Urban Cycling Developments

[M II A II R II K]

Are Bike Lanes Expressways to Gentrification?


Read More: http://www.shareable.net/blog/are-bi...gentrification

Additional: http://bikeportland.org/2011/07/21/r...-project-56633

A plan to widen the bike lane on Portland’s N. Williams Avenue has reignited an ongoing debate over whether cyclists serve as the front line of gentrification. Jonathan Maus of Bike Portland reports that many in the neighborhood believe the attention given bicycle safety issues, in a community where pedestrian safety has long been ignored, represents a double standard. At a public meeting about the North Williams Traffic Safety Operations Project last month, Donna Maxey was among the attendees who raised these concerns:

- "What is causing the anger and resentment is that it's only an issue of safety now that whites are the ones who are riding bicycles and walking on the streets. Because we have been in this community for years and it has not been an issue and now it's an issue. So that's the resentment you're hearing...years of people being told, you don't count, you don't matter...but now that there's a group of people who's coming in that look like the people who are the power brokers — now it's important. That's the anger. That's the hurt."

- This is only the latest salvo in a debate taking place in many of the nation’s cities over bike lanes and how they affect disadvantaged communities. In Washington DC, where a 31% increase in white residents in the past decade has been met by an 11% decline in the black population, debates over gentrification have reached a fever pitch. As a recent New York Times article notes, in some DC neighborhoods bike lanes are seen to indicate the impending displacement of low-income communities.

- As a white male who uses a bike as my primary mode of transportation, my initial reaction to these reports was one of reflexive defensiveness. After all, the health and environmental benefits of cycling are well-documented and universally beneficial. But it’s worth reconsidering our assumptions. The pet causes of affluent whites have long received more attention than immediate issues affecting those in disadvantaged communities. And while making bicyclists safer on the road might seem to benefit everyone, such city infrastructure initiatives have complex political, race and class components.

- In Portland, the Community Cycling Center (CCC) is researching the resistance to cycling in low-income and non-white communities, and opening a dialogue that gives all stakeholders a place at the table. Operating under the slogan “the bicycle is a tool for empowerment and a vehicle for change,” one of the CCC’s primary initiatives is the Understanding Barriers to Bicycling project. The project’s 2010 interim report provides a limited but compelling look at bicycle usage in the city’s African American, Hispanic and African communities in north and northeast Portland.

- Improvements such as bike lanes increase the perceived “livability” of a neighborhood, serving as a sign to developers and housing speculators that a neighborhood is open for business. In this way, bike lanes play at least an indirect role in making neighborhoods too expensive for low income residents. In addition to discussing these issues, there must be serious consideration of alternative housing models that reduce the displacement of low-income communities.

.....

[Doug]

THis is cool, a plan for a cycling ring road:
http://www.parksfdn.com/The%20Calgary%20Greenway.htm

This will expand what is already North America's largest urban pathway network:
http://calgary.ca/CSPS/Parks/Pages/P...anagement.aspx

[urbanlife]

In Portland, the Community Cycling Center (CCC) is researching the resistance to cycling in low-income and non-white communities, and opening a dialogue that gives all stakeholders a place at the table. Operating under the slogan “the bicycle is a tool for empowerment and a vehicle for change,” one of the CCC’s primary initiatives is the Understanding Barriers to Bicycling project. The project’s 2010 interim report provides a limited but compelling look at bicycle usage in the city’s African American, Hispanic and African communities in north and northeast Portland.

From what I have seen, bike lanes have created some good gentrification within Portland. I find myself excited when I see a female or non white person on a bike in this city because it means the perception of bicycling is changing and becoming a more excepted form of transportation for male and female, and all races. So in that sense, I think it has created a great movement forward.

Also another important factor, ever sense bike lanes have been added to Williams, which has become a major route for people heading from downtown and inner southeast to the northside, seeing this is the easiest road to bike up, the amount of businesses has exploded up and down Williams when it use to be more of an empty street with a lot of potential buildings.

Like placing an off ramp from a highway or building a seaport along a shoreline, bike lanes have help revitalize streets that were not seen as streets worth opening a business on because there was not potential traffic to attract customers. For Williams Ave, there now is that traffic the street needs to help itself grow.

Originally Posted by Wizened Variations

If I isolate a portion of the width of a downtown road, solely for bicyclists, then should sidewalks be solely for pedestrians, as cars or motocycles cannot use them?

Sidewalks are solely for pedestrians....I am confused by this question, are you saying we should be able to drive cars on the sidewalks? or are you questioning if bicycles have designated lanes should cars not be allowed to use them...or that they should? It is a very confusing question and statement to make, but to clarify, no cars should not be allowed to use a bike lane much like a car is not allowed to use a sidewalk.

