Urban Cycling Developments

[M II A II R II K]

S.F. might school scofflaw cyclists


04/10/12

By Dan Schreiber

Read More: http://www.sfexaminer.com/news/2012/...fflaw-cyclists

Bicyclists behaving badly in San Francisco could soon find themselves in a mandatory class to learn the rules of the road. Officials are paying more attention to safety measures on The City’s bustling streets after a fatal collision between bicyclist Chris Bucchere and a pedestrian at a busy intersection in the Castro district late last month.

- Bert Hill, chairman of The City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, said a program is being developed by his group, police and the District Attorney’s Office to give first-time bicycling violators a dose of information instead of — or in addition to — a normal moving-violation citation. More details of the program, which could be rolled out by the fall, are still being determined, Hill said. Hill said he would like the system to be less punitive and more of a community outreach effort. “The idea is to change the bicycle culture in San Francisco,” Hill said. “We need to build a peer interest in the fact that we’re all riding together.”

- Although the influential 12,000-member San Francisco Bicycle Coalition regards the latest incident as “deeply troubling,” a spokeswoman reminded the group Tuesday that most pedestrian-involved collisions — 96 percent of the incidents in 2011 — involve cars not bikes. The incident appears to have sparked defensiveness from the group, which passed out bike safety literature on the Friday morning after reports of Bucchere’s questionable online screed about the collision became widespread. “It is worth noting that just days before this incident — which is drawing so much attention — two pedestrians were hit and killed on the same day by people driving motor vehicles,” said Lainie Motamedi, the coalition’s board president.

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[M II A II R II K]

Bike Sharing Is Coming to Los Angeles


Apr 15, 2012

By Nate Berg

Read More: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/com...-angeles/1768/

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has just announced that the city will open its own bicycle sharing system. The 4,000-bike, 400-station system will be rolled out over two years, likely beginning in late 2012. "It's an opportunity to use bikes to a greater degree than we have in the past, and just to give people an alternative to the single person automobile, says Villaraigosa. He's hoping the new system, along with the expansion of bike lanes and the public transit system will change the way the city moves. "This is a city that’s realized that it's got to move on."

- Unlike systems in many other cities, L.A.'s bike sharing system will be implemented, operated and funded by a private company. It'll be the largest privately funded bike sharing system in the country, according to Navin Narang, founder of Bike Nation, the L.A.-based company that will be running the system. Bike Nation is a relatively new player in the field, with just one other bike sharing system in the works – a 200-bike system in Anaheim that's expected to open in June. For the city, having a private entity take the lead is a blessing, and a sign of hard budgetary times; the city has been thinking about starting a bike share program for years, but hasn't had the money. The $16 million project will be funded completely by Bike Nation, which is committing to at least 10 years of operation.

- When built out, L.A.'s system will be one of the biggest in North America. Montreal currently has the largest fleet, with 5,120 bikes and 411 stations. New York City will be launching a bike sharing system this summer, with 10,000 bikes and 600 stations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. And Chicago recently approved a plan to implement a 3,000-bike, 300-station system this fall. Paris is home to the world's largest system, with more than 20,000 bikes. London has about 9,200. Narang expects L.A.'s system will be able to expand, but is cautious about trying to predict when, where or by how much. But he's pretty sure it won't take nearly 10 years to figure out that the program's working well enough to expand.

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[M II A II R II K]

Want more bikers? Build more bike lanes.


04/16/2012

By Brad Plumer

Read More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...QQLT_blog.html

PDF Bike Usage Study: http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher/bikepaths.pdf

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Ralph Buehler and John Pucher suggest that cities might actually be able to influence how many cyclists are on the road. Perhaps all they have to do is — and this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise — build more bike lanes and bike paths.

Buehler and Pucher found that the presence of off-road bike paths and on-street bike lanes were, by far, the biggest determinant of cycling rates in cities. And that’s true even after you control for a variety of other factors like how hot or cold a city is, how much rain falls, how dense the city is, how high gas prices are, the type of people that live there, or how safe it is to cycle.

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[DTW]

Detroit Bike Lanes Expand, Giving Cyclists New Options


Newly painted bike lanes in several Detroit neighborhoods are changing the relationship between cars and bicycles in the Motor City. They're also changing who rides bikes.

