Bus racks

On 9/7/2018 12:38 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 10:20, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/7/2018 12:03 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 08:04, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, September 7, 2018 at 7:52:38 AM UTC-7, Joerg
wrote:
On 2018-09-04 17:15, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/4/2018 6:10 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-03 16:10, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Mon, 03 Sep 2018 13:45:01 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2018-09-02 16:36, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Sun, 02 Sep 2018 08:02:04 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2018-09-01 21:30, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Fri, 31 Aug 2018 12:08:31 -0700 (PDT), Sir
Ridesalot
wrote:

On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 3:03:16 PM UTC-4,
Joerg
wrote:
On 2018-08-31 11:06, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 1:36:09 PM UTC-4,
Joerg wrote:
On 2018-08-31 08:51, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 7:13:51 AM
UTC-7,
Joerg wrote:
snip


[...]


[...]


(BTW, in front of my office building. I
have
to dodge those
things). We also have private buses up to
the
mountains for
skiing and airport shuttle buses, etc.


Those are what could be construed as
cherry-picking. What I
meant was a full blown system that
includes not
so lucrative
routes all the way to Outer Podunk. A sysme
that
enables most
residents not to even have a car.

Not going to happen in a market economy. The
fares would be too
high for either local users who have to
subsidize
rural users or
for rural users who have to pay actual cost
plus
ROI. There might
be a way to do this by selling losses to
investors -- running the
system as a tax shelter, but I'll let the tax
accountants figure
that one out. The bottom line is that
barriers
to entry are not
that high and certainly lower than in Germany,
and if mass
transit could be done profitably in a large US
urban area by
private business, it would be. People are
always
looking for a
way to make a buck. It might work elsewhere
in a
dense European
city, but it has been tried and failed here
in PDX.


The German example I brought was from an area
much
less densely
populated than Portland. AFAIK they even
operate
ferries in the
system.


Germany is a comparatively small country with a
large population.
Distances are not so great there compared to
many
areas of the USA.


As I wrote, I picked an example (on purpose)
from an
area that is less
densely populated than where I live now.


Again, if Germany is so gosh darn great, then
why
have so many
Germans emigrated?


Because it wasn't always great and still isn't in
many aspects. One
cannot generalize. For example, public
transportation is clearly better
there but bike paths and even more so MTB trails
are
definitely not.
Before moving to the US I would have never
dreamed
that bicycle
infrastructure could become better here than in
Germany but it has.
Agencies in the various contries could learn from
each other but there
is often a lack of willingness.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

I wonder what would happen if to create a new
bicycling infrastructure or bus/rail link that
would
benefit mainly bicyclists, if bicyclists were told
they alone would have to pay for it?

Cheers

Many years ago Riverside, California attempted to
"register" bicycles.
The idea was to have a record of who owned what
bicycle which they
hoped might reduce bicycle theft.

If I remember correctly it cost the owner 50 cents
and
he got a nice
little "number plate" to attach to his bicycle.

You never heard as much moaning and groaning, "You
mean I gotta pay 50
cents to ride a bicycle." The city gave up on the
scheme. Apparently
cyclists are cheap.


I doubt that, and they should not make it mandatory
anyhow. If they made
it mandatory then Californians can already smell it
that pretty soon the
authorities would start to tax bicycles per year and
they don't want
that. If there is any way to extract yet another tax
from the people CA
will eventually do that.

But if you don't pay your taxes who is going to
support
the homeless,
and the illegal immigrants, and the bike paths and,
and,
and.

If you are going to have socialism someone's got
to pay
for it.


We already pay among the highest taxes in the country.
That's enough taxes.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


I see, you want bike paths, racks on buses, and all the
other free
goodies provided by the state, but you don't want to
pay
for them.


See above. We already paid for them.

[...]


You California taxpayers paid for extravagant pensions,
the $80billion
choo choo which doesn't run, homeless, welfare and
illegal services,
fire fighting of forests which should have been logged
and so on.


