Let's fight over bike lanes

Summary

Podcast Summary: Today, Explained – "Let's Fight Over Bike Lanes"

Introduction In the June 15, 2025 episode of Today, Explained, hosted by Vox's Sean Rameswaram and Noel King, the focus shifts to the contentious debate surrounding bike lanes in major American cities. The episode delves into why some cities like Washington D.C. have successfully integrated bike-friendly infrastructure, while others, notably Los Angeles, lag behind. This comprehensive exploration is sparked by a listener’s inquiry about the disparity in bike infrastructure across different urban landscapes.

Listener Inquiry: The Bike Lane Conundrum The episode begins with a listener named Colin reaching out from Los Angeles, expressing his frustration about the decline in safe cycling spaces since relocating from Boston. Colin’s question sets the stage for an in-depth analysis of what makes a city bike-friendly and the obstacles faced in transforming urban landscapes to accommodate cyclists.

Historical Context: The Evolution of Bike Infrastructure in the U.S. To understand the current state of bike lanes, host Miles Bryan takes listeners back to the late 19th century. He highlights the pivotal role of the League of American Bicyclists (formerly the League of American Wheelmen) in advocating for paved roads through the Good Roads Movement. As Bill Nasper, Executive Director of the League, explains:

"[...] we delivered a petition to Congress in 1893, and it was people speaking up for paved roads." (05:47)

This early advocacy inadvertently paved the way for automobile dominance, as the Federal Highway Administration, originally stemming from the Office of Road Inquiry established due to bicycle advocacy, eventually prioritized car infrastructure over biking needs.

Washington D.C.: A Model for Bike Infrastructure Shifting focus to Washington D.C., the episode explores the city's significant strides in bike infrastructure. Miles Bryan interviews Colin Brown, Communications Director at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), who attributes DC’s success to a combination of natural advantages, strategic planning, and savvy political maneuvering:

"The recipe for DC success is one part natural advantage, one part farsighted planning, and two parts smart political plays." (12:09)

Under Mayor Adrian Fenty's leadership in the mid-2000s, DC saw the introduction of protected bike lanes and the Capital Bike Share program, making cycling more accessible and safe. The episode emphasizes how centralized governance in DC, with a single Department of Transportation, streamlined the implementation of bike-friendly policies without the bureaucratic tug-of-war seen in other cities.

Political Challenges: Navigating Local Opposition Despite the progress, bike infrastructure in DC faces opposition from local bodies known as Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs). These hyper-local elected bodies wield significant influence over street changes and can stymie bike lane projects by citing concerns like reduced parking and increased traffic congestion. Miles Bryan illustrates the friction with residents like Jeremiah Montague Jr., President of the Woodridge Civic Association:

"They see that as a means to manage the traffic, but they don't really care about what inconvenience it does." (19:13)

The episode sheds light on the broader issue of how bike advocates must navigate local politics and community resistance to effect meaningful change.

Los Angeles: Battling the Car-Centric Culture Transitioning to Los Angeles, the episode contrasts DC’s progress with LA’s ongoing struggles. Miles Bryan discusses conversations with Michael Schneider, founder and CEO of Streets for All, who recounts his journey from abandoning his car during the Great Recession to becoming a passionate bike advocate. Schneider details his attempt to enforce the city's Mobility Plan 2035 through a ballot measure, Measure Healthy Streets LA (Measure HLA):

"It's anytime the city does road work, they should be forced to implement the plan they already adopted." (26:32)

Despite initial success in getting Measure HLA on the ballot by focusing on pedestrian and cyclist safety rather than explicitly on bikes, the implementation has stalled. The city continues to bypass the measure's requirements by claiming exemptions, leading to a stalemate reminiscent of the challenges faced in DC.

Campaign Strategies and Public Perception A critical takeaway from Los Angeles is the strategic approach taken by bike advocates to garner public support. By framing the issue around safety rather than bike advocacy, Schneider and his coalition successfully appealed to a broader audience concerned with traffic accidents and pedestrian safety. However, the episode also highlights the limitations of such strategies when faced with entrenched opposition and the complexities of urban politics.