Obviously with bikes there is plenty of gray areas because bike lanes can be apart of turning lanes or lanes for cars to position themselves for parallel parking, but cars should not be driving in bike lanes cause if they are, then it would be a normal road lane. Although there are road lanes in Portland that are marked for shared lanes that cars can drive in, but should be aware that it is also a bicycle lane.

So I guess the answer to a confusing question is yes....?

And, sir, the issue, in part, is USE. If X numbers of users travel an average of Y distance per square meter of dedicated bicycle space, then should not the bicyclists who use it, pay an increment over and above their city sales and income taxes, to use it?

So you want to suggest a system where we pay only for the portion of road way we use between our commutes? You do realize this is not a bill at a restaurant where we try to split up and only pay for what we each had. I mean, sure I had a couple pieces of the appetizer but I shouldn't have to pay for it all, and I only had the one entree and two beers, so I am paying for just that.

Seriously, have did you actually think that statement out before you typed it? I only use 4th Ave on my way to work and Park Ave on my way home everyday, so should I only have to pay for those two streets cause that is all I use? Also you do realize this is a "big government" statement because who would do all this math to keep track of all our road uses, and who would audit us to make sure we were telling the truth, and how would we collect this data to tell our government how much we are going to pay based on what we use? Sounds like big government to me....

In addition, as bicyclists can operate at enough speed to themselves have significant energy E=mv2, over and above that of a person running, then should not the bicyclist be responsible for that increment of extra energy in the same fashion that a motorcyclist or a auto driver is via their requirement to have insurance? Why should'nt bicyclists HAVE to have insurance?

Another statement that I am confused by, you do realize that a bicycle is powered by a person and not a motor?? Should people on skate boards also have to get insurance?

But I will say that I technically agree with you, there should be a way to provide someone on a bike with insurance for when they get into an accident, if I hit a pedestrian, my insurance should be able to cover the damages and if I get doored or hit by a car that speeds off, then I should have some sort of coverage so I am not hurt by a hit and run with no one to help me with the damages...which funny enough is why I supported universal healthcare because then it would be healthcare not attached to my job and I would be able to have some form of protection like that...which requiring people on bikes to have insurance is sort of a big government thing, how do you enforce that? How do you regulate that? What are the requirement? How old do you have to be before you have to have insurance? Do little children have to carry an insurance card when riding on their bikes?

Again, it may sound like great ideas to you, but when questions are asked of them, then you begin to see the flaws.

Why not demand that bicycles be licensed with the county, state, or province?

Can we say "big government?" I thought people like you hated "big government" but then you turn around and keep suggesting ideas that would cause government to get bigger?? I am confused with this way of thinking...

The only user of public space that has the right NOT to increment of use taxes is the pedestrian, as he or she does not use ANY vehicle, as this is locomotion "au natural"

Yet pedestrians walk on sidewalks which are not created by magic, they are created with tax dollars, so you are saying it is okay to subsidize the pedestrian, and I assume the car (I only assume because I do not know if you support subsidizing the car or not), but not for the bike? Is this because you have a blind hatred for bicycles? Why can't they be treated equally like pedestrians and cars? Also, do you know how long it takes for a road to deteriorate from car use compared to bike use? Cause last time I checked my bike weighs 15lbs while my car weighs in over 2000lbs....which one causes more damage to the roads??

The issue of public education is a non sequitor, as driving a car, motorcycle or riding a bike is a qualified privilege, not a legal right.

And finally we finish this off with a false statement. Where does it say education is a legal right? My car and bike are a privilege much like my public education was a privilege. And again, my favorite statement in this is that you are saying that public education is a right, when that would mean you support a form of big government because the use of public means it is public funded, therefore a government program. My bike is not a government program and neither is my car, but the roads they use are a publicly funded program and I am proud to pay into those programs as much as I am paying for public education, which I have no children right now, so technically by your math I should not have to pay for the schools of my city because I don't need them....which doesn't make any sense at all, yet you still posted the statement.


The most important factors when it comes to bicycles is the same thing that comes with being in a car or being a pedestrian and that is education and the understanding of how to do each one safely and correctly. It is important for a bicyclist to understand how to bike defensively and to always assume no one can see them on their bike, much like practicing defensive driving in a car is the best way to prevent an accident, which is the same thing as teaching someone to look both ways before crossing a street.

