Impossibilities

Now that Mobility Plan 2035 has been voted into law by the city council, the bikelash bozos are prancing around again blowing their rubber-bulb horns and shouting out all kinds of invented “facts” (technically called “lies”) to support their contention that it’s impossible—impossible, I tell you!—to live any semblance of a normal life if bike lanes are striped and cars have to slow down to the speed limit.

There are spurious claims that road diets will keep emergency vehicles from rushing to the scenes of the crashes that won’t happen as much anymore—yet it is cars that blockade firetrucks and ambulances right now; cyclists can pull off to the parking lane or even on to the sidewalk when the sirens howl. With road diets in place, there is more room for motorheads to get out of the way of serious drivers hurrying to save lives endangered by recreational drivers hurrying to show off.

There’s the even more spurious claim that road diets will “kill business.” This one’s been debunked by actual real-world observation so many times that it hardly bears repeating that No, road diets are good for business. Its been proven over and over again.

The latest favorite to float up in the swamp of disinformation is that “You can’t go grocery shopping on a bicycle.”

I can disprove that one myself: for over ten years, I did all the grocery shopping for a family of three, plus pets, by bicycle. I didn’t use a trailer, a cargo bike, or an e-bike either, just a normal everyday standard bicycle with two folding boxes attached to the rear rack. A full large bag of groceries in each one, and a big sack of potatoes or cat litter (or both) on top of the rack. Two trips a week to the supermarket, one to the Trader Joe’s. Easy enough. I still shop by bike, though less so now that I live a two-minute walk from two groceries.

I’m not alone. Here are a few of the photos I’ve snapped recently of bikes parked in front of grocery stores.

Yes, you can shop by bike.


Trader Joe’s in Hancock Park


Trader Joe’s in Hancock Park—another day


Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake (near the Rowena road diet)


Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake—another day


Grand Central Market on Broadway—I’ve started grocery shopping there myself


Shopping by bike in Osaka, Japan

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2 Comments

  1. Harv
    Posted September 24, 2015 at 3:28 pm | Permalink

    Not only can I do a week’s grocery shopping in one bike trip, with only a rack/box, but I do a great service for the market and the other shoppers. I walk my bike right into the store and use it as a shopping cart. I load my purchases directly into my box, go through the checkout and unload the box, pay, then reload and leave. My bike is much lighter and smaller than a shopping cart. I save the store the expense of providing me with a cart, a parking spot, and an employee to fetch the empty cart from the parking lot. It is a win-win for all concerned. How could anyone say this is a bad idea?

  2. Steph
    Posted September 26, 2015 at 8:36 pm | Permalink

    A family of 3 isn’t that difficult to buy groceries for on a bike. But a lot of people, myself included, are not confident carrying that much weight on their bike. It’s a balance issue as well, I’m not that comfortable doing that. The main reason people don’t bike in LA is because they don’t feel safe. I’m getting tired of people acting like it’s no big deal to be riding in traffic. I bike all the time, but it is a risk and I avoid heavy car streets as much as I can.

2 Trackbacks

  1. By Today’s Headlines | Streetsblog Los Angeles on September 24, 2015 at 8:27 am

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