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Best employee suggestion-box idea ever? LaHood rides to Work with DOT employees
Updated with video below.
This morning more than two dozen US DOT employees rode to work with their boss, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The bike ride, which started at the Washington Monument and ended at the US DOT headquarters, came about after a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) employee, Darren Buck, submitted the suggestion to the Department.
Secretary LaHood on his way to work
“This morning I biked to work with a group of DOT commuters from the Washington Monument to our headquarters building. The route was safe and well-marked; we enjoyed some exercise; and we didn’t burn a drop of gas–which saved us some money,” the Secretary wrote on his blog, “That’s what I call a successful commute.”
Nationals Park
DOT Bicycle commuters, including Secretary LaHood, at US DOT headquarters
Secretary LaHood with Darren Buck, the FHWA employee who suggested the ride
Photos by Darren Flusche. For more photos, see the Secretary’s blog Welcome to the Fast Lane.
Watch this great video from Jay Mallin:
Ray LaHood Bikes to Work from Jay Mallin on Vimeo.
Darren Flusche
League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
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June 6th, 2011 at 11:45 am
Well boy howdy,THIS gives me hope.
June 6th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
flattery will get you everywhere Mr. F, good to see you this morn
June 6th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
LaHood is the first Transp Sec in recent memory with the ability to SPELL “Bike,” let alone ride one – while I don’t always agree with his take on everything, I have been very encouraged with what he has been harping on for the past couple years!
Steve Magas
The Bike Lawyer
June 6th, 2011 at 6:57 pm
Big deal, just a publicity stunt. I’m sure the Secretary, or anyone else for that matter, doesn’t live at the Washington Monument. There’s not even a Metro stop there to enable multi-mode commuting. When Mr. LaHood bikes from his home to his office, then I’ll be a believer.
June 7th, 2011 at 9:23 am
Seriously, Bill? You can’t find it in your heart to be even a little bit glad that a) the Secretary of Transportation has an employee suggestion box, b) that an employee suggested riding to work with DOT employees c) that there are a bunch of DOT employees that do actually ride to work, d) that the Secretary acted on the suggestion and gave them some recognition, and e) that they wanted to give the event some publicity at a time when our issue needs all the help it can get in Washington DC?
On my ride in this morning, a complete stranger stopped at a light with me volunteered “wasn’t it great that the Transportation Secretary rode to work yesterday” after she commented on my “Bike Voter” California Bike Coalition T-shirt. This stuff makes a difference and the purist elitism in your comment is exactly what has held our movement and the League back for so many years.
I’ve seen a dozen transportation secretaries come and go and with the possible exception of Rodney Slater (who was also the FHWA Administrator and had a chance to change that agency first!) no-one has done more to change the USDOT culture and be more bicyclist-friendly than LaHood. He is a recreational rider, he tweets, blogs, speaks, and issues policy statements supporting bicycle transportation; his agency just rejected a proposal to weaken their policy on the routine accommodation of bikes in transportation projects. He shows up for ribbon-cuttings, launches, events, and ground-breakings – and not only does he keep showing up to these things but when he gets criticism from colleagues that it’s somehow frivolous, he argues back when it might be easier to just lay low.
June 7th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
I can count on NO hands the number of “publicity stunts” I have seen in the past 30 years involving the Sec of Transportation and a bicycle…maybe a few Bike Burnings, but none that involved RIDING a bike from A to B… if you follow LaHood you get the sense that this guy “gets it” – cyclists are not some huge constituency with lots of money and power flowing to his coffers… if he wanted to cater to that sort of thing he’d be screaming BUY MORE CONCRETE & his “publicity stunts” would be complaining that bikes are slowing down his limo on the way to work … Not RIDING A BIKE…
Steve Magas
June 7th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Speaking of non sequiturs, does anyone know if the “Draft” 2010 AASHTO guide is still a draft or is it final?
As far as Ray LaHood, I don’t normally quibble with Bill, but I have to say that I’ll take a Federal DOT secretary who rides a bike in preference to a state DOT secretary who partially-paves shoulders on 60 mph marked state bike routes.
Now, when Ray LaHood takes the Federal paddle to the hind end of our NMDoT on their partial paving policy, I’ll buy everyone here (Bill, Steve, Andy, David, another Darren) a beer.
June 7th, 2011 at 8:16 pm
I realize it’s futile to respond to Andy, since he, either directly or de facto because he runs LAB, will always have the last word. But this was exactly the kind of response I would expect from him. He and his “fellow travelers” are more interested in building facilities, regardless of safety concerns, cost-benefit ratios, or affect upon cyclists’ rights, than in doing right by the people who are cycling now, rather than those who would ride only if conditions A,B,C, etc. are met.
It is true that LaHood has made public statements affirming the rights of cyclists to be on the roads, but I’m still waiting for follow-up guidance to the states from his Department.
I still maintain that a one-time ride of maybe two miles at most (Wash. Mon. to DOT HQ @ 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE) is mostly a publicity stunt. If he does this more frequently, with or without a push from his employees, then I’ll retract my comment.
June 7th, 2011 at 11:56 pm
“…It is true that LaHood has made public statements affirming the rights of cyclists to be on the roads, but I’m still waiting for follow-up guidance to the states from his Department…”
Me too. Down in New Mexico, we need to see the rubber hit the road. I’m willing to give Sec. LaHood the benefit of the doubt unless we lose on this one:
http://www.bikenm.org/action/engineering/193-partial-paving-bcnms-effort-to-stop-the-systematic-destruction-of-bicycle-facilities-on-new-mexicos-state-highways-
“…NEXT STEPS: BCNM (Bicycling Coalition of New Mexico) is prepared to take its case to the federal funders of NMDOT’s highway projects. As outlined in the 2009 letter, federal law prohibits the use of federal funding to create conditions that are unsafe for bicyclists, pedestrians, and light motorcycles. It is FHWA’s responsibility to enforce this law. BCNM will request that FHWA withhold reimbursements for any project whose final overlay fails to include the paved shoulder. BCNM will also request that FHWA pursue maintenance agreements requiring NMDOT to include the shoulder in future maintenance overlays. BCNM needs the support of New Mexico’s delegation in Washington to make this happen….”
And obviously, we need the support of LAB and Secretary LaHood.
June 8th, 2011 at 12:01 am
p.s. Here is an example of New Mexico DOT paving practice.
http://labikes.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-mexico-state-police-to-cyclists-get.html
June 9th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Bill,
As a volunteer in the NGO “Israel Bicycle Association” I can tell you that we use Ray LaHood’s statements in promoting cycling in Israel (without him knowing about it:).
The photos in the following link are of VIP’s in Israel, cycling: the Mayor of Tel-Aviv, the Minister of environment protection, and a Member of Knesset (Israeli Parliament).
http://www.sustainability.org.il/home/bike-news/celebs-ride-bicycles
I’m sure the European Cycling Federation would love to add a picture of Ray LaHood cycling into their “VIP’s on bicycles” gallery. http://www.ecf.com/4405_1
Yours,
Eran Shchori
Israel Bicycle Association