That's the price for a leftist government. Like it always
end up.

And yet you expect the government to provide you with
special bike racks on buses.


No, bike racks that actually work with contemporary bikes
that are commonly used in this area. Just like we now have
roads that accommodate vehicles wider than a Ford Model T.
It's that simple.

[...]


Every other government program is profligate and
counterproductive so
why should bike racks on buses be any different?


Maybe so but that does require us to speak up. As taxpayers
we have a stake in this, our money is in this and,
therefore, we have a say in this. I can't understand people
who think otherwise.


Speak up to whom? The administrative State doesn't care. You
didn't elect them and you can't fire them so rant on if it
makes you feel any better.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 9/7/2018 1:03 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 08:04, jbeattie wrote:

And yet you expect the government to provide you with special bike
racks on buses.


No, bike racks that actually work with contemporary bikes that are
commonly used in this area. Just like we now have roads that accommodate
vehicles wider than a Ford Model T. It's that simple.

I've seen no evidence except your assertions for the idea that your
style of bike is common among those who use buses. I rarely trust your
assertions. So do you have any evidence?

And regarding roads and Model Ts: ISTM your situation is like that of a
1930s guy who built or bought something on this style
https://www.cycleworld.com/2014/07/2...specifications
then complained the roads weren't suitable for its use.

Don't buy something out of spec for the infrastructure you want to use,
then complain about the infrastructure.

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Friday, September 7, 2018 at 10:46:50 AM UTC-4, Joerg wrote:
Snipped
BTW, I haven't tried yet but it is likely that even my 1982 road bike
won't fit properly because it's less than 3" shorter than my MTB which
was sticking out more than that.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

GOOD GRIEF! My 1980's era ROAD and MTBs both fit our STANDARD bicycle racks on t he buses without any problem whatsoever.

Cheers

On 2018-09-07 12:18, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 9/7/2018 1:03 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 08:04, jbeattie wrote:

And yet you expect the government to provide you with special bike
racks on buses.


No, bike racks that actually work with contemporary bikes that are
commonly used in this area. Just like we now have roads that
accommodate vehicles wider than a Ford Model T. It's that simple.

I've seen no evidence except your assertions for the idea that your
style of bike is common among those who use buses. I rarely trust your
assertions. So do you have any evidence?


If you had followed the bike market at least a little you could have
answered that question yourself:

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/stud...egories-stores

Quote "Twenty-niners now account for 41 percent of dollars sold in
mountain bikes at IBDs".


And regarding roads and Model Ts: ISTM your situation is like that of a
1930s guy who built or bought something on this style
https://www.cycleworld.com/2014/07/2...specifications

then complained the roads weren't suitable for its use.

Don't buy something out of spec for the infrastructure you want to use,
then complain about the infrastructure.


You don't seem to even know what spec is these days. Hint: We are in the
21st century now.

Yesterday I rode light rail back to where our truck was parked. My old
1982 road bike was riding next to a 26" of a friend which would barely
fit the bus rack. My road bike is longer! Any questions? Luckily light
rail allows to take bikes on board so it doesn't matter.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 2018-09-07 12:04, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/7/2018 12:38 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 10:20, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/7/2018 12:03 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 08:04, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, September 7, 2018 at 7:52:38 AM UTC-7, Joerg
wrote:
On 2018-09-04 17:15, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/4/2018 6:10 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-03 16:10, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Mon, 03 Sep 2018 13:45:01 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2018-09-02 16:36, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Sun, 02 Sep 2018 08:02:04 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2018-09-01 21:30, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Fri, 31 Aug 2018 12:08:31 -0700 (PDT), Sir
Ridesalot
wrote:

On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 3:03:16 PM UTC-4,
Joerg
wrote:
On 2018-08-31 11:06, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 1:36:09 PM UTC-4,
Joerg wrote:
On 2018-08-31 08:51, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 7:13:51 AM
UTC-7,
Joerg wrote:
snip


[...]


