The County Exec has unilaterally appropriated bridge lanes for biker use (can he do that legally one wonders). The Mayor has hired a bicycle director. All very strange behavior but of a piece with the progressive mentality that reigns in Allegheny County and Pittsburgh politics. Schools can be dreadful, murder rates and crime at scary levels but government seems bent on the transformation of travel in the City. Closing bridge lanes to autos will make traffic problems worse. And one must wonder what happens when the icy weather comes and riding bikes through the City is not attractive even to the most avid cyclist. Will the lanes be reopened to autos?
But there might be a bright side. If enough commuters opt to get to work on bikes, perhaps the talk of needing more money for mass transit expansion will subside for a while until the love affair with bicycles cools to a distant memory.
Would it not be nice to see the City’s real problems of financial stability, crime, education of the young get so much attention? The poor schools drive away families with school age kids. Bicycle lanes and bicycle directors will not bring them back. No city will thrive without families. It will always be searching for some gimmick to attract the twenty somethings. And then watch them leave when they have school age kids. Unless of course they are very well to do and can send their kids to private schools. And that outcome should be anathema to progressives who claim they are so concerned about income distribution. Are they really concerned or just playing politics?
