Urban Cycling Developments

[LMich]

My favorite Metro Detroit cycling trail will be completed in the coming year: The Detroit Inner Circle Greenway.

Several metro Detroit communities to add bike lanes, cycling signs in 2014

By Eric D. Lawrence | Detroit Free Press

December 30, 2013

For metro Detroit bicyclists, 2014 could be a very good year.

Warren, Detroit, Ferndale and the Grosse Pointes are among communities planning significant bicycle-friendly projects in the new year, with construction on several to start in the spring.

The projects are a nod to the active bicyclists in Michigan who rely on the mode of transportation for recreation or commuting to work. Nationally, the League of American Bicyclists estimates 57 million Americans ride bikes.

...

Detroit should see significant expansion of bicycle infrastructure over the coming year, too.

In addition to an extension of the Dequindre Cut and other projects, the Inner Circle Greenway — a 26-mile loop through Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park — should get a major boost. Expected funding from the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund would allow the acquisition of the last major missing piece of the Greenway, an 8½-mile chunk of abandoned rail line owned by Conrail that runs from near I-75 and McNichols to Dearborn, Scott said.

In addition to using the abandoned rail line, the Greenway will connect with existing trails such as the Detroit Riverwalk, the Dequindre Cut and the Southwest Detroit Greenlink, to complete the loop.

On the city’s east side, a portion of Jefferson Avenue — like Van Dyke in Warren — is to undergo a road diet.

The right driving lanes in both directions from the Grosse Pointe Park border to Lakewood Street — a block west of Chalmers — are to be turned into buffered bicycle lanes, according to Josh Elling, executive director of Jefferson East Inc., formerly known as the Jefferson East Business Association. Construction will include pedestrian safety islands at Alter and Chalmers. It is to begin in June or July and should wrap up by September.

...

This year alone, Detroit added about 80 miles of bike lanes and sharrows — standard traffic lanes with shared lane markings. That brings the city’s total to more than 150 miles, Scott said.

...

And, a map showing the loop:


Mode Shift

[amor de cosmos]

Norman Foster promotes "cycling utopia" above London's railways
2 January 2014

News: British architect Norman Foster has unveiled a concept to build a network of elevated pathways above London's railways to create safe car-free cycling routes, following 14 cyclist deaths on the city's streets in 2013.

Entitled SkyCycle, the proposal by architects Foster + Partners, landscape architects Exterior Architecture and transport consultant Space Syntax is for a "cycling utopia" of approximately 220 kilometres of dedicated cycle lanes, following the routes of existing train lines.

Over 200 entrance points would be dotted across the UK capital to provide access to ten different cycle paths. Each route would accommodate up to 12,000 cyclists per hour and could improve journey times across the city by up to half an hour.

"SkyCycle is a lateral approach to finding space in a congested city," said Foster, who is both a regular cyclist and the president of Britain's National Byway Trust. "By using the corridors above the suburban railways, we could create a world-class network of safe, car free cycle routes that are ideally located for commuters."

http://www.dezeen.com/2014/01/02/fos...dons-railways/

[M II A II R II K]

The Challenge of Selling Bike-Share in a Hilly City

Read More: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/com...lly-city/8052/

Cycle regularly in Lisbon and you'll end up with buns of steel. Beyond a very compact central grid, streets in Portugal's capital are notoriously steep. Winding up hillsides and down into unexpected dips, the charming irregularity of these streets requires cyclists to navigate narrow lanes and bone-shaking cobbled surfaces.

- This April, the city will launch its first bike-share scheme, starting off with a smallish network that adapts itself to local conditions. Staying away from the city's inland slopes for now, the stations (run by a private company) for the initial 300 bikes will all be situated along the Tagus riverfront, between the railway station and the landing stage beyond the monastery at Belem. Not only does this keep routes manageable (and following a trail that many tourists already cover), it profits from the cycle paths laid out along the spruced up waterfront.

