Posts under ‘Opinion’

Every few months, I get an e-mail from a reader about how the police are cracking down on cyclists and how unfair it is. Usually, APD has ticketed someone for an actual violation of the law, like running stop sign or more recently failing to have brakes on your bike. Whether you think law enforcement [...]

Numbers to think about this Bike Month One universal theme of ads that sell cars is freedom. You have the freedom of the open road and the freedom to go anywhere you want when you want. Mobility equals freedom so the thought process goes. But if you are chained to a cubicle and have to [...]

Pictures of highway flyovers and commuting to work doesn’t sell cars and it won’t sell bikes either As our city and our country tries to move away from the oil dependent lifestyle of the last 65 years, many efforts are being made to encourage every day people to choose cycling over driving. Some small progress [...]

In all the discussion of bicycle facilities, the focus is often on how do we get people commuting by car to switch to cycling as an option. Often forgotten in the discussion is the so called “Invisible Cyclists.” This a common reference to the working class, mostly black and brown riders who use a bicycle [...]

Make cycling faster than driving, and the masses will come If you’ve read this site much, you will know that I am a big proponent of bicycle infrastructure. I think our economic security and long term quality of life depends on shifting people away from the car-dependent, resource sucking lifestyle of the last 65 years. [...]

Earlier today, modern furniture store IKEA announced that it will be giving over 12,400 bikes away to everyone of its employees as an end of year thank gift. In the bicycle community, should we be praising IKEA for this generous gift? Yes and no. IKEA is well known as being a company that takes care [...]

In the last few years, cycling has been flourishing in our city. The combination of gas price volatility, a vibrant social cycling scene, and more and better bike infrastructure has yielded a growing number of people choosing two wheels to get places. Unfortunately, the road to progress is rarely straight and sometimes bends back on [...]

Numbers from New York City should be death knell to vehicular cycling policies The New York City Department of Transportation recently released its 2009 Sustainable Streets Index report with the most definitive proof yet that good cycling infrastructure is a huge part of getting people to use bicycles as an alternative to cars. The report [...]

This weekend, an Austin on Two Wheels reader set me news that the City of San Antonio is moving forward with a public bike share program to open up later this year. For those unfamiliar with bike share, it is a program that lets you check out bikes from self serve stalls at various locations [...]

I am a major fan of Social Cycling Austin’s Thursday Night Social Ride, and while I don’t make the ride as often as a should, it really is a cornerstone of bike culture as we know it in Austin today. That’s why I was disheartened to see this e-mail from a ride participant last night: [...]