Underrepresented Riders
From ibikeu Wiki
Probably the largest demographic in the Los Angeles riding community, and one that is often overlooked, is that of working-class folks for whom biking is the main method of transportation, often more by necessity than by choice.
These riders are seen all around town, in the same migratory pattern as car traffic, commuting from low-income neighborhoods to their places of employment, and back home with the evening rush. In Los Angeles, as in many large American cities, the poor working-class is not representative of the general population, so these riders tend to be disproportionately African-American or Hispanic, and more often male than female. Probably due to a combination of lack of access and lack of money, many people ride less-than-optimal bikes, often without lights or helmets.
It's also not at all uncommon to see commuters riding against traffic, on sidewalks or on poorly illuminated roads. While these ways of riding may strike bike activists as unsafe and counter-productive, they appear to be commuters' best attempts at keeping themselves safe in a city that is notorious for its lack of bicycle infrastructure. The absence of adequate bike paths is felt even more strongly when one is trying to cross town from East to West LA, for example. Of the main Boulevards between the two neighborhoods (which experience strong commuter traffic- both bike and car) only Olympic offers any kind of bike accommodation, in the form of a Bike Route that is ill marked and hardly respected.
Since it seems that this large part of the riding collective is not aware of or connected to any bike organization, activists could consider methods for outreach. Low-income commuters probably don't know that there are volunteer, not for profit shops in at least three different locations in town, where they can fix their bikes or build new ones from parts. The large, supportive community that has mushroomed around LA could/should try to pass this message to disenfranchised riders, either in an organized fashion or by word-of mouth.
