“A Bicycle Is Not a Transportation Device”

Did you commute by bike this morning? (I’m not at the office yet today, but that’s how I’m going to get there.) If so, you might be surprised to hear that “a bicycle is not a transportation device.” Those are the perplexing words of John Cook, a supervisor in Fairfax County, Virginia. 

The FABB Blog (a project of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling) has the story: 

Try telling these Fairfax County commuters their bikes aren’t “transportation devices.” (Photo: FABB Blog)

[A]t a recent Board of Supervisors Transportation Committee meeting, [Cook] said,
“I don’t believe a bicycle is a transportation device. I think it’s a
recreation device. The big problem is people don’t want to ride their
bike in the rain or get sweaty before work.”

Supervisor Cook
needs to get out more. Every day people in Fairfax County use bicycles
to get to work, shops, and to run errands. They use bikes to get to
Metro, to libraries, and yes, some even ride to jobs at the Government
Center. Some people don’t want to ride in the rain but many do because
they have few other options. You could ask some of the workers pictured [right] who are receiving free bike lights. They ride in the rain, snow, and darkness to get to jobs around the county.

It’s great to learn that FABB has a lights giveaway program similar to the Los Angeles–based “Ciudad de Luces” one we mentioned a couple of weeks back. But it sounds like it will take more than flashing blinkies for Supervisor Cook to see the bicycles being used for transportation right in front of him. So the FABB Blog is asking its readers to give him a call and let him know that people do ride to get things done.

More from around the network: The National Journal’s Transportation Expert Blog asks if the TIGER grants announced last week should serve as a model for the next surface transportation bill. Louisville’s CART blog has the latest on pending transit cuts in that Kentucky city. And WalkBikeJersey asks if three-foot passing laws might not actually put cyclists in more danger.