We don’t care if your feet hurt, my bike is worth more than you. Montgomery, oops Hollywood.

You know the whole idea of removing seats on the trains to make room for cyclists sort of bothers me.

Why does it bother me, because there are too many people who work as domestics, too many people who are handicapped and too many people who are elderly on the train.

These are people who took the train even when gas was low, because they couldn’t afford to drive (or couldn’t see well enough to drive.)

Cyclists are more and more beginning to strike me as selfish assholes. Also the idea that they tend  to try to paint themselves as "oppressed minorities" makes me want to give them figurative slaps across the face. Read this interesting exchange between me and cyclists from Midnight Ridazz on LA's Eastside.

I’m trying to be real open-minded in regards to this, but often I don’t take my bike on the train and it’s not because of METRO, but because I think it’s rude.

It’s rude to have your bike in the face of some other person riding the train if you don’t have to simply because you don’t want to lock up your bike and you don’t want to wake up a little bit earlier or leave a bit later.

If you have to ride your bike after you get off the train leave earlier. Not having a car means you have to compromise, shocking I know.

Why do cyclists’ rights seem to trump public transit riders’ rights. I think it is because cyclists tend to be a little richer, a little less vaginaey and a little less foreign.

METRO and the city should add more bike lanes.
METRO should add more bike parking.

METRO should not take away the rush hour ban on bikes. Taking away seats from people who don’t get to just ride the train from Hollywood to Downtown, but have to ride the bus from East LA or South LA for one hour, then take the train from downtown LA to Hollywood and then take the bus from Hollywood to the Westside because they work in security or childcare or in the janitorial industries just doesn’t seem fair to me.

It smacks of classicism.

Gas goes up and every wish that the middle class wants gets granted. It takes working class people 15 years to get things done it takes middle class people five minutes, which wouldn’t be a problem, but if you care about the world outside of yourself you have to think about other people.

I don’t have kids, I don’t have a blue-collar job, but still I think about the people who are in these situations. How do you get past 25 and have such a narrow view of life, maybe money makes everyone around you disappear.

The environmental movement needs to remember that all people are people. And that people outside the upper middle-income circle of people should be taken into account while brainstorming cool ideas.

I think a person who has spent all day working as a domestic deserves a seat more than guy with a bike, but maybe I’ve gone to sleep and we’re actually living in 1950s Alabama, but instead of everyone having handkerchiefs, everyone has tattoos.

by Browne

Comments

[pico rider]

Midnight Riddaz, et al, may be visible, vocal, arrogant pricks, but please don't oppose bike initiatives on their account.

If I can't take my $10 bike with me, I'll drive. Half the time, I just ride (1-4 miles) in lieu of waiting for buses that don't come at all, or don't even have standing room.

[browne]

I don't oppose bike initiatives I oppose unfair initiatives.

The busses/trains are SRO as it is. There needs to be room for everyone.

Everyone should be taken into account. There needs to be more trains and busses running more often if the MTA would even consider taking away seats for cyclist. I am more concerned with the people who have to take the bus than those who will just pop in their car if they don't get their way. Why must the poorest always sacrifice the most.

Make MTA do their job don't take away the rights of the voiceless.

[brian]

i agree that bike riders have to be mindful of injuring other passengers on a train, ESPECIALLY when that train is packed. This is also why many transit agencies ban bikes during peak times. However, given the fact that most cyclists can easily outpace a bus, a bike+train commute is very viable, and I also think transit agencies should do what they can to ensure the peaceful coexistence of these 2 transit riderships. The fact is that many people who take bike+train can not only commute effectively that way, but make a point of doing so. As such, bike riders are an important transit ridership, since many of them are committed to not driving. Certain agencies fare better than others at doing this (Caltrain comes to mind) but ultimately the responsibility for safety and compassion lies with cyclists themselves. I'm sorry that some cyclists are douches, but for every douche I'm fairly sure that there are many more non-douches who are just trying to get along.

[Gary K.]

Taking a bike on the train makes sense a lot of times, since trains are fast, but usually require connecting transit to finish the trip. Buses move like molasses, so bikes make the best way to complete the trip. And on the road we are a minority, making up less then 1% of commuting traffic in LA and Portland, known as cycle capital of the US, bike commuting hovers around 5%.

About the claim that cyclists are rich I find that hard to swallow. Maybe the weekend road warriors who tow their bikes on an SUV to a start location and drive to work even though they have 3 bikes. You wouldn't see them at a Metro station though. None of the day in day out bike commuters I know are rolling in cash, and I know many. If trains are getting crowded from too much demand, shouldn't we be concerned with increasing supply of train cars, isn't this economics?

In Copenhagen, where 1/3 of the population commutes using a bike, there are special train cars without seating, and it's not just for more bike room, parents with strollers and handicapped people with wheel chairs can more comfortably fit into these cars as well. Straps are provided in this car to help secure bikes and wheel chairs against the wall.

Bike commuting and transit shouldn't be enemies, we basically have similar goals of making transportation possible without private automobiles. I'm sure there are ways to address the conflicting issues without it being an either or debate.