Lessons for Bike Advocates Concluding the episode, Miles Bryan distills key lessons for bike advocates aiming to transform their cities:

1. Harness Political Power: Engaging with local political structures, whether through elected bodies like DC’s ANCs or ballot measures as seen in LA, is crucial for driving policy changes.

2. Build Inclusive Coalitions: Expanding support beyond the cycling community by emphasizing shared benefits, such as improved safety and reduced traffic accidents, can lead to broader public backing.

Bryan emphasizes that mere advocacy is insufficient without political leverage and a diverse coalition to champion the cause.

Conclusion: A Shift in Perspective The episode wraps up with host Jonathan Hill expressing newfound curiosity and interest in cycling, inspired by the discussions and experiences shared throughout the episode. This personal reflection underscores the transformative potential of effective bike infrastructure and advocacy.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Bill Nasper on early advocacy:

  "[...] people speaking up for paved roads." (05:47)

• Colin Brown on DC’s success:

  "The recipe for DC success is one part natural advantage, one part farsighted planning, and two parts smart political plays." (12:09)

• Michael Schneider on Measure HLA:

  "It's anytime the city does road work, they should be forced to implement the plan they already adopted." (26:32)

• Jonathan Hill on personal change:

  "This episode and especially our ride around the neighborhood made me a little more bicycle curious."

Final Thoughts "Let's Fight Over Bike Lanes" provides a thorough examination of the multifaceted challenges and triumphs in establishing bike-friendly cities in the United States. Through historical context, personal stories, and strategic analysis, the episode offers valuable insights for listeners interested in urban planning, advocacy, and sustainable transportation.

Transcript

[Jonathan Hill]

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[Miles Bryan]

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[Bill Nasper]

We delivered a petition and it was people speaking up for paved roads.

[Miles Bryan]

The friction was pretty much immediate.

All LA knows is cars. Good morning.

[Jonathan Hill]

Good morning.

[Miles Bryan]

Who are you?

[Jonathan Hill]

I am Jonathan Hill and I am the host of Explain it to Me.

[Miles Bryan]

Amazing. I'm Miles Bryan. I'm a producer with Today Explained and Explain it to Me. And we're not in the studio. Right, JQ. We're out here on the streets of Washington D.C. on this.

[Jonathan Hill]

We sure are. We absolutely are.

[Miles Bryan]

On this beautiful sunny day in June. And I have asked you out here for a bike ride.

[Jonathan Hill]

Yes. Doing something which oddly enough, despite my childhood, is outside my comfort zone. I don't really bike in the city because I'm so scared of getting hit. Like I have not been on a bike in like since 2018. Ye. But let's find out.

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah, let's just take a little warm up, test out these DC bike lanes.

[Jonathan Hill]

Those are the E bikes, right?

[Miles Bryan]

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Oh my God. Are you okay?

[Jonathan Hill]

I'm good. I'm good. It's clearly been a while, but I still got it.

[Miles Bryan]

You're shaken by your movement.

[Jonathan Hill]

Exactly.

[Miles Bryan]

We're moving. How's that feel?

[Jonathan Hill]

It feels good. You really do. Never forget. I am not the first person to forget how to ride a bike.

[Miles Bryan]

You're fine in your. You're finding your bikes legs. Your sea legs. Oh yeah. Here's our bike lane. Now follow the spikers.

[Jonathan Hill]

Well, we have the red now.

[Miles Bryan]

Oh, we might have missed the. Yeah.

[Jonathan Hill]

Follow traffic loss.

[Miles Bryan]

We might have missed the. The light.

[Jonathan Hill]

Yeah. No, this is fun. I'm glad I'm doing this because, like, yeah, girl, why don't you get on a bike more?

[Miles Bryan]

You can go ahead of us. We're moving pretty slowly. We did miss the light.

[Jonathan Hill]

Okay, Miles. Riding a bike again was so much fun. I gotta do it more. It was so great getting back in the saddle, but why did you take me out of my natural habitat of podcast studio and put me on a bicycle?

[Miles Bryan]

Well, I wanted to just hang out and ride bikes. I like riding my bike. I thought it'd be fun for us. But also, and probably more importantly, we got a listener question about bikes and bike lanes. A guy named Colin called into the show and he said, hi, my name is Colin.

