There’s a culture war brewing in Wichita, and it’s not the one you’re thinking about.
The battle is between those who drive cars to work and those who don’t want you to — including your city government, which is doing all it can to inconvenience motorists and turn ever-increasing parts of the street system over to bicycles and electric scooters.
The city’s long-term vision is that one day, you’ll be able to leave your horrible car in the driveway and get to work by other means.
Lets say you work downtown and live about 8 or 10 miles away. Your perfect commute, by the city’s reckoning, goes something like this:
▪ You ride your bike to the nearest bus stop (from my house near Maize and Kellogg, it’s about a 20 minute ride to Tyler and Central).
▪ From there, it’s half an hour on the bus to the Transit Center, now conveniently located downtown a block south of Douglas on Topeka — and soon to be inconveniently located in the parking garage for Riverfront Stadium.
▪ At the Transit Center, you transfer to what city planners call a “shared micromobility device” (better known as a rental scooter), to complete your “last mile” to work.