Detroit's bicycle lane network has expanded to a total of 55 miles since the city ramped up efforts to install paths in 2008. The network is mostly in Midtown and Southwest Detroit and on Belle Isle, according to Ron Brundidge, director of the city's Department of Public Works. And there's the almost three-year-old Dequindre Cut bike path and greenway from Eastern Market to the river. The city expects to complete nearly 30 more miles of bike lanes this year and an additional 70 miles in 2013.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1418760.html

[the urban politician]

Bike-Rental Plan Gets City Council Approval
April 18, 2012 4:03 PM

(STMW) – Chicago will have 3,000 bicycles to rent from 300 stations this summer — and 4,000 bikes at 400 stations by next year — under an ambitious plan approved by the City Council Wednesday to provide the “missing link” in mass transit.

[M II A II R II K]

Citing Budget Constraints, Portland to Invest More in Biking, Not Driving


April 19, 2012

By Angie Schmitt

Read More: http://streetsblog.net/2012/04/19/ci...g-not-driving/

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During a speech at the Oregon Active Transportation Summit yesterday, PBOT Director Tom Miller announced that Portland will be pursuing a 10 percent bike mode share goal, an interim step on the city’s way to achieving its 25 percent target by 2030. (Portland already has the highest bike commuting share of any big city in the country at 7 percent or 5.8 percent, depending on who’s counting.)

- To demonstrate to the public that PBOT should focus even more on biking and walking, he said he’s working on a fact sheet that will explain the costs related to the infrastructure it takes to move a person one mile in a private motor vehicle versus the same infrastructure required to move that person one mile with a bike or on foot. According to Miller, he wants the public — and especially bike advocates — to be able to easily track the City’s performance and hold PBOT and elected officials accountable.

- “If the funding is there, and you know the engineering expertise is there… The only thing we lack is political will.” With public awareness of the steps Miller wants to take to get to 10% bike mode share, he’s hoping that advocates can mobilize the community and create the political breathing space needed for what he refers to as the “tough decisions” and “tough calls that need to be made,” to successfully, “march along the path to that long-term 25% goal.”

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[M II A II R II K]

Biking Crash-Test Dummy Could Make Cyclists Safer


April 18, 2012

By Michael Graham Richard

Read More: http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/biki...sts-safer.html

Crash tests have undoubtedly made cars safer. They provide a controlled environment where accidents of all kinds can be replicated and studied by safety engineers. So why not do the same with bikes? Of course, there's less actual material to tweak to improve safety (airbags on a bike?), but some important things could still be gleaned from such tests.

- That's why students at Ottawa's Carlton University have spent 8 months creating a "cyclist" crash test dummy that is designed to go over the handlebars of a bike at 25 kilometres an hour (15.5 miles per hour). Their goal this year is to simulate head and neck injuries, and next year the dummy's sensors will be expanded to include the rest of the body.

- The dummy wears a helmet. But like a human cyclist, it keeps the important stuff inside its head. This includes one sensor that deforms under the force of impact, to show the stress that a real cyclist would endure. There are also two accelerometers, devices that can measure any change in speed, either faster or slower.

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[M II A II R II K]

Bicycle injuries: Is the right-of-way fight getting ugly?


April 20, 2012

By Stephanie Smith

Read More: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/20/health...html?hpt=hp_c2

Michelle Matson has a nagging reminder of the cycling crash that could have killed her. A year and a half later, flecks of asphalt remain lodged in her skin. There's also the metal pole extending from her kneecap down to her ankle, along with countless screws, keeping her left leg intact. "My body was destroyed," said Matson, an artist living in Brooklyn. "My whole life was put on hold for months, and no one seemed to care." It happened in October, 2010, on what Matson and her boyfriend, James Paz, thought was an innocuous bike ride home from a concert.

- No charges have been filed in the case. Matson's story is a reminder of a growing problem in many of the nation's busy, sprawling urban landscapes: More people are using bikes for transportation amid a culture and infrastructure designed for automobiles. Although New York police and the city's Department of Transportation report increasing bicyclists, the number of bike deaths has remained steady. In fact, overall traffic deaths have dropped by 39% since 2001, according to the NYPD. But that statistic offers little comfort to Matson.

