The New Class Warfare over Bicycles

[phantom power]

The car's proponents invoke class even though all other forms of land transportation are eminently more accessible. Shoes, a bike, or a metro pass are all cheaper than a car with its gas, insurance and upkeep needs. According to the American Public Transportation Association, individuals who get around with a bus pass instead of a car can save a whopping $8,368 annually.

...

When the automobile is used as the primary mode of mass transit, the poorest are hardest hit. In 2008, for instance, the poorest fifth of Americans spent 13 per cent of their income on gas. The top fifth spent 3 per cent. In Highway Robbery: Transportation, Racism and New Routes to Equity, Robert Bullard notes: "Those earning less than $14,000 per year, after taxes, spend approximately 40 per cent of their take-home pay on transportation expenditures. This compares to 22 per cent for families earning between $27,177 and $44,461 annually, and 13 per cent per year for families making more than $71,900 per year."

Nearly three-quarters of U.S. households earning less than $15,000 a year own a car, and in an extreme example of auto dependence, tens of thousands of "mobile homeless" live in their vehicles.

The poor purchase cars because there is no other option in a society built to serve the needs of the automobile. If you want to work, you need a car. If you want to visit your friends, you need a car.

Car-dominated transport eats up a disproportionate amount of working-class income. At the same time, the automobile is an important means for the wealthy to assert themselves socially. A luxury vehicle lets the whole world know that you have arrived, both literally and metaphorically. "The automobile's a credit card on wheels," writes Heathcote Williams. "It's pushy to tell people how much you make, so you tell 'em through your automobile.''

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/12/13/BikeWars/index.html

[RC]

1. There is no choice most places. Car it is.

This country does not have the mass transit of Europe, Asia and elsewhere. And not much in the way of plans to do so.

[silverweb]

2. So glad I don't need a car.

I hate cars -- as the article said, "a credit card on wheels," and one that is never paid off.

Automobile marketing and our car-driven, class-stratified society call a car "freedom," but I've almost always considered it a ball and chain.

[Confusious]

3. The only thing that sucks about living in the west

is the f***ing need for a money-guzzling car.

I'd like to go back to the old days of the small town market and walk everywhere. We'd probably be more healthy also.

[silverweb]

4. Yup.

Absolutely agreed. I've been one of the lucky ones for almost 4 years now: I work at home, can find almost everything I need within 2 miles, and have easy access to quite adequate public transportation. A car is necessary very seldom, maybe 2 or 3 times a year, and then I just rent one for a day or two.

It wasn't always like this, though, and I remember all too well the expense and hassles of needing to own a money pit car.

[Wednesdays]

5. K&R

:kick:

[Odin2005]

6. IMO, for us than can't drive the poor mass transit in this country is a human rights violation.

My only options to get a ride from here (Fargo) to the Twin Cities is either a ride from a friend or by Greyhound.

[PavePusher]

10. Human Rights violation?

Seriously?

Sorry, no-one owes you a ride anywhere. Barter within your community for your transport needs or use "deese'l power".

[Odin2005]

11. Freedom of movement is a human right.

And lack of cars is very much a restriction on one's freedom of movement unless one lives in a very large urban area with very good mass transit like NYC.

[PavePusher]

12. Gosh, we've oppressed so many for so long...

how do we ever pay them back?

Your assertion is lo-grade fertilizer. Your freedom of movement has not been denied because no-one built you a train or gave you a car.

[marginlized]

7. Avoiding cars won't avoid class

Or just try riding one of those cheap WalMart bikes made with "plumber's pipe" through Tiburon past all the carbon fiber. If you're not riding the latest Time or Look forget it. Even a Specialized Tarmac S-Works can top out at $10,000.

But, oh yeah, cities. Don't we need to beat on the city planners who layout the suburbs? Every building that goes up needs to be mixed use. Not in your backyard you say? You've got a backyard? Isn't that a little ostentatious?

[TheWraith]

8. Yep.

A lot of people think that the idea of "walkable communities" is great, until you get to the part about only having one grocery store with extremely limited selection, one general store, and the prospect of giving up all semblance of "natural living" or decent living spaces in favor of massive apartment buildings or row houses.

[tinrobot]

9. Do they check for carbon fiber at the bridge or something?

If you're not riding the latest Time or Look forget it.

Not my experience. I've ridden my aging and rather average steel road bike across the bridge into Marin many times. Nobody has ever given me a second look. Heck, on a good day, I often beat the guys on the expensive bikes to the top of the hill.

[Kennah]

14. Are me and my $400 Kona Dew ...

... proletarian or bourgeois?

[Kennah]

15. Seriously though ...

... I see all manner of bikes from WalMart specials to high end stuff and I have yet to encounter elitism from other bicyclists; however, I'm not a hardcore Seattle To Portland rider.

From a purely economic perspective, I think a bike shop bicycle is more economic than a big box store bicycle over the long haul (pardon the pun).

Maintenance on a multi-speed can run $60 to $70, and buying from a bike shop (at least mine) gives one free lifetime maintenance.

[Kennah]

16. When the crunch comes ...

... bicycles will wipe away all class structure. Doctors and ditch diggers, lawyers and landscapers, we'll migrate, either voluntarily or not, into walkable, bikeable, and mass transit accessible communities.

[bhikkhu]

17. I put 10,000 miles on my $300 Giant commuter/mountain bike

...over 2 1/2 years. I ride a nicer bike now, but that was the best $300 I ever spent, and it basically replaced my aging car that needed far more than $300 in repairs.

I think once you take the plunge, most places aren't so difficult to ride in as people think. I commute 6 miles each way now, mostly on a bike trail (it would be 3 miles on city streets), but there is really nowhere inaccessible in my town. Years ago I grew up riding in Sacramento, and pretty much went everywhere I wanted to by bike before it was considered unusual...you get used to it, then you just go and do it.

[wtmusic]

13. Not sure this resolves to a class issue

Plenty of elitists and plenty of poor people on bikes, and in cars.