Bike Forums - View Single Post - Can CicLAvia make Los Angeles carfree?

10-08-10 | 09:04 PM

#51

Robert Foster

Banned.

Joined: May 2008

Posts: 3,498

Likes: 2

From: Southern california

Bikes: Lapierre CF Sensium 400. Jamis Ventura Sport. Trek 800. Giant Cypress.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roody

Bek has made the point well, but i want to add a little. I think nobody is more aware than angelenos how broken the current traffic infrastructure in America is. Even the diehard motorists know there is something wrong with a system where you spend nearly as much time standing still or driving much below the speed limit due to traffic congestion. I don't think bikes are the total answer by any means. But they can help. And peo;e can learn to like and respect bikes, if they're a) ginen a friendly little nudge, and b) given streets that are designed to include bikes as well as other modes. Certainly, experimenting with bike facilities in some sections of LA would be cheaper and quicker than the automated roadways that myrridin proposes. And also cheaper, and more likely to preserve quality of life, than putting in additional freeways, or increasing capacity on the existing freeways.

I want to put the ball back in your court. Do you accept that the current traffic infrastructure is badly flawed if not broken? Do you accept that government should try to improve quality of life by facilitating better transportation in LA? What do you think is a better solution than integrating other modes into the existing streets?

Ok long post....

I have said before that I had high hopes for metro link and light rail in the LA area. I just have been disappointed in the cut backs they have made to mass transit in LA. The start of the light rail system in LA was a great success even considering the heavy construction costs of tearing up streets and the foolishness of unprotected rail crossings. But the Los Angeles I know has at least 97 percent of the people not interested in riding a bike or walking more than a mile maybe two. It is easy to see if someone simply bothered to look at the average distance someone from southern California walks a year. I would look it up again but we have been over this same ground more than once. LA is not now nor will it ever be bike or pedestrian friendly because it was built with cars in mind. Even walking the garment district in the summer is a full time hike that most people in LA never attempt.

I have heard the old, "times are a changing" song for more than 30 years as it was first sung to my ears in the 70s. Didn't happen and if anything things got worse. I remember when they were going to get everyone into small cars and we ended up with Mini vans then SUVs. Think back to 1972-76 when we were in a fuel crisis and we had odd or even days and lines at the gas pumps. What happened over the next 30 years? Do you realize that in the mid 80 to early 90 the SUV and Quad cab pickup trucks made up close to 50 percent of all vehicles bought a year? That is what is being talked about when you look at city planning by city planners. We are talking about percentages and voting tax payers. If 3 percent of your population is into cycling then 97 percent is into something else. If you want to get that 97 percent out of their cars you have to offer something easier and at least as comfortable as the car you are getting them out of. Light rail does this bicycling does not.

Remember the practical said of me says we have to cater to the people and trying to force them into doing something they don't want to do by 3 percent of the voting public is simply going to get you crushed at the polls. If any one of us truly believes cycling has a snowman’s chance in Death Valley of meeting the needs or wants of people living in LA I say they are delusional. Like Atlanta LA is simply too spread out for any significant bicycle program to have any meaningful effect over the long run. And to even pretend that riding a bicycle will be as comfortable as a Accord is being disingenuous because those of us who have been riding know better.

If you have any hope of getting someone from LA out of a car and that car off of the street give them air conditioned light rail, even smaller busses run more often to more parts of the city. Something that is now being done by private non union companies trying to break into the LA market. The LARTA is looking into the same thing.
Here is the deal; they are not going to restructure LA significantly in the next 50 years. LA is not conducive to cycling in any significant manner. So my conclusion is the only real hope there is in getting people in LA out of their cars and into another form of transportation is light rail and better bus service. Because they are cutting both light rail and bus service I do not believe bicycles will fill the gap so I see more road projects being funded over the next 10 years in LA proper. And the voters will approve it. Because that is how LA is.
Like I have said I have heard this song before and it didn’t sell. I don’t see any reason to believe the land of the Import racer, low rider, sports car and limo is about to give it up for a Huffy.

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