- Lisbon's future bike-share plans do stretch beyond this modest beginning. More bike lanes are already being laid out, and the scheme plans to lay out signposted routes through the city that allow riders to tackle the lowest gradients possible. The ultimate idea is to extend the current waterfront routes and stations far beyond the city, over 19 miles along the Tagus round a nose-like headland on the Atlantic to the surfing beach at Guincho. With an accompanying extension in the opposite direction towards Lisbon's bay, this would create a regional bike-share, as much use for getaways and long distance commuting as for reducing vehicular traffic in the city core.

- Simply getting bikes visible on the street is an important start, of course. The number of regular cyclists in Lisbon is relatively low, so the scheme is also an advertisement for cycling itself. Lisbon’s hills may mean it never becomes a second Amsterdam, but these ambitious plans show that a city doesn’t need to be as flat as a pancake to make cycling feasible.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

Portland project gets 1,200 bike parking spaces, most in N America (and it might not be enough)

Read More: http://bikeportland.org/2014/01/14/p...812#more-99812

Call it a bikescraper. The 21-story, three-building apartment project now rising in Portland's Lloyd District will create more long-term bike parking than any other project in the nation, with four huge new storage facilities in four buildings and an on-site bike valet parking service to serve the biggest one.

But a project architect said Monday that he's not sure the 1,200 bike parking spaces planned will be enough to serve 657 Portland households, so the development team is considering adding even more bike parking before the project, called Hassalo on Eighth, opens in 2015.

"The demographic that we expect to show up here is going to be young urban professionals and it's going to be, we think, young families as well," said Kyle Andersen of Portland-based GBD Architects. "They all have bikes. When I think about my own neighborhood, the families I see riding there, if you move those people into a building they're still going to have a bike. I think you have to be ready for that demographic to be there, otherwise you're restricting yourself."

Hassalo on Eighth, which sits on four city blocks northeast of the corner of 7th and Holladay, will offer 328 residential auto parking spaces.

.....

Cleveland plans to add 70 miles of bikeways by the end of 2017

Read More: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index...l#incart_river

The city of Cleveland plans to more than double the amount of bike-friendly routes in town, adding 70 miles of dedicated lanes, trails and pavement markings by the end of 2017.

An update of Cleveland's bikeway plan, introduced Sunday at the annual meeting of the advocacy group Bike Cleveland, showed almost 45 miles of bikeways added over the next two years, and another 25.6 miles in the following two years. The overall goal is to connect every Cleveland neighborhood to a bikeway network, said Jenita McGowan, the city's chief of sustainability.

The bikeway improvements are woven into the city's capital improvements plan, with some of the changes made as part of street resurfacing projects, with others coming as roadways are rebuilt. Streets where resurfacing and reconstruction work has already occurred will be striped and posted with signs for bicyclists to complete the network.

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Kansas City Tries Crowdfunding Its Bike Share

Read More: http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/kans...its-bike-share

Keeping a bike share program viable can be a challenge. Just look at London’s Barclays Cycle Hire, whose titular sponsor has backed out of continuing its support for the system.

Back in the U.S., advocates in Missouri are doing something a little unusual in their bid to grow and support Kansas City’s B-Cycle program: They hope to crowdfund parts of the system using the home-grown civic platform Neighbor.ly. B-Cycle, which calls itself "the country’s only advocate-owned bike share system," just kicked off simultaneous mini-campaigns, ranging between $50,000 and $250,000, to bring anywhere from one to five stations to 10 different Kansas City neighborhoods.

Sarah Shipley is communications director for BikeWalkKC, the umbrella group that runs B-Cycle. The campaigns’ goal, she says, is more than just raising money. For one thing, it’s to surface the sometimes-challenging mechanics of running a bike share program. For another, it’s to help create a cycling culture in a city that only three years ago was "a no-man’s land for bikes."

To start, the city was broken down into geographic zones. Some zones have already gotten a considerable amount of funding, though others have no money yet. "That’s okay," Shipley says. "Even if it doesn’t get its full amount, we want to give everyone a chance to get the full amount." That doesn’t mean stations won’t get built. "If it doesn’t reach the full amount," she says, "I’m going to work with corporate sponsors. And if we don’t get that, we’ll use some federal funding or some other creative means of financing to get it done." All approved stations will get built during one big construction bout in the spring. (See the planned expansion map below.)

