One: Some government unit changed half of the busy street outside my gym into a bike lane–blocked off with pylons so no car may use the lane. This took away parking on one side of the street. Just like that, parking grew much more difficult than it already was for the gymgoers. To accommodate the now-heavier traffic, the city decided to limit street parking on the other side of the street from 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. so rush hour traffic can use both lanes. Result? People are changing their behavior but not in the way city planners hoped. Instead of biking to the gym, people go less often and–when they do go–are much more inconvenienced. Sometimes I think twice about going to lift when it’s around rush hour; parking is uncertain and ridiculous. During a normal hourlong workout, hundreds and hundreds of cars pass by the gym–thousands, really. A dozen bikes pass by. I also rarely patronize other shops along bike routes in the city. There’s never parking, and you can’t help but ask yourself, how important is that cup of coffee?, when you have to park four city block away? Not very.

 

Two: Cyclists–insisting they be allowed to drive subject to street traffic–hog lanes, ignore inconvenient traffic laws, and diminish cruising speeds. On a walk a while back, I saw a cyclist ignore a stop sign and cross into an intersection. A car (who had no stop sign) undercut the bike going 25 m.p.h. Police. Ambulances. Injuries. Cars are stronger than even the most self-righteous of bikes.

Cars are stronger than even the most self-righteous of bikes

Three: Before a stretch of remarkable April weather, we got whacked with a blizzard. I measured at my house after the snow lifted and found 20.5″ of fresh snow. City traffic was chaos. As my wife and I drove two miles to a local brewery, we saw 25 stuck vehicles. A friend saved and sent me this picture:

The city cleared the bike routes before the streets. Crazy, right? As commerce ground to a halt in the city, it appears Minneapolis prioritized clearing bike routes to streets.

Four: As Minneapolis plans for and hopes desperately for more population density, their need to control humans increases. More people in less space is the planners’ utopian hope, and there’s no room for cars and truck in that plan. Trains, trolleys, bikes, and walking seem to be the plan. A friend attended a city planning meeting and tried to explain the idiocy of all these new bike “streets” to the planners.

“It makes no sense,” he told the planners, “people can’t drive or park anywhere.”

“That’s the point,” the city planner told him, “that’s exactly the goal.”

But, hey, at least the planners are being honest. It’s never been about bikes to these people; it’s about control. And being the “most bike-friendly city in America” makes for some good travel brochures and social media posts.

It’s never been about bikes to these people; it’s about control