[M II A II R II K]

Early success of Hub bike sharing surprises even program’s backers


Read More: http://articles.boston.com/2011-09-0...ns-memberships

In its first month, Boston’s European-style bicycle sharing-system pedaled past expectations, attracting riders more than twice as fast as similar programs in Denver and Minneapolis. As of Aug. 28, the one-month mark, the program known as Hubway had attracted 2,319 annual subscribers and witnessed 36,612 station-to-station trips. At its current clip, the system is on track to surpass 100,000 rides before Halloween. By comparison, Denver’s B-cycle took 7 ½ months, and Minneapolis’s Nice Ride took nearly six months to reach 100,000 riders. By that point, neither program had enlisted 2,000 members, despite having at least as many bikes and docking stations as Boston.

- Nicole Freedman, director of the city’s Boston Bikes initiative and who helped create Hubway at Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s request, said the bikes are used for as many as 2,000 trips a day. For now, the curiosity factor remains high, with the distinctive silver-and-green bikes and solar-powered stations drawing stares. Strolling the waterfront the other day, Stephen and Julia Haggarty stopped to inspect the bicycles and study an ATM-style kiosk terminal in the Seaport District. The bikes have not yet made it to the couple’s Savin Hill neighborhood in Dorchester.

- In addition to annual members, more than 10,000 tourists and casual riders have signed up for one-day ($5) or three-day ($12) memberships to ride the nearly 600 bikes scattered among 53 stations. An annual membership costs $85, but has been discounted to $60 until Oct. 1. The “doomsday scenario’’ envisioned by critics - crashes, graffiti, theft - has not materialized, said David Loutzenheiser, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council transportation planner who helped Boston plan Hubway and work out its contract with Alta Bicycle Share, the Oregon company that installed the system and maintains the bikes and stations.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

In traffic-choked L.A., a car lane is given to bicycles


Read More: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,2793713.story

In a city known for traffic gridlock, deliberately eliminating an entire lane for cars could be politically dubious. But that's just what officials did Thursday as they unveiled Los Angeles' newest bicycle lane, a 2.2-mile stretch along 7th Street from Catalina Avenue in Koreatown to Figueroa Street downtown. "Hold on to your hats, folks, we're actually removing a lane for a car — in favor of a bike lane — in Los Angeles," City Councilman Ed Reyes said during a news conference at MacArthur Park. "By doing so, we, as a city, are changing the way we see bicycles, as not only a recreational vehicle but as a legitimate form of public transportation."

Cycling advocates cheered the news as one of the strongest indications yet that Los Angeles is slowly introducing more paths for those pedaling on two wheels. Officials estimate some 27,000 Angelenos ride a bicycle daily. "It's really symbolic," said Allison Mannos of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. "It's not only showing that L.A. is changing overall and becoming more bike-friendly as a city … [but] we're able to bring [bike lanes] to areas where people are depending on their bikes every day." Cyclists are not only middle-class white urbanites who can afford a car but choose to not always drive, but also transit-dependent residents in low-income minority communities such as Westlake, Mannos said.

She said the 7th Street proposal emerged from conversations with laborers who frequently use the thoroughfare to commute. Transportation officials say the state vehicle code makes it illegal for drivers to use lanes designated for cyclists. Tim Fremaux, an official with the city's transportation department, said the new lane is part of the Bike Master Plan adopted this year. He said 7th Street was a prime site because it has relatively low traffic compared with neighboring thoroughfares such as Wilshire Boulevard.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

Janette Sadik-Khan - Bicycle Visionary


Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/op...nary.html?_r=1

.....

Since the mayor appointed her in 2007 and she began to bring her agency’s work more closely in line with his vision of a greener New York, the city has roughly doubled its miles of bike lanes, to about 500. If you did any biking at all in Manhattan or Brooklyn this summer, you may well have noticed the improvements, including protected bike lanes (ones that separate cyclists entirely from street traffic) on such major arteries as Columbus and First Avenues in Manhattan.

- I know I did, and when I rode through the Upper West Side and the Lower East Side, Williamsburg and Boerum Hill, I felt something I hadn’t before, a kind of full permission and robust encouragement, even if motorists continued to behave obtusely. The city has also plotted a far-reaching and potentially game-changing public bike share program, whose details and timetable are expected to be announced this month. In a swift manner all the more impressive given government sclerosis these days, New York is truly transforming itself.

- So if a city believes that biking is part of a better future, it must sometimes muscle through a reluctant, rocky present. That’s precisely what Bloomberg and Sadik-Khan have done, in a fine example of the way the mayor’s frequent imperiousness and imperviousness to criticism can work to the city’s long-term advantage. If anything, the two of them should move even faster and more boldly, but that’s pure fantasy, given the opposition, bordering on hysteria, they’ve met so far. “There are not only 8.4 million New Yorkers but at times 8.4 million traffic engineers,” Sadik-Khan said in an interview a few weeks after our bike ride. “And we’re, you know, very opinionated.”

