Thread started by seanbonner at 10.17.07 - 6:14 pm

From their online chat today...



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Looks like his question was answered by a poorly programed android.

On another note, I like to think that it's the drivers behind the wheel, not the cars that are hostile. There seems to be something about putting somebody in a large, powerful machine in a frustrating environment that brings out that hostility and makes them feel like they can anonymously express it.



mr rollers
10.17.07 - 9:02 pm

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Where can we find this so-called Metro Chat?

I hope the answer is not referring to the "Slam-o-phobia" ad campaign, because that is certainly NOT effective in educating drivers to share the road with bicycles. If there's another program in the works, I'd like to know more about it.



angle
10.17.07 - 9:34 pm

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check it:

http://blogging.la/archives/2007/10/talk_to_metro.phtml



seanbonner
10.17.07 - 9:37 pm

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It's unfortunate that buses and bikes have to compete for space in the right lane.

In other countries there are dedicated bus lanes and/or bike lanes and it's not so much a dog eat dog world.

Very often buses get cut off by cars who don't want to be stuck with a bus in front of them. The cars will force a bus to the right even if the bus driver wants to move a lane to the left. The supervisors want the bus drivers to meet certain time tables regardless of road conditions and this becomes very stressful to the bus drivers.

Add to this, that most drivers are working class African-Americans who have good reason to feel persecuted all their lives. They probably see the mostly white cyclists as yuppies or spoiled brats with time to waste.

Climbing on a soapbox and lecturing bus drivers on the importance of cycling while poor working people are waiting inside seems kind of arrogant to me.

The enemy is not the bus drivers, it's a transportation system that's heavily subsidized to favor the private automobile.

Disclaimer: My mom was a bus driver.



marino
10.17.07 - 9:38 pm

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if anyone wants to know the real reason why tour de fat wont come to la, its pretty much this reason.
too many fucking cars.
too much disrespect towards people not in said cars.
this all came straight from the reverend bally-hoos mouth.




ruinedbyidiots
10.17.07 - 9:41 pm

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I don't give a flying fuck how working-class or historically oppressed you are. If you try to kill me on the road, be prepared to be inconvenienced.



PC
10.17.07 - 10:31 pm

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rbi, aren't those the reasons why Tour De Fat should come to LA?





onethirtynine
10.17.07 - 10:35 pm

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well yes and no.



ruinedbyidiots
10.17.07 - 10:45 pm

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.



trekkie
10.18.07 - 2:32 pm

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