[Browne]

Most people on the public transit aren't using bikes and I'm not seeing that happening anytime in the near future at least not within the very huge city of Los Angeles.

Now is that saying that I think METRO shouldn't work with cyclist? Of course not.

I think there should be lanes dedicated to cyclist.

I think there should be safe places for people to store their bike, but I don't think people should have their bicycles on the train at rush hour.

I know of very few places in the civilized world that allow people to bring their bikes on trains during rush hour.

And no, cyclist aren't rich, but many of them are richer than than people who just take public transit and have been just been taking public transit for the last twenty years.

Cyclists' also seem to be more mobilized and within the blogosphere people seem more scared to challenge them.

Possibly because some of the bigger (more well connected, more in the entertainment biz) bloggers are avid cyclists, so no one even dares to say, "hey, possibly cyclists should think about busriders or trainriders."

People in the blog world are too scared to even question anything that they say.

Some of the more mobilized bloggier type cyclists in my opinion seem to want public transit to exist solely for their benefit and busses, well they have no need for busses, because they live near the red line, so the busses should be dismantled to make room for them and their bikes and their bike riding friends.

I could be off base, but from reading cyclists' blogs, that's the impression that I get.

I think now certain cyclists are going to damn far. They have absolutely no consideration for other people, you can see by certain comments here and on the comments on the la eastside when we talked about certain issues, it's all about them and what they need and fuck anyone else.

Fuck disabled people, fuck people who work all day on their feet, fuck anyone but their freakin' friends.

And that's just not ok and someone should say something about it and I nominated myself for the job.

Browne

[Gary K.]

Sure some cyclists are well off, and I won't deny I could easily afford to drive if I wanted to, but I bike instead. But the majority of the cyclists I really see out on the streets are riding beater second hand mountain bikes, or 70's Schwinn road bikes they built up to be ridable at some place like the Bicycle Kitchen. I think it's over simplifying to generalize commuter cyclists as higher class then other commuters although it may be true that we are more mobilized.

I think what cyclists really want to see is an expansion to accommodate mixed transit such as bikes, not a subtraction of seating for others. If an additional rear train car were set up with a few hooks or racks in the back, bikes could be accommodated in a way that did not interfere with other passengers as well as making the bikes take up less room then standing around trying to hold it. The racks could fold up to provide more room when not in use. If the racks are full then it would be priority seating and standing room for other commuters.

About the subject of buses, I rarely use the bus because as mentioned it is slower then cycling, although bus lanes could possibly remedy that if they ever happen for any stretch longer then 3 blocks. I personally want to see bus transit improved, because a healthy bus network means less cars on the road and a more efficient movement of people in the city generally. Trains are great but they are best left for major corridors. I still use buses sometimes, and also understand they play a critical role for those not in a position to bike or drive. We also need to encourage more people who could drive to consider buses, which is why I've been providing constructive feed back for the Big Blue Bus on their bus of the future project with Art Center.

I've heard some people argue cyclists are against disabled people, and although we encourage people to bike, obviously it does not make sense for some, especially with certain disabilities or intense physical labor on their job. I would love to see expansion of the train system, but it should not be at the expense of cutting bus lines people depend on.

If you browse cycling forums there tends to be a lot of bus hate, but that stems from repeated conflicts between buses and bikes, and cyclists having their lives threatened on the road. If Metro wants cycling culture to support buses it might help to have their drivers ease off trying to run us down or sandwich us into the curb when picking up passengers. A bus can be a very intimidating force, especially in the hands of the wrong driver. This is not indicative of buses generally, but it happens enough times that it makes a lot of noise, especially when the official response seems to be to ignore the issue.

I'm sure it's not going to happen over night, but I'd love to see buses, trains, bikes & pedestrians all allied in the effort to shift the balance of city transit from it's inefficient dependence on private automobiles.

Gary K.

[Browne]

I understand that cyclists have bad experiences with busses, but do they get that people are on the bus? That little detail totally blows my mind. How can people on bikes forget that people are on the bus.

As I said. I'm for bike lanes. I think every major street should have a bike lane. I think the idea to have an extra car for bikes is great.

But I think cyclists should be mindful of busriders. If I'm on my bike I give the bus the right of way, because I'm one person, that bus can hold over 30 people and in the morning the bus is usually standing room only.

Do you know what cyclist should do if they have issues with drivers? Demand that METRO pay them. Start them off fulltime.

I had a conversation with a driver once on the Montebello 40 she was a MTA driver she told me she made like 12 bucks an hour and they won't give you fulltime until you've proven yourself. What a bunch of assholes. They set their employees up for failure. METRO creates a workforce of tired, poor, overworked and inexperienced drivers and makes it dangerous for passengers, cyclists and personal car owners.

This driver had two kids and she had to support her two kids on twelve dollars per hour with a twenty hour work week and METRO won't even give her a pass.

That's the kind of place METRO is, be angry with METRO, force them to treat their employees right, force them to do their job, don't give them an easy way to not do their job, because they'll take it.

The idea to let bikes on a rush hour train is simply giving METRO a way to not do their job.

It's about responsibility.

Browne