[...]


(BTW, in front of my office building. I
have
to dodge those
things). We also have private buses up to
the
mountains for
skiing and airport shuttle buses, etc.


Those are what could be construed as
cherry-picking. What I
meant was a full blown system that
includes not
so lucrative
routes all the way to Outer Podunk. A sysme
that
enables most
residents not to even have a car.

Not going to happen in a market economy. The
fares would be too
high for either local users who have to
subsidize
rural users or
for rural users who have to pay actual cost
plus
ROI. There might
be a way to do this by selling losses to
investors -- running the
system as a tax shelter, but I'll let the tax
accountants figure
that one out. The bottom line is that
barriers
to entry are not
that high and certainly lower than in Germany,
and if mass
transit could be done profitably in a large US
urban area by
private business, it would be. People are
always
looking for a
way to make a buck. It might work elsewhere
in a
dense European
city, but it has been tried and failed here
in PDX.


The German example I brought was from an area
much
less densely
populated than Portland. AFAIK they even
operate
ferries in the
system.


Germany is a comparatively small country with a
large population.
Distances are not so great there compared to
many
areas of the USA.


As I wrote, I picked an example (on purpose)
from an
area that is less
densely populated than where I live now.


Again, if Germany is so gosh darn great, then
why
have so many
Germans emigrated?


Because it wasn't always great and still isn't in
many aspects. One
cannot generalize. For example, public
transportation is clearly better
there but bike paths and even more so MTB trails
are
definitely not.
Before moving to the US I would have never
dreamed
that bicycle
infrastructure could become better here than in
Germany but it has.
Agencies in the various contries could learn from
each other but there
is often a lack of willingness.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

I wonder what would happen if to create a new
bicycling infrastructure or bus/rail link that
would
benefit mainly bicyclists, if bicyclists were told
they alone would have to pay for it?

Cheers

Many years ago Riverside, California attempted to
"register" bicycles.
The idea was to have a record of who owned what
bicycle which they
hoped might reduce bicycle theft.

If I remember correctly it cost the owner 50 cents
and
he got a nice
little "number plate" to attach to his bicycle.

You never heard as much moaning and groaning, "You
mean I gotta pay 50
cents to ride a bicycle." The city gave up on the
scheme. Apparently
cyclists are cheap.


I doubt that, and they should not make it mandatory
anyhow. If they made
it mandatory then Californians can already smell it
that pretty soon the
authorities would start to tax bicycles per year and
they don't want
that. If there is any way to extract yet another tax
from the people CA
will eventually do that.

But if you don't pay your taxes who is going to
support
the homeless,
and the illegal immigrants, and the bike paths and,
and,
and.

If you are going to have socialism someone's got
to pay
for it.


We already pay among the highest taxes in the country.
That's enough taxes.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


I see, you want bike paths, racks on buses, and all the
other free
goodies provided by the state, but you don't want to
pay
for them.


See above. We already paid for them.

[...]


You California taxpayers paid for extravagant pensions,
the $80billion
choo choo which doesn't run, homeless, welfare and
illegal services,
fire fighting of forests which should have been logged
and so on.


That's the price for a leftist government. Like it always
end up.

And yet you expect the government to provide you with
special bike racks on buses.


No, bike racks that actually work with contemporary bikes
that are commonly used in this area. Just like we now have
roads that accommodate vehicles wider than a Ford Model T.
It's that simple.

[...]


Every other government program is profligate and
counterproductive so
why should bike racks on buses be any different?


Maybe so but that does require us to speak up. As taxpayers
we have a stake in this, our money is in this and,
therefore, we have a say in this. I can't understand people
who think otherwise.


Speak up to whom?


The transit agency.


... The administrative State doesn't care. You didn't
elect them and you can't fire them so rant on if it makes you feel any
better.


