This morning I had a nice chat with KINK-FM Morning Show anchors Les Sarnoff and Rebecca Webb.
Les and Rebecca called me into the studio to talk about Portland’s effort to improve bike safety by installing blue bike lanes, bike boxes, and new signage at 14 dangerous intersections.
They said since the plan was announced they’ve gotten a lot of phone calls and emails from listeners…and that many of them were confused about what exactly a bike box was, and/or had issues with bicyclists in general (like a lot of Portlanders do).
We talked about whether or not bike riders pay their fare share, how bike boxes work, and larger issues like why some folks might not be too excited about these changes.
UPDATE
You can listen to the interview below or click here to download the MP3 (10MB).
[audio:KINK_bikeboxes.mp3]
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
Like most bicyclists that I know we either own or rent a place to live in Portland. I own. I, like most other cyclists, own a fossil burning vehicle as well. Any increase in the gas tax, or property tax will be paid by owners, and/or renters. We will pay for improvements one way or the other. Period.
As a cyclist it is sometimes hard for me to understand the cyclist I saw on sunday travelling southbound on SE 92nd. He was wearing blue wind/rain pants with yellow \’flames\’ on them. He did not use hand signals when changing crossing 92nd. He did not stop at red lights or stop signs. He flagrantly ignored any of the rules of the road. I\’m not perfect by any means, but this guy takes the cake for setting a bad example that we all get judged by.
Fare share, hmm?
Yay Les and Rebecca!
They do a great job keep an ear and an eye out for what\’s going on in the community. Well done for helping to share information about bike boxes.
Jonathan, I hope you used the \”cyclists don\’t pay their fair share\” talking points I gave you! Cyclists, unless they are homeless with no job, subsidize motorists for traffic infrastructure. Cyclists use much less of the infrastructure, cause negligible wear to surfaces, and still pay most of what motorists pay. Cyclists also subsidize the \”hidden\” costs: increased health care due to diseases caused by pollution, subsidies for petrol companies, automakers, etc., military protection of petrol extraction and distribution infrastructure…
Excellent job, Jonathan! I just listened to the interview from the podcast, and it sounds like they asked the good questions without being biased, and addressed most of the common objections against cycling in general and bike improvements in particular.
Just listened to it. Jonathan, your patience in the face of, um, inane? questions/comments is to be commended. I mean, I\’m glad this discussion took place in such a public format. Getting out the word on the reasoning behind the bike boxes, especially, is good and you did a super job. But what was Rebecca\’s point with reading the dumb poem some listener sent in – cars can and will kill cyclists if they think they have the right of way? And then saying that she thought it\’s something cyclists should \”keep in mind.\” like we need a reminder big heavy cars can hurt us? Gee, thanks, I hadn\’t considered that. Confirmed why I don\’t listen to morning radio anymore.
Wow, Jonathan, that was great. You had all the right answers and covered all the talking points. They did a good job – whether it\’s their perspective or not – of asking all the questions someone skeptical of bike boxes and funds being spent on bike infrastructure would ask, and you did an excellent job of responding. Let\’s hope a lot of folks heard it.
hey Ayala-
would you like to expound? I would be willing to bet I own, insure, license, and drive more vehicles than you do. and I bike commute to work, everyday, rain or shine.
bahueh:
I was referring to what appears to be a typo – \”fare share\” for \”fair share\”. I have no idea how the number of vehicles I own/insure/license/drive is relevant to my comment.
How much a car-free cyclist contributes to road construction and maintenance can be found here:
http://bikeportland.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1298&page=2
See post #18
Ayala..my mistake…I thought you were chastising the idea that bike commuters do not pay their \”fare share\”.
spell check away…
Am I the only one the mp3 isn\’t working for? 🙁
hi coyote4130,
check it out now. I\’ve uploaded the MP3 and you should be able to stream it right from the post and/or download it for yourself.
I\’m sorry, but it still isn\’t working for me. I can\’t even get it to play when I download it from the Kink website. Is it working for everyone else?