it'll be very hard to get wide swaths of America to ditch their cars for bikes until bike thefts are prevented. the ease of bikes being stolen versus improved anti-theft car technology is a burdensome cost for prospective cyclists that'll just lead to people opting for cars.
This is in part why I dont want an e-bike because a four figure pricetag getting stolen doesnt sound good. Just having a regular bike i've witnessed several theft attempts. Sadly this isn't Japan where you can just have bikes sit out and nobody steals it.
There needs to be easier, simpler ways of securing a bicycle that doesn't involve snaking a complicated chain around the tires and a tight u-lock. Secured bicycle stations are one such ways but the actual bike tech themselves must be improved
I know folks have methods but ultimately what takes less time?
Clicking "lock" on a car? Or a chain + seat security + u-lock. Especially if its a quick stop and go operation. I'm just being real, if we want to make cycling widespread the bikes have to be competitive
Bike companies should make like smart bikes. Akin to the smart gun where it only fires if you are wearing a particular watch. The wheels only move with a particular watch or phone.
Also i dont think that bike thefts are the primary deterrent just poor cycling infrastructure but it discourages bike use in some places and adds on another disadvantage since it'll never be recovered
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
I dont know why @SFBART just refuses to learn from any other metro system and do decent wayfinding. It's not even a complicated metro it goes to like several city centers and has 4 branches. Just hire someone to teach BART already. @RebeccaForBART@lateefahsimon@BevanDufty
I will do it for free. I can submit to BART basic wayfinding changes their staff can do with existing infrastructure.
This is BART's way of communicating that a train goes to Downtown San Francisco from the Red-Line. A town I've never heard of and a tiny airport code with an image of a plane.
A city councilmember contacted me regarding constituents returning to work and being mad about the suspension of one of @rideact's transbay lines. Sadly she remarked: "I fear transit is ruined for a generation."
I'm starting to feel the tingle of just wanting to give up.
It's pretty sad to see AC Transit dwindle from this incredible, expansive system on literally every other street from the flatlands to the harbors to the hills in the 1990s that East Bayers didnt even need to own cars, killed slowly by Prop 13 and loses a limb every downturn.
I'd kill to bring this back. Sadly the more riders you lose the less political interest there is in saving the system
Context is we've been making jokes about how SF DA Boudin is facing recall for a theft surge while a murder surge under O'Malley in Alameda County has gotten her no scrutiny.
Pamala Price should be the next DA but this will be a low turnout midterm election. She needs to pick off enough voters in the East Bay Hills or Southern Alameda County to win this time. Since 2022 will be a mayoral election in Oakland depending on the candidate thats doable
I'm actually down with suing UC Berkeley to build more student housing. The UC obviously isn't going to irritate legislators and stop enrolling students because townies are mad so now they need to start constructing many student highrises. berkeleyside.org/2021/07/13/uc-…
When UC is finally confronted with the need to build more housing the very obvious deliberate choices to do it by bulldozing some tenant's homes and over People's Park, knowing full well that'll polarize the conversation, is remarkably sinister.
So many parking lots and 1 story stores around downtown Berkeley to buy out and bulldoze and instead the UC picks on the @save1921walnut people. Notice they dont do this for their classroom, gym and office expansion. It seems on purpose to cause division in the housing debate.
It's why there's a housing crisis: only 19% of Californians surveyed support growing the state's population (vs 40% of Texans). With 18-24 yr olds & Spanish speakers being the most supportive (34%) vs 40% of Conservatives, Whites, and over 45 most in favor of population degrowth.
It's hard to envision an affordable California when there's such consensus that California should adopt China style population limits or depopulate. But the huge 27% difference from early 20s to mid 40s shows the intensity of the yimby vs nimby wars. universityofcalifornia.edu/sites/default/…
The majority of California respondents 45% believe the state's population should remain the same with over a 1/3rd supporting reducing the population and 1/5th supporting increasing it.