Caretaker

ILTB. So this is the post you are objecting to. The other two are by yourself.

"It's ridiculous"

That to me suggests the post is describing 'it' i.e. the situation or state of affairs in his work place as ridiculous.

Case dismissed.

I-Like-To-Bike

You are entitled to twist the words or situation" into meaning anything that fits your agenda. Obviously they mean to you anything but the actual intent of the OP and holier than thou posters who take to task/ridicule those less enlightened souls who don't share similar righteous choices in daily transportation to work.

Case dismissed for sure Your Honor.

Mithrandir

Just put him on ignore. I did. He's obviously not interested in actually arguing about what was said, but instead what he wishes me to have said to prove his own nonexistent point. I've pointed out numerous times that I felt that it was ridiculous that my workplace falls so far below the national average, but he won't listen. In the end, talking to a brick wall isn't very productive or entertaining. So, yeah, case closed. ILTB ignored.

I-Like-To-Bike

I am still listening (i.e. waiting for an answer to the question as what makes other people's choices "ridiculous" just because they choose different courses of action than you. Presumably your attitude (and that of the group thinkers who march in lockstep with it) is the opposite pole of those 4000 or so co-workers who may find YOUR choice in transportation "ridiculous."

Of course a Real Smart™ thinker just will ignore the unpleasant truth of their own less than pure thought process.

Roody

I suggest you reread the thread. You really are mistaken--not in your opinion, which you're entitled to--but in your understanding of what was said.

bragi

Maybe it's time to retire this thread. Good conversations meander from topic to topic, that's to be expected, but this isn't like that. It's more like a Fox News interview: it's about promoting an agenda, not about exchanging ideas.

ILTB: you highjacked this thread to the point that it's unrecognizable. your input is never boring and sometimes spot-on,, but let's try to keep our eye on the ball, please.

Ekdog

I usually agree with you, Bragi, but not here. I suspect you're making an effort to be conciliatory, but this fellow's repetitive ranting and thread highjacking long ago became excruciatingly boring for me and, I'm sure, for many other posters. I'm surprised, quite frankly, that the moderators choose to put up with his trolling.

Artkansas 

I think you overestimate it. ILTB does not have an agenda that I've noticed. He's all about counterpoint. Like any good debater, he can take either side. As long as he wins, he's happy.

If he'd put half as much effort into helping people as he does into winning arguments, he'd be one of the stellar people on this forum.

I-Like-To-Bike

IMO, my input on this thread is spot on in outing the extreme cult like ideas of some car free posters who blissfully display the same parochial intolerant attitude and lack of empathy towards others not sharing their views, that they find so odious when held by those who don't share their lifestyle choice.

As far as Ekdog's persistent sniping at me personally, well that's Ekdog for you.

Suburban

You're completely overreacting here mate. I've only just come to the realization that we don't necessarily need our car. I'm not the most environmentally friendly person around and I'm not so different from everyone else. I don't see anything wrong with recognizing when drivers (myself included at times) make ridiculous decisions that are far from convenient. Like the huge outlet mall that you need drive a car across the massive parking lot, across the street, across the parking lot to another store. It would have taken less time and a few dollars more to go to a conventional mall. But I've done this.

Do you lack the ability to laugh at yourself?

I-Like-To-Bike

No, but I recognize the difference between laughing at myself and my foibles vs. laughing at AND disparaging others who don't follow my game plan on life.

Ridefreemc

The numbers in post 21 (sorry, forgot to include the quote and my Ipad doesn't let me manipulate text as easy as my laptop - and I am lazy), at least on the surface, indicate that you are experiencing sprawl type development. This includes many more "trips" and longer "trip lengths" due to (usually) lower residential density further from centers along with a variety of car-centric uses now serving those further out uses.

Ridefreemc

The bait was set on the hook at post post #28 and then at #34 it was taken. Then the fisherman (I Like To Bike) sat back and pulled a bunch more posters in. Funny to watch the pot being stirred. I was hoping that no one took the bait. Now we are in the 80s and he is still reeling more in.