I live in Los Angele, and I used to live in Boston where I was an avid cyclist. But since living here, it's been really hard to find safe places to cycle. So I was wondering if you could look into what cities have made that transformation to a bike unfriendly to a bike friendly city, what they had to do specifically to get there, and what could be the path for a place like Los Angeles or other large cities.

Like, why do some cities like D.C. have good bike infrastructure? And why do some cities suck at it? How'd that happen?

[Jonathan Hill]

Yeah. Okay, so you, after our little field trip, you kept cycling around to get this explained, right?

[Miles Bryan]

I did. And I want to start at the beginning, which took me to K street in downtown D.C. to the offices of one Bill Nasper.

[Bill Nasper]

I'm the executive director of the League of American Bicyclists.

[Miles Bryan]

And what Bill Nasper is the League of American Bicyclists.

[Bill Nasper]

The League of American Bicyclists is the national grassroots cycling organization that has been around since 1880. We have been representing the interests of bicyclists since that time.

[Miles Bryan]

Bill told me about three important turning points in the history of bicycle infrastructure in the US and the first one was all the way back in the late 19th century.

[Jonathan Hill]

Oh, my gosh, the 1880s. In my head, you know, they were riding those bikes that, like the old timey kind where it's a big wheel in the front and a tiny one in the back.

[Miles Bryan]

They. They were riding those bikes. The bicycle kind of was invented throughout the 19th century. There were these primitive versions, the ones with the giant wheel. But the bike really took off when it reached a form that we would recognize it in. It was known as the safety bike. It had two wheels and it had pedals. Popularized in the 1880s and it was trendy. It was like a leisure activity. It was a way to get around. But these early cyclists had a big problem. At the time, America's roads were pretty gnarly. Like, almost none of them were paved. And so the League of American Bicyclists, though back then it was called the League of American Wheelmen.

[Jonathan Hill]

Okay, cool name alert.

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah, extremely cool. They didn't change it until the 1990s, which I thought was funny. Anyway, the league quickly became one of the main backers of what was known as the Good Roads Movement, a push for more paved roads to ride around on.

[Bill Nasper]

And so we actually, early. Early on, like, we delivered a petition. It's still actually at the National Archives. It's really cool. There's a giant petition. It's like on this eight foot wheel that has 150,000 names. We delivered it to Congress in 1893, and it was people speaking up for paved roads.

[Miles Bryan]

And that speaking up worked. It helped push the federal government to create the Office of Road Inquiry, which eventually morphed into the Federal Highway Administration.

[Jonathan Hill]

Oh, that's. That's cool. But when I think of the Federal Highway Administration, I admittedly think of cars.

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah. Bicycle advocacy literally paved the way for car dominance. That made bikes an afterthought for many years.

[Jonathan Hill]

Oh, dang. Wow.

[Miles Bryan]

A little bit of a self own. And actually the next big development in bike infrastructure in America is when the car's dominance started to slip in the 1970s with the oil crisis. We must end our love affair with the big car.

We must walk or use bikes rather than drive. If you've taken to riding a bicycle because you believe the government has an energy crisis on its hands, I can.

[Jeremiah Montague Jr.]

Tell you that if you don't go.

[Miles Bryan]

About it sensibly, you can have your own personal and private energy crisis.

Biking had been picking up as a leisure activity after World War II. Davis, California, actually created the first bike lane in 1967. But the oil crisis was an economic incentive to get people out of cars and back onto their bikes. And this is when you see American cities and towns start to put out plans for how to become more bike friendly, how to have some bike infrastructure. And it wasn't always the towns you would think of now, like Bill told me about bike plans in Boise, in.

[Bill Nasper]

Indianapolis, Cheyenne, Wyoming, like, oh, my goodness, they were saying the types of things that you want, that we would want to see in communities doing it today.

[Jonathan Hill]

Is that when we get to the crux of Our story, when bike lanes first became a thing.

