I’m pretty sure it’s safe to assume that many of you reading this are long time viewers of the Youtube channels Not Just Bikes, Climate Town and probably Adam Something. All three of these channels have mentioned in their videos that car companies lobbied governments and pressured urban planners to create infrastructure suited for cars. So if car companies can throw money at politicians to get legislation passed that suit their needs why can’t bike companies counteract by playing at their own game? Hell, shoe companies could ‘counter-lobby’ as well. Nike, Adidas, New Balance, etc. would benefit greatly from walkable and bikeable cities. So why don’t bike companies like Trek, GT and Tern lobby governments to make cities more bikable? They could ask for subsidies so they can open official shops in city centers and with it the promise of employment. I’m pretty there are flaw this approach so I would like to know your thoughts on the matter. Thanks in advance!
I like the direction of your thinking in the sense of “Hey, there’s a power imbalance here, how do we tip it in our favor?” Others have pointed out good reasons why bike manufacturers probably aren’t going to move the needle. I do think it’s worth thinking about how we build power.
A basic boring answer might be better democracy - eliminate gerrymandering, prohibit lobbying, prohibit legalized bribery, ranked choice voting/proportional representation.
My experience working on anti gerrymandering campaigns is they can be demoralizing because as individuals we really don’t have much power and any change is slow. In terms of gaining more tangible power there’s also unionizing and worker cooperatives. Basically any kind of organized group is going to be more effective.