F*ck You: Cyclists

This is not to say that cycling has no role in a robust transit system, just that the advocacy for bike infrastructure exceeds the benefit provided to the majority of residents. This has come to the front of Cleveland discourse with the design/per-construction of the Superior Midway Project. Superior Avenue was originally a part of the Cleveland Electric Streetcar system that ran through public square. We mention this because the streetcar was explicitly named as the inspiration for this Cycle Way.

This is not honoring the memory of these streetcars. Bikes do not serve the same role as streetcars. Bikes are private single-user transport for trips too far for pedestrian travel. Streetcars are public group transport for trips too far for pedestrian travel. The accessibility for cycling requires you to OWN and MAINTAIN a private vehicle. That sounds like weird ass prerequisites for the audience this benefits. Let's see what the audience prerequisites are for fare-free streetcars: You arrive at the streetcar.

How many people will this Midway benefit? We will be utilizing the NOACA "Bike and Pedestrian Count Program" to make some assessments. We see pedestrians counted from 2011 through 2018 total ~38,000 assumed-unique pedestrians.(pg.7 p. 1) The cyclists in the same time period totaled ~7,000 assumed-unique citizens.(pg.11 p. 1) These are specifically the totals counted within Cleveland city limits. We see the total number of counts performed within Cleveland proper total 206 events. For our intents and purposes, we are going to equate these "events" to daily totals. We then can estimate yearly unique citizens for each transportation mode. 184 daily pedestrians and 34 daily cyclists lead to our totals:

67,000 yearly pedestrians

12,000 yearly cyclists

This means city infrastructure that benefits pedestrians returns ~5x the citizen benefit to any cycle infrastructure. Not to mention the significant impact weather has on both modes; there are ~20% reduction when weather is not ideal. We are dedicating an awful lot of resources for something that would benefit <1% of Cleveland's population. City Right-of-Ways are very limited land.

Now why do city officials, CDCs, and developers spend so much time hyping up these projects? Cycle infrastructure is the cheapest to adapt from car infrastructure. Cycle infrastructure maintains the hierarchy of car-dependency. It benefits an incredibly small number of incredibly loud and organized individuals. You are the controlled opposition for the city of Cleveland. It benefits the establishment for you to be in the ears of the developers. The city can keep their stroads AND rehab some public opinion.

You aren't enlightened realists, you are milquetoast tools.