Bike Lanes

Transportation topics in KC
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alejandro46
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by alejandro46 »

Triple upvote, kboish. Loar is horrendous councilperson and needs to fuck off to Cape Coral to enjoy the proper transportation aesthetic she's going for.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story ... ral-215724
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normalthings
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by normalthings »

alejandro46 wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 9:55 pm Triple upvote, kboish. Loar is horrendous councilperson and needs to fuck off to Cape Coral to enjoy the proper transportation aesthetic she's going for.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story ... ral-215724
IMHO. This is tied with the time she demanded constituents not contact her about issues.

Favorite Quote: “don’t tell me how to do my job”
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Chris Stritzel
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by Chris Stritzel »

I decided now to chime in on Teresa Loar’s stupidity and her dumb comment until now. This comment is one of probably many dumb comments she’s made.
“We’ve got huge issues in front of us, and I’m very, very sorry and very troubled by the death of the gentleman on the bicycle and certainly don’t want to see that repeated, but unfortunately people die in this city every day and we just have to make sure that we’re keeping everything in perspective
This is perhaps one of the dumbest things you could say regarding the death of a pedestrian and it's clear why her comments are under fire. She sits on the Transportation, Infrastructure and Operations Committee and was appointed to that position by Mayor Lucas. There has been a Bike KC Master Plan on the table since April 2019 and has sat dormant since then. There has been the opportunity to put a plan of action in place to at least try to reduce the probability of pedestrian and bicyclist deaths from happening but she has sat there with her head in her ass preventing progress. The plan costs $400 Million to implement but she does have to realize that the $400 Million figure doesn't have to be dished out all at once. Loar's comment here is that $400 Million is "prohibitively expensive". 

It's a true shame that someone with the mentality of Ms. Loar is in charge of the T.I.O. Committee, but it's not shocking. She has been a long-time member of the City Council so she has a level of seniority over her colleagues. However, that seniority should not grant her the ability to not review things of interest to quite a few urban-minded people and it should not grant her the ability to shrug off deaths of people as an unfortunate circumstance. Things can be done but when gross incompetence is living in your head, I can see how it becomes hard to lead responsibly. 

Teresa Loar represents the 2nd District on the Council as an "at large" councilwoman. Her pedestrian comments make sense since this part of the City is very suburban in nature and actually has some rural parts, at least to my knowledge. Some of her constituents may agree with her comments but that's beside the point. As an at large council member, I believe you're elected by the entire City and not just the people in your district. It should be your job to put the interests of the people of Kansas City first before your own, but she clearly put herself before common sense. 

It's a shame that probably the only way she would consider taking up the $400 Million, multi-year BikeKC plan is if something happened to one of her family members or close friends. It's bad to say that but sometimes the only way to have someone like Loar make a change is by something terrible happening to someone they love. People don't have to die in your city every day, Ms. Loar. If you stopped sitting around and wasting taxpayer dollars on your paycheck, fewer people would die but, you be you. 

She'll either take two paths to this situation. 1: Double down on her comments and focus on other things. Or 2: Apologies for her comments. However, an apology may not be enough after this. In my opinion, not only should Teresa Loar apologize for her comments, but she should also resign her position as the Chairperson of the Transportation, Infrastructure, and Operations Committee. She should not be in that position while making comments like this. And at most, she should resign from the Council and fuck off back to her District or better yet, leave. If she were to resign her committee position, I would hope the BikeKC plan is taken up swiftly. The improvements would not only make biking in Kansas City better, but I almost guarantee that people who choose to walk or run would benefit from the plan as well. It's a win-win situation in my opinion. 

Whoever her successor is come 2023, I hope he or she is more urban-minded than Ms. Loar despite the 2nd District not being very urban in nature. Just having a certain mindset can go a long way when you're at "at large" council member.

Teresa Loar has earned my "This Week in Stupidity" award.
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by kboish »

The other day I spoke with someone works at a bike shop. He said they sold more bikes in the past 30ish days then they typically do in a year. Apparently, most non-high end bikes are on back order across the country. I've seen a noticeable uptick in people riding around my neighborhood. Of particular note is the number of pedal assist bikes.
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by grovester »

Twitter is awash in pictures of empty bike displays at big box stores.
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by DaveKCMO »

If only we had prepared for this with better on-street infrastructure!
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by earthling »

816 Collective on 31st is a great place to get refurbed bikes at reasonable prices. I bought a couple a few years ago from them, along with a donation. Trek's refurbed with higher end brake system, tires and well tuned. Probably better than stock.
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by DaveKCMO »

Gillham:

Image
Riverite
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by Riverite »

What a beauty
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Re: Bike Lanes

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More
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alejandro46
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by alejandro46 »

Thought this was a fun and somewhat interesting video. In UK and other countries, commuting via pedal assist e-bikes has gotten to be a great solution for some city dwellers, this video provides a basic primer to battery assist boards, scooters and one wheels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5GZ6LF ... =emb_title
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by shinatoo »

Anyone have a good bike trail map in KC? Only ones I can find are way out of date.
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by Riverite »

https://urbantrailco.com/

This one is great
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by shinatoo »

Riverite wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:29 pm https://urbantrailco.com/

This one is great
That is some great info, but I'm looking for a composite map.

I was going to say somethng like MARC's map but with current info. Than I went to the MARC site and it looks like they have done quite a bit of updating. https://www.marc.org/Transportation/Mod ... keways-Map
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by Riverite »

shinatoo wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:33 pm
Riverite wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:29 pm https://urbantrailco.com/

This one is great
That is some great info, but I'm looking for a composite map.

I was going to say somethng like MARC's map but with current info. Than I went to the MARC site and it looks like they have done quite a bit of updating. https://www.marc.org/Transportation/Mod ... keways-Map
Sorry about that they do have a map but not a composite one, hopefully you find an updated one
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by shinatoo »

Riverite wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:37 pm
shinatoo wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:33 pm
Riverite wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:29 pm https://urbantrailco.com/

This one is great
That is some great info, but I'm looking for a composite map.

I was going to say somethng like MARC's map but with current info. Than I went to the MARC site and it looks like they have done quite a bit of updating. https://www.marc.org/Transportation/Mod ... keways-Map
Sorry about that they do have a map but not a composite one, hopefully you find an updated one
No no. That is great info.

The MARC one is a composite. Now how do we get that info into Google maps so when I want bike directions it actualy uses bike paths???
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Re: Bike Lanes

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earthling
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by earthling »

^Any indication if bikeshare rentals have increased in KC? Given some may fear COVID on handles maybe not?
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by DaveKCMO »

earthling wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 3:19 pm ^Any indication if bikeshare rentals have increased in KC? Given some may fear COVID on handles maybe not?
40% increase when fares were suspended, which was mostly during the lockdown.
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by flyingember »

shinatoo wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:40 pm
Riverite wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:37 pm
shinatoo wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:33 pm

That is some great info, but I'm looking for a composite map.

I was going to say somethng like MARC's map but with current info. Than I went to the MARC site and it looks like they have done quite a bit of updating. https://www.marc.org/Transportation/Mod ... keways-Map
Sorry about that they do have a map but not a composite one, hopefully you find an updated one
No no. That is great info.

The MARC one is a composite. Now how do we get that info into Google maps so when I want bike directions it actualy uses bike paths???
the marc map has non-existent bike lanes/paths on it and I've reported one issue multiple times across 3-5 years without it being fixed. spot check with other sources
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