- In the end the resistance that she and the city have encountered has to do mostly with parochialism and selfishness. Some New Yorkers seem offended by the notion that we should be more like such biking havens as Copenhagen, Paris, or for that matter, Portland, Ore.: life here is too urgent and blunt and brutal for such crunchy-granola niceties. Besides which, no one wants to give an inch, literally: not the Prospect Park West gripers who lost parking spaces to the bike lane, not the drivers of delivery trucks whose jobs are sometimes complicated by such lanes, not the Manhattan traditionalists who feel that sharing just a few of Central Park’s transverse paths with cyclists — as the city decided in July they must do — requires too much in the way of vigilance from people ambling among the trees. The complaints were loud and passionate.

.....

[202_Cyclist]

New York Chooses Company to Run Bike-Share Program


The city revealed its new bike-sharing program at a pedestrian plaza in the Flatiron district, where a temporary bike station was installed. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY
NY Times
9/14/2011

"The Bloomberg administration has selected Alta Bicycle Share to bring an ambitious bike-share program to New York, the city’s latest foray into transforming its streets to make them more hospitable to cyclists and pedestrians.

The announcement was made Wednesday afternoon at a press conference at a pedestrian plaza in the Flatiron district, where a sample bike station — a kiosk and a rack of sturdy, utilitarian bicycles — was on display.

By the time the program is to officially begin next summer, it is expected to feature 10,000 bicycles available at 600 stations in Manhattan, south of 79th Street, and in select neighborhoods in Brooklyn. The company said it was exploring options for adding stations in other boroughs..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/ny...m.html?_r=1&hp

[Steely Dan]

^ 10,000 bikes? 600 stations? nicely done new york! with these bike share systems you either go big or go home.


2 years into it, chicago's pathetic lame-ass attempt at a bike share program is still a sad joke (7 stations with 70 bikes).

[J. Will]

Toronto's system launched 4 months ago with 1000 bikes in 80 stations, virtually all in a 3 square mile area.

[M II A II R II K]

NYC Residents Suggesting Locations for New Bike Share Stations


Read More: http://thecityfix.com/blog/nyc-resid...hare-stations/

.....

The exact amount of an annual membership is not yet determined but a Department of Transportation website says that the membership will cost less than a monthly MetroCard, which costs $104. Washington, D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare system has an annual membership cost of $75; Montreal’s BIXI Bikeshare costs $78 and Toronto’s costs $95; and London’s Barclays Cycle Hire system costs £45 (US$71).

- More interestingly, the city is reaching out the public to determine locations for its 600 bikeshare stations. Those interested in participating can suggest a location for a possible station through a site built for New York City’s newest transit option. The map on which you suggest a station is currently densely populated with little icons of people on bicycles, indicating enthusiasm from the public.

- The website for the project indicates that the most successful program will have stations located in dense networks—about every three blocks. The city is placing quite a bit of emphasis on public input, aiming for an intensive community process, working with residents, business owners, community boards, elected officials and other stakeholders.

- The project will initially start in the Central Business District and nearby residential areas to supply bikes to trips shorter than three miles. These residential areas include parts of Brooklyn, like DUMBO, Downtown, Fort Greene, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Park Slope.

.....

[KevinFromTexas]

An email I got today.

Some details of what would have happened.
http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/e..._your_senators

The U.S. Senate affirmed its time-tested support of bicycling Thursday by forcing Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma to withdraw his proposal to eliminate dedicated funding for the Transportation Enhancements program.

Peopleforbikes.org supporters and our advocacy partners influenced this outcome by sending close to 50,000 emails and making thousands of phone calls to their U.S. Senators in just 48 hours. Thank you!

As a result, funding for all federal transportation programs has now been extended to March 31, 2012. The key, cost-effective programs that make bicycling safer and easier -- Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School, and Recreational Trails -- will continue to receive modest, dedicated support -- about 1.5 percent of the total federal transportation investment.

Every U.S. Senate office received an unprecedented number of well-crafted emails and articulate phone calls this week from people who bike. This powerful show of support for bicycling made a strong impression on Congress and influenced the positive outcome.

We reminded the Senate that bicycling investments support a growing number of transportation trips coast to coast, and save government agencies money on road repairs, parking infrastructure costs, and health-care costs. They recognize that this is a small investment with a big payback that makes Americans safer.

