Bikes - privileged mode of conveyance?

I'm sure we all had a good laugh at Dorothy Rabinowitz's rant in the Wall Street Journal's video commentary about New York's CitiBike program.  There's a letter to the editor of the New York Times today in response to a recent article about the bike parking nightmare in Amsterdam, that, while more coherent than Ms. Rabinowitz, still comes down firmly on the anti-bike side of the debate.  The author, Gary Taustine, refers to bikes as a "privileged mode of conveyance":

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/opinion/invitation-to-a-dialogue-...

The Times tagged it as an "invitation to a dialogue," asking for responses by tomorrow for publication next Sunday.  Might be worth a letter or two from Chainlinkers.  Here are a couple ideas:

  • Replace "bike" with "car" in Taustine's letter (that is, cars already have privileged status).
  • Note that being early on the adoption curve, most American cities should be able to adapt before being overrun by bikes like Amsterdam.
  • Point out that useful above ground and underground storage options exist. (I suspect underground storage would be out in Amsterdam, and might be problematic in cities like Chicago and New York which already have well-developed underground infrastructure.)
  • New York, Chicago, and other large American cities could adopt a center city congestion charge like London's to free up more space to park and ride bikes.  That is, make cars less of a privileged conveyance.

The Times doesn't identify Mr. Taustine's connection to New York, but if you Google for "Gary Taustine site:nytimes.com", you'll see that he has been a lifelong New Yorker, and doesn't lack for opinions.

As Divvy gets going and Mayor Emmanuel and his minions continue working to improve the cycling infrastructure in Chicago, it also makes sense to keep an eye on what's happening in New York.  The reactions of people like Ms. Rabinowitz and Mr. Taustine are likely shared by many Chicagoans.

Skip

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on July 2, 2013 at 8:36am

The Amsterdam city center was probably at full density before the invention of the automobile.  In fact, most large European cities were.  There was little or no space for parking garages without destroying existing buildings.  American cities developed much later, and except for a few Eastern cities (Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, etc) probably had plenty of more-or-less open space in which to put parking lots, and later, multi-level parking garages.  We thus have plenty of fractionally used space we can redirect to bike parking.  It might cost a few bucks for a monthly parking pass, but I doubt we will ever see the Amsterdam example in the US.

Haddon said:

Anyway, there are multiple parking spaces for every car in America. (Church lots are full occasionally, business at certain times, malls at others) so if it comes down to it I think we'll find a place to put some bikes.

Permalink Reply by Haddon on July 2, 2013 at 9:37am

More focus,

What is the cost structure of Divy vs. a Metra Pass ? 

One will be more expensive than another.  If one doesn't have a credit card can they still use Divy?  What are the comparable costs of each? If measuring the program on finances it may indeed be privileged.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on July 2, 2013 at 9:56am

Annual membership is $75, daily is $7. Each allows you unlimited 30-minute trips during the duration of the subscription. I pay $42.50 for a Metra 10-ride between Evanston and the Loop.

http://divvybikes.com/pricing

Comparing Divvy to Metra (or even CTA) is not really a fair comparison, since the coverage areas are currently so different.  Here's the Divvy map:

http://divvybikes.com/stations

As you can see from the blue pins, it currently only extends north to Fullerton and south to McCormick Place.  The yellow pins are "coming soon."

Here's Metra:

http://metrarail.com/content/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_sys...

Here's the CTA "L" map:

http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/maps/Rail_System_Map_-_P19Ma...

Still, if Divvy covers your home and work locations, it seems the price is hard to beat.  If your bike commute is more than 30 minutes, you will pay extra.

I don't know all the answers to your questions.  (Before responding, I didn't know any.) Instead, I will nudge you to do your own searching:

http://bit.ly/15eiiAv

Please report your findings back here. :-)

Permalink Reply by yai danche on July 2, 2013 at 11:54am

back on topic, amsterdam's congestion problem is that people are leaving a bike at work, a bike at home, and anywhere in between to have one just in case (flat, stolen).  resulting in more bikes than people!  we have a long way to go for that to happen.  i wonder what they do there for bike parking.  do they pay to park?  btw, i already have this problem for cars in my neighborhood.  each house has more than one car and while people will park one in the garage and one in front of the house.  there are also a few apartment buildings and coach houses (therefore eliminating the garage) and those people have cars.  there are more cars than there are parking spaces on the street!  people have resorted to saving their spots and it's aggravating when people visit and have to park crazy far away.  

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