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We noted that mainstream bicycle advocacy organizations, like the bicycle coalitions found in most major cities, seemed to pay little attention to the work of transportation justice advocates (with a few notable exceptions that we’ll profile in future posts). Perhaps more significantly, we began to see signs that some mainstream bicycle advocacy organizations were even being criticized for what appeared to be their bias towards bicycle infrastructure projects that primarily serve middle-class and largely white urban cyclists.
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http://www.invisiblecyclist.com/2012/02/07/origins-of-the-invisible-cyclist-blog
America of course, but I remember some discussion (in the early days of planning Edinburgh's ATAP) between CEC officials about the merits of improving infrastructure in areas where few people cycled or concentrate where people already do - eg the city centre.
With limited resources the council, reasonably, decided on the later. With increasing amounts of money available (due to annual increases of percentage share of transport budget) maybe this 'balance' will be revisited.
It would certainly help if more councillors wanted/saw more facilities in their local areas. (Though obviously improvements - drop kerbs, Family Network, better maintainance, winter gritting etc. - are already being done across the city.)
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