somebody's dream world is bikes and spandex. think multicolored ejaculate

Public transportation ridership in Boston (the T) is up 10% over last month.

I'm sure the People's Republic of Kalifornia will be requiring registration of bicycles soon. And naturally there will be a substantial fee associated with it.

Actually, some local governments already require this. You can actually be stopped and if your bike doesn't have the town registration sticker on it, they will impound it and fine you. No joke. Tustin is one such charming little community:

http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=11307&sid=5

Section 5401 of the Municipal Code.

One reason I'll never bike through Tustin.

that's insane!

well, you're the first one to mention spandex, so enjoy your rainbow of flavors :p

When we get tired of pedaling, maybe we'll be able to tame some of these beasts to the point where we can ride on their backs!
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/...ures/horse.jpg

I'm sure there are plenty of hot Chinese MILF's in there, but I just can't make them out.

http://bikehugger.com/images/blog/fa...andex-1-01.jpg

"Each Registration Agency or Agent shall register bicycles for persons residing in this City only; all other bicycle registration applicants shall be referred to their respective city or jurisdiction of residency"

but if you are riding thru they have recourse against you....so i would say go ahead and ride on thru.

i don't think this is a revenue generator more a theft recovery program, would be a good idea in most college towns if you ask me.

I think it's intended to just give the popo a reason to stop some punkass they suspect of dealing drugs or whatever - point is that the registration (and associated fees) are a precedent already.

If the day actually comes that California residents get out of their fatass SUVs and start riding their bikes, I'll bet dollars to donuts that the legislature will be working double sessions to figure out a way to tax it, regulate it, impose fees on it and otherwise use it as leverage against the citizens.

I'm 100% convinced that the government of CA hates its constituency.

That is their job after all Jeff

You gonna do that in LA?? I know, I know, you ride a motorcycle, but I'm not gonna ride one around here.

Let's walk through this a bit: how many times out of the total times you get in the car would it be practical to ride a bike? Not to the grocery store or dry cleaners, not to the soccer game or to school with the kids. Not out to dinner with the wife or GF (unless you've got a different kind of W or GF). Hell, my wife needs a sedan or SUV just to haul around her crap (and I'm not talking about the grandkids :D )

The only time I can think of a necessary trip being done on a bike would be when you go to and from work and you don't carry a laptop and briefcase. Seems to me that could be solved right there by the bus or car pool.

But hey, if all I need is some beer from the corner, I'll take a bike and have done so many, many times.

When the gas starts going up, people will change they way they do things.

I can walk to a lot of restaurants and to the grocery store where I live (part of the reason I chose this). I walk to Peets for coffee. I have taken both bicycle and motorcycle to the grocery store when I only need a few things. And for work I leave my laptop at work M-F and only bring it home on the weekends (and sometimes not even then as I have a computer at home).

g/f has ridden on the back of the bike a few times. She likes to ride bicycles in her neighborhood to the store and whatnot.

The bottom line is that people got by before, and they can change things if they want.

No kiddin'.

People used to get by just fine without big, gigantic SUVs that take up a lane-and-a-half. They used to get by just fine without mobile phones glued to their ears 24/7/365. They used to get by fine without a friggin' idiot box EVERYWHERE (including inside afforementioned lane-and-a-half SUVs). They used to get by fine without an electronic thing-a-ma-jig to tell them how to parallel park or whether someone is behind them (they used to simply turn their head around - imagine!)

People used to get by just fine without every household having 3 cars per person. Sometimes people shared. Or combined errands. Or just didn't go wherever that day. Or walked. Or got a ride with someone. Hell, for just about ALL of my childhood we had ONE car for the entire family. For a period of time we had NO cars. We survived. Imagine that.

People in America hopelessly confuse the terms "want" and "need" or "convenience" and "necessity".

TROLL

What if people can get by without Porsches and Pelican goes out of business? We'll lose the OT, and then you guys will be sorry. :p

I doubt the food at your grocery store can get there by bicycle.
I doube the rest of the goods and services we are all accustomed to will still be available if driving is no longer practical.
Some may think they welcome going back to the horse and buggy days but if it really happened they might change their mind.

*sigh*

sure, take it to the illogical extreme...

The bottom line is that we currently have idiotic transportation models that are not sustainable. Period. They have to change some time.

Most people aren't going to get on a bicycle or a motorcycle. They don't have the guts, or have too big of a gut. But even if a small percentage of people parked their car more often, there would be less traffic, less pollution, and more gas for people to burn at the track. Win-win.

As a side note, there is an orange smart car parked outside my apt right now, and I've seen two others today. Seem to be a mini explosion.

I agree w/ most of this. It is idiotic to have half the country driving around solo in PU trucks and 7k lb. SUVs and frankly, 3/4s of the guys in construction who drive PUs don't need them. In the rest of the world, things get built just fine w/o that habit, in Europe absolutely no one drives an American PU. Lumber companies deliver, (just like they do here, incidentally), and you can tie a couple of sheets of plywood or drywall on top of a small SW in a pinch. A 4 cyl. Volvo wagon w/ a good rack on top will haul ladders and long stuff better than an open PU. I've had several of each. Heavy stuff like cinder blocks can be delivered, everything else fits in a car. If it wasn't a stupid macho thing, Isuzu box trucks hold 10X as much as PUs anyways. And use less fuel.

We've had a model where it actually seems like a contest to see who can waste the most oil in America. McMansion in the suburbs 40 miles from work, commute solo in a gas-guzzling Suburban, recreation centers around burning fossil fuels on multiple jet-skis or ATVs, unnecessary huge RVs to tool around in, etc... Just stupid, stupid, stupid..., and we could see today coming from 30+ years out. :mad:

I think your view is rather myopic. The vast majority of the country does not have public transportation available and for many people their daily commute is probably >10-15 miles. We also need to factor in people who need to take the kids to day care every day, people who live in harsh environments where riding a bicycle in the winter is not an option, etc. and it's just not going to happen. Your counterpoint might be, "Sure, then sell your house and move to the city". Unfortunately, with the current real estate market that may be easier said than done!

I think we are in for a real rough time. If the speculators who are driving up the price of oil aren't careful they may find themselves being regulated. Personally, I think they are heading for a major bust when the price of fuel effectively slows the US and overall global economy enough that the demand for oil drops precipitously and the bottom falls out.