Especially in Wellington NZ where we currently have an ongoing problem with people dropping tacks in the cycle-lanes.
this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025
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micromobility - Bikes, scooters, boards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility
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What, like on purpose?
Yes, unfortunately so. And it's been going on a long time...
Drivers didn't want to share the road with cyclists. But they also don't want to lose road-space to cycle-lanes.
Sabotaging the lanes has been going on a long time, is quite regular, and seems to span a wide area - I expect there are several culprits. I hope someone gets caught... given the levels of frustration I also hope things don't get ugly when they are caught.
So, the bike lane gets made. The sunk cost is already gone.
They throw tacks on the bike lanes because they don't want to share the road.
The bike lanes don't get used, but the space is still gone.
How do tacks help their cause or is this a "I'm mad and I want other people to suffer" situation?
They'll point to "no one uses them" and argue to remove them and convert back to car lanes.
Sounds like you need a strong magnet mounted horizontally over your front tire....
If my city bought one of these I would tow it for free on the weekends
Same! We have some bike lanes that really need cleaning, they have loads of junk on them.
I saw another version where this guy made a big magnet cart to pick up metal debris from bike lanes and streets.
I saw that, too. TBH, I think you could easily rig a magnet (hardware stores carry them to pick up nails) under a cargo trailer.
Funny thing is, if you have a place that pays for metal scraps, you could probably make a bit of money selling collected street metal! LOL
I would 100% use this in my community as a volunteered service to my fellow cyclists! Kind of maddening that my tax dollars don't already go towards street sweeping on a more regular basis, but some areas/trails are downright horrific.
Side note: FUCK YEAH for using Arkel Orcas (the panniers in the video).
You should throw a little fundraiser party at a local event space, invite some local cyclists, pool some money together, and just start doing it. They cost around $4500, from my research, which is really steep but probably doable with a large enough group of people.
You don't need to wait for your government to do things for you. A great example of this in action is PARC who started patching potholes in Portland, OR when the government wouldn't.
I was thinking of asking our regional cycling coalition if they'd be interested... then stuff like "what happens if someone breaks it?" and "what's needed to get members to borrow one for use?" etc... then my enthusiasm for that idea disappeared, as they'd have to basically build a program around it.
But fuck, maybe my city will offer a "green grant" if I bought one myself! LOL
They may! Or maybe you could just get a close group of friends together to start, and put a little aside for maintenance. You could also find a local company (bike shop?) to sponsor you and throw their advertising on the side of it. That way it's at least partially self-sustainable
Oh hell yeah!
Keep Portland Dull (channel name)