Dear Mayor Parker:
So how did it feel to get booed when you said you would consider the voice of residents who are actually impacted by bike lanes?
The booing came from members of the bike cult, represented by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, whose clout far exceeds its membership.
They don’t feel you are friendly enough to it.
Boo-hoo. Good for you.
By its own admission, it has 2,400 members. Greater Philadelphia has 5 million residents. The numbers show the Coalition, which skillfully has wormed its way into the civic infrastructure, actually represents so few it amounts to a margin of error.
There are more left-handed Albanians in Greater Philadelphia than members of the Coalition.
(Here’s proof: There are 32,000 Albanians in Greater Philadelphia. 10% of people are left-handed. That means 3,200 Albanians are left-handed, one-third more numerous than Coalition members. Sometimes math is fun.)
Following a recent press conference, you took a friendly bike ride. Good for you. I’ve used Indego bikes, too.
But you won’t be commuting from your Mount Airy home to City Hall by bike. The distance of the average bike commute in Philadelphia I’ve read is 4 miles, but I could not find that stat. I did find one for West Philly, and that is 2.5 miles. In other words, walking distance.
The deference given to the Coalition is amazing. Is it because it can turn out 300 noisy people for a protest rally? That’s a small number, and it doesn’t make the Coalition right.
Let’s look at some other numbers — the percentage of Philadelphians who are bike commuters.
That’s 2%, according to the Coalition itself.
A lousy 2%, and remember when bike lanes were installed more than a decade ago, the city in 2010 projected 6% of Philadelphians would commute by bike by 2020. The mayor was Michael Nutter, who got bullied into this pie-in-the-sky nonsense by the Coalition, which exists solely for the good of cyclists, and no one else.
The numbers never got to 3%, let alone 6%. (And one gets counted as a bike “commuter” if a bike is used only three days a week. That should be called “part-time commuting.”)
Commuter numbers hover around 2%, even as more bike lanes are added, almost always without the approval of the neighbors who are inconvenienced by them. The Coalition’s mantra is, if you build it, they will come. It is a proven fallacy. They don’t come.
And yet the bike cult always wants more, now sadly using the tragic death of a female bicyclist to a drunk driver on Spruce Street to push their desire for concrete poles to protect bicyclists.
The cult presented you with a petition with 6,000 names, in a city of 1.5 million, and 5 million in the metro area, including left-handed Albanians.
Are concrete bollards enough? In the past I suggested a moat, perhaps with alligators.
Almost all crashes occur at intersections. This mid-block death was a real rarity.
The Coalition want bollards up and down Pine and Spruce as a safety precaution against something that almost never happens, while they will make residents of Pine and Spruce miserable all the time.
The bollards will prevent them from pulling their cars, cabs, or Ubers safely to the curb. Vehicles will have to stop in the single operating lane, delaying traffic. Bollards create barriers to deliveries as more and more Philadelphians shop by mail and FedEx, UPS, and USPS trucks are everywhere.
The longer a trip takes, the longer a car is on the road, the more fuel it burns, thus increasing air pollution. The bike lanes on broad streets like JFK and Market can be tolerated, but not on narrow streets like Pine and Spruce, where I live, and where I daily see the consequences of poor policy.
A quick word about the “experts” who tell you differently. The “experts” installed bike lanes on the north side of Pine and Spruce, only to reverse themselves in 2019. Why? Because they were wrong. They even forgot to account for left-turn lanes for cars so they would not further delay traffic. Left-turn lanes were added later. These are facts.
Here’s another: Who did the original bike survey, prior to bike lanes? The city? No. The survey was conducted by the Coalition. In what universe does someone trust an advocate to produce unbiased statistics? It’s unbelievable — like letting a vegan order food for the company picnic.
Here are more unpleasant facts.
Bicycle riding is an assumed risk.
Bike riding is more dangerous than motorcycle riding which is more dangerous than cars, which are more dangerous than trains which are more dangerous than airplanes. Risk is a part of life.
One of the cult, Michael McGettigan, a self-interested friend of mine who owns a Center City West bicycle shop, told you: “No more studies. Let’s have some concrete. . . Let’s stop asking motorists if they’re feelings are hurt.”
Here he reveals — like most of the bike cult — a contempt for motorists, as if they were an alien life form.
In fact, motorists are people, people who pay more through their cars (for taxes, parking, insurance, license plates, gasoline, etc.) than anything contributed to society by smug bicyclists, who say they are green as if that should shield them for all criticism.
The major pushback against bike lanes comes not from motorists, but from the residents who live along the route.
Mayor Parker, ask the residents how they feel about bike lanes, most of which are virtually empty almost 24 hours a day, finding minor use during rush hours.
I’ve been writing about this issue since 2009, and have suggested we resolve our differences by having a citywide referendum on bike lanes.
Oh NO, says the Coalition, because it knows it would fail.
That’s why it furiously fought against letting District Council members have the final decision on bike lanes. That’s because almost all District Council members, if they polled residents, would vote no.
It’s not that bike riders should have no say, despite the fact that almost all break the law by blowing through red lights and disregarding stop signs. The Coalition does nothing to stop that recklessness.
Like anyone else, it should be heard, but it need not be obeyed.
We all want safety, and the most certain path to safety is through enforcement against law breakers, be they motorists, cyclists, or pedestrians.
More cops will control bad motorists, and devices like speed cameras and speed cushions will slow them down.
All good.
What we don’t need are more bike lanes. The statistics show they are a failed idea whose time has passed. And concrete bollards are an even worse idea.
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May I offer a different point of view about bikes in our city?
Consider how long it has taken to get approvals for and to build out the Schuylkill River Trail which had been talked about for many decades before any of it happened? Such a great idea, we should have planned and completed the Schuylkill Trail decades ago.
