I’m a car-commuter and not ashamed of it. I live in Sherman Oaks and work in Pasadena. The 2-bus commute takes 1.5 hours each way. The car commute takes 0.5 hours each way.

I dunno, I think of this whole transit advocacy culture as a mix of pragmatism and passion. There are certainly those who are passionate enough about not using their cars that they will inconvenience themselves to avoid use of automobiles. That’s admirable and all, but not sustainable across most of the population. Most people just commute using the mode that is most convenient, and most rapid, and within their comfort zone. For most people in L.A., that is using the car.

Now, for those who don’t care about advocacy and just do what makes the most sense for their situation, there is almost certainly a subset of people who would be willing/able to ride their bikes for all or some of their commute IF they were convinced it was safe. Paint some more bike lanes, build some more bike paths, get more people to cycle so it seems normal, and you start to build momentum. Those people will actually consider cycling as an option that didn’t exist before within their comfort zone.

At the end of the day, all the federal bike cash in the world won’t convince drivers to give up space in roads for bike lanes and traffic calming street design. That’s a case that has to be made directly to drivers.

Is a community of carless (or nearly carless) advocates too insular to meaningfully advance that kind of dialouge? Do car commuters feel safe enough here to voice their opinions? :)

We even cut together a sample film using DJ Chicken Leather’s Root Down Ride Around footage from the Bike Summit in 2008.

If there was a place that a rich person or a foundation looking to have an impact in LA wanted to put their dollars to good use, a media outfit covering livable streets issues through online video would be an incredibly good place to invest in. Mainstream media misses the mark on so much that is going on in LA right now. An effective communication channel to the general public would give LA’s advocacy movement a huge boost – allowing us to ask for more in a shorter time frame than might otherwise be possible.

LA has so far to go, we don’t even have any streetsfilm-clip worthy facilities! Could you imagine them showing the LA river path with all the cars jammed right up next to it stuck in traffic on the 5! I wonder if Daryl even tried to throw in an LA clip, or just laughed it off…

We need some streetsfilmers in LA, put us on the (video)map