[Miles Bryan]

Yes, in some places, but not universally or nearly to the extent they are now. So most cities that created a bike plan during this time, they just put up like a sign on a residential street that says like, bike route or whatever. And they did this because signs were cheap. You know, building bike infrastructure, like putting paint down, or even building protected bike lanes like we saw in dc. That costs a lot of money. And the financial picture didn't really change until 1991.

[Jonathan Hill]

What happened in 91?

[Miles Bryan]

Oh, JQ. The passage of the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency act, which the real heads know as ICE Tank.

[Jonathan Hill]

Okay, that's funny, because that makes me think of Law and Order. Svu.

[Miles Bryan]

ICE T dedicated a slice of the federal transportation budget to biking and walking projects for the first time.

[Bill Nasper]

And communities apply for this. So they, they have those bike plans that we talked about. 80% of the funding is coming from federal sources, and 20% is coming from a local match. So it's a huge part of making it possible for communities to build the streets that they they need.

[Miles Bryan]

In 1991, the year Ice T passed, the Fed spent about $17 million on biking and walking projects. In 2023, they spent over $1.2 billion. It's a big deal.

[Jonathan Hill]

Okay, shout out Uncle Sam. But if bike lane development is dependent on federal funds, why do different cities have such different bike infrastructures? You know, why is DC pretty good and LA is less so?

[Miles Bryan]

Well, the federal funding made bike infrastructure in the US possible. Like it's the cornerstone, but it's also just the starting point. To understand a city like DC's success, we gotta zoom in a bit.

[Jonathan Hill]

That's when we come back after these ads. Support for Explain it to me comes from WhatsApp. WhatsApp is committed to keeping users personal chats safe. So the things you want to keep most private, they're kept private even from WhatsApp. You can share graduation photos with your cousins, aunts and uncles, and they're the only ones who'll see that your eyes are closed in a quarter of the photos. Or you can use the app for a catch up call with your long distance childhood friend. And when you know you're secure, you might recount embarrassing teenage fashion choices and maybe even send each other photo proof. No one, not even WhatsApp, can see or hear your personal messages. So when it comes to sharing everyday messages, milestones, and meaningful moments, the only people who see your personal messages are the people you send them to. That includes personal Calls, plus any documents, photos or media that you share in your personal chat. No one's listening in, not even WhatsApp. And all WhatsApp sees of your personal messages is gibberish. That's how WhatsApp works. Your personal messages stay yours. WhatsApp message privately with everyone. Visit WhatsApp.com privacy to learn more.

[Miles Bryan]

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[Jonathan Hill]

Okay, Myles, before the break, you told me you were gonna explain what DC specifically has been doing, right? On the bike infrastructure front, yes.

[Miles Bryan]

To figure out that story, I pedaled over to meet another bike guy. Let me do the quick tour first. Yeah, give me a tell me now. We're here at the.

I think we moved into this space in 2010.

Colin Brown, he's the comms director at the Washington Area Bicyclist association, or waba.

When I started, there were all desks here. Now there's bike parking for a dozen people.

I think Colin moved to D.C. from Pittsburgh in 2008. Back then, D.C. had 36 miles of bike lanes and no protected bike lanes. And in 2023, it had 74 miles of bike lanes and 35 miles of protected bike lanes.

[Jonathan Hill]

Oh, wow.

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah. You know, Colin told me the recipe for DC success is one part natural advantage, one part farsighted planning, and two parts smart political plays.

[Jonathan Hill]

Okay. I love local politics. Tell me more about that.

[Miles Bryan]

I will, but I'm going to start with the wonky stuff. So because D.C. is its own jurisdiction, you know, it's not in a state. There's just one Department of Transportation. And in most cities, there's actually the city Department of Transportation and the state Department of Transportation. And I know that's insanely wonky, but it actually ends up being pretty important. Like the city DOT is usually more bike friendly and interested in putting in bike infrastructure, whereas the state DOT is generally more focused on car traffic in cities like Los Angeles or Philly. The state DOT controls some big roads within the city and they're reluctant to do anything that will slow cars down. So D.C. gets to skip that problem. Whew okay, onto the story. In 2006, DC elects this exciting young mayor, Adrian Fenty.

[Jonathan Hill]

Millions of people have walked these streets.

