Felix Salmon wants to spend an old man’s money

We have a bikeshare program in Washington, DC—lots of shiny red bikes parked at various locations around the city, the idea being that you ride one from one location and drop it off at another. A recent survey of ridership discovers what you might have guessed, that only the well-educated (“some college” and up) and, presumably, the well-heeled, use the bikes Those spoilsports at Reason point out that the program has gotten $16 million in government subsidies, including over $1 million supposedly intended to help welfare recipients, few of whom have attended college. Maybe, they suggest, the DC government should stop subsidizing yuppies.

Well, fuck that, says Felix Salmon: “the government subsidy for bikeshare is basically a rounding error in the grand transportation budget, and I’m sure that the amount of government funds spent on maintaining roads in affluent suburban communities is orders of magnitude greater than the amount spent on bikes.”

My own feeling is bikes are more about youth versus age than rich versus poor, although I also think it’s definitely true that poor people are not crazy about riding bikes, and never will be, no matter how cheap a bikeshare program becomes.* Young people—and those who like to pretend that they’re still young—like to do things that old folks can’t or won’t do. A year ago I listened to a group of young people passionately asserting their “need” to break the law when riding their bikes—riding on sidewalks, riding the wrong way on one-streets, riding in the left lane, etc.—all the things that pedestrians and motorists, aka “geezers,” hate. Acting cool and pissing off geezers: isn’t that what makes life worthwhile?

Afterwords
I used to ride a bike in DC back in the day, but I never felt comfortable riding in city traffic. In addition, I rode an old-fashioned 10-speed with rattraps, which meant that I was first disentangling and then re-entangling my feet at every red light. Furthermore, you have the constant burden of your helmet. Walking plus Metro is so much simpler. You’re unencumbered, and you don’t have to worry, much, about getting run over.