(And a problem that's well on the way to being solved anyway via 21st century technology )
Say this about the unproductive, ruling and courtesan classes, they're persistent in their quest to waste a lot of your money.
Bike plan will take shape slowly, supporters say. Dug Begley and Mike Morris. HoustonChronicle.com ($$$)
The bike as key transportation tool has not been all that valuable since, oh, the end of the 19th century. Unless you live in parts of Asia that is, or Amsterdam. Probably has something to do with hash.
For the rest of the world however bicycles are fun things, things to be used to exercise, things to be used for recreation, and things that are toys rather than motor vehicles. This is not to suggest that no one uses their bicycles to commute. There are three groups who do this and you will not mistake one for the other.
The first group are people who need to use the bike. They either cannot afford a car or are undocumented and need the bike to get around. Typically they're not riding top-of-the-line urban bikes, but the low-end bikes as one would find at Wal-Mart. They don't have specialty riding gear, are frequently riding sans helmet, and they don't have special add-ons to their bikes for cargo.
The second group are people who use the bike for healthy reasons. In most cases they own a car but choose not to use it to commute for various reasons. These people ride a bike to work because they enjoy it and like the health benefits that they get from biking. They live close enough to work that they have the ability to bike in, and they have an office that either offers them facilities or flexibility to clean up when they arrive.
The last group (and the group that soaks up most of the media attention) are the people who use the bike to make a statement. These people, in almost all cases, could own a car but choose not to so that they can look down on those who do. They are the bike "activists" who thought that Critical Mass was a good idea. These are the people who spend a lot of their time at Bike Barn looking at $500 saddles made out of virgin baby cow leather, wear "kits" when riding to work and could tell you that yes, there is a thing called bike to work pants and that they can tell you which brand is best. These people don't view biking as commuting, they view it as a moral choice, and only they are on the "correct" side of the moral debate.
The problem is, groups one and two just want to ride their bikes, for as long as they want to, and be left alone. Group three wants to beat you over the head with their moral superiority until you acquiesce and agree to spend Billions building out a bike system that is dripping in World Classiness. Also, give up your car, embrace their lifestyle and (if you would be so kind) admit to them constantly that they are great and right in all things and your moral better.
If you won't do these things they'll continue to whine, stage mass rides and delay first responders until you do. They have a sympathetic ear from the media because those who write news stories think that bicycling is cool and European while the car is ugly and American.
Local politicians love it because they see it as both a chance to build trinkets they can attach their manes to (The Annise Parker Bike Trail System etc.) and it carries with it the stink of world classiness that they can use to promote the city (in their minds). In reality however the true world-class cities of the future are looking toward driverless technologies that will become of increasing importance in the 21st century.
It is truly Houston Stupid to look toward the 19th century to solve our transportation woes, yet that's exactly what we're doing by espousing bikes and street-cars over driverless car technology. By all but ignoring this growing industry Houston is missing the boat on one of the great growth engines of the future, remaining stuck in the past and continuing to be damaged by the ever-expanding leadership vacuum.
That Plan Houston didn't even consider infrastructure needed for driverless cars suggested tunnel-vision. That it's still not being considered is flat-out negligent. The future is coming pretty soon, and Houston's Leadership Vacuum continues to be enthralled by the unproductive class who are tethered to the past.
