For the record, I love my bike and don't own a car. However, the local cycling "activists" in my community are from the same mold as the YIMBY, neoliberal urbanist types. Overwhelmingly white, PMC and childless, who view bicycling and bike infrastructures as the harbinger for livable cites.

When you're a coder or social media marketing douche sitting on an ergonomic chair for 8 hours, cycling for five minutes to and from your loft is an ideal arrangement. However, cycling is a lot less attractive to a blue collar worker who has to travel to a exurb for their grueling 9 hour retail or Amazon warehouse shift standing on their feet. They would much rather nap on the bus after a shift than push pedals for 5 miles.

There is significant research that bike lanes are a trojan horse for gentrification and neoliberal housing development.

In my mid-size city, the twittersphere about local city politics is disproportionately geared towards cycling. It's become a cool kids club for PMCs to get involved in municipal politics, while ignoring much more desperate issues like homelessness and police brutality.

  • 000ppp [any]
    ·
    4 years ago

    no, biking is not a one-size-fits all solution, but if you look at the budgeting and building priorities of cities, they often act as if private car ownership is. the reality is that continuing to maintain cities where cars are the default mode of transport is the neoliberal dream, it pushes a huge amount of negative external costs on to every individual while closing off public space and sapping public resources

    biking is great under the right circumstances, the goal is to make those circumstances as common, widespread and reliable -- remember a better world is possible!