Divorce Your Car --and get into a relationship with a Bike!

in sheep's clothing...

The Tricky Wolf Dons Sheep's Clothing

There once was a wolf as sharp as a pin
Who loved to dress in an old sheep's skin
So shepherds would not see him creep
Among the flocks of grazing sheep.

Then he would kill and eat his fill
Whenever he came up the hill
Where shepherds like to spend the day
Safe, they thought, from danger's way.

One day the shepherd thought he'd take
The fattest mutton home to bake,
With arrow poised, his bow he bent --
And shot THAT WOLF by accident!

O, what a fool I am , wolf said
And wept because he'd soon be dead,
I thought my fine disguise was slick
But caught myself in my own trick.


MORAL Disguises can be dangerous.

http://www.clearyworks.com/Fables/P2...icky_wolf.html

Listen, if it works for Bogota, then it should work for New York or
whatever other American city where the Law of the Jungle rules. It
doesn't get any more wild than Colombia, but bicycling seems to have a
pacifying effect on the lions.

This is news from 2000, so it remains to be seen if the lions became
vegetarian, or if they ate the Quixotic mayor.


FEATURE - Quixotic Bogota mayor pins hopes on bicycle
BOGOTA - In a recent cartoon in one of Colombia's leading news
magazines, the mayor of Bogota was pictured holding a bicycle and
looking smitten.

The caption read: "The greatest invention since the wheel."

Asked about his apparent love affair, Mayor Enrique Penalosa told
Reuters bikes were not only ecofriendly but could curb the city's
soaring crime rates and even promote social equality.

[...]

BIKE PATHS MAKE PEOPLE EQUALS

"The bike path is the only place where people can see themselves as
equals," Penalosa said in an interview at City Hall. "It is the safest
place in the city because it creates a kind of solidarity - people help
one another."

As part of a $6.1 billion plan to clean up the city, he is building
nearly 125 miles (200 km) of permanent bike paths, has cracked down on
street vendors and has created new leafy parks. In early June, his "Day
Without a Car" - a dawn-to-dusk ban on private transportation
throughout the city - won him international acclaim from
environmentally conscious Europeans.

The move was intended to promote use of public transport and bikes and
bring temporary relief to the usual traffic gridlock.

[...]

By creating more parks and public spaces, he says he can avoid the
urban crises affecting much of the industrialised world, where lack of
green areas is causing an exodus to the suburbs. But rather than quiet
homes with fenced-in yards, Bogota's periphery is a belt of poverty
where some 400,000 people displaced by the war are crowded into
shantytowns.

[...]

Those fed up with traffic chaos but not energetic enough for bikes
criticise Penalosa for reneging on his promise to begin work on a
long-awaited metro for Bogota.

The mayor responds that he is saving money by investing in the bike
instead. "All that we are doing has the primary objective of creating a
more egalitarian society," he said.

more...

http://www.planetark.org/avantgo/dai...fm?newsid=7489

"I was almost impeached for getting cars off sidewalks which car owning
upper classes had illegally appropriated for parking." -- Enrique
Peñalosa

Amazing, Penalosa survived the lions and he's now in New York! See what
he accomplished...

Biography

Enrique Peñalosa is currently a visiting scholar at New York
University. He is researching and writing a book on a new
urban-development model for the Third World, which covers fields such
as transportation, land use and housing for the poor, pollution
abatement, and public space. He holds a bachelor degree in Economics
and History from Duke University and Masters and Doctorate degrees in
Management and Public Administration from the Institut International
D'Administration Publique and the University of Paris II in Paris. He
is fluent in English and French.

During his tenure as mayor of Bogotá (1998-2001), Peñalosa led
massive efforts related to transportation, land use and housing for the
poor, pollution abatement, and the critical need for public spaces. In
a city of 6.5 million inhabitants with no subway system, Peñalosa
declared a virtual War on Cars, restricting traffic during peak hours
to reduce rush hour traffic by 40 percent and convincing the City
Council to increase the tax on gasoline. Half of the revenues generated
by the increase were then poured into a bus system that currently
serves 500,000 Bogotá residents daily.