As I wrote earlier they did care. They better do because we the
taxpayers got more options. This option is nasty and IMO should be used
as a last resort but it has produced amazing results:

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/contact-kurtis/

The California Medical Board and the DMV probably still has people
shaking in their boots when they hear the name Kurtis Ming.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On 2018-09-07 12:38, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Friday, September 7, 2018 at 10:46:50 AM UTC-4, Joerg wrote:
Snipped
BTW, I haven't tried yet but it is likely that even my 1982 road
bike won't fit properly because it's less than 3" shorter than my
MTB which was sticking out more than that.

-- Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

GOOD GRIEF! My 1980's era ROAD and MTBs both fit our STANDARD bicycle
racks on t he buses without any problem whatsoever.


There are lots of people in this world who are taller than 6ft and need
large frame sizes.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On Friday, September 7, 2018 at 12:04:30 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/7/2018 12:38 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 10:20, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/7/2018 12:03 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 08:04, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, September 7, 2018 at 7:52:38 AM UTC-7, Joerg
wrote:
On 2018-09-04 17:15, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/4/2018 6:10 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-03 16:10, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Mon, 03 Sep 2018 13:45:01 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2018-09-02 16:36, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Sun, 02 Sep 2018 08:02:04 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2018-09-01 21:30, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Fri, 31 Aug 2018 12:08:31 -0700 (PDT), Sir
Ridesalot
wrote:

On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 3:03:16 PM UTC-4,
Joerg
wrote:
On 2018-08-31 11:06, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 1:36:09 PM UTC-4,
Joerg wrote:
On 2018-08-31 08:51, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 7:13:51 AM
UTC-7,
Joerg wrote:
snip


[...]


[...]


(BTW, in front of my office building. I
have
to dodge those
things). We also have private buses up to
the
mountains for
skiing and airport shuttle buses, etc.


Those are what could be construed as
cherry-picking. What I
meant was a full blown system that
includes not
so lucrative
routes all the way to Outer Podunk. A sysme
that
enables most
residents not to even have a car.

Not going to happen in a market economy. The
fares would be too
high for either local users who have to
subsidize
rural users or
for rural users who have to pay actual cost
plus
ROI. There might
be a way to do this by selling losses to
investors -- running the
system as a tax shelter, but I'll let the tax
accountants figure
that one out. The bottom line is that
barriers
to entry are not
that high and certainly lower than in Germany,
and if mass
transit could be done profitably in a large US
urban area by
private business, it would be. People are
always
looking for a
way to make a buck. It might work elsewhere
in a
dense European
city, but it has been tried and failed here
in PDX.


The German example I brought was from an area
much
less densely
populated than Portland. AFAIK they even
operate
ferries in the
system.


Germany is a comparatively small country with a
large population.
Distances are not so great there compared to
many
areas of the USA.


As I wrote, I picked an example (on purpose)
from an
area that is less
densely populated than where I live now.


Again, if Germany is so gosh darn great, then
why
have so many
Germans emigrated?


Because it wasn't always great and still isn't in
many aspects. One
cannot generalize. For example, public
transportation is clearly better
there but bike paths and even more so MTB trails
are
definitely not.
Before moving to the US I would have never
dreamed
that bicycle
infrastructure could become better here than in
Germany but it has.
Agencies in the various contries could learn from
each other but there
is often a lack of willingness.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

I wonder what would happen if to create a new
bicycling infrastructure or bus/rail link that
would
benefit mainly bicyclists, if bicyclists were told
they alone would have to pay for it?

Cheers

Many years ago Riverside, California attempted to
"register" bicycles.
The idea was to have a record of who owned what
bicycle which they
hoped might reduce bicycle theft.

If I remember correctly it cost the owner 50 cents
and
he got a nice
little "number plate" to attach to his bicycle.

