Someone to know: the entitled cyclist

Traffic jams are perhaps the worst part of the day for many of you. Today I want to introduce you to Tom Morash, an Angeleno who got tired of being in his car and decided to grab a bike instead.

Now Morash, otherwise known as the Entitled Cyclist, is on a mission to show that cycling can be possible and even enjoyable in places that seem to be designed only for cars.

The name is his ironic response to that small group of angry motorists who complain that bicycles are taking over the roads. He uses Twitter, Instagram And YouTube to record his daily adventures. I wanted to talk to him because, like many of you, he lives in a city where public transportation is often inadequate.

For a long time he felt that cars were his only way to get around. His journey away from car dependency is full of lessons.

Morash is a 41-year-old lighting programmer who works in the film and TV industry in Los Angeles, where he has lived for about 16 years. When he first arrived, he took his car everywhere with him, like most Angelenos. But the city’s traffic jams soon crushed any desire to drive.

After talking to a colleague who cycled to work, he decided to give it a try. He never looked back. Now he always cycles the 12 miles or so that take him to most of his jobs.

Yes, cycling can be scary, he admits. Drivers cut it off, text behind the wheel, exceed the speed limit, open their doors without looking and park on the bike path. “But I can’t imagine choosing to be in a car,” he said.

Like many cyclists, Morash said he was disappointed that cycling and public transportation have been all but forgotten in the federal government’s plan to move away from fossil fuels.

Morash said it drove him crazy when President Biden posed for a photo while in a 9,000-pound electric Hummer. (As my colleague Elena Shao showed, such a huge electric vehicle produces more emissions than a small internal combustion engine car.)

“We’re just substituting one problem for a potentially slightly better problem,” he said.

Instead of encouraging people to buy a different kind of car, he said, cities should build better bike lanes, make public transport free and set up more bike-sharing services.

City planners should especially think about how they can make cycling safer. So he started filming all his travels and posting some of his encounters online. In addition to raising awareness, the videos give him a tool to try and hold people accountable for dangerous driving.

Due to careless drivers and inadequate infrastructure, Morash acknowledges, bicycles are not a solution for everyone. He and his wife own a small electric car, powered largely by the solar panels on their roof. She usually takes it with her to pick up their 7-year-old son from school when Morash is at work. When a child is involved, he says the calculations around acceptable risks are different.

He filmed it when a pickup truck hit him with its passenger side mirror seven years ago and broke his arm. He cycled the 13 miles back home after working at the Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City on Friday. It was 1am, a time he calls “drunken hour.” The driver never stopped and he said police refused to investigate even though he had video footage.

It took him six weeks to recover. He couldn’t exercise and he put on about 10 pounds. He had to drive everywhere. “Mentally I was in a bad position,” he said. “It really reminded me why I ride a bike.”

Still, he recommends people try, starting with short drives in areas where they feel safe.

He discovered that bicycles can actually be much more efficient than cars. First, cycling often gets Morash to his destination twice as fast as riding on congested roads, especially if he uses an electric bicycle. Second, it keeps him fit. In addition to cycling, he does not have to find time to exercise. Third, he said driving around a city in nice weather feels great.

Drivers may think their cars mean freedom, Morash said. But really, at least in cities like Los Angeles, they spend a lot of time in gridlock.

“I feel like the bike is the freedom machine,” he said. A car, on the other hand, is like a huge rock. “It really bonds you in a way that sometimes you don’t even see.”

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Claire O’Neill, Chris Plourde and Douglas Alteen contributed to Climate Forward