Readers’ Comments: December 1, 2023

Bike lanes are a colossal waste of money

Dear editor:

Since letters are still coming in to the Courier regarding bike lanes, it seems my earlier letter [“Cancel Mountain Avenue project,” November 3] struck a nerve with the bike lane fanatics. And yes, they are fanatics.

For example, Paul Steinberg (purportedly a professor at Harvey Mudd) claims to have conducted a survey of local residents [“Study finds Claremont wants safer cycling options,” November 10], and that “81% of women … and 74% of men … wish they could ride more … concerns about safety and proximity to cars.” I’m sorry Steinberg, but that doesn’t even pass the smell test. In fact, it smells like a very biased survey (if there ever was a survey). Moreover, those theoretical claims are belied by reality, which clearly indicates that no one wants to be out bicycling. As is so clearly evident when we observe, with our own eyes, the complete lack of bicyclists, even in the already installed multi-million-dollar bike lanes.

Fortunately, other letter writers, Tad Beckman [“Not all data is created equal,” November 17] and Helen Fuller [“Bike lanes don’t guarantee bike safety,” November 17] also see the deficiencies in Steinberg’s claims.

And then there is Ivan Light [“Bike lane benefits even skeptics can appreciate,” November 24]. Once we get past his climate alarmism, he lectures us on the health benefits of bicycling, and then throws in the obligatory, look what they’re doing in Europe!

He writes, “dedicated bike lanes will attract similar usage in Claremont.” The only problem with that, Mr. Light, is that existing dedicated bike lanes have not attracted any usage. At all.

Mr. Light, it is neither a disdain for our health, nor concerns of “safety” that keep people off of bicycles. Bicycles simply are not a convenient means of routine transportation around Claremont and Southern California. Your “elderly people” bicycling in Europe do so because they cannot afford an automobile. If they could afford a car, they would dump their bicycles in an instant. I know. I’ve lived over there.

Bike lanes are a colossal waste of money.

No more “road diets!”

Douglas Lyon

Claremont