Talking bikes on the KINK-FM Morning Show

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]

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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DAvid
DAvid
16 years ago

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.

Ayala
Ayala
16 years ago

Fare share, hmm?

Alison
Alison
16 years ago

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.

organic brian
organic brian
16 years ago

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…

Matt Picio
16 years ago

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.

Mmann
Mmann
16 years ago

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.

Shamus
Shamus
16 years ago

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.

bahueh
bahueh
16 years ago

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.

Ayala
Ayala
16 years ago

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.

ChipSeal
ChipSeal
16 years ago

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

bahueh
bahueh
16 years ago

Ayala..my mistake…I thought you were chastising the idea that bike commuters do not pay their \”fare share\”.

spell check away…

coyote4130
coyote4130
16 years ago

Am I the only one the mp3 isn\’t working for? 🙁

Adams Carroll (News Intern)
16 years ago

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.

coyote4130
coyote4130
16 years ago

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?