- It's not just the facts of the incident -- or even the tiny particles of debris from the New York City street still in Matson's body -- that have left her upset. It's what Matson describes as investigative inertia by the New York City Police Department when it came to her case. "There were no legal repercussions for the driver whatsoever, because the NYPD chose not to investigate the hit-and-run," Matson said. "It blows my mind that this is even possible ... people get in worse trouble for double-parking." In 2010, in more than 6,000 New York City traffic accidents involving cyclists, 36 people died, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Transportation Nation reported that no criminal charges were filed against the drivers involved.

- "Cyclists and pedestrians are being killed and seriously injured all over our city, once every 35 hours in fact," New York City Councilman and Public Safety Committee Chairman Peter Vallone said at a hearing this year. "And the drivers are literally getting away with it." CNN repeatedly contacted the NYPD for comment about Matson's hit-and-run and the department's policy about cycling accident investigations, but did not receive a response. Cyclists who think police are biased against them are fueled by another statistic: In 2011, the NYPD issued 10,415 criminal court summonses to truck operators. During the same year, 34,813 summonses were issued to bicyclists.

- According to statements made by the NYPD, only traffic accidents involving imminent or actual death are investigated. Those cases are handled by one of 19 members of a special unit called the Accident Investigation Squad, or AIS. "Their role is to utilize their special training to conduct a more comprehensive investigation, employing a variety of techniques in order to establish speed, analyze skid marks and other physical characteristics of the accident scene," said John Cassidy, executive officer of the Transportation Bureau of the NYPD, at a City Council hearing in February. "In essence, reconstruct the accident so that a more definitive cause, possibly resulting in criminal charges, may be determined."

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[M II A II R II K]

Bike Sharing Systems Aren't Trying to Peddle for Profit


April 17, 2012

By Danielle Kurtzleben

Read More: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/...dle-for-profit

To look around Washington, D.C., you'd think that Capital Bikeshare must be making a killing. The bike sharing system's 1,200 sturdy, fire-engine-red bikes have become ubiquitous, weaving between cars at rush hour and carrying tourists up, down and around the National Mall. It looks like a raging success, but that's not quite true.

- Despite its wild popularity, Capital Bikeshare has altogether outspent its resources. Since its start in September 2010, Capital Bikeshare has taken in $2.47 million and spent $2.54 million on operating expenses. And that doesn't even include the expensive things, like docking stations—which can cost well over $50,000 each—plus the bikes themselves. Those capital costs, at $7 million thus far, are covered by federal funds.

- The question of revenue hangs over any bike sharing program. "I'm not aware of a bike sharing system that covers all of its costs simply from user membership dues and whatever fees you pay for a trip," says John Pucher, professor at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. The cost of the equipment is often the biggest burden for a new bike share program, requiring additional funding.

- In Minneapolis' Nice Ride system, user fees and station sponsorship go toward operating costs, and that sponsorship has helped to fill the operating cost gap. "We don't expect to ever get to the point where we can cover all operating costs with revenue from the system alone," says Bill Dossett, executive director of Nice Ride Minnesota. However, operating expenses aside, Nice Ride also has spent $5 million on capital expenses, nearly two-thirds of which was public dollars.

- Bike sharing is costly because it requires more work than simply letting people ride and changing the occasional flat tire. One of the biggest operating costs involves trucking the bikes from full docking stations to empty ones. That's why Pucher is skeptical of bike sharing's ability to make money.

- "There's a significant problem with redistributing bikes, mainly in the peak direction at the peak hours, and outside of downtown in off-peak hours," he says. He also points out that in hilly cities, there can be a glut of bikes in lower-lying areas but scarcity at the tops of hills, where people are less likely to ride.

- The question is whether cash-strapped cities or the federal government want to sink money into systems that can struggle to break even. Increasingly, America's cities are saying "Yes." Chicago is launching its fleet of of 3,000 bikes this fall, and according to the Chicago Tribune, $18 million of the $19.5 million in initial capital costs will come from federal grants. Portland, Oregon, is also planning on a system to debut in 2013, using $2 million in local transportation funds for the $4 million program, according to the Portland Tribune.

