LOS ANGELES | Transportation News & Discussion - Page 55

BrandonJXN · #**1081** Posted **Nov 22, 2010, 8:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pesto

Definitely need more bike capacity. Biking is growing very quickly in LA and we need to keep ahead of the curve. Bike rentals or storage facilities at stations sounds like a way to go as well. Bike lanes will keep the bikers safer and keep them off sidewalks to some extent.

I agree. Biking is growing at a huge rate in LA and there needs to be options on how to keep them safe.

202_Cyclist · #**1082** Posted **Nov 22, 2010, 8:51 PM**

LA and the other cities in Southern California need a bike-sharing program like DC's program: http://www.capitalbikeshare.com/ .

Kingofthehill · #**1083** Posted **Nov 22, 2010, 9:26 PM**

For a city with a cycling culture like LA's, our cycling infrastructure is woefully inadequate, and is hardly conducive in encouraging people to ride. I can probably count on one hand the number of bike lanes we have (of which are the barely delineated variety), to make no mention of grade-separated bike lanes, bicycle boulevards or cycle tracks. Cities like NYC, SF, DC, Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago - everybody - are kicking our butts in this department. Fortunately, for me, relatively flat terrain and sunny weather means that most of the time, if I can, I will be biking!

pesto · #**1084** Posted **Nov 22, 2010, 9:52 PM**

To say nothing of Europe, where bike share programs are all over. When I was in London I talked with transit security and traffic enforcement people who said they were caught by surprise by the growth of biking and were in catch-up mode. Due to lack of paths, bikers were crowding sidewalks and this was causing public complaints. Strict enforcement had been put in in Kensington and other westend areas and was now moving citywide (this guy was issuing warnings to bikers on Whitechapel in the eastend, preparatory to full enforcement).

LA is "blessed" with many more streets than London so finding places to put paths shouldn't be that tough. It may also encourage repaving. And even dense areas like DT, Hollywood and the westside, usually have some available room for lockers or racks.

202_Cyclist · #**1085** Posted **Nov 22, 2010, 10:10 PM**

Quote:

For a city with a cycling culture like LA's, our cycling infrastructure is woefully inadequate, and is hardly conducive in encouraging people to ride. I can probably count on one hand the number of bike lanes we have (of which are the barely delineated variety), to make no mention of grade-separated bike lanes, bicycle boulevards or cycle tracks. Cities like NYC, SF, DC, Portland, Minneapolis, Chicago - everybody - are kicking our butts in this department. Fortunately, for me, relatively flat terrain and sunny weather means that most of the time, if I can, I will be biking!

Given Southern California's good weather, if you can live reasonably close to work, biking seems like it would be the best way to commute in many parts of the region, especially Orange County or other areas lacking as extensive transit as LA.

BrandonJXN · #**1086** Posted **Nov 23, 2010, 3:50 PM**

Even if you don't live close to work, biking in LA isn't that big of a deal. I live in Culver City and I ride my bike to downtown all the time. I just wish that drivers wern't such retards when it comes to LOOKING BOTH WAYS BEFORE YOU TURN YOUR DAMN CAR!!!!!!

/rant

202_Cyclist · #**1087** Posted **Nov 23, 2010, 4:02 PM**

Quote:

Even if you don't live close to work, biking in LA isn't that big of a deal. I live in Culver City and I ride my bike to downtown all the time. I just wish that drivers wern't such retards when it comes to LOOKING BOTH WAYS BEFORE YOU TURN YOUR DAMN CAR!!!!!!

I'm fine without dedicated bike lanes but I'd just be content if drivers put down their cell phones, use their turn signal, and as you write, look before turning.

Sodha · #**1088** Posted **Nov 23, 2010, 8:30 PM**

^ I've been riding a lot lately between Santa Monica and downtown LA (especially Friday evenings) and the serious problem we have is a lack of bike lanes. The Santa Monica boulevard bike lanes between Century City/Westwood and West Hollywood are awesome...however...where else in the westside do we have anything like that? It's so terrifying to ride on Wilshire, so I don't bother. Some streets have no space at all for a bike (i.e. Highland or 3rd street come to mind)...i.e. like there isn't 3 feet of space for a bike. We need more bike lanes like Santa Monica boulevard throughout the city. Does Venice boulevard have a good one?

BrandonJXN · #**1089** Posted **Nov 23, 2010, 8:40 PM**

Venice Blvd does in fact have a good and very wide bike lane. It doesn't go all the way to downtown but it does go to the beach.

I live a block away from this intersection in Culver City so I use this lane often.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=...-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Kingofthehill · #**1090** Posted **Nov 23, 2010, 9:32 PM**

I bike along Venice to school when it isn't too hot. Ultra bumpy, and a shame that it dead-ends at Crenshaw, though. And West LA drivers, in their limousine liberal-ass Priuses, yuppie soccer moms in Volvo station wagons, and obnoxious Persians in leased BMW's. They are the worst part of that commute! Otherwise, I, too, have no problem with biking on the street (going to bike up Fairfax to Melrose in a few), but there are just TOO MANY CARS! People blabbing on the phones & bad driving and/or exercising poor manners are major nuisances, and do come second.

