Cycling is....selfish?
#26
Bicycle Repair Man !!!
Have your girlfriend and her friends stand behind an idling car for a few minutes and then have them stand behind your idling bike...
#27
Wheezy Rider
Whenever the subject of public funded transportation, light rail, buses, Amtrak etc comes up, the argument against is always along the lines that taxpayers shouldn't be expected to subsidize transport for others. "Amtrak should pay its own way" and the like. However, few seem to realize that freeways, surface streets, streetlights and all the other accoutrements of driving don't "pay their way". Or that if the car companies had to build and maintain the roads, as rail companies are expected to do with tracks, the cost of motoring would be significantly higher. Somehow it's just a given that the public should subsidize the car industry.
To me, that's just the same mentality being explored here. Motorists aren't selfish when they expect the whole world to pander to them, but anyone who uses another form of transportation is.
To me, that's just the same mentality being explored here. Motorists aren't selfish when they expect the whole world to pander to them, but anyone who uses another form of transportation is.
#29
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Funny. I'm not saying it's wrong in every case, but there are times when making such a statement is intended to end the debate. To somehow make the opposing view seem guilty of something. In this case it's selfish to get in the way of the bus. But it isn't selfish to get in the way of progress from the viewpoint that the cyclist has equal rights to the road? In a courteous way of course.
In another sense I can see her side of it. I'm going to guess she reasoned that the bus' ability to carry so many more people somehow earns it a right to a road beyond simple courtesy. Two way street.
Harv
In another sense I can see her side of it. I'm going to guess she reasoned that the bus' ability to carry so many more people somehow earns it a right to a road beyond simple courtesy. Two way street.
Harv
#30
Velocommuter Commando
I'll agree with the girlfriend. Cyclists think they have a right to be on the road. Never mind that in "London" or any other city in the UK - it is probably the fastest and most economic form of transport over 5 miles that there is. Probably over 10 miles to be honest. It is less polluting than any other transport so is probably helping to cut down on the noxious gases that are killing all city users over time. They are doing nothing to help the health insurance companies as they are keeping in better shape than most of the population and just think how much the petroleum comapanies and and car manufacturers are losing with cyclists sticking to their rights and using the roads and stopping your girlfriend from getting to work 10 seconds earlier.
#31
Velocommuter Commando
So my girlfriend and her friend came to the conclusion that cycling is selfish because they saw a bus full of people have to slow down behind a cyclist in the bus lane (cyclists are allowed to use bus lanes).
Now perhaps this could be considered slightly selfish behaviour, but I love how society has completely forgotten about how selfish driving is. No one comments on how all the cars are holding up loads of people in a bus. No one comments how there is usually only 1 person in a huge car.
Just another reason we need to move society away from being car-centric. If we could do this then maybe people will realise how selfish they have all been, driving their cars and taking up space, oil and polluting the atmosphere.
Daven
Now perhaps this could be considered slightly selfish behaviour, but I love how society has completely forgotten about how selfish driving is. No one comments on how all the cars are holding up loads of people in a bus. No one comments how there is usually only 1 person in a huge car.
Just another reason we need to move society away from being car-centric. If we could do this then maybe people will realise how selfish they have all been, driving their cars and taking up space, oil and polluting the atmosphere.
Daven
#32
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I hate to interject a disagreement here; however, under the law most cyclists are in the right in thinking that they have the right to be on the road. I can't speak for other states but I know here in Texas a bicycle is a vehicle and has rights to transit via roadway.
Adam
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I got a lot of my friends thinking about bikes vs. cars with this article.
https://www.insidesaopaulo.com/2009/0...elicopter.html
Might be worth passing along.
#34
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In 2008 Transportation Alternatives in NYC held a short commuter race: a cyclist, a driver and a pedestrian taking mass transit. It was from somewhere in Brooklyn to Manhattan. The cyclist won, the driver was the second. I think they did that annualy, but not sure if it happened in 2009.
I think, however, that if they picked a longer and more complex route the cyclist would win by even larger margin.
Adam
I think, however, that if they picked a longer and more complex route the cyclist would win by even larger margin.
Adam
#35
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In 2008 Transportation Alternatives in NYC held a short commuter race: a cyclist, a driver and a pedestrian taking mass transit. It was from somewhere in Brooklyn to Manhattan. The cyclist won, the driver was the second. I think they did that annualy, but not sure if it happened in 2009.
I think, however, that if they picked a longer and more complex route the cyclist would win by even larger margin.
Adam
I think, however, that if they picked a longer and more complex route the cyclist would win by even larger margin.
Adam
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