- There are also several non-economic benefits linked to bike sharing. Proponents say that it improves public health by encouraging non-bikers to try cycling, getting some exercise in the process. Likewise, environmental benefits and bike sharing are often mentioned in the same breath. Those exact benefits are difficult to measure, though. Bike sharing may promote exercise and reduce car trips to a certain extent, but it also replaces many walking trips with biking trips—making for no extra exercise, and eliminating no carbon emissions.

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[M II A II R II K]

Arizona bicyclists advocate awareness


Apr. 24, 2012

By Ofelia Madrid

Read More: http://www.azcentral.com/community/s...awareness.html

Shawn McCarty was riding his bicycle on Thompson Peak Parkway in Scottsdale last month when an SUV hit him in the bike lane, causing him to fly into the air about 30 feet and land on a sidewalk about 20 feet from his bike. The cyclist, a 53-year-old from Scottsdale, was dead an hour later. The driver of the black Chevrolet Tahoe, Amy Sue Alexander, was cited for unsafe passing of a bicycle and driving in the bicycle lane. For the two tickets, Alexander, 41, paid a fine of $420 in Scottsdale City Court.

- In Alexander's case, two civil charges were all that the law would allow, a Scottsdale police spokesman said. In 2008, Sterling Baer and Dara Schulenberg founded the Not One More Cyclist Foundation, which works to educate the public on cyclist safety, pushes for legislation and helps families of injured cyclists hit on Arizona roads. According to the most recent state data available, 19 bicyclists were killed on Arizona roads in 2010. Organizers tried to draw the attention of Arizona legislators to pass a bill to protect "vulnerable users" on the road, such as bicyclists and people in wheelchairs -- basically, anyone who can encounter a motor vehicle. "If we institute a distracted-driver law, there will be more awareness in the mind of people driving behind the wheel," Baer said.

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[Muji]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Bike Sharing Systems Aren't Trying to Peddle for Profit
April 17, 2012
By Danielle Kurtzleben
Read More: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/...dle-for-profit

Interesting, though the better way to look at bike-sharing's cost effectiveness would be to compare it to that of transit or highway subsidies. Depending on how they calculated it, $2.47 million in revenues versus $2.54 million in operating expenses would make Capital Bikeshare much more cost-effective than the vast majority of transit agencies.

[M II A II R II K]

Old Town Pizza now brews beer, and will deliver it to you by bike


April 26th, 2012

By Jonathan Maus

Read More: http://bikeportland.org/2012/04/26/o...-by-bike-71020

Portland's Old Town Pizza (with locations in Old Town and northeast) has recently gotten into the beer business and, just like they've done for years with their pizzas and salads, their new Old Town Brewing company will deliver beer by bike.

Owner Adam Milne tells us the service will launch next week. Once it's up and running, his staff will pedal either a keg or a 64 ounce growler to your home or office via his fleet of bakfiets with a simple phone call. Old Town Brewing is making and delivering a pale ale, an IPA, a stout, an Irish red, a winter ale, a porter, and a pilsner. Costs are $150 for a delivered keg and $10 for a 64 ounce growler plus the cost of the growler container (about $5). "Like milk," Milne says, "we will swap out growlers at no cost if they return an empty one."

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[M II A II R II K]

San Diego Police: Unless the Cyclist Is Killed, Top Penalty Is a Ticket


April 27, 2012

By Angie Schmitt

Read More: http://streetsblog.net/2012/04/27/sa...y-is-a-ticket/

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No charges have been filed against the driver who struck the little ten-year-old girl who was injured while riding with her father. No charges were filed because the little girl survived. Since [Grant] Fisher survived, no charges have been filed. The SDPD has asked the DMV to reexamine the driver’s license [of the 76-year-old who was responsible]. Fisher, in the meantime, has filed a civil suit against the driver that is currently ongoing.

- When asked for specific details on the [fatal] [Charles] Gilbreth case and details about the collision. O’Hanlon stated that speed, alcohol, road rage nor the sun’s glare (as was the reason stated in the Ortiz case) were not factors in the Gilbreth crash. He said that investigation was still ongoing as results from the medical examiner and the toxicologist could take anywhere from 6-8 weeks to wrap up. There were no witnesses in this crash as the MTS driver didn’t witness the crash.

