Comments on: Bike Nazi Endorses Bieter Bikes

By: Harold

Harold — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 23:14:33 +0000

I thought the article was about “Bieters Bikes”, not Nazi anything.

By: Clancy

Clancy — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 18:00:48 +0000

#CarfreeforBBP on May 7th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFmE4PZBJXQ

I have taken the challenge and challenged others. I encourage all of you to take the challenge and be weird. Learn more at boisebicycleproject.org

By: Clancy

Clancy — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 18:21:43 +0000

Godwin’s Law just got reversed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

By: erico49

erico49 — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 12:15:38 +0000

Chicago.. you forgot a yearly fee for a sticker to help defray the enforcement activities for pedal-powered vehicles. And we need to write the regulations in sufficient detail to ensure that tricycles not driven out of the culdesac are also included in the system.

By: chicago sam

chicago sam — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 16:27:46 +0000

The problem of goatheads can be solved by passing a city ordinance outlawing them. It is very difficult however when one of the problems with rubber tires is the transfer of seeds to areas where they have not been propagated. An inspection and de-goatheading system should be implemented as soon as possible. A Port-of-Entry near city hall or in the new bus terminal would be a central location

By: J Smith

J Smith — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 14:14:47 +0000

Great article Zippo. Here is another on Hans Monderman on why street signs often make traffic more dangerous and allow cars to greatly degrade quality of life by turning people into idiots, by treating them like idiots.

http://jalopnik.com/5533260/why-street-signs-make-traffic-more-dangerous

By: Zippo

Zippo — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 04:52:12 +0000

I have a set of bike tires with thousands of goat heads in them… never been flat. It’s a $45-$55 per tire however.

Here’s an interesting article:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/urbs/why-shared-space-scares/

By: flyhead

flyhead — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:46:01 +0000

Goat Heads and flat tires will surely impact the success or failure of this effort. Also, under inflated tires and other maintenance will kill the project.

By: Easterner

Easterner — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 16:51:40 +0000

I would like to mention BikeBoy’s reference as “wildly successful” may be a bit of an overstatement.
DC’s first bikeshare program went belly up and is now on version 2.0. Along with others, including NYC’s there have been many problems.
And keep in mind, those few “successful” program’s are still in their infancy. That’s like saying your two-year-old is a successful college football quarterback.

Or this all might be like the next new, “successful” restaurant in town- it’s just a matter of time before they close their doors.
Success will be 10 years from now.
I don’t think any bikeshare program has been around that long in the U.S. (if anywhere).
Fad or sustainable?

http://www.beezodogsplace.com/2015/04/08/another-bikeshare-failure/

I don’t understand why a potential resident user wouldn’t already have their own bike at whatever local they might be using a bikeshare. So does it depend on tourists? In January?

good luck bikeshare!

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 15:30:25 +0000

It is a good point that no transit system is self supporting from the user fees, but I think there is more to consider:

Automobile users pay anywhere from 50-60% of the cost to build and maintain roads, depending on the study you believe. Roads were built by the government to facilitate commerce, open up new areas for development, and our daily commute to work, all things the government taxes us dearly for. If we were to apply some of the secondary benefit the government gets from roads (freight taxes, increased property taxes when roads connect rural areas and development occurs, etc) then the road program might be pretty close to self supporting.

I fail to see in this green bike program how it helps commerce, helps people get to work or facilitates taxable new development. It is an amusement or service for recreation or tourism for people who are already downtown, and should therefore be self supporting in my opinion, or subsidized by GBAD or DBA, agencies with their own funding sources who are interested in tourism and downtown vibrancy.

But to the broader point which was more of a philosophical argument, that if something is of value to the general population, that same population will organically find a way to fund that item. Here are some examples or experiments I would like to see:

Triple the bus pass cost so buses are self-supporting but they would still be less than half the total cost of ownership of a car. See if the bus system survives.

Stop subsidizing PBS and NPR and like every other TV or Radio station they can sell advertising or close their doors.

Stop funding art from the NEA, and let the community support the artists they choose to, by buying art or the attendance of performances. Artists that are good will survive, artists which are not can get other jobs.

Eliminate tax exemptions for non-profits including churches and see how many close their doors.

It is a matter of efficiency. When the consumer is aware of and burdened with the total cost of their decision, they will make better decisions, but we end up taxed to death, because the true cost of every “good” idea or politicians pet project is buried in multiple and ambiguous funding sources, which for the most part always end up as taxes.