The bicycle lobby is the number one thing about Austin that fucking sucks, and that's saying something. These unused lanes all over town are so completely stupid, and on the rare occasion you see someone using them, it's a goober in spandex getting exercise, not a commuter. We shouldn't be subsidizing workouts for middle-aged assholes too embarrassed by their slight frame to step foot in a real gym, especially at the expense of functional roadways. If I thought for a second that large numbers of people would commute via bike in this town, I'd be all for it, but they won't and they never will. There are plenty of great cities in climates that make commuting via bicycle a reasonable option. Austin is not one of them.
I don't know how the morons got control of everything, but it's like living in a bizarro world here sometimes. That news story about Barton Springs is hilarious. They couldn't even find someone on a bicycle using the new lane for their b-roll, so they had to create a photo op with Meg Merrit, Austin resident and "transportation expert," just to show someone actually using a bicycle on this stupid fucking waste of money. We're a clown show.