What seemed to be an attempt to cancel voice artist and content creator Inka Magnaye’s comment about bike lanes sparked a larger discussion about road safety for car drivers and cyclists alike.
Inka’s response to automotive journalist James Deakin’s post critiquing the present bike lanes on main thoroughfares such as EDSA caught the attention of a number of cycling advocates.
“I’ve been so annoyed at these ‘bike lanes,’” the creator wrote. “They didn’t create extra space, it was just carved out of a car lane. So they still share it with cars or trucks. It still isn’t safe for riders. When we need to drive past a bicycle on the service road, we still have to counterflow a little bit, or they have to squeeze themselves closest to the sidewalk. It’s such a bandaid solution, and it isn’t even a fresh bandaid.”
One Twitter user, jaiguzonvevo, particularly took offense at Inka’s comment and wrote, “Inka Magnaye with a shit take. Never thought I’d see the day. LMAO.”
Yet several users felt that the content creator was simply sharing facts and roasted the poster for having poor comprehension.
“Wait isn’t Inka basically saying that bikers deserve better given the current situation? Reading comprehension is really rare these days,” jaicabajar wrote.
“I support Inka’s critique of ‘bike lanes’ and her desire to have something better for bikers. I also support reading comprehension refreshers for Jai and for all of us,” columnist Tonyo Cruz chimed in.
“Inka was actually against the creation of bike lanes that are ‘carved out of a car line,’ because it does not solve any issue and still exposes both drivers and bikers to potential harm. She’s for well-planned roads with integrated bike and pedestrian infrastructure,” Twitter user guampartosa said.
Another user shared images of Iloilo City, which was named the most bike-friendly city in the Philippines for its spacious and well-planned bike lane network.
That said, other cyclists and bike advocates interpreted Inka’s comment as the creator being in support of removing bike lanes from Manila’s roads altogether, and took issue in labeling roads as “car lanes.”
“What [Inka] doesn’t understand or realize or point out is that even if it was ‘just carved out,’ which [bike lanes] should be, even if it’s a bandaid solution, it still WORKS for the people that use it, for the people that NEED it, including PWDs,” user dvdty wrote.
“Yikes. If people want to criticize subpar bike lanes, the takeaway/ending shouldn’t be ‘it’s better if there were no bike lanes at all’,” advocate goodkidbikecity said.
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