I should probably just shut up

[darkemeralds]

BikePortland, a bike blog I read daily, had some good coverage today of an unplanned bridge closure affecting a whole bunch of bike-riding commuters (including me). The post elicited lots of comments, many of them straying into broader issues of city streets, traffic management and transportation.

Someone said "All of this insanity, just to put in a street car that's slower than walking and poses a major hazard to its faster and cheaper counterpart, the bicycle. But I understand though, fat people need a way to get to Next Adventure [a sporting goods store]!"



I thought for a couple of minutes, decided I couldn't stay silent, and responded:

As a person who doesn't meet your (implied) standards of acceptable physical size, can I just say how very sick I am of fat bigotry? Not to mention transportation bigotry.

I don't love streetcars either, but a) not everyone can ride a bike; b) not everyone who needs public transit is fat; and c) not everyone who bicycles every single day is (or gets) thin. I'm living proof.

So please check your privilege and reconsider comments that demean, hurt, and alienate at least one member of this community. Thanks.

Then I felt all skittish and scared for speaking up, afraid I was going to get reprimanded by the attractive thin people.

The trouble is, on a blog like BikePortland, I'm such an insignificant minority that nobody even bothers with that. I'm just an embarrassment. It's a weird spot to be in.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Wait, what's wrong with streetcars? Though as far as I understood Portland already has one of the best streetcar systems in the US, so maybe it's perceived as more streetcar than Portland needs?

[darkemeralds]

Nothing's really wrong with streetcars--they're kind of nice. But they're incredibly expensive to build for and totally inflexible once they're in. Mile for mile, if a city really wants to move people around, running regular buses on existing street surfaces is a much better transportation purchase.

Some cities--like Vancouver BC, as I understand it--have rubber-tire streetcars, more like electric buses, that run linked to overhead wires but aren't dependent on rails. Apparently they're a little more flexible and a lot less expensive to build for, but I'm not an expert.

Portland is tearing up streets and laying down rails while its bus system is suffering huge service and route cutbacks. The net effect is that lovely streetcars run in attractive tourist and entertainment districts and to and from the airport, while poorer people living in cheaper outlying areas have fewer and fewer options for getting to work--especially if they work evenings, weekends and holidays.

As a minor side-note, streetcar (and light rail) rails and bike tires are a dangerous mix, so I personally don't love riding in streets where traffic might force me into the streetcar lane. Fortunately, I can avoid those streets most of the time.