words - it’s been fantastic for the neighborhood! It hasn’t added much traffic either, my commute time by car hasn’t changed.

Do you prefer better transit access or bike lanes? That is the question.

The Columbia Rd bike lane had on average 190 counts every day in the month of October. If people were going both directions, then that is 95 individual riders. You can fit than many people in a handful of buses. Do you think limited public space should go to this inefficient purpose or to improve transit options in some of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the city?

[Anonymous]

Three kids, three different school drops ( no school buses). And after school/weekend activities (all different places the timing of which does not even begin to allow for public transportation wait times). I suspect bike/transit people agitate that we have zero to none offspring due to impact on Earth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was very against the bike lane in my neighborhood (Kenyon St NW) because I thought it would just take up parking space and go unused like other bike lanes nearby (Warder, Park Pl). Instead it connected the area and now I see dozens of cyclists during my commute. So I’ll eat my words - it’s been fantastic for the neighborhood! It hasn’t added much traffic either, my commute time by car hasn’t changed.

Do you prefer better transit access or bike lanes? That is the question.

The Columbia Rd bike lane had on average 190 counts every day in the month of October. If people were going both directions, then that is 95 individual riders. You can fit than many people in a handful of buses. Do you think limited public space should go to this inefficient purpose or to improve transit options in some of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the city?

No, it’s not the question. Stop pretending that bike lanes somehow reduce transit access. Everyone who is pro bike lane is pro transit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three kids, three different school drops ( no school buses). And after school/weekend activities (all different places the timing of which does not even begin to allow for public transportation wait times). I suspect bike/transit people agitate that we have zero to none offspring due to impact on Earth.

You’ve chosen a car-centric lifestyle. Your kids could carpool, take a bus, walk or bike.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three kids, three different school drops ( no school buses). And after school/weekend activities (all different places the timing of which does not even begin to allow for public transportation wait times). I suspect bike/transit people agitate that we have zero to none offspring due to impact on Earth.

I think the point is that with better public transit and bike infrastructure, kid activities would allow for public transit wait times because public transit would generally be more efficient than driving. I know it’s possible in theory (I used to live in Tokyo where no one used a car for school drop offs or activities or commutes for that matter) but I doubt it will every become reality around here because I think it would take a truly epic amount of transit funding and voter/cultural will that I don’t think we have in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three kids, three different school drops ( no school buses). And after school/weekend activities (all different places the timing of which does not even begin to allow for public transportation wait times). I suspect bike/transit people agitate that we have zero to none offspring due to impact on Earth.

You chose to live in a place without decent mass transit or bike infrastructure, and you have chosen to send your kids to three different schools in a car-dependent community. Other people make different choices, but the rest of us shouldn't have to "pay" for your bad decisions.

And as someone else noted (and this is what we did) car pooling for the kids for both school and out for school activities, goes a long way to making things more managable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three kids, three different school drops ( no school buses). And after school/weekend activities (all different places the timing of which does not even begin to allow for public transportation wait times). I suspect bike/transit people agitate that we have zero to none offspring due to impact on Earth.

The bike/transit people would ask why you just don’t put your kids on Metro because they get a free passes. If you responded that your kids were too young, they would say that it is good for kids to wander the city by themselves, builds resilience. If you responded that it was inconvenient, they would tell you that’s your fault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three kids, three different school drops ( no school buses). And after school/weekend activities (all different places the timing of which does not even begin to allow for public transportation wait times). I suspect bike/transit people agitate that we have zero to none offspring due to impact on Earth.

You chose to live in a place without decent mass transit or bike infrastructure, and you have chosen to send your kids to three different schools in a car-dependent community. Other people make different choices, but the rest of us shouldn't have to "pay" for your bad decisions.

And as someone else noted (and this is what we did) car pooling for the kids for both school and out for school activities, goes a long way to making things more managable.

You are sad and predictable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was very against the bike lane in my neighborhood (Kenyon St NW) because I thought it would just take up parking space and go unused like other bike lanes nearby (Warder, Park Pl). Instead it connected the area and now I see dozens of cyclists during my commute. So I’ll eat my words - it’s been fantastic for the neighborhood! It hasn’t added much traffic either, my commute time by car hasn’t changed.

Do you prefer better transit access or bike lanes? That is the question.

The Columbia Rd bike lane had on average 190 counts every day in the month of October. If people were going both directions, then that is 95 individual riders. You can fit than many people in a handful of buses. Do you think limited public space should go to this inefficient purpose or to improve transit options in some of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the city?

No, it’s not the question. Stop pretending that bike lanes somehow reduce transit access. Everyone who is pro bike lane is pro transit.

Setting aside valuable public land for the use of 95 people a day on bicycles instead of allowing for potentially thousands to use it for transit is exactly what it is. Shameful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Three kids, three different school drops ( no school buses). And after school/weekend activities (all different places the timing of which does not even begin to allow for public transportation wait times). I suspect bike/transit people agitate that we have zero to none offspring due to impact on Earth.

We have three kids at three different schools (with no school buses) and have made it this far through the school year without using a car to get them to school or to get to work a single time. And this is with no Metro stop anywhere near us and a single unreliable bus line.

[Anonymous]

Although not the person a pp was referring to, I did choose to live in the suburbs where we travel everywhere by car (walk to school, but drive to grocery shop, work, kids many activities from music to sports), our kids have a decent yard to play in, and many friends in and around the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, the powers that be are choosing to make the suburbs more dense, schools overcrowded, and are reducing car lanes everywhere to make room for a few bikers.

When my kids are done with HS, we are out of here, and taking our high income and tax dollars elsewhere. Would rather my tax dollars go to improving schools (160,000 students in MCPS, more before covid) and adding sidewalks for those walking to school than improving the roads for a few bike riders while at the same time making the roads intolerable for those who drive, which is the vast majority