Just spinning off a new thread from the "negative letter" thread. It occurs to me that most of our letters come at a time of stress and tragedy, or to answer a negative letter that appears. I think the cycling community needs to be out front of this. I'm not saying there's nothing to complain about and that there's not a TON more work to do to make Pittsburgh bike friendly. But the city is pretty awesome to ride in and we should be sharing our love for riding here far and wide. What to yinz think? Anyone willing to give it a shot? Any subject ideas?
I quite liked the idea of sharing positive stories when using infrastructure, showing that those dollars were well spent, while hopefully being careful enough to avoid 'cyclists should be on bike paths' being a reinforced message.
I'll try to get something together involving shopping in the strip, or something that happens fairly frequently, that is definitely easier because of sharrows/bikeracks/etc.
Great idea!
I like this idea a lot; I'll get on that.
i'm still down for letters to the editor. i've been in a bad and cynical mood since i read about that atlanta pedestrian thing, but there's not much that makes me feel more positive than riding a bike, so i will turn my attention to this.
i would probably focus on the things that make pittsburgh so awesome to bike in. i've had multiple people in the past week tell me they've never seen as many people on bikes as they have here, so we're obviously doing something right.
"I've had multiple people in the past week tell me they've never seen as many people on bikes as they have here, so we're obviously doing something right."
This is a battle we are going to win as more and more people take to using bikes for transportation. We will train automobile drivers to see us on the roads because there will be enough of us out there riding that we become something they know they have to watch for. In this case there will be safety in numbers.
I'm on it.
top. news from friday could be worth some followup from members of the biking community. let me know if you're interested.
Interested...
Nice idea. I always send a 311 "thank you" whenever the city does something I like!
"as more and more people take to using bikes for transportation"
This is something that has become very real to me as of late. I posted online (http://fatguyorangebike.blogspot.com/2011/09/transportation.html) that I have started to view my bike more along the lines of Transportation and less along the lines of Recreation. In that Before I would go out for ride, and now I ride to get somewhere I want to go. I have also found that I have also been enjoying my rides more because of it.
I guess it is part the journey and part the destination for me.
@dbacklover -- I tried to post this comment to your blog, but for some reason it didn't want to post there. So I'll put it up here.
"I saw your reference to my earlier post on the BikePGH message board. Since it was my quote that you referred to, I thought I would check out your blog to see your expanded thoughts.
I suspect it won't lose its recreation feeling. Either way your bike is a tool -- whether for transportation or for recreation. It is what you want it to be at any given moment when you saddle up on it. It's like you discovered that you've had this multi-purpose tool around that you thought was only single use.
I'm betting because you've delightedly discovered that multi-use function it won't change how you feel about the use you already knew you had."
The last couple of posts interest me if only because the post I put up on my own blog last night echoes these same thoughts, using the same wording. Topic: bike racks.
The last couple of posts interest me if only because the post I put up on my own blog last night echoes these same thoughts, using some of the same wording. Topic: bus bike racks.
@cdavey will have to check my blog setting (blogger just changed their interface) I may have comments turned off I had a spate of mean / spammy comments a while back
I think I got it setup properly now.
@Stu - interesting you and dbacklover have come up with the same perspective. Great minds thinking alike, I guess? 
@dbacklover -- it's a damn shame when you can't have something like your blog without some jerks and a-holes wanting to violate it and you in the process. If you want to leave it turned off for peace of mind, that's fine. You got my message, just a different way through this board.
No I prefer to get allow comments on there. there was just a couple of days when I was in the random target of a spambot. after a day or two they go away. I just forgot to turn them back on and then wondered why it was so quiet over there.
Interesting division of transportation/ recreation. The intent with which I ride my bike is almost exclusively transportation, while at the same time I certainly recognize on a daily basis that it is recreation.
I guess that is one of the beauties of riding a bike -- we can have it both ways at the same time.
Try that in a car.
I composed and sent a + LttE to the PG just now. Let's see if they print it.
cdavey- I have heard of some people who just like to drive around, watching the scenery go by, the odometer go up, and the gas gauge go down.
Where can I post a letter to the editor? I wanted to post a positive, yet not bike-related one today (and then a bike-related one later)
thanks!
@helen s -- Oh, what fools these mortals be!! At least the ones who do that.
a positive letter about the bike racks on buses would be nice. the ignorance of this letter is amusing.
in the Trib.
Baffling idea
Thursday, September 29, 2011
So now we have another brilliant idea by Port Authority to install bike racks on the front of buses ("Entire bus fleet to be outfitted with bike racks by end of year," Sept. 22 and TribLIVE.com). What this will accomplish, other than a holdup while loading and unloading bicycles, thus backing up even more traffic, has yet to be suggested.
Will the bike have to pay its fair (fare) share? What about snow/ice buildup in winter? Will the driver have to get out to help make sure the bike is not an unsecured load? How about obstruction of the driver's view, or blocking the headlights or wipers? How much is it going to cost? What happens when someone attempts to place too many bikes on the rack? Who gets bumped?
I'm totally stumped as to what this is supposed to accomplish, other than to spend money Port Authority doesn't have on something that is not needed (there's a shock). Maybe a call to its new $800,000 phone system will yield some answers, but I doubt it.
Greg Massung
North Huntingdon
"Be pompous, obese, and eat cactus
Be dull and boring and omnipresent
Criticize things you don't know about
Be oblong and have your knees removed."
--Steve Martin, "Grandmother's Song"
This is what I sent to the P-G:
Now that all buses have bike racks, I think it helpful to take a step back to look at the bigger picture. Put aside all the usual talk about bus cuts and irritations on the parts of bicycle riders and drivers alike.
A milestone has been achieved, one we can all celebrate. No longer must we depend on an automobile to get us where we need to go. No longer need we use a long walk from a bus stop as an excuse not to use transit. Rolling along two miles of suburban streets to get your bus has now been made worth it. That $30 weekly bus pass easily beats the $50 weekly fill-up, never mind every other cost the car racks up (pardon the pun).
Using bikes and buses together makes perfect sense. Buses can't go everywhere, but bikes can. Bikes can't do hills, distances, or heavy traffic easily, but buses can. Combine the two, and you have much less need to drop ten grand every year on a (second, third) car.
What drivers will now see is a lot more bicycles. This is a good thing, as many of those drivers will also be cyclists, and so more aware of their fellow cyclists when behind the wheel. It takes study, practice, and the right clothing and equipment, but getting around by bike just got a lot more attractive. Thank you to all the organizations and decision makers who made this possible!
I didn't send it to the Trib because they usually cut letters to about 140 words, and I didn't feel like editing it that close to the bone. This clocks in at 244.
The ignorance of the other letters from Greg Massung are also amusing.
Oh google, how I enjoy thee.
I'll try and get something about the racks, and T service, together. Every time I thought about racking and rolling before and didn't, it was always do to the 'what if'. Now that that is gone, woohoo!
@Stu, that is a nice letter that will hopefully be published beyond this forum. As for the letter from the Trib, it's just more of the same PAT bashing b.s. that I've been reading in those letters for years. From what I can tell, the writers seem to hate having someone else's commute subsidized, but don't appreciate how much their own commute by car is subsidized by more government policies, actions, tax breaks, etc. than I have the time to list. And I say this as someone who probably likes cars more than most here.
My letter is in today's paper (Oct. 3, 2011). Mine is third, followed by another positive bike letter.
Well done, Stu!