[Jeremiah Montague Jr.]

From the most powerful to the poorest.

[Jonathan Hill]

But only one man has walked all these streets.

[Miles Bryan]

Some people say I spend too much time responding to my constituents. I tell them there's no such thing. Do you remember him?

[Jonathan Hill]

Oh, yeah. He was mayor when I was first in College.

[Miles Bryan]

Right. It's 2006, 2007, right before the dawn of the Obama era. You know, hope and change is in the air in dc. And ambitious mayors like Michael Bloomberg in New York and Fenty in D.C. get super excited about making their cities more friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists. This is our first protected bicycle lane.

Fency, who was a bicyclist himself and really sort of excited about what biking could mean for transportation in the city. I think that set the scene for this sort of rapid growth in the bike network between 2010 and 2020.

So Fenty championed the creation of new bike lanes. He also shepherded the launch of DC's Capital Bike Share program, which, like, you checked out a bike from for our ride, right? Oh, yeah, it was pretty easy.

[Jonathan Hill]

Oh, it was very easy. You just download a little app, you go, doo, doo, doo, doo. And the next thing you know, you're riding around.

[Miles Bryan]

And it was pretty cheap, right?

[Jonathan Hill]

I think my ride totaled in about like $2.16. I didn't even bother expensing it because why do I need $2.16?

[Miles Bryan]

Right. And that's actually the far sighted part. Other Citi bike share programs are often run by private companies and they want to turn a profit, so they, they charge more. DC's bike share is public and it keeps its prices cheap. And Colin told me that with the advent of E bikes, especially like, that's got a lot of D.C. residents on bikes for the first time.

And that has really changed the way that people, a lot of people think about who's biking. Right. It's not just like weirdos like me. I'm not a, I don't wear spandex, but like I'm, I ride by and I'm like, clearly a bike weirdo. It's like your neighbors are there, you know, just like hopping on a red bike and going somewhere.

Full disclosure, jq. I'm also a bike weirdo and I do wear spandex, but I rented a bike share in D.C. when I was visiting and it was really fun and easy.

[Jonathan Hill]

Yeah, there are a couple in my neighborhood and I see people hopping on and off them all the time, especially around the metro. But you said local politics is involved, and D.C. politics can get a little messy. I'm surprised by how, like, Kumbaya this all is.

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah, I haven't told you the whole story yet.

[Jonathan Hill]

Okay.

[Miles Bryan]

Collins, is the effort to put in these bike lanes, you know, it gets off to a strong start, but it gets bogged down pretty quickly by political blowback. Like, critics say, the bike lanes slow down traffic too much. They take away all important parking spots. They're just kind of annoying.

The friction was pretty much immediate.

And the critics had a potent tool for resistance. The city's advisory neighborhood commissions. I hadn't heard of these before, but they're these hyper, local elected bodies that they can't do much other than veto liquor license applications and block changes to the streetscape.

The ANC would say, like, this is, you know, it's going to remove too many parking spaces. We don't want to support it. Or, like, can't you go around our block to somebody else's block? And then that you have that conversation with a. With a different ANC commissioner?

And the ANCs are a very DC thing. But the dynamics here play out in basically every American city. You know, bike advocates push for changes. The political class, which is usually older, more likely to drive, they push back.

[Jonathan Hill]

Yeah, that's so interesting. Like, the major road not too far from me is very, very busy. And there was a big bike lane fight over that. How do bike advocates win over ANCs?

[Miles Bryan]

Well, Collins's bike advocates tried to convince reluctant commissioners, but they didn't have a ton of success. So they figured, hey, if we can't beat the system, might as well become the system.

There was a recognition like, this is a barrier. Let's run for office.

Collins's bike advocates have won a ton of ANC seats over the last decade.

Now they're a major source of instigation for new projects. Like, in my neighborhood, our ANC is like beating the drum for two different protected bike lane projects.

[Jonathan Hill]

Huh. Okay, cool. So the bike advocates are the winners of this story, it sounds like. But I assume they're losers, too, right? You know, I've lived here for 16 years, and I know there are lots of people who are still mad about bike lanes coming. On one hand, you have people who are upset at the loss of street parking, but also, they're kind of like this canary in the coal mine when it comes to gentrification. You know, if I see bike lanes coming, I know my neighborhood is about to get way less black.

