[oclug] Parking for Aug Meeting

[Jon Earle]

On Wed, 1 Aug 2001 bbarnett at l8r.net wrote:

> On 01-Aug-2001 Jon Earle wrote:
> > - You are dependant on modern roads -- your bike was delivered to you 
via
> > a big truck driven on those roads.
> 
> They could have been delivered by train, to a large downtown depot.. but it is
> a picky point ;)

I don't believe the freight trains run downtown these days.

> > alternatives were properly used.  Motorized vehicles _have_ to use the
> > roads - you don't, and your attitude that "I'm simply entitled to" is
> > more harmful in the final analysis.
> 
> In many cases, you "can't get here from there", or if you can, you have to
> travel 14kms (as I would have to) instead of 7kms, using bike paths.  Since I
> have just as much right to the road, I choose to use it when its more
> convienent.  That's about 85% of my trip.
> 
> Its actually more pleasant to use a quiet bike path, so probably most people 
> you see on the road are probably in the same situation.  Its a big deal to go
> twice the distance when your feet power the vehicle ;).  I do recall that some
> bike paths in some areas seem to meander all over the place, as if they are
> there just to take up space.  The old transitway is one of those paths.  Take
> the path and its 5 kms, off the path its 3 (and example, of course).

You're right in that bike paths don't go everywhere, and yes, they do
meander somewhat.  But in the examples I cited, namely the parkways, the
bike paths pretty much parallel the parkway for a hefty portion of the
total distance.  To me, it makes no sense to use the road (which has no
bike lane) when the bike path is just a few feet off the roadway.

I understand that when you're downtown, we all have to share the road,
which is fine.  But, you'd never catch me riding my bike downtown - too
dangerous for my tastes (and who wants a face full of diesel soot from
those old bendy buses anyway).

Cheers!
Jon