pimento64@sopuli.xyz 2 days ago
I’m having trouble getting at the real issue for them. Obviously this is a lie, but what’s the truth? Do they hate seeing bicycles run red lights and want to punish them collectively for it (which is at least a human motivation), is it that they just want parking spaces and traffic lanes open for voter-pandering purposes, or is some kind of schizoid aesthetic rejection where they just want bike-riding sissies to stop being a thing?
Oil and petrol companies are some of the richest and most politically connected industries in the world. Each person who rides a bike is a person who does not spend money on fueling a car.
I just assume that Exxon/BP/et al have thrown blanket bribes at every politician in every country to be generally against bike lanes for whatever reason they can pull out of their ass, so long as they don’t come right out and say “BP has paid me directly to decry bike lanes”.
There’s a contingent of very vocal minicab drivers and tradesmen that constantly complain about sharing the road.
This kind of being a dick to cyclists plays well with them.
or is some kind of schizoid aesthetic rejection where they just want bike-riding sissies to stop being a thing?
I am slightly depressed at how much it looks exactly like this.
Only thing I’d say is shopkeeps have a point about their footfall being affected by the lack of parking outside their shops now. Literally every other way to address that, besides nuking the site from orbit (the only way to be sure), is a better way to address that than just tearing up the bike lane.
Its possible that the local businesses have lost business because terminally lazy people can no longer park directly outside their shops and will not walk a short distance to them, this should be extremely easy for the business to prove if its actually true, I have my doubts its a significant amount. I suspect the people most inconvenienced by not being able to park outside the businesses are those that actually work there. This is the only remotely serious suggestion I see from the anti bike lane crowd in this instance.
My local village center is meant to be no parking on the high street, has had times its been enforced properly and times its been ignored due to pressure by local businesses. Recently they started enforcing it, directing people to the free (under two hours) car parks on the edge of the high street. Car parks were full with people who own and work in the shops, so they prevented them from parking in the car parks all day, so now they park on the residential streets off the high street enforcement area.
Cyclists are typically more likely to stop at a business because it’s just easier. In many cases bike lanes bring business, for the right kinds of businesses.
Naich@lemmings.world 2 days ago
Having spent tens of thousands of dollars on their cars, people hate seeing someone on a $50 bike going faster than them. Basically poor people should never have an advantage.