Cook responds to FABB's concerns

Fairfax County Supervisor John Cook responded to a letter sent to him by FABB after he said that he didn't believe a bicycle was a transportation device. He never really recanted that statement, but he did say that he doesn't oppose using "bicycles as a mode of transportation for either recreation or commuting" and that his "family owns several bicycles." But then he goes on to point out that the county needs to prioritize its limited transportation funding and that since "only 0.7% of D.C. area commuters bike to work even once a week, most of them residing outside of Fairfax County" that bikes just don't measure up.

At the meeting where my comments were made, the Board was receiving a briefing on a study by the Reston Metrorail Access Group. That study was recommending $27.4 million for 33 pedestrian/bike improvements, including $12.7 million for projects associated with the Whiele Avenue Station on the Dulles Rail line. The Board had also just been briefed on a $15.6 million reduction in anticipated revenues from its locally imposed Commercial and Industrial Tax, which is the primary source of county funds for Transportation projects (most transportation projects are funded by the state, but that funding has been reduced significantly over the last couple of years). We do not have the funds to accomplish all our transportation goals. My comments were in the spirit of setting priorities for how to spend the shrinking available funding for a growing list of projects. Reasonable individuals may always disagree on how to spend limited public resources.

The study does recommend $27M in bike and pedestrian improvements including crosswalks, pedestrian countdown signals, sidewalks, trails and bike lanes.

Thirty‐three intersections and six trail crossings were analyzed in detail with specific recommendations developed for each. The recommendations reflect the desire to complete the network of pedestrian and bicycle facilities in Reston. On‐street bike lanes, currently absent in Reston, were also recommended for inclusion on several roadways.

Many of these recommended actions would be appropriate and necessary regardless of whether or not Metrorail comes to Reston, as pedestrian activity is still likely to grow in the area and should be encouraged to avoid intolerable congestion.

But it also recommends $70M in roadway and $8M in transit improvements. His argument that only 0.7% of D.C. area commuters bike to work, and therefore they don't deserve money is flawed in that he is comparing a mostly suburban region to what is intended to be an urban core; he's citing only bicycling commuting numbers but full pedestrian and cycling costs; he's considering commuting and not the larger number of trips and he's ignoring the cost of going from what the region is - car-centric, to what it aspires to be. The whole point of the Tysons Corner stops is to make the area into an urban core more like downtown DC or the Wilson Blvd. corridor. If he's worried that dedicating 24% of the money to cycling and walking is too high, he should consider that in Alexandria 25.3% of all trips are non-motorized.  The county's own study put walking at 28% of midday trips at office sites.

It's a failed attempt at the classic "no one bikes so why would we build bike lanes" argument. What percentage of Fairfax county residents take transit to work (~5%, btw) and is that stopping them from building a massive new metro line in the county?

All of which has little to do with the fact that he way overstated his case. If his argument is that cycling is a rarely-used transportation device in Fairfax County he may have a point, but that is a long way from what he said. And then he has to explain why that status quo must be maintained in light of all the benefits of cycling and in light of the fact that the county is trying to change Tysons Corner. You can't have change AND the status quo. 

If the county wants to grow Tysons Corner, but keep vehicle trips constant, that means everything else has to grow by massive amounts, which means some seemingly imbalanced funding in the favor or walking, transit and yes, biking.

Comments

[Stan]

well said. Now let's put this website on this guy's computer wallpaper.

[James]

I received the same email from Supervisor Cooks office as well (so did everyone of my friends that emailed his office with similarly toned emails). Do you have more accurate numbers on DC Area commuters?? May I know the source?? (thanks in advance). I plan to send another email arguing his assertions.

Please know that Supervisor Cook represents a more rural part of Fairfax Co. and it is much harder to commute there, because the infrastructure isnt as well developed as it is in other parts of the county. Not an excuse, just a detail worth considering.

Also, FABB is planning to speak at the Board of Supervisors meeting on April 7th concerning the upcoming budget and potential cuts. I plan to ride out, and during FABB's allotted time to don my helmet in support. I would urge anyone else who could attend to do likewise (even if you have to drive out).

[washcycle]

James, here's info on Alexandria:

http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/localmotion/info/2009%20Year%20in%20Review%20-%20Ped%20and%20Bike.pdf

And there's always wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_in_Washington,_D.C.#Commuting

[Michael H.]

