[SDCBC] Lane splitting and bike paths

[John Forester]

There have been repeated references to the hypothesis that the increase in bicycle transportation in Portland OR has been caused by building bikeways. The issue is much more a comparison of the comparative utility of cycling vs motoring. Bikeways don't make bicycle transportation more useful, just more pleasing to the ill-informed. That's a help, but not the major factor. Portland has had a long history of deliberately making motoring more difficult in order to reduce it. Portland's own transit operator has said that if motoring was not made difficult, the transit system would not have many riders. The same applies to bicycle transportation. 

I, myself, do not see opposition to motoring to be so important that it justifies creating a culture of incompetent cyclists instead of improving the behavior of those we have.

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