"bicycles drive thru" news and stories

The last people you would imagine finding at a fast-food restaurant are health-conscious bicyclists. Yet many bike riders are angry that chains like McDonald's and Burger King don't allow them to order food at drive-thru windows.

Most fast-food eateries, large and small, will only serve customers driving a car or motorcycle. They argue it's nothing personal, but allowing cars to co-mingle with pedestrians, motorized wheel chairs and bicycles, is dangerous for everyone.

Bicyclists say they're getting a raw deal. They insist that they have as much right to be served on two wheels as their counterparts do on four. More bikers and less idling cars would also have an environmental benefit, they say.

"It makes no sense," says Wiley Norvell, the communications director for Transportation Alternatives, a New York-based bicycle, pedestrian and mass transit advocacy group. "If it's not dangerous in a bike lane with cars going 35 miles an hour, how can it be dangerous in a parking lot with people traveling less than 10 miles an hour? There are fewer safety issues than on an average street."