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CityLover summed it up for me, “There’s nothing I love more than browsing the comments section of a meaty BP article, but there are too many even for me tonight!”
Our article, City counts reveal data behind Portland’s precipitous drop in cycling, has received 195 comments — so far. Often when an article gets that many comments there is a, how should I say, falling off of quality. But these comments hold. And they make for poignant reading, some are like little love letters to a past Portland. A bunch of them were really, really good.
One thing I noticed was how many women commented, probably because the PBOT counts showed a big decline in female riders. Women stepped up to explain why.
Greatdane’s comment was a hybrid between the bulleted lists many people put together, and a bit of narrative explaining her situation. I liked the combination of the two. Here’s what she wrote:
I’m a female who still bikes, and has biked WAY more than ever in the last year (almost 1500 miles already this year). I’m curious when the counts are done. I used to be much more regular about my biking, but since COVID my work schedule has changed quite a bit. I still commute to work, but only ~3 days a week now, and not always during normal commuting hours. I ride a lot more recreationally and to appointments and stores etc, than I used to, but which also tends to be not commuting times.
Having said that, it’s pretty clear I’m in the minority in this regard when I’m out riding. I see way fewer people out on bikes no matter where or when I go, and considerably fewer female riders in particular, so these numbers don’t surprise me at all. Anyone I know who wasn’t a super confident cyclist rides less these days than they used to.
Being a regular biker all around Portland for 15 years now, here’s my 2 cents on why biking has declined so much in the past few years…
-Lots of people driving combined with complete lack of traffic enforcement resulting in erratic, unpredictable, and dangerous driving behavior. The number of close calls I’ve had in the past month alone is more than I had for years at a time pre-2019ish.
-Terrible conditions *of the roads* see the cracked crappy pavement of many greenway routes
– Terrible conditions *of the MUPs* see tents and trash on or blocking paths in numerous places. Most of my female friends in particular refuse to ride on these paths at this point, even where there aren’t tents because of perception
-New/improved/existing infrastructure that is nice but often doesn’t make enough connections to other infrastructure resulting in stressful situations many cyclists I know aren’t comfortable in (mostly due to point 1 above at this point)
I agree, it’s going to take a pretty concerted effort to turn things around. The infrastructure (including enforcement) will need improvements to actually support cycling/pedestrian safety. The safest infrastructure in the world won’t make any difference though if perceptions developed over the past few years are aren’t also changed.
Thank you Greatdane! You can find Greatdane’s comment, and the torrent of other good comments, under the original post.