[SDCBC] YouTube - SoCal Arterials and Lane Splitting videos

[John Forester]

In general, a person chooses to motor or to cycle for any particular 
trip depending on the comparative utility of the two modes. In my 
previous posting I considered only what I would call, crudely though 
this is, typical Americans, without going into further detail. Mr. Vance 
points out particular areas in which cycling competes well against 
motoring. He mentions the ocean-beach communities of San Diego, but, of 
course, there are others. Manhattan Island in New York City is probably 
the largest such area in the USA. (Downtown San Francisco is another.) 
Other than particular areas, there are particular parts of society in 
which cycling for transportation is more prevalent; some university 
campuses are the best known, but there is also the low-wage, often 
immigrant, part employed in service industries.

Mr. Vance mentions plans for developing more such locations. Such has 
been tried many times in the recent past (and in Europe also), but 
without that kind of success. I don't expect anything different to occur 
unless economic conditions change drastically.

Mr. Vance writes of studies that supposedly identify people who would 
"take to their bikes if we can figure out how to give them more 
comfortable places to ride." I have seen many studies, but I know of 
none that have made any serious analysis of trips, their purposes, 
distances, and other characteristics that are necessary to demonstrate 
even a potential change in transportation, let alone any analysis of how 
these trips would be related to particular facilities that would make 
the riders feel comfortable. Furthermore, the American bikeway program 
has been running for thirty years, with very little switch from motoring 
to bicycling. I don't hold out much reason to hope for a different 
outcome within the planning horizon.

-- 
John Forester, MS, PE
Bicycle Transportation Engineer
7585 Church St, Lemon Grove CA 91945
619-644-5481