As mayor, Peñalosa:

* Created a successful Urban Land Reform institution.
* Created a new bus-based transit system: TransMilenio.
* Spearheaded large improvements to the city center, including the
rejuvenation of plazas, creation of a large park in an area previously
overrun by crime and drugs, and transformation of one of the main
deteriorating downtown avenues into a dynamic pedestrian pubic space.
* Built more than a hundred nurseries for children under 5 and
assured resources for their operation.
* Increased children enrolment in public schools by more than
200,000, a 34% increase in four years; did major improvements to more
than 150 school buildings and built 50 new schools.
* Put in place a network of 14,000 computers in all public schools
connected to both the Internet and a network of 3 large new libraries
and several smaller ones that were built.
* Planted more than 100,000 trees.
* Built or reconstructed hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks; more
than 300 kilometers of bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, and
greenways; and more than 1,200 parks.
* Instituted the city's first "Car-Free Day" in 2000, for which he
received the Stockholm Challenge Award. Through a referendum, people
adopted a yearly car free day and decided that from the year 2015
onwards, there would be no cars during rush hours, from 6 AM to 9 AM
and from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM.

http://www.pps.org/info/placemakingt...kers/epenalosa

In early June, his "Day
Without a Car" - a dawn-to-dusk ban on private transportation
throughout the city - won him international acclaim from
environmentally conscious Europeans.

Not in our lifetime.

"donquijote1954" wrote in message
ups.com...
Listen, if it works for Bogota, then it should work for New York or
whatever other American city where the Law of the Jungle rules. It
doesn't get any more wild than Colombia, but bicycling seems to have a
pacifying effect on the lions.

This is news from 2000, so it remains to be seen if the lions became
vegetarian, or if they ate the Quixotic mayor.


FEATURE - Quixotic Bogota mayor pins hopes on bicycle
BOGOTA - In a recent cartoon in one of Colombia's leading news
magazines, the mayor of Bogota was pictured holding a bicycle and
looking smitten.

The caption read: "The greatest invention since the wheel."

Asked about his apparent love affair, Mayor Enrique Penalosa told
Reuters bikes were not only ecofriendly but could curb the city's
soaring crime rates and even promote social equality.

[...]

BIKE PATHS MAKE PEOPLE EQUALS

"The bike path is the only place where people can see themselves as
equals," Penalosa said in an interview at City Hall. "It is the safest
place in the city because it creates a kind of solidarity - people help
one another."

As part of a $6.1 billion plan to clean up the city, he is building
nearly 125 miles (200 km) of permanent bike paths, has cracked down on
street vendors and has created new leafy parks. In early June, his "Day
Without a Car" - a dawn-to-dusk ban on private transportation
throughout the city - won him international acclaim from
environmentally conscious Europeans.

The move was intended to promote use of public transport and bikes and
bring temporary relief to the usual traffic gridlock.

[...]

By creating more parks and public spaces, he says he can avoid the
urban crises affecting much of the industrialised world, where lack of
green areas is causing an exodus to the suburbs. But rather than quiet
homes with fenced-in yards, Bogota's periphery is a belt of poverty
where some 400,000 people displaced by the war are crowded into
shantytowns.

[...]

Those fed up with traffic chaos but not energetic enough for bikes
criticise Penalosa for reneging on his promise to begin work on a
long-awaited metro for Bogota.

The mayor responds that he is saving money by investing in the bike
instead. "All that we are doing has the primary objective of creating a
more egalitarian society," he said.

more...

http://www.planetark.org/avantgo/dai...fm?newsid=7489

trino wrote:
In early June, his "Day
Without a Car" - a dawn-to-dusk ban on private transportation
throughout the city - won him international acclaim from
environmentally conscious Europeans.

Not in our lifetime.

That's why we are in Iraq and we support more than one tyranny out
there. And then we ignore the risks of Global Warming.

But in a democracy it is 'WE THE PEOPLE' who...

Forget about that dream. You know THE GOLDEN RULE: THOSE WITH THE GOLD,
RULE.

"donquijote1954" wrote:

Forget about that dream. You know THE GOLDEN RULE: THOSE WITH THE GOLD,
RULE.