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah, I Want to introduce you to one more person. In dc, There's a thing called the.

[Jeremiah Montague Jr.]

Washington Area Bicycle Association.

[Miles Bryan]

Oh yeah, I talked to that.

[Jeremiah Montague Jr.]

They had become a powerful lobby and they had made inroads into the Department of Transportation. So basically they had co opted it covertly into doing their will.

[Jonathan Hill]

Ooh, okay. All right. We got a hotel take up in here. Who is that?

[Miles Bryan]

That's Jeremiah Montague Jr.

[Jeremiah Montague Jr.]

I am the president of the Woodridge Civic Association. I'm a former ANC commissioner for this area that we're in. I'm retired, so they say.

[Miles Bryan]

I met him out in Woodridge, which as you probably know, is a quiet neighborhood in the far northeast of dc. It's mostly single family homes and it's mostly working class and black, although young white people are moving in now because it's affordable. Colin from waba. He actually lives around here. Jeremiah has been battling with Washington D.C. officials and bike advocates to stop plans to put bike lanes on a busy thoroughfare called South Dakota Avenue.

[Jeremiah Montague Jr.]

They see that as a means to manage the traffic, but they don't really care about what inconvenience it does. We have a lot of older people who we don't have. Like when you go down, you came from Dupont Circle, where buses and stuff and the subway and this stuff, we don't have that. So most of them are conditioned to. I get to wherever I need to go by car.

[Miles Bryan]

Jeremiah has a bunch of reasons for why he thinks bike lanes here will be bad. They'll send traffic into the neighborhood, there'll be a loss of parking, people won't use them. But I think it really boils down to who gets to control how the neighborhood grows and changes. People like him are people like Colin.

[Jeremiah Montague Jr.]

The ones that have most recently moved in are the ones that are more adamant about, I want this, this is going to change, not I want or what do you think it's going to be this way. And I think that's what galls people the most.

[Miles Bryan]

You know, right now, DC's Department of Transportation is still studying options for South Dakota Avenue. It's not clear when or if bike lanes are going to come in here, but I think it's important to hear from Jeremiah because like he said, you know, there's lots of people who feel the way he does. Even in bike friendly D.C. cities trying to figure out their bike plans are going to have to figure out how to navigate this tension. And dc, which in some ways is a model, still hasn't entirely.

[Jonathan Hill]

So that's dc, but what about Los Angeles? I'll ask Miles when we're back on. Explain it to me. With a Venmo debit card, you can Venmo more than just your friends. You can use your balance in so many ways. You can Venmo everything. Need gas? You can Venmo this. How about snacks? You can Venmo that. Your favorite band's merch? You can Venmo this or their next show? You can Venmo that. Visit Venmo Me Debit to learn more. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp bank and a pursuant to license by MasterCard International Incorporated Card may be used everywhere. MasterCard is accepted. Venmo purchase restrictions apply.

[Miles Bryan]

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[Jonathan Hill]

Of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes of network's busy taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com okay, Miles, we've talked about big national changes that set the stage for bike infrastructure. We've talked about what DC is doing right and where it could still improve. But our caller asked about la. Did you ride your bike all the way across the country to find out what's going on over there?

[Miles Bryan]

Sadly, J.Q. i did not. I asked our boss for a couple weeks of travel time, but she denied the request. But I did work the phones and I got some help from our colleague Avishai Artsy, who lives in la. And there is some exciting stuff happening with bike infrastructure in Los Angeles right now. But before we get into that story, I want to give you some context. La, as I'm sure you know, is just physically huge. It's way bigger than dc. And it's also like the ultimate car city, right? Like, car culture in LA are basically synonymous. And that means that culturally, bike advocates have a much steeper climb there. Like, Avishai went out to a party celebrating the opening of a new bike lane in his neighborhood. And you think a gathering like this would bring out like the bike optimists, right? Here's what he heard. What are your thoughts on bike lanes?