A huge thanks to the thousands of Americans, our supporters, who rallied quickly to contact their elected officials on this challenge. We will continue to keep you posted on key issues and opportunities that affect the future of bicycling in the United States.

I hope you'll join me in taking a ride this weekend to celebrate!

Tim Blumenthal
Director, Peopleforbikes.org

[M II A II R II K]

Copenhagen's novel problem: too many cyclists


Read More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...ing-congestion

Can there be too many bikes in a city for safety? It's not a question usually asked: the received wisdom, supported by research and backed by campaigning groups, is that the more cyclists there are, the safer the roads become for everyone. But in Copenhagen – one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world in which 36% of its inhabitants cycle to work or school, and which has committed to increasing that figure to 50% by 2015 – there are controversial voices coming from unexpected places. According to the Danish Cyclists' Federation and Wonderful Copenhagen, the official tourism organisation for Denmark, the sheer success of the drive to get more locals and tourists on bikes is creating a dangerous, intimidating and unpleasant climate for cyclists in the city.

- As numbers increase in the cycle lanes, says Hadju, so behaviour deteriorates, with jostling and cutting-up becoming more frequent. "The locals rush past the foreigners, who are often uncertain on their bikes and going slowly," she said. "The locals get impatient and therefore become more threatening." Even to an untrained eye, it is immediately obvious that the city is struggling to cater for its growing number of cyclists. It is already near-impossible to find cycling parking places near main stations, while cycling lanes that seem gargantuan to British eyes – three to four meters wide compared to our 1.5 meters – are buried at certain times of day beneath the scrum of cyclists traversing the city.

- Mikael Colville-Andersen, Denmark's unofficial ambassador for cycling thanks to his Copenhagenize and Copenhagen Cycle Chic blogs) even fears they could undermine the pro-cycling atmosphere in Copenhagen that he and so many others have worked hard to create. "It's true that cycling in Copenhagen in the rush hour is not for the faint-hearted: it requires concentration and it's true that we do need wider lanes," he says. "But it's not as dangerous as the DCF like to say. Statistics prove that it's safer than Amsterdam.". "The Danish Cyclists' Federation are trying to advocate for more and better bike lanes by saying it's dangerous to cycle with the situation as it now is," he adds.

.....

[Nicolás]

Me in my bike in Rosario, Argentina.

• Video Link

• Video Link

• Video Link

Regards

[M II A II R II K]

Can bikes bring back the neighborhood bookstore?


Read More: http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-09-...hood-bookstore

Santa Monica, Calif.: Spend ten minutes with Gary Kavanagh -- a blogger, advocate, and ubiquitous presence in Santa Monica's bike scene -- and you're apt to get an earful about the new light rail line and bike path being built into town, the new Bike Master Plan that the city council may soon approve, or the amount of public space in the city that is dedicated to car parking. But look at Kavanagh's pictures from our latest Dinner & Bikes event on Saturday night, and you'll mostly see shots of our merch table. Basically, it's a traveling bookstore stocked with titles about bikes, urban gardening, and radical movements, as well as bike-themed stickers and t-shirts. Santa Monica is rich in bike riders, bike lanes, bike dreams, and -- perhaps most key -- bike funding. But, as Kavanagh's enthusiasm suggests, it is also a city without a decent bookstore.

- Small, independent bookstores have largely gone the way of the dodo, thanks to big-box bookstores that began a race to the bottom in the early 90s, chopping their prices beyond what even they could sustain. They ruined the party for everyone, including smaller rivals, customers, and ultimately themselves. These days, most Americans have to go online or get in a car in order to buy a book, and the money used to buy that book -- and the gas burned to get to the store -- flies straight out of their communities. Suburban, big-box behemoths took out more than just bookstores: Mom-and-pop hardware stores, pharmacies, and restaurants have all seen their business crater. The process devastated the fabric of urban neighborhoods and the small businesses that hold them together. Bookstores were hit particularly hard because they sell luxury items whose tiny profit margins require moving low-priced units in huge numbers.