You never heard as much moaning and groaning, "You
mean I gotta pay 50
cents to ride a bicycle." The city gave up on the
scheme. Apparently
cyclists are cheap.


I doubt that, and they should not make it mandatory
anyhow. If they made
it mandatory then Californians can already smell it
that pretty soon the
authorities would start to tax bicycles per year and
they don't want
that. If there is any way to extract yet another tax
from the people CA
will eventually do that.

But if you don't pay your taxes who is going to
support
the homeless,
and the illegal immigrants, and the bike paths and,
and,
and.

If you are going to have socialism someone's got
to pay
for it.


We already pay among the highest taxes in the country.
That's enough taxes.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


I see, you want bike paths, racks on buses, and all the
other free
goodies provided by the state, but you don't want to
pay
for them.


See above. We already paid for them.

[...]


You California taxpayers paid for extravagant pensions,
the $80billion
choo choo which doesn't run, homeless, welfare and
illegal services,
fire fighting of forests which should have been logged
and so on.


That's the price for a leftist government. Like it always
end up.

And yet you expect the government to provide you with
special bike racks on buses.


No, bike racks that actually work with contemporary bikes
that are commonly used in this area. Just like we now have
roads that accommodate vehicles wider than a Ford Model T.
It's that simple.

[...]


Every other government program is profligate and
counterproductive so
why should bike racks on buses be any different?


Maybe so but that does require us to speak up. As taxpayers
we have a stake in this, our money is in this and,
therefore, we have a say in this. I can't understand people
who think otherwise.


Speak up to whom? The administrative State doesn't care. You
didn't elect them and you can't fire them so rant on if it
makes you feel any better.

Oddly enough, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) beat the deep administrative state and got racks on buses in Portland. I think we were among the first.

From Wikipedia:

Bicycle Transportation Alliance

See also: Bicycle Transportation Alliance

The bicycle revolution in Portland started taking off with the founding of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance in November 1990. The first project of the BTA was persuading TriMet, the regional transit agency, to carry bicycles on its buses and light rail trains. BTA gathered over 7000 signatures and the support of numerous local city councils, prompting TriMet to conduct a one-year trial on a few bus lines. After a year of no significant problems and an increase in transit ridership by cyclists, TriMet instituted the first 100% bicycle accessible major transit system in the U.S. The Bicycle Transportation Alliance grew into one of the most effective cycling advocacy organizations in the U.S. The BTA focused on making major streets safe for cycling by advocating bicycle lanes, improvements to all seven pedestrian-accessible Willamette River bridges linking the downtown to the rest of the city and for safe, secure bicycle parking. In 1992, BTA successfully sued the City of Portland under ORS 366.514, the Oregon "Bicycle Bill," forcing the City to provide bicycle facilities as part of all projects. The City appealed this to the Oregon Court of Appeals which upheld the BTA's position, solidifying the responsibility of all governments in Oregon to provide safe bicycle and pedestrian facilities in all projects.[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclin...rtland,_Oregon

The BTA was supported in large part by Jay Graves and his family, the former owners of the Bicycle Gallery stores. He was on Board after me or over-lapping slightly. I can barely remember yesterday let alone the early 1990s. Step up Andrew! Bike shop owners lead the way!

And in fact, the Portland administrative state went on to create Alta Design, the death star of Krygowski-loathed bicycle-facility design. Its founder, Mia Birk, was a mere functionary at PBOT who developed her infrastructure chops going mano-a-mano with us bicycle do-gooders.

Alas, now its just dopes on electric scooters. They don't know the history -- the suffering our people have endured since coming to Portland on boats from the great Cyclaspora, urining to be free. Remember the past! Stay strong my brothers and sisters!

-- Jay Beattie.

On Friday, September 7, 2018 at 3:43:43 PM UTC-4, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 12:38, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Friday, September 7, 2018 at 10:46:50 AM UTC-4, Joerg wrote:
Snipped
BTW, I haven't tried yet but it is likely that even my 1982 road
bike won't fit properly because it's less than 3" shorter than my
MTB which was sticking out more than that.

-- Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

GOOD GRIEF! My 1980's era ROAD and MTBs both fit our STANDARD bicycle
racks on t he buses without any problem whatsoever.


There are lots of people in this world who are taller than 6ft and need
large frame sizes.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

So how frikkin big is your 1982 road bike? It must be HUGE if it doesn't fit in a STANDARD bus bicycle rack.

Cheers

On Friday, September 7, 2018 at 12:42:31 PM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 12:04, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/7/2018 12:38 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 10:20, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/7/2018 12:03 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 08:04, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, September 7, 2018 at 7:52:38 AM UTC-7, Joerg
wrote:
On 2018-09-04 17:15, AMuzi wrote:
On 9/4/2018 6:10 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-03 16:10, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Mon, 03 Sep 2018 13:45:01 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2018-09-02 16:36, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Sun, 02 Sep 2018 08:02:04 -0700, Joerg

wrote:

On 2018-09-01 21:30, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Fri, 31 Aug 2018 12:08:31 -0700 (PDT), Sir
Ridesalot
wrote:

On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 3:03:16 PM UTC-4,
Joerg
wrote:
On 2018-08-31 11:06, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 1:36:09 PM UTC-4,
Joerg wrote:
On 2018-08-31 08:51, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 7:13:51 AM
UTC-7,
Joerg wrote:
snip


[...]


[...]


(BTW, in front of my office building. I
have
to dodge those
things). We also have private buses up to
the
mountains for
skiing and airport shuttle buses, etc.


Those are what could be construed as
cherry-picking. What I
meant was a full blown system that
includes not
so lucrative
routes all the way to Outer Podunk. A sysme
that
enables most
residents not to even have a car.

Not going to happen in a market economy. The
fares would be too
high for either local users who have to
subsidize
rural users or
for rural users who have to pay actual cost
plus
ROI. There might
be a way to do this by selling losses to
investors -- running the
system as a tax shelter, but I'll let the tax
accountants figure
that one out. The bottom line is that
barriers
to entry are not
that high and certainly lower than in Germany,
and if mass
transit could be done profitably in a large US
urban area by
private business, it would be. People are
always
looking for a
way to make a buck. It might work elsewhere
in a
dense European
city, but it has been tried and failed here
in PDX.


The German example I brought was from an area
much
less densely
populated than Portland. AFAIK they even
operate
ferries in the
system.


Germany is a comparatively small country with a
large population.
Distances are not so great there compared to
many
areas of the USA.


As I wrote, I picked an example (on purpose)
from an
area that is less
densely populated than where I live now.


Again, if Germany is so gosh darn great, then
why
have so many
Germans emigrated?


Because it wasn't always great and still isn't in
many aspects. One
cannot generalize. For example, public
transportation is clearly better
there but bike paths and even more so MTB trails
are
definitely not.
Before moving to the US I would have never
dreamed
that bicycle
infrastructure could become better here than in
Germany but it has.
Agencies in the various contries could learn from
each other but there
is often a lack of willingness.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

I wonder what would happen if to create a new
bicycling infrastructure or bus/rail link that
would
benefit mainly bicyclists, if bicyclists were told
they alone would have to pay for it?

Cheers

Many years ago Riverside, California attempted to
"register" bicycles.
The idea was to have a record of who owned what
bicycle which they
hoped might reduce bicycle theft.

If I remember correctly it cost the owner 50 cents
and
he got a nice
little "number plate" to attach to his bicycle.

You never heard as much moaning and groaning, "You
mean I gotta pay 50
cents to ride a bicycle." The city gave up on the
scheme. Apparently
cyclists are cheap.


I doubt that, and they should not make it mandatory
anyhow. If they made
it mandatory then Californians can already smell it
that pretty soon the
authorities would start to tax bicycles per year and
they don't want
that. If there is any way to extract yet another tax
from the people CA
will eventually do that.

