By Kate Linthicum
September 3, 2009
Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Portland, Ore. – A few weeks ago, Sarah Gilbert, a Portland native who is proudly “car-free,” pedaled her bicycle to the drive-through at Burgerville, a regional fast-food chain. She ordered four cheeseburgers, one each for her husband and three young sons, who were waiting hungrily at home.
But when Gilbert tried to pay for the food, she was denied. This Burgerville drive-through, an employee told her, did not serve bicyclists.
Gilbert was stunned. How could that happen in Portland, the self-proclaimed bike capital of America, where nearly 8% of people pedal to work?
Gilbert, a freelance blogger with thousands of online followers, went home and Twittered huffily about the experience (“burgerville on 26th/ powell turned me on my bike away from drivethrough. and not nicely at all.”), and penned an open letter to Burgerville calling for more bike-friendly policies.
Portland’s bicycle advocates, who are well-connected by a network of e-mail listservs and websites, soon rallied to the cause. They posted their own stories of Burgerville and other drive-throughs that frequently turn bicyclists away.
Many chain restaurants across America do not serve bicyclists at their drive-throughs, said Jeff Mapes, a Portland journalist who has written a book about bike culture. “In a lot of cities it doesn’t make much of a splash at all,” he said. “But here, it’s a cause celebre.”
Portland cyclists know the value of staying in a pack.
Finish here.
