At my university, the University of Southern California, biking is a hot topic. With literally thousands of bikes rolling down the streets of my campus every day, the university's Department of Public Safety (DPS) has been forced to crack down on biking. In two main locations on campus where bike traffic is most a problem, there is a "bike ban" in place during certain hours during the day from Monday through Friday. However, the fact of the matter is that the university just does not have the resources or simply the ideas in order to counter this issue. To me, this is only just a microcosm of biking in LA at a whole - the local civil government in this city has to deal with this same problem of a larger number of bikers on the streets, and the issue is trying to figure out how to promote biking while at the same time imposing laws and restrictions that other forms of transportation have.
In the on-campus organization SCAT (SC for Alternative Transportation), there has been much pressure put on the administration to respect the rights of all bikers on campus. Of course bike bans, at certain times and restricted to the worst areas, are needed to allow for a flow of traffic within the campus. But an entire school ban for a substantial portion of the campus does no good to the students, and forces DPS to be overloaded with work constantly telling students to get off their bikes.
Although in LA bikers have to deal with cars, buses, stoplights, awful road conditions, etc. etc., the local government needs to step up in granting more privileges to bikers, as they are environmentally friendly in a city known for its awful smog and for providing income to local businesses (such as bike shops and restaurants) rather than to gas stations.
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