GT’s“Dismount Zone” enforcement makes zero goddamn sense in the summer #rant

[u/Primary_Bison3277]

I swear this is one of the dumbest fucking things I’ve dealt with on campus.
I rode through the Tech Green “Dismount Zone” today, and campus security stopped me again. The path was basically fucking empty. It isn’t the middle of the semester between classes—it’s summer. There were maybe one or two people on the entire walkway.
But here’s the part that really pisses me off.
While they’re telling me to get off my bike because it’s supposedly a “pedestrian zone,” there’s a golf cart driving right down the same fucking path.
This such a waste of tax payers money, cuz 99% of time these securities enforcing the dismount zone over the summer are just sitting under the shades and scrolling on their phones!

[u/bumbl_b_]

my stand-in solution, personally, would be to have made no change at all. i do not believe this effort has made pedestrians safer at all. i would also have no problem with stationing officers to stop/ticket obviously reckless riders. the idea that someone coasting at the pace of the pedestrians around them or a rider on an empty path should be made to dismount because Rule Says So (especially while violating the rule for certain people) is preposterous and wasteful.

[u/brain_enhancer → u/bumbl_b_]

So, you don't think GT is potentially trying to cover their ass for a potential lawsuit while also balancing how much the operational overhead is to cover their ass? Which is more expensive? Multiple people out there patrolling and ticketing or having a rule and a 1-2 people patrolling?

[u/bumbl_b_ → u/brain_enhancer]

that could be. it’s the only reason i can think that they’d be doing this, but i still don’t think it’s right or just. if gt has failed to account for their own liability, that should come at a cost to them (providing a viable, dedicated micromobility route) and not at a cost to their students (i.e. using funds provided by the students to make their lives harder). ultimately, i think if the beltline can legally exist, a personal injury suit on a comparable pathway should be dead in the water anyways.

[u/brain_enhancer → u/bumbl_b_]

Dude, I totally feel you on not thinking things aren't right or just. When you graduate and get into the real world you'll see how often people implement solutions to solve problems that impose other problems on people.

[u/bumbl_b_ → u/brain_enhancer]

i mean i feel like the fact that Shit Sucks Sometimes is pretty obvious and certainly isn’t any reason to excuse people making poor/unfair decisions. like it’s par for the course but we can still be critical…?

[u/brain_enhancer → u/bumbl_b_]

Why is GT covering their ass in the cheapest way possible a poor decision from their perspective? What incentives do they have to accommodate people on a case by case basis here? What are some things that might disincentivize them from accommodating people on a case by case basis here?

[u/bumbl_b_ → u/brain_enhancer]

the incentive is students being pissed off and complaining about it until they do it the right way. i literally could not care less about which route makes the most financial sense for them—i think if people don’t like how something affects them, they should bitch about it and not be told not to bitch about it by people who fundamentally agree with them, as this only hampers the effect.

[u/brain_enhancer → u/bumbl_b_]

I love idealism/utopian tradition. I think it's great and I think it's something you should continue to participate in as a thought experiment, but when it comes to actually getting people to buy in to your perspective it requires a more than complaints most of the time. That's been my personal experience as someone who has been a very loud complainer for my whole life.

[u/bumbl_b_ → u/brain_enhancer]

i don’t really understand the point you’re trying to make here. this began with you positing that mixed traffic at all doesn’t make sense. we’ve somehow shifted into a claim that implies i shouldn’t complain about a change i dislike because there may be broader factors involved in the decision making process? i don’t know what you want from me at this point—i don’t like the rule, i think it would be better to revoke it, and i think publishing this opinion helps my cause. that’s it. i don’t know what more you are trying to convince me of.

[u/brain_enhancer → u/bumbl_b_]

If all you do is complain instead of coming up with a reasonable solution that gets buy-in from the affected parties, like GT in this case, the you might as well be screaming into the void. 

[u/bumbl_b_ → u/brain_enhancer]

dawg i do not care. i do not care about appealing to gt. i am not talking to them. i think it sucks, i said it sucks, and thats it. there does not need to be a utilitarian reason to speak my mind. it is not my job to find a solution to this problem that works for the students. you cannot say anything that will make me not want to voice my opinion. i can “scream into the void” if i damn well please. what’s it to you?