Ezra Klein says bikes make the perfect house warming gift

Too many bikes, not enough cars?  Bike Arlington (R. Myers)

Ezra Klein of the Washington Post knows a lot about many things.  He consistently explains complex issues in ways that even I can understand.  This time in his blog, he calls out the New Yorker writer John Cassidy on his anti-bike rant about bike lanes in Manhattan which basically says that "bikes get in my the way".  He further complains that it is not the fault of the ten's of thousands of cars that are the cause of traffic congestion but the bike lanes that take an otherwise perfectly good piece of roadway out of the mix.  While your at it, take away the side walks too.

Klein retorts that in a place like Manhattan, traffic and almost every other form of space is limited making the addition of bike lanes and other forms of transportation options.  He makes the argument that if there were no biking options, maybe he would perhaps purchase a parking spot downtown and drive his car. However he notes that "far from that solution being a victory for other drivers, it’d be an awful defeat: The worst thing for a Beltway motorist is another Beltway motorist".  It's all about putting one less car on the road and that is what so many motorist seem to dismiss.  For every 'inconvenient' bike it means that there is an extra parking space, room for one more person on the Metro, a slightly healthier person (assuming they aren't hit by a car).