- O’Hanlon responded, “to be charged with a crime, there has to be a death.” Thus, the only recourse for the party injured is to pursue the case in Civil Court for damages. In order for a case to go to the District Attorney’s office the case has to be a felony – and the criteria for a felony includes intent, malice, gross negligence or substance abuse. But in a case that is not a manslaughter, “the law is very restrictive. We don’t have a misdemeanor.” Intentional road rage acts have “malice and premeditation and you have assault with a deadly weapon.” Absent that, “you have a vehicle code violation.”

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San Diego Police Lieutenant Rick O'Hanlon says unless a cyclist is killed in a collision, the department will not pursue criminal charges.

[M II A II R II K]

Cyclists accuse Toronto mayor Ford of 'war on bikes'


2 May 2012

By Jason Margolis

Read More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17914504

Toronto's tough-talking mayor has never hidden his disdain for cyclists. Now they are accusing him of trumping up a war on two-wheeled commuters. Bike lanes have been removed but are the city's streets any more dangerous to ride?

- "And what I compare bike lanes to is swimming with the sharks. Sooner or later you're going to get bitten," said Ford speaking in 2010 as a Toronto city council-member. And every year we have dozens of people that get hit by cars or trucks. Well, no wonder: roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks, not for people on bikes. "My heart bleeds for them when I hear someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day."

- Since Ford came into office, Toronto hasn't just stopped putting in bike lanes; it has started removing some of them. Last year, the Toronto city council voted to remove three bike lanes. The city council did, however, also agree to upgrade a couple of existing bike lanes to physically separated traffic lanes, which are safer for cyclists. A few more lanes could be added after a further study is conducted.

- "To have the war against bikes, or in his case, what he believed is the war against cars, is insane and ludicrous as far as I'm concerned," said cyclist Sean Siford. Christine Montgomery added: "He's completely awful." John Barber is also no fan of the mayor and his car-friendly policies. He writes a column for the Globe and Mail newspaper about life in Toronto. He's also been cycling in the city for 50 years. "There's this weird culture war," said Barber. "You know in one of the newspapers, they're calling bicyclists 'helmet heads.' You're in part of some kind of tribe, and they impute all kinds of motives to you.

- Fifteen years ago, Bicycling Magazine named Toronto North America's best city for cycling. Now, Toronto is the bike collision capital of Canada, with more accidents per capita than any other major Canadian city. Yet many Toronto motorists are up in arms when there's talk of narrowing roads to add bike lanes, said Barber. "Nobody says, 'Well, hey we're killing people at twice the rate of Vancouver. Shouldn't we try to think of making these streets a little bit safer?'" Many motorists feel that cyclists are the ones making the streets unsafe, and there's been plenty of online discussion on this topic.

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[M II A II R II K]

Houston saddles up for downtown bike share program


May 2, 2012

By Allan Turner

Read More: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...am-3526047.php

Houston's first bike share program will take to city streets Wednesday in an effort officials predict will transform how workers and visitors will travel short distances in the downtown area. Starting with 18 bicycles at three locations, plans call for adding 200 more bikes at sites between downtown and the Texas Medical Center by year's end. Houston will join Chicago, Denver, San Antonio and 11 other U.S. cities in implementing the program. San Antonio's program began in April 2011 and quickly expanded to 20 stations and about 1,000 annual subscribers.

In Houston, patrons of the Houston B-cycle program will be able to access the three-speed bikes for as little as $5 a day. Weekly memberships will be available for $15, and yearly for $50. The first bike stations are at City Hall, Market Square and the George R. Brown Convention Center. Mayor Annise Parker, an occasional bicyclist, called the federally-funded program "a quick, easy alternative to being stuck in traffic or walking long distances in downtown." She said the bicycles may help familiarize residents with downtown, an area she said many still consider "foreign territory." Bike Houston Chairman Darren Sabom said the new program may help dispel Houston's national reputation as an uncongenial, sprawling metropolis.