[Jonathan Hill]

I like the idea of making this place bikeable like Davis is ideally, but for Los Angeles, that's totally unrealistic. The streets are too busy, the freeway's too busy.

[Miles Bryan]

Do you find it to be safe to ride a bike in Los Angeles?

[Jonathan Hill]

Not really.

[Miles Bryan]

People don't respect nothing.

[Jonathan Hill]

I used to live in Pasadena and bike, like, 100% of my trips all on bike. It was really frightening after a while. Like, someone in a car one time threw a cup with ice and some liquid at me. And so after that, I just was like, I don't feel like it's worth it.

[Miles Bryan]

All L. A knows is cars.

[Jonathan Hill]

Oh, my gosh. Why would someone throw. That is so rude. Oh, my goodness. And, and I will say part of the reason that I don't bike as transportation is because I'm afraid of getting hit by a car. People in la, they. I feel like they have a right to be frightened more than me. It sounds like. So the vibes there are bad. What are bike advocates doing out there?

[Miles Bryan]

Right. It's. It's quite the challenge. I promise to tell you about the exciting stuff happening, not just the hard stuff. And to do that, we have to talk about. And with one guy, Michael Schneider.

[Michael Schneider]

I'm Michael Schneider and I'm the founder and CEO of Streets for All. And about 10 years ago, I did something very unusual for this part of the world. I gave up my car and got on a bicycle to get around and wound up going car free.

[Miles Bryan]

Schneider's in his 40s. He has three kids. He's handsome and tan in a very LA way. Now he's a bike advocate, but he's a former tech executive. He kind of seems like a tech bro. When the Great Recession hit, he was working for a couple of startups developing apps like one he described as Facebook for moms.

[Michael Schneider]

One of them went under, the other one was on life support, and I couldn't afford my car lease anymore. I thought it was temporary. I thought I would, you know, recover and get a new car and be back to where I was. And instead, I fell in love with an alternative lifestyle I never knew existed. I started biking around. I was never in traffic. I never had to look for parking. And I felt like I had hacked my city and couldn't believe it was a legal and fun way to get around that I had just never known.

[Miles Bryan]

So Schneider falls, and he falls hard. Like, he bikes his three kids everywhere. He has never owned a car again, he Sundays, and by 2019, he's into bike advocacy. And he has the same question our caller had. Why doesn't LA have better bike infrastructure. And then in very tech bro fashion, he finds what he thinks is one weird trick to fix it.

[Michael Schneider]

I discovered that LA had something called the Mobility Plan 2035. They passed it. City council had passed it in 2015, and it was full of great stuff. It had thousands of miles of safety improvements for pedestrians, for cyclists, optimization for transit riders. It would dramatically improve the city. And I was like, man, this is great. So basically, city council already passed this plan. All we have to do is ask the council offices to implement the plan and we're good to go.

[Miles Bryan]

Spoiler alert. They were not good to go.

[Jonathan Hill]

Oh my gosh. What happened? Why not?

[Miles Bryan]

Well, Michael says he soon learned that just because city officials say they want to do something doesn't mean they're actually going to do it. Like, especially if it involves taking away parking, slowing traffic down, stuff that's annoying to at least some of their constituents.

[Jonathan Hill]

Okay, that sounds very similar to the ANC situation in D.C. so what did Michael do?

[Miles Bryan]

Right. He and his coalition, like the DC bike advocates before them, they figure out persuasion alone isn't going to cut it. Right. Like they need to seize some real political power. And so they turn to a very California method to do so, a ballot measure. They call it Measure Healthy Streets la or Measure HLA for short.

[Michael Schneider]

It was anytime the city does road work, they should be forced to implement the plan they already adopted. That's all Measure HLA does. It's not our plan, it's the city's plan. We're just forcing them to follow it.

[Miles Bryan]

The plan was on the ballot in Los Angeles in the spring of 2024. So a little over a year ago. And it won. It won overwhelmingly.

[Jonathan Hill]

Oh, my gosh. How did they, how did they pull that off?

