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I don’t live in Portland, Oregon now, but I spent over 30 years of my life in and around Portland. I visit a few times a year and am constantly impressed by the commitment the city has to cycling. You really can’t take more than a few steps and not notice some cool bike culture.
People are always claiming that NYC is the “greatest city in the world.” You never know what measurement people are using. Is it the dirtiest? The noisiest? The most congested? On all these accounts, yes, NYC certainly is the “greatest.”
Mass transit is a major part of NYC and it’s very clear that the mass transit czars have zero commitment to encouraging the integration of cycling and mass transit. Almost every major city I visit features buses that have bicycle racks on the front. Just by the vintage nature of this picture you know that Portland has been leading the way for a long, long time. Dude is rocking a full on Styrofoam helmet and those are sooooo last century.
In NYC? Not a single bus features such a rack. And people might say it is because of possible delays, but the web site that features the above photo states:
A 1994 study completed through the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) shows that most transit agencies are not experiencing problems with schedule delays resulting from accommodating bicyclists; new designs of bike-on-bus racks have minimized dwell times for loading and removal.
When I visit Portland I happily take the mass transit train known as “MAX” into the city. Visual evidence of the commitment the mass transit czars have to cycling is readily visible.
Once again, something you will not find on a single subway car in all of NYC. Listen up all you mayors around the U.S. Take a field trip to PDX and learn from all those cycle loving Oregon hippies. Portland gets my vote for Bicycle City USA.
If you want to nominate another city, drop us a line or post a comment.
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