Pete said: "Check out 82nd ave. during rush hour and see how many motor vehicles are forced to sit and idle while a bike is loaded on a TriMet bus. That does not even take into account the lost productivity caused while sitting in this traffic."

Pete, are you serious? I ride the bus often, and I have rarely seen the addition/removal of a bike to/from the bus bike rack take any more than 10 seconds. Usually, it doesn't take ANY additional time as the bicyclists know what they are doing and are often loading/unloading their bike at the same time that people are coming/going from the bus. I suggest you ride a bus for yourself and see how well it works. Besides, motorists have to stop all the time at things called TRAFFIC SIGNALS and STOP SIGNS. 10 additional seconds is not going to ruin anyone's commute, especially if they're looking beyond themselves and their immediate satisfaction.

You cite rush hour traffic as the example of an instance where bikes are responsible for backing up cars, which I find completely ludicrous. Rush hour traffic is caused by AUTOMOBILES - remove the bikers from the equation and add 10,000 more cars daily just to the downtown commute, and you get WORSE RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC.