Artkansas 

Just applied for a spot as a Bicycle Patrol Security Officer. On the application, they asked if I had dependable transportation. Of course I said yes.

Can they deny that a bicycle is dependable transportation when they want me to use it at work?

Roody

That sounds like a great way to spend the day...riding a bike and getting paid for it! Are you at liberty to say what kind of place it is? Would you be riding your own bike or would they provide one?

Ekdog

I could go for a job like that. Hope you get it.

fietsbob

Another question: can you chalk a tire on a parked car, as you ride in heavy traffic?

Artkansas 

Well, its at a toney shopping mall. So I assume that much of the riding would be in the parking lots.

Roody

I have a friend who works in mall security. He loves the job because he gets to meet a lot of cool people. He doesn't get to ride a bike, however.

wipekitty

That is awesome! I always found security to be a pretty fun gig - though I never did mall security.

Does this mean you don't get to ride a Segway?

gerv 

Am I reading this wrong? Weren't they asking if you could get to work on time, not could you use your wheels at work?

Still a job riding a bicycle around a mall would be interesting... although I do note that parking lots are rather dangerous places to ride.

Roody

That's true. Ride in the middle of the lanes and keep your eyes and ears open.

Artkansas 

No telling. Their ad said nothing about who supplies the bike. I would assume that they do. They wanted to know that I have dependable transportation. It's just my assumption that a bicycle is reliable transportation, and that should be difficult to refute.

cooker

In the event you had a bike (or car) failure, is the mall accessible by public transit, or even foot, from your place?

Artkansas 

It's a very long walk. Car failure is impossible and I have several back up bikes.

tandempower

It has sometimes concerned me when I see this condition of 'reliable transportation' in job ads that it could be a guise for turning down applicants who come by bike. Hopefully no employer would do that nowadays with so many people biking to work. On the other hand, I also wouldn't put it past some people to look at two applicants and choose one who drives a car over one riding a bike for any number of (illegitimate) reasons. The manager might automatically judge the cyclist as less conformist, for example.

Generally I think there are many people who would more strongly consider going car free for the money-savings if they weren't afraid of social repercussions. It would be nice to say that fear of discrimination is not a factor for most people in the decisions they make, but I think it is. It's disturbing to think that social norms sort of uphold themselves through fear simply because people fear that independent thought and actions will be used against them in some way or other.

gerv 

Well... good luck with that! You deserve a nice job.

Walter S

The question was "Do you have a reliable means of transportation?". If you answer "yes", why would somebody think you're riding a bicycle?

cooker

Why wouldn't they?

Walter S

Because "yes" could so easily mean you drive a car. Isn't that a natural answer if you were a car driver? I fail to see how indicating that you do have reliable transportation means you're riding a bicycle.

Ekdog

It could mean a reliable car, a reliable bicycle, a reliable train or bus, a reliable pair of feet...

tandempower

True, but what I think he's saying is why would an employer assume anything about you NOT driving a car if they tend to favor people who drive and distrust bicycles as reliable transportation. Probably there are some managers who would favor someone according to which car they drive up in, e.g. if an applicant shows up for an interview in a beat-up old pickup truck vs. a relatively new compact car, for example. If an employer is really a jerk, they might see you show up for an interview on a bicycle, assume it's not a reliable form of transportation, and then not even mention it to you and hold it against you for claiming that you did have reliable transportation on the application. That would be a pretty bad scenario but some people exercise prejudice in the most assumptive ways. As long as they don't actually ask you about their assumptions and listen to your side of it, they could be favoring or discriminating against you in whatever way without you ever getting a chance to defend yourself. Fortunately, I think many people are growing more aware of this kind of assumptive behavior and the problems it can cause in workplaces and avoiding it simply for the sake of having a good working situation.

Roody

Who cares whatever they think? Actually, you have on way of knowing what they wre thinking. An ambiguous question was answered ambiguously. No harm done.

El Cid

You've got me thinking back to every job interview I've ever had. Mostly they go like this: I show up at a fairly large building, with a few hundred cars in the lot, and walk into the front office. A receptionist asks me to sit and wait, which I do until my interview begins. Sometimes those parking lots are a bit smaller, but still you're looking at a couple dozen cars minimum. I walk into a room with three or more people, who tell me to sit and the interview begins.

I doubt any of those people knew what car I drove or even if I drove a car at all. But I do agree that you encounter all kinds of social prejudice when getting around without a car. Just look at what most people here have to say about it.

Astrozombie

Ha! I've thought about that before, I bet there are people somewhere who got crap for saying they had "reliable transportation" but it didn't involve a car!
There's a shopping center I frequent and the security guards are always riding on the walkway (even when there are signs that say no bicycles or skateboards on sidewalk)
I've only seen Sheriffs once bikes around here (in the door zone DOH!!), it might be interesting if you could sign up to just be a bicycle police officer. All the trash talkers would think twice me thinks, give bad cyclists tickets but make people show more respect toward all cyclists.

If starting a new gig i would definitely not take my bike it for the first few weeks just in case of discrimination.
I even noticed you can't volunteer at the -Boys N Girls Club i think?- if you don't show proof of car insurance. Who is going to write the strongly worded letter?
DING DING DING, and those actually break down less often than a car

Al1943

You're in the "Land of Opportunity", go for it.

wipekitty

The only time I was explicitly turned down for a job because of my carfree status was when I tried to work for the Census Bureau. Yep: clean record, score of 100% on their little census worker test, but apparently, they only wanted people who would drive around East Lansing in the gorgeous springtime weather.

In my current profession it's hard to get hired if you're not completely weird - so carfree status probably helps, actually.

FMB42

Employers have been asking this question for some years now. This isn't about some conspiracy against "bicycle commuters" but rather a means of weeding out chronically late and/or "no-show" workers. To many employees these days think that they can use personal car trouble, unreliable public transit, and/or the weather, etc, etc, as an often used excuse for being late or not showing up to work.

This question gives employers a valid reason for terminating your job if you're chronically late and/or a "no-show" while blaming your car, public transit, and/or the weather for the problem.

Btw, good luck on your job search!