This is, in fact, B-Cycle’s second crowdfunding campaign. The first, held last year, raised more than half of the $700,000 the group sought to sustain existing stations. "We realized that was probably not the best way to do a crowdfunding campaign," Shipley says. "You want to have a goal you can share with an entire group of people. A crowdfunding campaign to sustain something just doesn’t work."

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[Wizened Variations]

I used to ride bikes, and, enjoyed long rides. But, I, like many, have had to adjust to bad knees, hips, etc., over time, and, have changed my lifestyle to short distance on foot/light rail/bus.

I have thought about how to encourage bicycling as a form of commuting a bit, and, have noticed that NOWHERE does one find a special bus designed to carry bicyclists and their bikes.

How can one maximize the number of bikes that a bus can carry efficiently, while at the same time, having cyclist + bike board and exit quickly?

One solution I thought of was a bus with no seats and a low level floor. All passengers would have to stand and use handholds, as is done on crowded subways. Bikes might be racked vertically along the full length of the driver's side wall. Two sets of entry and exit doors, too.

Buses such as this should be provided on corridors with the proviso that only such buses can be used for cyclists with their bikes. Say once per hour during daylight hours to start.

In addition, terminus points should have additional design criteria, such as low grades, access to bike paths, etc. (Even in my decrepitude I can ride 10 miles downhill). Terminus points for bicyclists do not, and, IMO, should not be same as those designed for pedestrian bus riders. (For example, stops along the crests of hills).

My point is that no bus seems to have been designed to help the average, slightly pudgy bicyclist that wants to use his or her bike at either end of a bus (or train) ride. How many bicycles and their riders would it take to fill a 60' bus?

The issue with bicycling, bus, and, trains, in part, is that not enough thought has been placed on what bicycling commuting actually entails for cyclist who really rather not burn any extra calories but at the same time be able to use the efficiencies short distance provides?

Bike rental is not significant solution, IMO.

To link this to US 36. There are magnificent downhill hides along US 36, both to a pickup point and from a drop off point. You just use two different stops as part of the commute.

Addendum: the bike should cost an addition $1 or two for such a service (still cheaper than bike rental, and, you have your own bike).
__________________

[Steely Dan]

the answer is easy, coordinate transit stations/stops with bike sharing docking stations. that way you completely negate the need for people to bring their big bulky bicycles onto a train or bus in the first place. that's at least what smart cities are currently doing.

and/or legislate that people who desire to bring their bicycle onto a transit vehicle must have a small-wheel folding bicycle.

[fflint]

Never mind

[M II A II R II K]

Perhaps there would be a market for more compact, foldable bikes that are effective for at least short trips to to get to bus stops and stations.

[fflint]

Never mind

[M II A II R II K]

Then when a lighter material version becomes more affordable, then a transit specific folding bike could become more popular.

[Wizened Variations]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

the answer is easy, coordinate transit stations/stops with bike sharing docking stations. that way you completely negate the need for people to bring their big bulky bicycles onto a train or bus in the first place. that's at least what smart cities are currently doing.

and/or legislate that people who desire to bring their bicycle onto a transit vehicle must have a small-wheel folding bicycle.

IMO, a key that has not been addressed is stops for buses and rail do NOT exploit hills and terrain positive for the bicyclist. This is particularly true in hilly country, where rail must take the lowest available grade, and, buses will stop at or near off ramps if riding on freeways, and, every X distance or so on roads, based hopefully, on pedestrian user demand.

Bicycles have the fundamental advantage over walking in that bikes can take advantage of downhill slope. Combine that with using transit to go uphill, and, the true advantage of the bike becomes evident traveling downhill.

This could be done by designing bus routes that take advantage of natural slopes. Bicyclists could catch a bus on a net downhill grade from their home, for example, and, return home to another bus stop net upgrade from their house.