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[Columbusite]

Federal funding for bike routes pays off in Twin Cities

Article by: JOSEPHINE MARCOTTY , Star Tribune
Updated: May 4, 2012 - 2:57 PM

Four areas that shared $100 million saw growth in biking and walking, with less pollution.

If you build it, they will bike. A lot.

That, in essence, is the conclusion of a four-year, $100 million pilot project in four communities, including the Twin Cities, on whether investing in bike and pedestrian infrastructure pays off.

It does, the U.S. Department of Transportation said in a report submitted to Congress this week. Not only did biking increase by nearly 50 percent over the three-year life of the four projects, but there were 7,700 fewer tons of carbon dioxide emitted, 1.2 million fewer gallons of gas burned and a $6.9 million a year reduction in health care costs.

"This is something that people want," said Marianne Fowler, vice president of federal relations for the Bike-to-Trails Conservancy, a national advocacy group. "It is clearly one of the best, most cost-effective investments possible."

Minneapolis and its surrounding communities made up the largest and most populated area to receive a fourth of the grant. The others were Sheboygan County in Wisconsin, Marin County in California and Columbia, Mo.

Full article: http://www.startribune.com/local/min...150105625.html

[M II A II R II K]

10 steps to making Sacramento a cycling Shangri-La


May 7, 2012

By Walt Seifert

Read More: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/06/446...#storylink=cpy

The Sacramento region could be a model for bicycling. We have two sweet natural attributes for bicycling that few other places share. Our major population centers are based in the flatlands, and our weather is mild. We don't have bitter cold, snow, incessant rain or sweat-inducing humidity. Sure, summer afternoons are hot, but it's like an oven, not a steam bath, and mornings are glorious.

- So why don't we lead the nation in the share of trips made by bike? Why do cities like frigid Minneapolis and puddle-prone Portland outbike Sacramento? We do have college-town Davis with its hordes of bicyclists. Yet Davis is an anomaly with 22 percent of trips by bike, not the regional norm. Bicycling magazine doesn't include the city of Sacramento – 2.5 percent trips by bike – in its top 50 cities for bicycling in the United States.

- What would it take to make Sacramento a cycling Shangri-La for transportation and a Lycra lotus land for recreational cycling? Here's my Top 10 list:

1. Vision. Having a vision is vital. It's sometimes assumed that cities and countries with high levels of bicycling, such as Davis, Portland, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, have been that way since bikes were born. That's not the case. In each place, leaders and citizens made conscious decisions to boost bicycling. They recognized the cost savings and the health, safety, traffic and environmental benefits.

2. Political will. Vision is empty without action. Political leaders have to provide a fair share of funding for bike projects. California's funding for bicycling is woefully inadequate, but every level of government can do more. Priorities should start going to human-powered transportation.

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3. Connections. The region has to have better bike connections. That means more bike lanes and bike paths. Shouldn't all residents be able to live within minutes of open spaces like the spectacular American River Parkway and its popular bike trail? Paved paths along the Sacramento River – including Sutter and Yuba counties – in the Dry Creek Parkway, on the south bank of the American River and into El Dorado County would provide remarkable places to enjoy nature. Tying all those paths together would create a world-class network of scenic bike freeways.

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4. Short trips. Making a one- or two-mile trip by bike is easy and is often faster than driving. Eliminating barriers is one way to shorten trips. Our region's biggest barriers are our rivers and freeways. We need more bridges across the Sacramento and American rivers and more freeway crossings. There's a four-mile stretch of the American River, from downtown to Sacramento State, that can't be crossed by bike or foot. The Tower Bridge is the only decent bike connection on the miles of riverfront between Sacramento and West Sacramento.

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5. Safer streets. While the health benefits of cycling far outweigh the risks, our streets remain too dangerous. We need better enforcement of traffic laws. Instead of tolerating crashes and traffic fatalities as acceptable collateral damage in our efforts to get some place, our goal should be zero traffic fatalities. Human life is more important than speed or texting while driving. Besides assigning more officers to traffic duties, automated enforcement of speed limits and red-light-running offers a cost-effective way to cut the number of crashes. We need lower speeds in urban areas. Is there any reason speed limits on city streets need to be higher than 35 mph?