Or this one: THE TROLLER'S RULE: THOSE WITH TOO MUCH FREE TIME, TROLL.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

"donquijote1954" wrote in message
ups.com...
Listen, if it works for Bogota, then it should work for New York or
whatever other American city where the Law of the Jungle rules.

Just because the mayor of some remote city makes a stupid statement does
not make it true. India is the land of bicycle and it has not abolished the
caste system.

"donquijote1954" wrote in message
oups.com...

trino wrote:
In early June, his "Day
Without a Car" - a dawn-to-dusk ban on private transportation
throughout the city - won him international acclaim from
environmentally conscious Europeans.

Not in our lifetime.

That's why we are in Iraq and we support more than one tyranny out
there. And then we ignore the risks of Global Warming.

But in a democracy it is 'WE THE PEOPLE' who...

Forget about that dream. You know THE GOLDEN RULE: THOSE WITH THE GOLD,
RULE.


It has long been known that global warming, ---if it really happens quickly,
as opposed to what has been going on for 10,000 years, that is--- will
enable the human population to expand, not contract. In short, the planet
will become more friendly to the human species. This is what Europeans
hate.

Suggestion only for larger/faster electric bike/scooter owners: Use
silicone to prevent vibration from loosening parts. See forum postings
(not commercial product reviews by the manufacturers' websites) as to
which models need anti-vibration preventive measures, e.g. E-Max,
possibly Ego-II, and many Chinese ebike/scooters with pedals. Just my
two cents.


donquijote1954 wrote:
wrote:
I am looking at my 2002 Taurus, I have not driven in months now - cost
used $8995 plus 8.5 sales tax, insurance before I dive it $1600 year,
taxes $300, state sticker $156, inspection sticker $36, tires $400,
battery $90, gas if I drove it 3000 miles $442.50, oil change $39...fix
parking lot dents / repaint $650 ... and the depreciation of initial
car cost.

Ebike motor $500 - bike $150 .. changed to better tires $18, lights $28
- air conditioning included free - ok I am cheap - would rather have
the 12K I spent on car in my pocket.
ebike does 30 MPH so does the Taurus after I put gas in it.

You can tell you are in love with the Ebike. I'll like to have an
affair with her too!

wrote in message
ups.com...

John S. wrote:
An interesting but very incomplete analysis of the true costs of
commuting by bike.

Take the average commuter that lives 20 miles from work. To make an
8-4 work schedule that commuter will have to get up at 4:00 to begin
riding at 5:00 to arrive at work by 8:00. The commuter then does the
same in reverse and arrives home at 7:00 The times assume he is able
to find a lot of flat and downhill both ways with few traffic and
stoplights.

3 hours to go 20 miles??

I could go faster than that riding a single speed steel city-bike with
balloon tires when I lived on the North China Plain. That was coming
at a time when I still walked with a cane.

I have managed a 20 mile hour but there wasn't much uphill and I did
have a paceline helping me for the first 8 miles.

Incremental cost: New bike every year plus repairs $2,000; Medical
expenses from road injuries $2,000

Why would you need to get a new bike every year?

A perfectly acceptable race bike (not commuter bike) doesn't run $2000
a year in repairs and replacements.

And if you are riding to work that much why would you possibly be
falling off enough to hurt yourself that much? $50 in repairs and
medical bills is usually considered to be a major bicycle accident and
most bicyclists don't have major accidents very often (barring mountain
bikers who go out of their way to have major accidents and who are
generally very proud of how they managed to do it).

When it snows, or rains the commuter is either off work and not paid
because he cant make it in, or he is forced to get a hotel room close
to work because he can't ride home in inclement weather.

Incremental cost: Lost wages $5,000; Hotel rooms $1,000

I guess you haven't heard of a poncho, a jacket, boots, or other
articles of winter clothing. I guess you also haven't heard of
carpooling, mass transit, or using the car that most of us still have
but aren't using for ordinary short trips.

Tiring of those exceedingly long riding days and days missed with no
snip

I guess I should have read the rest of this before starting to respond.
You really have no idea of the reality of bike riding do you?

-M


i thought he was kidding...