But if you don't pay your taxes who is going to
support
the homeless,
and the illegal immigrants, and the bike paths and,
and,
and.

If you are going to have socialism someone's got
to pay
for it.


We already pay among the highest taxes in the country.
That's enough taxes.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


I see, you want bike paths, racks on buses, and all the
other free
goodies provided by the state, but you don't want to
pay
for them.


See above. We already paid for them.

[...]


You California taxpayers paid for extravagant pensions,
the $80billion
choo choo which doesn't run, homeless, welfare and
illegal services,
fire fighting of forests which should have been logged
and so on.


That's the price for a leftist government. Like it always
end up.

And yet you expect the government to provide you with
special bike racks on buses.


No, bike racks that actually work with contemporary bikes
that are commonly used in this area. Just like we now have
roads that accommodate vehicles wider than a Ford Model T.
It's that simple.

[...]


Every other government program is profligate and
counterproductive so
why should bike racks on buses be any different?


Maybe so but that does require us to speak up. As taxpayers
we have a stake in this, our money is in this and,
therefore, we have a say in this. I can't understand people
who think otherwise.


Speak up to whom?


The transit agency.


... The administrative State doesn't care. You didn't
elect them and you can't fire them so rant on if it makes you feel any
better.


As I wrote earlier they did care. They better do because we the
taxpayers got more options. This option is nasty and IMO should be used
as a last resort but it has produced amazing results:

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/contact-kurtis/

The California Medical Board and the DMV probably still has people
shaking in their boots when they hear the name Kurtis Ming.

I mean just hearing the name Kurtis Ming makes me shiver all over! Is this the guy?: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3771/...83ea04ae_z.jpg


How about instead of whining incessantly, you join a local bicycle advocacy group. Some TV complaint desk journalist is not going to change transit district purchasing policies with a phone call. What is Kurtis going to do? Shame them into re-tooling the public contracting laws or existing public contracts?

If I were the public transit agency, I would foil the evil Kurtis Ming with a statement along the lines of: "At the request of a majority of our tax-paying transit district residents, we will re-fit all the buses so failing Joerg Schulze-Clewing, German immigrant resident of the fake golf-course community Cameron Park and proprietor of 19th century technology company Analog Consultants can haul his over-sized mountain bike home from recreational trails because he is too weak or lazy to ride home. It will cost $125,000 which we would pass along to customers (including those who were born and raised in the USA and who use modern digital devices), in the form of doubled fares. If you are in favor or re-fitting the buses with new racks, please call 1-800-dum-rack or contact us online at www.stealyourmoneyforstupidracks.org. "

I learned recently that its legal to do this sort of thing and probably required these days to win any political fight. It's not like Kurtis Ming is going to whip up a mob of pitchfork and torch carrying townsfolk to get you a bigger bike rack on the local bus. You're not the Rosa Parks of bike racks.

-- Jay Beattie.

On 9/7/2018 2:18 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 9/7/2018 1:03 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-09-07 08:04, jbeattie wrote:

And yet you expect the government to provide you with
special bike racks on buses.


No, bike racks that actually work with contemporary bikes
that are commonly used in this area. Just like we now have
roads that accommodate vehicles wider than a Ford Model T.
It's that simple.

I've seen no evidence except your assertions for the idea
that your style of bike is common among those who use buses.
I rarely trust your assertions. So do you have any evidence?

And regarding roads and Model Ts: ISTM your situation is
like that of a 1930s guy who built or bought something on
this style
https://www.cycleworld.com/2014/07/2...specifications

then complained the roads weren't suitable for its use.

Don't buy something out of spec for the infrastructure you
want to use, then complain about the infrastructure.


Roads not suitable to that ugly 3 wheel monstrosity? How so?
I see them (and copies) all summer around here.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971