*********
The rent a bicycle market, IMO, is a small, but necessary, subset of the what bicycling can provide.

1st) The bike is not yours.
2nd) The rented bike has to be moved between pickup and drop off locations based upon the market demand of each site.
3rd) Rent-a-bike sites are commercial operations, and, have insurance and regulator requirements.
4th) Rent-a-bike locations are apt to be at high volume usage locations.
5th) The user is liable for the bike, in the event the bike is stolen, when, for example, a rented bike is stolen while the bicyclist is at work, i.e., the rented bike is not used for going only between pickup-up and drop off points.

All these elements can be dealt with, but, these elements, IMO, tend to limit the potential size of the rent-a-bike market. The ratio of rented bikes to the total number of bikes will remain low.

The issue, IMO, therefore boils down to how to encourage a far larger cyclist population where the vast majority of bicycles are owned by riders.

Hence, my idea about building bike dedicated buses and changing routes to take advantage of natural slope....

[fflint]

Never mind

[Wizened Variations]

Originally Posted by fflint

There's a difference between "rental bikes" and "bikeshare." San Francisco has some 4,000 bicycles for rent via private companies. They are located in the parks and high-tourism areas, can be rented by the hour or for an entire day for a pro-rated fee, and mostly are used by out of towners. On the other hand, the city also has 350 bikeshare bikes (with more to come soon). Riding them requires a membership, and the bikes can only be taken out for free for half an hour at a time--after that, punitive fees accumulate. They're located in the CBD and are mostly used by locals.

Basically, then, neither serve the commuter traveling to and from work.

"Rental Bikes" are essentially pleasure vehicles, for tourist ambience.

"Bikeshare" would be very localized, and, in the working environment, might be used to bike to a restaurant for lunch. In a non-working environment, if available with sufficient density, might be used to run errands.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Wizened Variations

IMO, a key that has not been addressed is stops for buses and rail do NOT exploit hills and terrain positive for the bicyclist. This is particularly true in hilly country, where rail must take the lowest available grade, and, buses will stop at or near off ramps if riding on freeways, and, every X distance or so on roads, based hopefully, on pedestrian user demand.

Bicycles have the fundamental advantage over walking in that bikes can take advantage of downhill slope. Combine that with using transit to go uphill, and, the true advantage of the bike becomes evident traveling downhill.

This could be done by designing bus routes that take advantage of natural slopes. Bicyclists could catch a bus on a net downhill grade from their home, for example, and, return home to another bus stop net upgrade from their house.

LOL! i live and ride in chicago, so none of the above applies in any way to us. chicago is dead F-L-A-T. there is no such thing as taking advantage of terrain here. there are no uphills or downhills in chicago, we only have upwind, downwind or crosswind, and that stuff changes on an hourly basis.

Originally Posted by Wizened Variations

Basically, then, neither serve the commuter traveling to and from work.

"Rental Bikes" are essentially pleasure vehicles, for tourist ambience.

"Bikeshare" would be very localized, and, in the working environment, might be used to bike to a restaurant for lunch. In a non-working environment, if available with sufficient density, might be used to run errands.

bike share does indeed serve commuters traveling to work. i see hundreds of commuters on divvy bikes riding through downtown chicago everyday using the bikes to close "last mile" gaps in their transit commutes.

[Wizened Variations]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

LOL! i live and ride in chicago, so none of the above applies in any way to us. chicago is dead F-L-A-T. there is no such thing as taking advantage of terrain here. there are no uphills or downhills in chicago, we only have upwind, downwind or crosswind, and that stuff changes on an hourly basis.

I live in metro Denver. Downtown Denver (outside of the 11-1 o'clock quadrant) sits in the lowest part of the metro area. Basically, almost all of the rainfall in a good portion of the metro area flows through Lodo. (Many cities are set up this way, having to do, I suspect with the early influence of railroads and the even earlier influence of river boats.)