- The demand we found in Santa Monica for independent bookstores and underground publishers means it's only a matter of time before someone rises to fill the space left after the big-box crash. It's a trend that parallels the rise of the bicycle movement: As society and individuals stagger under the ever-escalating costs of building and maintaining roads, filling up our gas tanks, and suffering the health and social consequences of auto-centric suburbs, many of us have turned back to the simplicity of the bike. You could say that cars killed the independent bookstore: They fell prey to the same nexus of industrial, financial, and political maneuvering that created our car-oriented landscape. But bicycling could help bring them back. Right now, it feels good to know our tiny rental car carries both bikes and the promise of a new iteration of urbanism -- one where everyone can afford to both travel at will, sit, and read a good book.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

Bicycling our way into work and out of the Great Recession


Read More: http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-07-...reat-recession

Conversations about transportation bicycling tend to revolve around work, particularly commuting. This is a good thing. We need to get to work; more of us need to get to work by bike; and more bicycling means a healthier economy, a better workplace, and even more jobs. But the commutes in these conversations are an endangered species, part of a type of work and lifestyle that's fading fast: the 9-to-5 lifetime career with health benefits and pension, a commute from suburbs to central city, and a hot meal waiting for you when you get home. The way we work has been changing for a long time, and our transportation needs and options along with it. With the recent recession, fewer people are working as much or for as much money, or as regularly -- or at all. More of us are, in a word, poor.

- The mainstays of bike advocacy organizations are the three E's: engineering, enforcement, and education -- with a fourth E, encouragement, becoming increasingly popular. Encouragement is a kind of marketing. It's about selling the benefits of transportation bicycling as though it were a product. It's appealing because, to a large extent, it works, imbuing everyday transportation bicycling with a certain cool cachet. Marketing, being what it is it, tends to be best executed by businesses and blogs selling everything from imported, upright city bikes to the concept of cycling fashion to the aesthetic and lifestyle associated with both of these. But lately, advocacy organizations and even government agencies are investing in encouragement initiatives and seeing a lot of success. A recent example is the charming animated video made by the Cascade Bicycle Club called "Will you ride with Sophie?" that extols the environmental, social, and personal virtues of choosing to bike instead of drive, even for just a few trips a week.

- It's understandable, of course, that the pursuit of encouragement, as well as the other E's, is informed by the concerns of the advocates themselves. Part of the heritage of bicycle advocacy in the U.S. is recreational riding -- an activity that suggests a decent enough income to have a nice bike in the garage and the leisure, skills, and confidence to go out and ride it whenever one chooses. U.S. bike advocacy is also imbued with a heavy focus on individual responsibility as more important -- or perhaps more readily achievable -- than social and infrastructure change, as exemplified by the until-recently prominent vehicular cycling movement. Such initiatives tend to reach out to the people who ride -- or don't -- out of choice rather than economic necessity, whose only barrier to getting on a bike is motivation.

- When you're low-income, you may simply not have access to the amenities of bicycle advocacy that others of us take for granted. Your concerns are less likely to be solicited or lobbied for. Education initiatives and materials about cycling laws and safety, what to do if you crash, and even how to ride at all are less likely to reach you and may not even exist in a language you read fluently. And engineering and enforcement are as likely to work against you as they are to protect and serve your interests. These concerns are hardly universal, but they're a sampling of what advocates need to ask and engage about if they are serious about making bicycling more widely accessible and attractive.

.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carltonreid/4646637491/

[DTW]

Detroit Bike Project seeks to link Detroit's greater downtown

Bike-sharing companies, which offer 24-hour access to bicycles for short trips around cities, have popped up in Europe, and along the East Coast; DC, Boston and New York City. If three CCS grads have their way, Detroit will be the next city to offer visitors and residents a network of two-wheeled transportation stations throughout the greater downtown district.

The Detroit Bike Project is the brainchild of Victor Quattrin, Stephanie Lucido and Jenna Przybycien. The three college friends have spent the past year working on the first phase of their plan, which they will submit to Hatch Detroit by the Sept. 1 contest deadline. No matter what happens with Hatch, the three say they're committed to launching the company within the next year.

Their plan involves building park-and-ride bike stations in the Renaissance Center, Wayne State's campus, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Woodbridge, New Center, Grand Circus Park, Corktown and Eastern Market, as a public transportation alternative "Sometimes, there's a little distance between the main veins of Detroit," says Quattrin. "Nothing is really that walkable," says Przybycien, comparing Detroit's layout to that of more densely-populated cities like New York. "If someone parks downtown and wants to head up to Wayne State, it takes a lot of time to get there. Bike sharing allows you to see a lot more of the city, and to get places quicker, because it's so spread out.

http://www.modeldmedia.com/devnews/d...are083011.aspx

RiverWalk backers step up fundraising for final stretch

The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy is renewing its push to raise the last $35 million it needs to complete the east RiverWalk.

It plans to begin construction this spring on parts of the riverfront east of the William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor that haven't been developed, said President Faye Alexander Nelson.

Those parcels will include Mt. Elliott Park and its shoreline, land to the east and west of Chene Park, the former site of the Uniroyal Tire Co. factory, and areas that will make way for a parking lot and path to Gabriel Richard Park.

