Bike News Roundup #7

SF Examiner

Bicycles have become a symbol of gentrification in San Francisco, which is leading to some vandalism. 

In The Guardian last year:

But the growth of city cycling is not purely utilitarian. Among what urban theorist Richard Florida calls “the creative class,” the bicycle is a potent symbol of identity and status. And more bikes, it seems, means more well-paid knowledge economy jobs. “Cycling to work is positively associated with the share of creative-class jobs and negatively associated with working-class jobs,” Florida wrote in 2011. Consequently, local hostility to cycling infrastructure has often been a proxy for wider anger at gentrification.

In The Guardian yesterday:

“We’re letting corporations do whatever the hell they want, while the everyday folk don’t count,” said Roberto Hernandez, a lifelong resident of the Mission district, a Latino neighborhood that is ground zero for gentrification. “When you look at the transportation privileges that have been provided for these techies, and when you now look at these bikes, it’s not for Juan. It ain’t for Pablo...The feeling of people in this community is like we don’t exist.”

See Neighborhoods Are Up In Arms Over Ford GoBike Installations.

Why would you want Ford to have all your personal information when you register with Ford GoBike?

See also Bike share users are mostly rich and white. Here's why that's hard to change.

Streetsblog asks What’s Keeping People From Using Bike-Share? and gets some unsurprising answers:

Low-income communities and people of color view traffic risk, high prices, and the potential for crime and harassment are the biggest barriers to bicycling and using bike-share in their neighborhoods, according to a new report from researchers at Portland State University.

And cycling is mostly a guy thing: Why aren't women joining the bike revolution?

See also Hyper-gentrification.