[Miles Bryan]

First off, they had a lot of cash. Michael said he and a small group of deep pocketed activists kicked in like $4 million, the whole thing. But what I was really interested in is how they convinced bike wary Los Angeles to support a bike lane measure. Right. Like that seemed crazy. And I asked him about it.

[Michael Schneider]

We never mentioned the word bicycle in the campaign. We also never mentioned the word bus. We made it all about safety.

[Jonathan Hill]

Oh my gosh. Kind of sneaky. But they did pull it off.

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah, like they hid the ball and their strategy was smart. LA has a terrible amount of car crashes and pedestrians being hit by cars. And that's what their campaign ads focused on. That's what they talked about.

[Jonathan Hill]

On November 27, my son was going to school. He was crossing the road and the driver hit my son, killing him.

[Miles Bryan]

When our kids and our families and.

[Jonathan Hill]

Our neighbors can't get to school safely, we've got a real problem on our.

[Miles Bryan]

Hands and we can do better than that.

[Michael Schneider]

La, I don't think think there's enough bike advocates in almost any North American city to pass a bike specific ballot measure on its own. I think you have to reach out and explain the benefits to the larger population. It can't just be about bikes.

[Jonathan Hill]

Oh, wow, that's really interesting. So does this mean that LA is currently building a ton of bike lanes now?

[Miles Bryan]

No. The politics of this ended up being more intractable than Michael and his allies thought, because Measure HLA is only triggered by work on city streets. If workers aren't repaving or fixing a street, they don't have to do anything for bikes. So that's kind of what the city's doing right now. Like not much. And the street repairs that are happening, the city's claiming are exempted from HLA for various technical reasons. It's sort of a stalemate.

[Jonathan Hill]

Okay, so it sounds like they're kind of in the situation they were before.

[Miles Bryan]

Yeah. And you know, I talked to a source on background who knows the bike scene in LA really well, who said Michael's move fast and break things approach has been very successful in some ways. But if he'd slowed down and gamed out these political problems before getting HLA on the ballot, it might have been more durable and impactful. Like they might not have run into these issues after it passed. But, you know, Michael says he's confident his side will eventually win this standoff. Like bike advocates are already bringing one lawsuit against the city and they're pushing forward in other ways.

[Jonathan Hill]

Okay, got it. So hopefully our caller Colin doesn't have to wait too long for his bike lanes. What are your big takeaways from this reporting, Miles? You know, if you're a bike advocate in Car Town usa, what lesson should you take away from all this?

[Miles Bryan]

You know, I see two big lessons. Grab the levers of political power as much as you can and grow your coalition. In dc, bike advocates found political power in those hyper local elected councils. In la, they used a ballot measure. But my takeaway there is that it's not enough to just make a good case. Like you need some actual sway and then grow your coalition. Like that might be through getting more people on bikes or just emphasizing the aspects of bike plans that appeal to non cyclists, but there just isn't enough spandex guys like me to change policy.

[Jonathan Hill]

Mm. Got it. Well, okay, I admit that this story and especially our ride around the neighborhood made me a little more bicycle curious. You know, I think I might bike to my local bookstore this weekend.

[Miles Bryan]

This is the beginning of your journey, jq. In a couple of months, you know, you're gonna be wearing spandex. You'll have clip in shoes. You'll have the little sensors, maybe even a bike computer. Just you wait.

[Jonathan Hill]

Yeah, I'll probably start with a helmet, though.

[Miles Bryan]

Safety first.

[Jonathan Hill]

This episode was produced and reported by Miles Bryan.

[Miles Bryan]

That's me.

[Jonathan Hill]

It was Ed. Edited by our executive producer, Miranda Kennedy. Fact checked by Colleen Barrett and engineered by Matthew Billy. I'm your host, Jonathan Hill. Bye. Stay safe on the road, y' all. Support for Explain it to me comes from WhatsApp. Chatting, event planning, consoling, catching up. However you use your messaging app is up to you. With WhatsApp, you can do it all with the knowledge that your personal messages are secure and private by design. No one, not even WhatsApp, can see or hear your personal messages, except the person you send them to. Because all WhatsApp sees is gibberish. Your personal messages stay yours. WhatsApp message privately with everyone. Visit WhatsApp.com privacy to learn more.