In Denver, one can essentially bike downhill for miles along the South Platte and it's tributaries. While the downhill grade is minor- say 1-2%, the physical effort to bike down these grades versus uphill is huge.

Most US cities (sorry Chicago, Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Miami, etc.) are like this, often with urban cores in river flood plains, or, at least, are backed with hilly terrain. Most are located in the West, or in the hilly country surrounding the Appalachians.

These are cities I am talking about.

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

bike share does indeed serve commuters traveling to work. i see hundreds of commuters on divvy bikes riding through downtown chicago everyday using the bikes to close "last mile" gaps in their transit commutes.

My reply was directed towards someone discussing San Francisco.

I would be curious to see how 'divvy' bikes in Chicago are billed as the bikes might be rented at train station X at 7:20a and returned to station X at 5:30p.
Are users charged by the day, by groups of hours (say 12), or by the hour? Are users charged a flat rate per month?

I am primarily concerned with the commuter market as the vast bulk of people movement during the business week into urban cores are 8 to 5 workers who are not committed to the lifestyle, but are just looking for the quickest way to get to work while lowering or eliminating auto expenses.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Wizened Variations

I would be curious to see how 'divvy' bikes in Chicago are billed as the bikes might be rented at train station X at 7:20a and returned to station X at 5:30p.

you don't keep a divvy bike all day. you pick up a bike at one docking station, then you drop it off at another docking station at your destination. at the end of your work day, you pick-up a different bike from a docking station, and then drop it off at a different docking station at your destination. throughout the day, divvy uses vans to redistribute bikes to docking stations where they are most needed.

Originally Posted by Wizened Variations

Are users charged by the day, by groups of hours (say 12), or by the hour? Are users charged a flat rate per month?

most divvy users pay a flat annual rate of $75 that allows them unlimited use of divvy bikes as long as the bike is returned to a docking station within a 30 minute time window. if you go over your 30 minute time limit, additional charges are incurred, and they get expensive real fast. so divvy bikes are absolutely not for day long rentals or anything like that, they're for point to point service between two destinations that aren't terribly far away from each other. like i said before, they're for help in closing "last mile" gaps in people's daily travels.

[Wizened Variations]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

most divvy users pay a flat annual rate of $75 that allows them unlimited use of divvy bikes as long as the bike is returned to a docking station within a 30 minute time window. if you go over your 30 minute time limit, additional charges are incurred, and they get expensive real fast. so divvy bikes are absolutely not for day long rentals or anything like that, they're for point to point service between two destinations that aren't terribly far away from each other. like i said before, they're for help in closing "last mile" gaps in people's daily travels.

Is the pickup and drop off grid dense enough to provide:

Get off at Station X
Get bike at or near station
Bike to drop off point (stop the billing 'ticker.)
Walk from drop off point to work
Leave work and walk to either the drop off point or a new point, and, pick up bike
Bike to drop off point at or near station X (stop the billing ticker)

How does the system work (or does it work) for the commuter?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Wizened Variations

Is the pickup and drop off grid dense enough to provide:

yes, divvy has 300 docking stations with ~3,000 bicycles sprinkled all over the urban core of chicago.

and plans are underway to expand the system further into even more city neighborhoods and inner ring burbs.

check out the current divvy location map: http://divvybikes.com/stations

[Wizened Variations]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

yes, divvy has 300 docking stations with ~3,000 bicycles sprinkled all over the urban core of chicago.

and plans are underway to expand the system further into even more city neighborhoods and inner ring burbs.

check out the current divvy location map: http://divvybikes.com/stations

Are all the bikes owned by one corporation (Divvy)?

Are bike drop off/pick up sites on space rented to either public entities or to property owners?

The business model seems to be that of a bike utility, as for this to work, there can only be one or two corporations providing the service for the entire urban core. The complexity of inventory management, repair, and the movement of bikes to reflect changes in demand, IMO, would require significant monies as well as a heck of a lot of political leg work.

The divvy system can be visualized as a network with 300 nodes.

Ma and pa shops would not work.

[fflint]

Never mind