The 529 project totally dropped the ball on me. I found the bike myself on Facebook marketplace and let the five to nine project know that I found it on Facebook marketplace they failed to contact me I had to contact them again I set up a meeting at a skytrain station and the officer on his way to the meeting claim that he got into a car accident and he couldn't meet me at the SkyTrain so I had to wind up buying my own bike back that thanks to nothing to the 529 project man what a waste of time.
$3000 wouldn't begin to cover my bike...
“In the old days, a rich man drove a car
and a poor man rode a horse. Now, a
rich man rides a horse and a poor man
drives a car.” – My dad.
Is Commuting by bicycle becoming a
class issue?
How do economics and class determine
who commutes by bike?
I grew up in an area where we had
sidewalks and traffic control. Streets
were safer back then, and most kids had
access to bicycles. We could walk or
ride bikes to school, ballfields, a local
market, a movie theater, and a train
station that had inexpensive
transportation to a major US city about
an hour away.
It was a privilege to have these
transportation options and I recognize
that my family’s economic status (my
father was a school teacher), the color
of my white skin, and level of education
played a large part in this privilege.
As an adult, I have lived most of my life
in, or near a town, or within a city. I’ve
been able to ride a bicycle wherever I
need to go. It’s good exercise, gets me
out into the sunshine and provides a
modicum of sociability.
As a long-term home renter in a town
that has become synonymous with “real
estate portfolios,” I eventually got priced
out of the rental market, and in order to
avoid paying the majority of my income
for rent, I decided to move instead. I
simply can’t afford to live there. In fact,
many of the houses in the
neighborhoods where I lived in the past
have become rental properties owned
by out-of-town and absentee landlords.
I now live in a rural area with no access
to public transportation or meaningful
bicycle infrastructure. Because of safety
concerns, I have to load my bicycle into
a motor vehicle and drive to an area
where there are fewer vehicles or no
traffic at all. I am struck by this irony.
As towns and cities have expanded over
the past several decades, municipalities,
and counties are challenged by
providing safe infrastructure for cyclists
and pedestrians.
Interestingly, as the economy has
moved from major manufacturing to
tech-based industries, many of the
rundown or abandoned industrial areas
of major cities are becoming gentrified
and redeveloped. The real estate values
are rising faster than wages can keep
up. Thus, economics plays a role in who
gets to live in these areas that are
generally closer to city centers and
shopping districts. Many of which are
accessible by bike or public transit.
Further still, as mid-to-lower-priced
homes get pushed farther from town,
and cities bring economic development
to their centers, marginalization
happens.
My work place is only eleven miles from
where I live. Not a bad commute by
bike. However, I would have to travel a
two lane, high-speed state highway with
narrow shoulders to get there and back.
There is little speed control. In the time
that I have lived here – approximately
one year – I have seen exactly one state
trooper monitoring traffic.
In the US, vehicle weight and size have
continued to increase, NOT decrease as
one might expect as we have long since
passed the era of Peak Oil. The
consequences of collisions are far more
dire for pedestrians, cyclists and wildlife.
Actuarial scales used by insurance
companies to predict the likelihood of
future events such as motor-vehicle
collisions is not in my favor. I might be
fine 99% of the time. It’s that one
percent that I find frightening because
the consequences of a cyclist/vehicle
collision are dire.
My sense of self-preservation prohibits
me from spending much time cycling
this road to get to work.
My current living situation is much more
aligned with my budget. I can afford a
few luxuries. But the drawback is that
commuting by bike safely is nearly
impossible.
Seen from this perspective I find it
interesting that the people like myself
who could most benefit from the
financial savings and health advantages
of commuting by bicycle safely have
less opportunity to do so.
So, has bike commuting become a class issue?
The 529 project totally dropped the ball on me. I found the bike myself on Facebook marketplace and let the five to nine project know that I found it on Facebook marketplace they failed to contact me I had to contact them again I set up a meeting at a skytrain station and the officer on his way to the meeting claim that he got into a car accident and he couldn't meet me at the SkyTrain so I had to wind up buying my own bike back that thanks to nothing to the 529 project man what a waste of time.
Why are people still talking about $4 gas? A lot of stations on the west coast are upwards of $7.
Hi Paul, the average across the country is about $4.5 but it's true that that's little consolation to drivers on the west coast.
Living in Delusion...
No doubt