Be careful about using Wikipedia as a primary source. It is only a secondary source and was never intended to be a primary source. No encyclopedia is. It's a great way to locate more direct sources but I think it's better to avoid direct citations to that site. It tends to weaken one's arguments.

[washcycle]

well, I could disagree about wikipedia (studies have shown it more reliable than most textbooks for instance) but I was kind of referring to it as a place that cites most of it's stats. The citations at the bottom are useful.

[John]

James,

I don't see how Cook's district is "more rural" than, say, Mount Vernon. It's suburban spawl at its worst. When I first moved here it was somewhat rural but that was over 25 years ago.

There are districts in Fairfax County that I have barely ridden my bike in and his is one of them. This is, not coincidentally, why I decided not to but a house there.

The infrastructure is the way it is by design. It was more important for the developers to slap down another development than it was for them to fund simple amenities such as sidewalks and trails.

I actually feel sorry for Cook. He's stuck representing an area that is unpleasant and he doesn't have the foresight of how to go about fixing it.

Someone once had the un-cookian idea to build a trail along the river. I rode my bike to work on it instead of driving today.

[Eric]

According to the bike commuting #s from the 2007/2008 COG Household Travel Survey, Fairfax has a 0.5% mode share for bikes, up from 0.2% in 1994.

For the COG region, which includes Loudoun, Prince William, Frederick and Charles Counties, there is a 1% mode share for bikes, up from 0.7% in 1994. The split for just DC and the inner suburbs, including FF, is 1.65%.

Here are how others fared:

DC 3.3%
MTG 1.4%
PG 0.6%
ARL 1.4%
ALX 2.7%
FF 0.5%

[Scott F]

Eric, can you link to the original source for this data? These numbers are much higher than from the Census Bureau's 2007/2008 American Community Survey, which I believe showed a 2.3% commute rate in DC (the highest of area jurisdictions).

DDOT's recent Action Agenda includes a graph with the same numbers you report, although it contradicts itself by also using the 2.3% commute number from the ACS. I thought it was a mistake.

[Allison]

James et al, I sent this info in an email to Cook on Feb 22:

As you can see from TPB presentations(located at http://ddot.dc.gov/ddot/frames.asp?doc=/ddot/lib/ddot/information/pedestrian/survey/hhts_2008.pdf), a small portion of WORKERS of Fairfax County (0.3%, down from 0.5% in 1994) do, in fact, ride their bicycles as a form of transportation. For the region, this is a low number, as nearby Arlington County has a 0.8% share of workers using bicycles to commute (up from 0.5% in 1994, when Arlington and Fairfax were on par). In fact, Fairfax's bicycle mode share is lower than both the regional median and average, according to the presentation referenced above. As the higher percentage of bicycling in 1994 shows, low levels of bicycling in Fairfax are not a given - there is both a historical precedent and a future capacity for higher mode share for bicycles. Very simply, about 1,628 people ride their bikes to work daily in Fairfax on average, which would account for rainy days (2008 ACS population estimate for 16+ [representing working age adults] multiplied by 0.3% bike share). In fact, the American Community Survey (ACS) estimates 5,858 workers use "other" means of transportation to get to work in Fairfax every day - other meaning not car, not public transit, not walking, not taxi, not working from home. Furthermore, as a transportation device, bicycles are used in the region for multiple transportation purposes, including work (30% of bike trips), school (13%), shopping/eating out (15%), recreation/social events (20%) according to the study.

[All the above info is from public TPB presentations or ACS. It doesn't necessarily contradict his statement of 0.7%, but it does provide a fuller picture.]

[Catherine]

Librarian alert:

Wikipedia is great for finding citations to actual sources like Michael said, and for getting concice background information on many topics. However, one must remember the major flaw of Wikipedia (which is also the key to its success): anyone can edit those articles. I could go make the DC bike commuting article say that we've got 25% bike commuters right now. No, I wouldn't have source to back it up and yes, eventually someone else would come by and fix it, but you really never know who has written what, and what agenda they may have. You may have noticed flagged articles, but not nearly all articles that should be flagged are, and even then, the "flag" just means that someone out there thinks the article may be biased, but doesn't seek to address or correct the problem.

[Lee]

by Cook's logic, we should't build houses where people aren't living.

he seems to lack the basic understanding that activities are facilitated by the infrastructure that supports those particular activities.