\nWork Day post. OK it’s a glorified retweet of Ezra Klein’s three-paragraph<\/a> story about giving up his car in D.C., which is worth reading. Here’s the last
\ntwo-thirds:\n<\/p>\n
The debate over auto ownership is unfortunately moralistic In practice, this doesn’t feel like a decision imposed by The point for sustainable Bike to Work For the record, I biked Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n 10 ways to kick the offshore-oil habit<\/a><\/p>\n Four House Republicans give a nod to biking, walking<\/a><\/p>\n Obama calls for better fuel economy for big trucks<\/a><\/p>\n
\nwhen, in my experience, the realities of auto ownership are almost entirely
\ndecided by infrastructure. Left for LeDroit, an excellent blog covering my
\nneighborhood, makes the point well in a recent post<\/a>: Cities
\nand neighborhoods built before the advent of car culture tend to be pretty easy
\nto navigate without a car, and as you can see in the graph above, a lot of the
\npeople who live in them tend to not own cars. Conversely, cities that were
\nbuilt after cars became the norm essentially require their residents to own
\ncars and their residents comply.\n<\/p>\n
\nthe cold realities of infrastructure. We get attached to our cars. We get
\nattached to our bikes. We name our subway systems. We brag about our short
\nwalks to work. People attach stories to their lives. But at the end of the day,
\nthey orient their lives around pretty practical judgments about how best to
\nlive. If you need a car to get where you’re going, you’re likely to own one. If
\nyou rarely use your car, have to move it a couple of times a week to avoid street
\ncleaning, can barely find parking and have trouble avoiding tickets, you’re
\ngoing to think hard about giving it up. It’s not about good or bad or red or
\nblue. It’s about infrastructure.\n<\/p>\n
\ntransportation types is that focusing on infrastructure—safe, pleasant bikeways—matters
\nmore than focusing on individual behavior.\n<\/p>\n
\nDay is still helpful, though, for normalizing bike commuting. Bringing riders
\ntogether shows them—and others who see them—that it’s a common thing to do in a
\nlot of places, not a fringe activity.\n<\/p>\n
\nin today, but I was only in it for the SmartWool sock giveaway in my
\nneighborhood. I’m not as hardcore as my friend Andrew, who was photographed<\/a> at Seattle’s most dangerous biking intersection for a story<\/a> on the dangers of biking in Seattle.\n<\/p>\n
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