The Mannik & Smith Group Inc., which is based in Maumee, Ohio, and has offices in Detroit, Canton Township and Monroe, is serving as architect. The request for proposals from construction firms should go out in early October, Nelson said.

The conservancy has raised $105 million of its $140 million target for the project. The money will fund construction and an endowment of $50 million to $60 million for maintenance and operations.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...-final-stretch

[M II A II R II K]

Old Parking Meters to Become Bicycle Racks in New York


Read More: http://thecityfix.com/blog/old-parki...s-in-new-york/

.....

Instead of collecting parking fees for individual spots, the New York City Department of Transportation is converting to Muni-Meters that take up less space on sidewalks and have a better record on vandalism. More interestingly, the old single-space parking meters will be dismantled and the poles will be repurposed as bicycle racks, the NYT reports.

- Muni-Meters allow for 10 percent to 15 percent more parking spaces in the city, the article explains. With the old meters being converted to bicycle racks, we can only hope that many of those spaces will be dedicated to bicycles. Converting the city’s on-street parking spots to Muni-Meters will be a costly project—about $34 million. Each Muni-Meter costs $4,392, eight times the amount of older parking meters. Although costly, Muni-Meters will also provide some relief for street management and preventing vandalism.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

Lessons from Amsterdam: How SF Can Bicycle Toward Greatness


Read More: http://sf.streetsblog.org/2011/09/19...ard-greatness/

.....

After more than a decade of helping to build the vision of San Francisco becoming a world-class bicycling city, I had the chance to find out how that vision actually functions on the ground. And, to assess whether we really have what it takes in San Francisco to earn the reputation of a great bicycling city. What I learned – and what heartens me now – is how close we already are. Much like Berlin, Barcelona, and Paris, San Francisco is on a precipice today. We can choose to use the examples of places such as the Netherlands as a model, or we can continue business as usual. This week, we are fortunate to welcome Dutch experts to town to show us how great bicycling environments help make great cities.

- Think Bike — an innovative two-day event co-sponsored by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in SF, the SF Municipal Transportation Agency, and the SF Bicycle Coalition — kicks off today to share the “Dutch Touch” with San Franciscans. “Whether commuting to work, running errands or taking a family outing, more and more San Franciscans are choosing to bicycle,” said Mayor Edwin M. Lee, who this morning will welcome skilled Dutch transportation planners and interested locals at City Hall for the opening reception of Think Bike. This will kick off two days of intensive planning workshops with the Dutch and local community members. Tuesday evening, their design ideas for specific San Francisco on-street and policy improvements will be shared publicly.

- As we embark on a week of benefiting from the Dutch Touch, and as I reflect back on my own bicycling experiences in the Netherlands, I am by no means calling for San Francisco to be just like Amsterdam. We cannot and should not try to replicate any other city completely. But I learned that this surprisingly similar city offers a strikingly fitting model for us right now. The story of Amsterdam is proof that cities of San Francisco’s size, density and values can create communities that are more accessible, affordable, and family-friendly by dramatically increasing bicycling trips.

- Each day, the people of Amsterdam ride more than a million miles on their bicycles. They boast 250 miles of separated bike paths and 250,000 designated bike parking spaces. As bicycling has increased, car ownership has decreased. Today, only 37 percent of the population owns cars, a decrease from 42 percent in 1985. And, transit makes up about 25 percent of trips. The real-life impacts of these statistics can be seen every day on the charming streets, where parents still allow kids to walk or bike home from school and the elderly pedal around confidently on errands. No doubt, the streets are just as bustling and serve just as many people moving around the city as in San Francisco – it is all just happening in a calmer, quieter, less disruptive way in Amsterdam.

- The two cities’ most obvious difference is terrain. Amsterdam is as famous for flatness as San Francisco is for hilliness. Yet, I contend that in San Francisco we narrow that disadvantage with gears (almost non-existent in Amsterdam), bike racks on buses, and, the fact that most of us can choose to pedal around, instead of straight up, steep hills for many trips.

Some may question, understandably, whether a centuries-old European city can be relevant to our situation. In fact, Amsterdam offers a surprising number of similarities to San Francisco, which is considered the most European of U.S. cities for good reason. A quick comparison sheds some light:

• Amsterdam’s population is 765,000. San Francisco is slightly more populous at 815,000. Both serve as hubs of far larger metropolitan regions.

• The two cities have similar population density: Amsterdam boasts 390,000 dwelling units; San Francisco 360,000.

• Unlike their suburban neighbors, most streets are narrow and space is at a premium.

