Reply to Chevy Chase Community Center Redevelopment

Forum Index » Metropolitan DC Local Politics

Reply to "Chevy Chase Community Center Redevelopment"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There is zero evidence that protected bike lanes induce cycling.

DDOT has bike counters throughout the district that they have now stopped operating because the results do not should increased utilization over time. What the data shows is that cycling is highly seasonal and many of the lanes have daily users in the tens during January. Second, the utilization that occurs on the first day is constant throughout time. This last point is critically important because what the lanes apparently do is collect existing cyclists that may be using different routes, but do not induce cycling.

As more evidence that more bike lanes don’t induce more cycling, surveys by MWCOG, USDOT and the Census Bureau are all consistent that there are fewer bike commuters now, as a percentage of total commuters, than in 2015.

Apparently, 2015 was peak cycling for most cities in America, including famously Portland, where bike commuting has also declined. NYC is basically a national outlier. [/quote]

Further evidence abounds all around DC. Just look at all the empty bike lanes. My favorite is in Germantown, near 355, where the narrow bike lane is sandwiched between three lanes of traffic on the left and a right turn lane on the right. Who in their right mind thought that was safe for bikes or cars?[/quote]

I bike a lot in Germantown. I don't know which specific location you're talking about. But the answer is probably: nobody thinks it's safe for bicyclists. Including the State Highway Administration, which built it, but it meets the official minimum standards for a bike lane, so that's what they do. And including the bicyclists, who don't use it, but instead ride on the sidewalk. Maybe if every time you read "protected bike lane," you think "sidewalk," that will help you understand.

Now, as it happens, there actually are a lot of people getting around in Germantown on bikes, even though you probably don't see us, because we are mostly on the sidewalks. Which raises the question: if there are a lot of people getting around in Germantown on bikes, with almost zero good bike infrastructure, how many people would get around in Germantown on bikes if there were good bike infrastructure?

Also, it's very common for people to see me with my bike, like outside a store, and say, "Oh, I would love to bike to the store, but I'm afraid of the cars." or "Oh, I would love to bike to the store, but my husband say it isn't safe."

Nobody ever sees me with my car, outside a store, and says, "Oh, I would love to spend even more time driving and in parking lots!" [/quote]

If a lot of people are already biking on sidewalks, then why do we need bike lanes?

The bike lane I was referring to is heading West crossing 355, right at that huge Patriot Urgent Care building.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics