Auckland views

This morning I stumbled into the coffee shop, fighting off a stuffy head bug that’s going around and picked up Metro Magazine, Auckland’s monthly magazine, which includes happenings about town and news. One look at the cover headline, “Those dumb cycle lanes,” and my eyes popped opened even though I hadn't sipped my long black yet. Was it a spoof to get me to read the article?

I scanned the table of contents and found “The cycleways that ate Auckland,” written by Jan Corbett, Metro’s Associate Editor. Citing almost all negative bicycling stereotypes, she spent four large pages hell-bent against bikes while bemoaning the status of cars on roads in Auckland.

Some quotes from the article I found interesting:

• “Isn’t cycling just a trendy pursuit among a small group of middle-class men and women who want to own the road in their own particular way?” (Actually in many parts of the world, people use a bicycle when they cannot afford a car.)

• “Why does a whole lane of traffic have to slow town for one fitness-obsessed rider in terrible pants with a geeky helmet and scant regard for the road rules?” (The helmet is for safety and I guess the car could just “tap” the biker and that would probably speed them up or knock them off at least.)

• “’Cycling is for everyone’ Really? The aged? The disabled? Toddlers? Parents transporting 2.5 children? Tradespeople?” (Yep, it’s for all those people, Jan. I’ve seen them all on bikes.)

• One of the elected city reps, Wayne Mapp was quoted as saying, “There’s been too much focus paid to cyclists’ needs and not enough to motorists’ needs.”

All I could think after reading the article was “Get your head out of your a**.” There’s almost no cycling lanes here compared to any other city I’ve been. The cars DO own the road here. The traffic is horrible. I see it every day. Why don’t people try alternate modes of transport? Like biking. Or walking. Or carpooling. Or public transport. Most of the cars have only one person in them on a mad dash to work, hopefully taking out at least one person on foot or bike so the next day they will have to slow down even less. It’s a CAR town.

I’ve been on my leg-powered wheels to work, school, errands and for pleasure since I was first introduced to the tricycle at age 2. Regular biking was part of my lifestyle in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon and Pennsylvania. (Kentucky was a little sketchy for my tastes.)

I’ve carried 2 gallons of paint on my bike, my groceries, a food deyhydrator, and a birthday cake for my coworker (No, I did not have a special trailer.). I was not opposed to biking in a skirt or accidentally flashing folks. Am I an example of one of those fitness-obsessed persons who wants to own the road in my own particular way? I don’t think so. I think most cyclists are doing it for a multitude of reasons: the environment, their health, their pocketbook, NOT to hold up traffic or wear nasty spandex or piss off the drivers who think they OWN the road.