• Finance and tourism are backbones of both cities’ economies.

• While Amsterdam’s regional transit far outpaces the Bay Area’s, neither has top-notch local transit systems.

• Citizens share similar cultural attitudes about the environment and general progressive values, relative to the rest of their own nations’.

• Both have higher-than-average citizen participation, which affects how changes are made in the communities.

....

[Cirrus]

DC's Capital Bikeshare had its one year anniversary yesterday, coincidentally on the exact same day it also crossed the 1,000,000 rider threshold.

Originally Posted by BeyondDC

Capital Bikeshare one year in

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the launch of Capital Bikeshare, America’s largest experiment in public bikesharing to date. The anniversary offers a good opportunity to quickly look back on the program’s successes and failures, and to look forward at what’s to come.

So how did the first year go? Pretty darn well. The system has over 18,000 registered members, which puts its members-per-bikes ratio in very elite company globally. It has logged over a million trips, which is double the estimate for its first year. The bikes are ubiquitous in the central city, and are well on their way to icon status. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the anticipated problem of station sparsity has indeed been an issue. Dock blocking is common enough that the term has entered the lexicon of Washingtonians. The most successful bikesharing systems offer stations closely packed enough so that dock blocking isn’t a big concern.

So in a very real way, Capital Bikeshare’s biggest problem is that too many people are using it. It’s a good problem to have.

And so, with a successful first year under its belt, Cabi is looking to expand. Four expansions are currently funded and anticipated to come online within the next year. Together they will enlarge the system from its current level of 116 stations located in two jurisdictions, up to around 200 stations in four jurisdictions. And no one expects expansion to stop there. All the existing member jurisdictions are considering even more stations, and other jurisdictions may still join the network.

What will that new, larger system look like? Here is a map showing the 116 existing stations (circles), plus the approximate planned locations of the 60 or so in DC and Arlington that are funded and will come online at various times in the coming months (squares). Additional stations are funded in Shady Grove and Alexandria, but location information is not available yet.


Link to map in Google Maps.

[M II A II R II K]

Study: 1,000 Peds Injured Annually By Cyclists Statewide; Number Is Dropping


Read More: http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/09/1...omment-page-1/

Study: http://www.scribd.com/doc/65531772/H...Accident-Study

Follow the tabloid media, and you’d think that New York City has been swept by “bike bedlam,” a tide of scofflaw cyclists striking fear into the hearts of pedestrians everywhere. Sift through actual pedestrian safety data, and the actual risk posed by cyclists pales in comparison to that posed by motor vehicles: while over the last five years, 766 city pedestrians have been killed by drivers, only three were killed by cyclists. Even so, it’s generally been difficult to measure exactly how many — or how few — pedestrians are injured by cyclists every year. New research from two Hunter College professors provides a precise count of pedestrian injuries caused by bikes in New York state. Using a comprehensive statewide database, sociologist Peter Tuckel and urban planner William Milczarski found that each year, an average of roughly 1,000 pedestrians received medical treatment after crashes with cyclists. A little over half of those injuries, 55 percent, took place in New York City.

Tuckel and Milczarski’s statistics show a larger number of pedestrians injured by cyclists than previous estimates; earlier research found that about 1,200 pedestrians nationwide are treated in emergency rooms each year as a result of bike crashes. But the new data also suggest that the injuries tend not to be severe. Statewide, an average about 85 pedestrians are admitted to hospitals as in-patients as a result of these crashes each year; the rest had injuries that could be treated on an out-patient basis. For comparison’s sake, statewide, 15,321 pedestrians are injured by motor vehicles every year, according to the state DMV, with more than 10,000 of them in New York City. More than 300 pedestrians are killed by drivers every year statewide, while the number of pedestrian fatalities caused by cyclists averages less than one per year.

Given the quality of past reporting on bike-on-ped crashes, many reporters will undoubtedly try to imply some sort of connection between the number of pedestrian injuries and the city’s bike policy. But the stats show no such link. Pedestrian injuries caused by cyclists are declining even as the popularity of cycling continues to rise. In 2007 and 2008, Tuckel and Milczarski counted 1,097 and 1,112 pedestrian injuries caused by crashes with bikes. The following two years, those numbers dropped to 985 and then 927. With only four years of data, it’s too early to tell whether a trend is at work, but there’s no evidence that the city’s effort to build better bike infrastructure has led to an increase in bike-caused injuries. (There is solid evidence that bike lanes reduce the incidence of motor vehicle crashes that kill pedestrians: The New York City Department of Transportation has found that controlling for other factors, bike lanes made streets 40 percent less deadly for people on foot.)

.....