City Counsel Approved 2.5 Million Bike Infrastructure Package (Atlanta: home, live)

[JPD]

Are we really arguing that bike lanes are bad because they improve lower income areas? Seriously?

[AtlJan]

Originally Posted by DONNIEANDDONNA417

once again a waste of money

I totally agree. The beltline, yes, bike lanes, no no no!...no one uses them in our neighborhood. The city took an entire lane that belonged to cars and gave it to bikes. I have yet to see a bike in this lane. I am sorry, but the only people who can ride bikes around town are (a very few) commuters and singles. The elderly, the disabled, and parents with young kids, or just parents running errands--sorry, it doesn't work. So you inconvenience everyone in a car so that the tiny minority who can ride a bike where they are going can have a lane? Give them a path somewhere but please don't take the lanes needed for automobiles. If you don't want a car, move to midtown or NYC. Bike Lanes = Political correctness gone amuck.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by AtlJan

I totally agree. The beltline, yes, bike lanes, no no no!...no one uses them in our neighborhood. The city took an entire lane that belonged to cars and gave it to bikes. I have yet to see a bike in this lane. I am sorry, but the only people who can ride bikes around town are (a very few) commuters and singles. The elderly, the disabled, and parents with young kids, or just parents running errands--sorry, it doesn't work. So you inconvenience everyone in a car so that the tiny minority who can ride a bike where they are going can have a lane? Give them a path somewhere but please don't take the lanes needed for automobiles. If you don't want a car, move to midtown or NYC. Bike Lanes = Political correctness gone amuck.

What neighborhood do you live in and what street are the lanes on?

[cqholt]

The city took an entire lane that belonged to cars and gave it to bikes.

Cars do not own streets. Streets are made to move people, either on foot, on 2 wheels, or 4 wheels.

[joey86]

Originally Posted by AtlJan

I totally agree. The beltline, yes, bike lanes, no no no!...no one uses them in our neighborhood. The city took an entire lane that belonged to cars and gave it to bikes. I have yet to see a bike in this lane. I am sorry, but the only people who can ride bikes around town are (a very few) commuters and singles. The elderly, the disabled, and parents with young kids, or just parents running errands--sorry, it doesn't work. So you inconvenience everyone in a car so that the tiny minority who can ride a bike where they are going can have a lane? Give them a path somewhere but please don't take the lanes needed for automobiles. If you don't want a car, move to midtown or NYC. Bike Lanes = Political correctness gone amuck.

You have it backwards. Cars took lanes that were meant for people. The concept of a street, from the beginning, was meant for people. The current movement is one that makes the world more accessible to people without cars.

Pedestrians and cyclists are not taking over the streets, they are simply overthrowing a monopoly.

[CCATL]

Originally Posted by AtlJan

I totally agree. The beltline, yes, bike lanes, no no no!...no one uses them in our neighborhood. The city took an entire lane that belonged to cars and gave it to bikes. I have yet to see a bike in this lane. I am sorry, but the only people who can ride bikes around town are (a very few) commuters and singles. The elderly, the disabled, and parents with young kids, or just parents running errands--sorry, it doesn't work. So you inconvenience everyone in a car so that the tiny minority who can ride a bike where they are going can have a lane? Give them a path somewhere but please don't take the lanes needed for automobiles. If you don't want a car, move to midtown or NYC. Bike Lanes = Political correctness gone amuck.

Sorry, but I disagree. I've seen all types of people on bikes in Atlanta, including those who you singled out here. Yes, there are certain disabilities that prevent people from riding bikes, but you can't lump everybody with a disability into that category. For example, there are specialized bikes for paralyzed people. I've seen elderly people on bikes on the beltline (granted, they're not 90, but 60's and 70's, yes), and most of all, I see PLENTY of parents with young kids on bikes. In Grant Park alone, go to Cherokee during the morning commute, and you see parents commuting with their kids to school on bikes, you see toddlers in (sorry, I don't know what they are called) tent-like attachments behind bikes, and I see those school bus bike groups fairly often. I don't know where you live, but maybe it's less conducive to biking (curvy streets, high traffic, high speeds)? There are places where bike lanes belong, and places where they don't - but to say that no bike lanes should ever be installed, you are sadly mistaken. There are plenty installed in the right places that get very heavy use by both commuters and cyclists going out after work. Maybe we should ban SUVs from city streets - that would free up some space on the roads for you. What do you think?

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I guess this is the proper thread for this.

Before the city gets too gung ho about bike lanes we may want to think about their impact on gentrification. In a city nothing happens in a vacuum and even well intended ideas can result in negative consequences for fellow taxpayers.

This was an interesting quote. Even the hood in Chicago has bike lanes. I saw a few white people in one mostly black area with bike lanes, in another I saw none the last time I was there. A ton of people regardless of race and neighborhood were on bikes up there. All that wasn't there when I lived there. I liked seeing people of all socio-economic levels riding bikes to get around. I thought it was pretty cool seeing a lot of older black men on bikes up there (like 60 plus) just chillin,' going with the flow riding their bikes along with traffic.

I think it would be great for Atlanta to add more bike lines and they need to add them all over. I see all kinds of people riding bikes here too, but they need more places to ride them.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by joey86

You have it backwards. Cars took lanes that were meant for people. The concept of a street, from the beginning, was meant for people. The current movement is one that makes the world more accessible to people without cars.

Pedestrians and cyclists are not taking over the streets, they are simply overthrowing a monopoly.

Post of the day!

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by joey86

Pedestrians and cyclists are not taking over the streets, they are simply overthrowing a monopoly.

I don't think pedestrians and bicyclists fall in the same category. Walkers typically travel on sidewalks or the shoulder of the road, whereas cyclists are contending for the same lanes of travel as motorists.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by AtlJan

I totally agree. The beltline, yes, bike lanes, no no no!...no one uses them in our neighborhood. The city took an entire lane that belonged to cars and gave it to bikes. I have yet to see a bike in this lane. I am sorry, but the only people who can ride bikes around town are (a very few) commuters and singles. The elderly, the disabled, and parents with young kids, or just parents running errands--sorry, it doesn't work. So you inconvenience everyone in a car so that the tiny minority who can ride a bike where they are going can have a lane? Give them a path somewhere but please don't take the lanes needed for automobiles. If you don't want a car, move to midtown or NYC. Bike Lanes = Political correctness gone amuck.

I have to agree. There may be a few places in Atlanta where bike lanes make sense, but I almost never see cyclists using the bike lanes outside of a small area of town.

Years ago when I was into cycling we mainly rode in a group on residential streets and there was rarely any hassle involved.