6. Destinations that welcome bicyclists. Businesses, including restaurants, should have highly visible, well-designed bike racks near their entries. (Please, no more of those semi-functional serpentine bike racks!) Workplaces should have secure long-term bike parking, such as bike lockers or bike cages, as well as clothing lockers and showers to accommodate workers making longer commute trips.

7. Educated cyclists. It's far too common to see cyclists disobeying traffic laws. Cyclists riding on the wrong side of the street, running red lights, riding on sidewalks and riding at night without lights greatly increase their risk of hitting a car, a pedestrian or another cyclist. Law-abiding, competent cyclists feel comfortable on almost any road and improve the image of cyclists. There's more to cycling than balancing. Well-trained cyclists know where to position themselves on the road, know the risks and can anticipate dangerous situations.

8. Promotion. The "May Is Bike Month" campaign highlights bicycling one month a year. Every business should promote bicycling by its employees and customers year-round. Offering financial incentives to bike can save employers money on parking spaces and reduce health care costs. Bike commuters are healthier, more energized employees.

9. Cultural change. Bicyclists are often portrayed by the media as geeks or scorned by the public as scofflaws. In reality, most people own bikes and nearly everyone can be a cyclist. The image of bicycling needs a change. After all, many luminaries ride a bike. President George W. Bush rides mountain bikes. President Barack Obama rides. Robin Williams rides and is a Tour de France fan. Local city council members, county supervisors, police chiefs and media personalities all ride. I've got a photo of a smiling Einstein riding his bike at Princeton, but you don't have to be a genius to know bicycling is a good thing. How about a little respect for bicyclists?

10. End subsidies for driving. If you had to pay out of your pocket for your use of the road or for a place to park every time you drove, you'd think twice about choosing to drive. Though parking is never free to provide, it's almost always free to use. Though gas taxes pay some road construction and maintenance costs, federal and state gas taxes haven't increased for years and lag behind inflation. Gas taxes don't begin to cover the total costs of automobile use. Those costs include road costs, emergency services, tax breaks for oil companies and environmental damage. Driving is subsidized by everyone, whether they drive or not, through taxes or other charges. When you shop at a mall, your purchases pay for the parking lot.

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[202_Cyclist]

M II A II R II K:

The Sacramento region could be a model for bicycling. We have two sweet natural attributes for bicycling that few other places share. Our major population centers are based in the flatlands, and our weather is mild. We don't have bitter cold, snow, incessant rain or sweat-inducing humidity. Sure, summer afternoons are hot, but it's like an oven, not a steam bath, and mornings are glorious.

I lived in Sacramento for a year and a half and the flat terrain and the connections provided by the great American River trail make bike commuting throughout a lot of the region very feasible (although it can be very hot in the summer months).

Sacramento and Davis have a pretty active road bike scene.

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by Streetsblog NYC

Citigroup to Sponsor NYC Bike-Share at $41 Million Over Five Years

The largest bike-share system in North America will be sponsored by one of the world’s largest financial institutions. At City Hall today, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a $41 million, five-year sponsorship arrangement with Citigroup that will fund most of the cost of implementing NYC’s bike-share network. The system will go by the name “Citi Bike,” and its distinctive blue bikes will be available in late July, with the full 10,000-bike, 600-station network in place by spring 2013.

[Columbusite]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

M II A II R II K:


I lived in Sacramento for a year and a half and the flat terrain and the connections provided by the great American River trail make bike commuting throughout a lot of the region very feasible (although it can be very hot in the summer months).

Sacramento and Davis have a pretty active road bike scene.

I'd say #2 is what's actually most important: without the political will nothing or little will get done. It doesn't matter how flat or how nice the weather is.

Something else that would make it a bike-lovin' city is if more residents were added to its most walkable neighborhoods while also increasing walkability of those that are a it lacking: only about 25% of Sacramento's residents live in the city's "very walkable" areas (based on walkscore), whereas in Minneapolis it's 59% and in Portland 57%. Very walkable areas by definition have lots to walk to and as a result are that much easier and attractive to bike around in. You could fill a mostly empty, low-density neighborhood with tons of bike infrastructure, but there would be few residents in the immediate area to utilize it, almost no place to go, and if not directly en route to heavily populated areas with lots of businesses the infrastructure won't serve much of a purpose.