Unfortunately, this city will never truly become friendly to the transit rider/cyclists, as its unmatched, widespread proliferation of motorists and automobile infrastructure (of which gets preferential treatment) will always serve as a barrier and hindrance. And good luck prying people out of their cars when even the poorest of the poor views automobile ownership as a right, and not a privilege. Furthermore, as long as gas prices are cheap, absolutely nothing will change. If gas prices and traffic get bad enough, though, maybe we will see a shift in Angelenos' mindsets. But even still, while Angelenos (supposedly) want transit, they do not want it to come at the expense of their beloved 4-wheeled friends.

edluva · #**1091** Posted **Nov 24, 2010, 9:50 AM**

^which is why los angeles will always be a second rate city

sopas ej · #**1092** Posted **Nov 24, 2010, 1:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThreeHundred

Even if you don't live close to work, biking in LA isn't that big of a deal. I live in Culver City and I ride my bike to downtown all the time. I just wish that drivers wern't such retards when it comes to LOOKING BOTH WAYS BEFORE YOU TURN YOUR DAMN CAR!!!!!!

/rant

On the flip-side, I encounter many cyclists who for some reason, just blow right through 4-way stops. Cyclists are also supposed to follow traffic laws, they are also considered moving vehicles. I will often stop at a 4-way stop, then see a cyclist approaching on the intersecting street, thinking they will stop, and then I start going but then they blow right through the intersection, forcing me to brake suddenly, and then the CYCLIST gives me the dirty look.

ChrisLA · #**1093** Posted **Nov 24, 2010, 2:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej

On the flip-side, I encounter many cyclists who for some reason, just blow right through 4-way stops. Cyclists are also supposed to follow traffic laws, they are also considered moving vehicles. I will often stop at a 4-way stop, then see a cyclist approaching on the intersecting street, thinking they will stop, and then I start going but then they blow right through the intersection, forcing me to brake suddenly, and then the CYCLIST gives me the dirty look.

Then you have those who ride on the sidewalks, and to top it off going in the opposite direction.

JDRCRASH · #**1094** Posted **Nov 24, 2010, 5:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by edluva

^which is why los angeles will always be a second rate city

I think the bicycle movement is growing. Maybe not as fast as mass transit, but the fact that a bicycle lane was recently proposed for the Orange Line ROW shows something:

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2010/1...cling_plan.php

DJM19 · #**1095** Posted **Nov 25, 2010, 12:17 AM**

Not just proposed but being constructed now.

BrandonJXN · #**1096** Posted **Nov 25, 2010, 4:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sopas ej

On the flip-side, I encounter many cyclists who for some reason, just blow right through 4-way stops. Cyclists are also supposed to follow traffic laws, they are also considered moving vehicles. I will often stop at a 4-way stop, then see a cyclist approaching on the intersecting street, thinking they will stop, and then I start going but then they blow right through the intersection, forcing me to brake suddenly, and then the CYCLIST gives me the dirty look.

Whenever I ride, I won't move until I had made eye contact with the driver. But far too many times have I nearly been hit because of someone driving 40 mph down a side street and then coming to a stop within 10 feet of the intersection. Then they get mad like I did something wrong.

pesto · #**1097** Posted **Nov 25, 2010, 6:38 PM**

The irony is that bikers who ride on sidewalks make cities less walkable. That's the problem London is addressing.

But bike lanes largely get rid of that and LA has lots of sidestreets that are not that busy and could be used for bike lanes. Of course, there will always be a few reckless types that weave through pedestrians.

btw, I consider riding the wrong way in a bike lane as close to murder. The kids around here do it and it forces someone to swerve, often without time to see if cars are coming.

202_Cyclist · #**1098** Posted **Nov 26, 2010, 3:57 AM**

I can't post the link now but the NY Times has an article on their website about's LA's transit expansion plans, the Purple Line, and the 30/10 proposal.

Kingofthehill · #**1099** Posted **Nov 26, 2010, 4:23 AM**

NY/NYT/East Coast people never had good things to say about LA before..where is all of this recent positivity coming from?!

202_Cyclist · #**1100** Posted **Nov 26, 2010, 1:45 PM**

In Los Angeles, Big Step Ahead for Mass Transit

The Exposition Light Rail Transit Line is among the lines being extended.
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: November 25, 2010

"This auto-obsessed city — a place where people love their cars almost as much as they hate the traffic — has embarked on the biggest expansion of its mass transit system in decades, an effort to change the way people navigate its sprawling and clogged streets and freeways.

Los Angeles transit officials, after years of debate, have approved an 8.6-mile extension of the Purple Line subway, from Koreatown through a crowded corridor of offices, homes, museums, schools and shopping centers in Beverly Hills, Century City and Westwood.

What once seemed a quixotic vision — the “Subway to the Sea,” connecting Union Station in downtown to the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica — no longer seems quite so quixotic.

At the same time, Los Angeles received $546 million from the federal government to build, over the next 10 years, an 8.5-mile above-ground light-rail line from the Crenshaw district to Los Angeles International Airport..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/us...t.html?_r=1&hp