So… it’s all play and no work for bike riders.
“I don’t believe a bicycle is a transportation device,” Fairfax County Supervisor John Cook (R-Braddock District) said during a transportation committee meeting. “I think it’s a recreation device. The big problem is people don’t want to ride their bike in the rain or get sweaty before work.”
Yikes!
Cook's comments clash with Reston’s plan to add new bike trails. The Examiner reported that transportation officials have identified pedestrian and bicycle projects to improve bike accessibility to the planned Wiehle Avenue and Reston Parkway Metro stations. It’s all part of the transit extension to Washington Dulles International Airport.
“I don’t agree with him,” said Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville) to the Examiner. “People don’t do it now -- not because they don’t want to -- but because they can’t. It’s not safe.”
Bike enthusiasts are not feeling the love at all.
The blog Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling thinks Cook needs to get a life.
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Supervisor Cook needs to get out more. Every day people in Fairfax County use bicycles to get to work, shops, and to run errands. They use bikes to get to Metro, to libraries, and yes, some even ride to jobs at the Government Center.
Another blog, The Wash Cycle, agrees that they don’t want to ride in the rain, but called Cook’s statement “shockingly stupid.”
But most people don’t want to drive in bumper-to-bumper traffic, but for some reason they still do. The key thing is that people WILL ride in the rain and WILL get sweaty before work.