Caretaker

Four days without a bite and then along comes Ridefreemc.

Roody

Who is stirring the pot now? And who (other than yourself) is still being reeled in?

gna

I find it interesting that Birmingham, AL has 100% female bicycle commuters. Or did I misread the data?

Birmingham Alabama 211,670 83,238 0.1% 108 123 100% 108 123 0% 0 273

edit: the header didn't carry over.

Caretaker

Lots of places with either 100% male or 100% female bicycle commuters.

You have to be stupid to 'understand' statistics.

Ridefreemc

Was noticing quite a pattern on this post and many others and was hoping that, beyond just this post and these four days, by pointing that out that you all might not "bite" in the future - maybe longer than 4 days. Just a thought.

Ridefreemc

I know I know Caretaker, but I just couldn't resist. (I wasn't intending to stir any pots, but rather point out that the pot is being stirred regularly and that there is a solution that will allow the silt in the pot to settle)

bragi

I was kind of struck by this one, too. Are men in Birmingham too macho to ride a bike? Or too afraid that they'll be viewed as liberals if they leave the pickup at home?

gna

I looked at Birmingham because my brother and his family live there. He says it's not very bike friendly.

I didn't look closely at many other cities, so there may be others with this pattern, as Caretaker pointed out above. I don't know enough about statistics to state why, but I'd guess the sample sizes are rather small.

tony_merlino

I've come to this thread late, and apologize for not having read every post in it. But I'm wondering about the counting methodology, and if it doesn't underestimate the number of cycle commuters in most dense suburban areas.

I live in a pretty densely populated part of New Jersey (as if there were other types of areas in NJ ), about 10 miles from NYC. This ain't Portland - it would be hard to imagine a less bike-friendly place than this. (I learned, the hard way, that you never get between a NJ commuter and his dinner, if you value your life...)

We have the usual sprinkling of "professional" commuters - fully done up in lycra, taking advantage of showers at work, riding good quality bikes that have been optimized for their commute. But these folks represent just the tip of the iceberg of bicycle commuting around here. The bulk of our commuters are the busboys, short-order cooks, cleaning people, supermarket baggers and stockboys, etc.

These are mostly people who don't use bikes because they're good exercise, or because they're more environmentally responsible. They use them because they're not allowed to drive, or don't have the money to drive, and riding a bike to work beats walking and is cheaper than taking the bus - these are people who are working (and often trying to support families) on minimum wage or less.

A lot of these people are here illegally, so they can't get drivers licenses, or they're people who have lost their driving privileges because of legal issues. A friend of mine commuted to work by bike for a year or so, because he'd racked up thousands of dollars in tickets that he needed to pay off before he could get his license back, and one more violation for driving without a license/insurance would have meant jail time...

I know it's not a controlled study, but I do also know that every restaurant, fast-food joint, hotel and supermarket around here has several bikes parked out back at any time, usually chained up to the dumpster. And at "shift change time", you see swarms of these guys (mostly men), riding BSOs from xMart or wherever, tooling (and often salmoning) along the main roads.

Anyway - my point is that this is a fairly large and mostly invisible demographic in the bicycle commuter/living car-free world, i.e. people who ride because they can't drive... and will give up their bikes the minute they can get their hands on a car and a license. I don't think that makes them an extreme cult. Just poor.

UberGeek

Because the cited study only counts those with a commute of more than 4 miles. Which cuts out most commuters. It also cuts out people who use public transportation for ANY leg of the trip (ie, eliminated multi-modal transport options)

The fringe are the commuters who for 5+ miles per leg of commute (With a 10 mile minimum round trip).

I'm sure the results would be the same if it were done in Copenhagen.

tony_merlino

I agree - I didn't read the fine print. I would imagine people who cycle more than 10 miles round trip to go to work are always going to be the fringe.

Roody

I'm not seeing anywhere that only commutes of more than four miles were counted. Can you point me to this information?