Monday, May 12, 2014

AAA considers B's



AAA (the American Automobile Association) has not generally been known as an ally of cyclists. They've lobbied against bike infrastructure, public transportation and more bike friendly laws. However, starting in Portland, OR in 2009 and now migrating into Colorado and Southern New England, they're providing pickups for stranded cyclists

This doesn't seem to have an effect upon their lobbying efforts, though there are some scattered reports that AAA supports bike infrastructure as long as it does not involve diverting money from road projects. The catch with the pick for cyclists, though, is that they'll only take you ten miles. If I'm only ten miles from home, do I really need a ride? Although, the base towing with the regular AAA card is only 5 miles. I guess the ten miles is something. It's a 100 miles of towing/year with your car if you have the higher end memberships. It'd be nice if the better membership brought you increased bike pick-up service, too. 

It would be interesting to see if anyone is using this service. Moving a broken car a few hundred feet can be pretty much impossible, but moving a few miles with a broken bike is not too hard. I sort of want to test it out just to see what the service is like and if it really exists.

UPDATE! I confirmed with greater Hartford AAA that the service is available here, too.




4 comments:

  1. We are not part of AAA Southern New England in Hartford. That last sentence may make it look like I am drinking but we are part of Ohio http://ohiovalley.aaa.com

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  2. You are correct.

    I can't tell if the AAA here doesn't offer the service or not. They were offering the bike thing to kids at UConn storrs, so maybe they have it as well.

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  3. This is why I have Better World Club instead of AAA. http://www.betterworldclub.com/ I pay a little extra for bike coverage and I've never actually USED it - most places I bike are limping distance from home or limping distance from bike-enabled transit that takes me close to home. But just on principal I want to be a member of a club that actively supports bicyclists.

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  4. I've heard about them, but no little beyond them existing.

    Is their service good?

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