U.S. Secretary Peters Says Bikes 'Are Not Transportation'

Posted by: Nate Berg
Thanks to: Brad Aaron

20 August 2007 - 5:00am

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters implies that federal money is wasted on cycling infrastructure.

"On PBS' 'NewsHour with Jim Lehrer' this week, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters said that instead of raising taxes on gasoline to renew the nation's sagging infrastructure, Congress should examine its spending priorities -- including investments in bike paths and trails, which, Peters said, 'are not transportation.'"

"'Well, there's about probably some 10 percent to 20 percent of the current spending that is going to projects that really are not transportation, directly transportation-related. Some of that money is being spent on things, as I said earlier, like bike paths or trails,'" said Peters.

Full Story: Secretary Peters Says Bikes “Are Not Transportation”

Source: Streetsblog, August 17, 2007

My Paradoxical Commute

Submitted by Michael Patrick on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 11:10.

I woke up today in my own bed, ate breakfast in my own kitchen, and then within the half-hour somehow found myself sitting at a desk in my office a few miles away. If one moment I'm in a location miles away from where I was minutes earlier, transportation must have occurred. But because I used a bicycle, and we've established that bike paths and therefore bikes are not transportation, it might be proposed that no transportation occurred. It's a paradox that I can't explain. Can you?

Paradoxical freedom.

Submitted by Dano on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 13:38.

because I used a bicycle, and we've established that bike paths and therefore bikes are not transportation, it might be proposed that no transportation occurred. It's a paradox that I can't explain. Can you?

Shhhhh! Be vewy vewy quiet - we don't want certain interest groups knowing there's another form of freedom besides the automobile!

Best,

RE: U.S. Secretary Peters Says Bikes 'Are Not Transportation'

Submitted by ZakeDiggity on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 08:08.

In this day and age, I am glad to hear the Sec. of Transportation make the bold statement that walking and biking should not be considered transportation anymore. Given the declining health and growing obesity problems in this Country, walking and biking are just too hazardous and not feasible anymore.

The next steps should be to mandate a drive-through at all commercial stores and prioritize spending to eliminate all those pesky non-automobiles forms of transportation. The Administration should also declare that our transportation policy is going to be based on the popular "head in the sand/oil is going to last forever" concept.

Let's get rid of sidewalks too.

Submitted by Conscious Citizen on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 05:56.

Just think how much more efficient "transportation" would be if we added an extra lane to every road instead of having that out-dated sidewalk.

Re: Let's get rid of sidewalks too.

Submitted by cali_planner on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 08:15.

First of all...I hope that you are not being serious. Lets think about this, lets take away all the sidewalk and put another lane of traffic in, in every direction. Sure we can do that be we lose our sidewalks our parkways our complete ability to enjoy a walk. We make ourselves even worse off with higher speeds in streets, more car accidents and fatter Americans because we cant walk anywhere and if all that wasnt a problem already. So please all in favor of hurting ourselves more and making us fatter say "I". Oh, dont forget about the kids, lets all force our kids to walk in the street to school or even worse send them on a bus to school less then a half mile away. Then they can start the american dream sooner of becoming obese.