Comments on: BAC meeting allows venting over last minute Master Plan changes, introduction of new bike lane installation process

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:35:02 +0000

(Of course, this assumes that `people on a bike’ are cyclists. If you define cyclists in some more creative way, then you may get a different result.)

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:34:13 +0000

If I’m understanding B.C. Stones correctly, he’s saying (in a roundabout way) that the vast majority of cyclists in Austin wear helmets? If so, I can’t agree.

To me, it looks more like 40% or so of cyclists on the road are wearing helmets. It’s higher on the weekend, and lower after dark, higher in the ‘burbs, lower in the center of the city, but 40% seems to be a rough average for the area.

By: elliott

elliott — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:19:01 +0000

Doug,
I think the difference in the people you are talking about is one group considers themselves cyclists and the other people who ride bikes. The plan should be more about the second group which in the end will enlarge the first.

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:02:30 +0000

B.C. Stones –

You accuse Mr Farr of only knowing about the people he rides with, but then declare that `the vast majority of citizens …’

Is this `vast majority of citizens’ made up of cyclists, or are you including all those people who never ride bikes as the wise ones who know the benefits of wearing a helmet?

If you go out to the outskirts of the city on a weekend morning, most of the cyclists you’ll find are in spandex and wearing helmets — that much is relatively true. But outside of that, cyclists are a lot more varied. The weekend warriors may mostly wear helmets, but the people who ride for daily transportation, the guys who ride during the week, in the middle of town, after midnight — most of these people don’t wear helmets. And I imagine these people as a group put in more miles than the people who only ride on sunday mornings.

By: D'Amico

D'Amico — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:51:30 +0000

Can we get a photo in of someone hauling a passenger on their handlebars?

By: B.C. Stones

B.C. Stones — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:43:46 +0000

Mr. Farr, the “small but vocal helmet fundamentalist sect of our cycling community” is obviously the group you ride with…the vast majority of citizens in Austin and also Travis Co. know the benefit of wearing a helmet. Wearing a helmet has saved my life, well or at least my noggin a few times. I’ll wear one if I’m just headed a couple of blocks. I have no real problems if you choose not to, except that I just wish you’d have to pay your own medical costs instead of your insurance company (which raises my rates to pay for your costs).

Mr. Costner, your philosophy “the law is on our side even if the cops ain’t. Stay friendly on the street, stop at the damn red lights” is fundamentally correct, but I wonder if you realize that the Texas Bicycle Coalition (TBC) a number of years ago finally got the legislature to pass a law that stated that when the shoulder of the road is less that 22″, a cyclists has the right to the same space in the moving lane as an auto…AND the cyclist now has the same responsibilities at the auto driver – ie. stop at stop lights, don’t split traffic, signal turns etc.
So the law IS on your side and so are the cops when you obey the law.

I have yet to be in a city that has mass transportation that the citizenry doesn’t complain about it. What I’ve experienced in Austin is far better than, say, San Antonio.

By: Daily Blog and News Roundup for July 18th « Texbiker.net

Daily Blog and News Roundup for July 18th « Texbiker.net — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:47:43 +0000

[...] BAC meeting allows venting over last minute Master Plan changes … by elliott Members of the Bicycle Advisory Council vented their frustration with City Bike/Ped staff last night at the lack of notice given for last minute changes to. … Beaudet also discussed the last minute changes from the University of Texas. The Bike/Ped staff would like to see Speedway as a bike boulevard from the Capitol to 45th street and sent the plan over to UT in March. The University did not respond until just before the plan passed asking for Speedway to be removed. … [...]

By: Michael Cosper

Michael Cosper — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:24:49 +0000

The chances of seeing full funding for the bike plan in this economic environment is zero, we will get some bike lanes, the Pfluger Bridge completion I hope. There is going to be a further reduction of tax revenue for the city and this time next year we may be looking at being another twenty million or more in arrears for revenues, the Austin energy contribution to the general fund could also be at risk because of the increased cost of sustainable energy supplies. As far as fixing the worst infrastructure barriers in this city including the major highway interchanges it is just too expensive and there is no political support from the citizenry. That said we can still get out on the street and live our lives on our bikes, the law is on our side even if the cops ain’t. Stay friendly on the street, stop at the damn red lights and the more people that show up to support our cause the more we are heard.

By: Robert Farr

Robert Farr — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:53:23 +0000

I suppose I should be happy COA is updating the bike plan and making progress on installing facilities, but I’m truly disappointed by this last-minute edit to purge all those nice pictures of my friends riding their bikes just because some city supervisor/bureaucrat isn’t willing to take a little grief from the small but vocal helmet fundamentalist sect of our cycling community. And where in the hell did this nutty open-toed shoe prohibition come from?

By: Wes Robinson

Wes Robinson — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:50:22 +0000

Maybe I’m the only cyclist in Austin who feels this way, but I’m much more concerned about the $250 million in bicycle infrastructure than I am about whether or not there are pictures of helmetless riders in the document. I just think we have much bigger fish to fry than to get ourselves all wrapped around the axle with CoA staff on which pictures to include in the document.