Similar to the issue of bikes in Philadelphia.
I wish to give a hearty congratulations, instead, to the Bicycle Coalition. After visiting Amsterdam in 1966, it was clear that my own city, Philadelphia, level as Amsterdam could be much better, friendly, cleaner, easier to get about and quieter, too, if many more people used bikes, (upright bikes versus the bikes with less visibility, the bent over racing bikes ) than all the people who use cars, at least in our level Center City area from river to river. I recommend looking at a video series called "Not Just Bikes" which discusses the issues about bikes in Amsterdam. Solutions we need here.
Mayor Parker would do very well to send a few of our top designers to Amsterdam to learn their solutions to smart traffic lights, traffic lights for bikes, pedestrian walkways and crossovers, bike planning, bike safety, bike garages, and everything we still struggle with about being smart and safe about bikes in Philadelphia.
Just a few plane tickets, Mayor Parker, will help to accelerate planning for bikes here which our planners are making mistakes over and over again trying to reinvent wheels that the Dutch invented almost perfectly decades ago about bikes in the city. Please view the series, "Not Just Bikes" and go to Amsterdam.
Real question should be: Why are we so many many decades behind where we should be welcoming and accommodating bikes in our very easy to bike and our very bike appropriate city?
I used to think the same thing, and yes I've been to Amsterdam twice, and will be going again next spring. The problem is not one of logistics. Americans in general are not Europeans, and particularly, they're not the Dutch. When you arrive in Amsterdam by train, the first thing you see is a parking lot, filled with black bikes. These are provided by the city--need one, take one, and bring it back on your next trip. But this will not happen here. First of all, we're a tax averse nation, and we're not interested in paying up to 50% of our wages for cradle to grave service. Not saying we're right and they're wrong, or vice versa, just a cultural difference. Secondly, I can't see old ladies in dresses riding bikes here, as I did over there. Riding bikes is a way of life for them, but not for us. Enacting laws, or simply willing to be so, will not change us, any more than it would for them, either.
I totally agree. We aren’t culturally into bicycling (OR walking, for that matter, except perhaps those who live in Center City). We shouldn’t be bullied into being something we aren’t.
To me, this is another example of the tyranny of the minority.
We already ARE the most “bike friendly” city, BUT the paltry numbers explain why numbers can be manipulated. As per us vs Amsterdam, Mark speaks for me. Philly should no more adopt Amsterdam’s biking than we should Madrid’s siesta policy.
I couldn't agree more, particularly as it concerns residents. I used to bike to work when I lived in Chicago. The distance, depending on the route I took, was about 12.5 miles each way; took about half an hour. I liked it, I obeyed all traffic laws, but I stopped, well, for a couple of reasons. One was the greatest dangers I always encountered was not at intersections but from driver's opening their car doors. It got to where I was actually peering ahead into every parked vehicle I was going to pass to see if there was a person that might be ready to open the door. The second reason was that, as I aged, my balance was not what it once was. Common sense told me it was time to quit this foolishness. But the inconvenience to residents beats out any kind of reasoning that would make biking on the narrow streets of Philly any more than a recreational, at best.
Per the car door problem: There is a movement to teach drivers to open their door with their RIGHT hand, which almost forces them to look back, to where a cyclist might be.
A different topic, but slightly related to lack of enforcement. Prior to retirement, I used the Boulevard & Expressway almost daily (in my car and not on my bicycle). Since retirement I use those roadways once or twice a year. Yesterday was one of those rare days. There has been exponential growth of eyesore graffiti along both routes. When passing the 30th Station area an extremely long freight train had graffiti on almost every car. Sorry, but who the hell would want to live in Philadelphia where common sense left the room long ago? Keep your bike lanes and graffiti!!
So by reading Byko, we learn that left-handed Albanians outnumber our local bike cultists. Truly inspired!!
Nothing more ridiculous that riding down 21st Street, and discovering that half that narrow road is reserved for bike riders in a lane that's usually empty. How dumb is that?
I truly admire the way you have stood up to these noisy cultists all these years, climaxing of course in your libel case. Carry on the good fight.
Thanks, Ralph. I happened to be on 21st street yesterday. From Oregon to Pine. Not a single bike.
Why aren't bicyclists required to pass a bicycle-rider's test? Pay for a bicycle-rider's license? Pay for a license for their bicycle? Pay for bicycyle-rider's insurance? Pay for mandatory annual bicycle inspections? Wear all kinds of protective head- and body-gear? If bicyclists want to commute to work, make them pay what auto drivers have to pay.
Or, put a bounty on bike riders, (Just kidding.)
Put a bounty on bike riders Vince? Just because you added that you are kidding does not make it funny. You are sick for saying that.
You must be a lot of fun at parties.
What type of parties do you go to Vince? Are they composed of people, like you, who "joke" about putting bounties on groups such as Democrats, liberals, LGBTO, non white people or anyone else whose ideologies you disagree with?
I go to parties where we make fun of people who have no sense of humor...like you.
In essence Vince, you talk about people you do not agree with which is what I said you do.
In my opinion you were not joking when you suggested putting a bounty on bike riders.
Mayor Parker it took longer to get approval and build any bike lanes than it will take to ram rod the basketball arena approval through city council. Mayor Parker it seems your lips are moving but I hear the Business Trades Union and Local 98 speaking. You could build the bike lanes with a wave of your wand but I guess the Unions aren't interested in low budget jobs.
Excellent article, Stu. I only hope Mayor Parker or an aide who has her ear reads this very important factual piece.
Excellent article, Stu. I hope that Mayor Parker or an aide that has her ear reads this writing.