Bike Commuters

This is for any Indiana readers out there (tip o’ the ol’ foam chapeau to our friends Fritz of Cycleicious for the accompanying text and Jamie from Bike Columbus for getting the word out on Facebook):

Mark Stosberg of Bike Richmond (IN) needs help from Indiana residents with a petition to the Indiana Department of Transportation.

INDOT is finalizing plans for a project through the city of Richmond, IN to refurbish a two mile section of US Highway 27 through the downtown area. INDOT sought input from a variety of groups, but non- motorized transportation groups were not consulted. The proposed plan involves right of way acquisition and tearing down buildings for wider radius turns, which means faster traffic, faster cross traffic, and more danger to pedestrians and cyclists in the downtown area.

Currently, US27 is your typical, ugly thoroughfare. INDOT’s proposal is to replace it with two miles of shinier, smoother ugly to whisk motorists to the strip mall hell on the outskirts of town. Richmond Mayor Sally Hutton has a vision of something much better for her town and sent a letter to INDOT asking the state to redo the plan with Complete Streets principles in mind.

Mark asks for your help to get word out to Indiana residents to ask INDOT to support the city’s request to modify the US27 plan. PUBLIC COMMENT IS DUE BY MARCH 18.

Mark posted about the project here:

http://mark.stosberg.com/bike/2010/03/richmond-to-indot-make-us-27-a-complete-street.html

I posted specifics on getting word to INDOT here:

http://www.cyclelicio.us/2010/indiana-cit-to-state-officials-we-want-complete-streets/

Sorry about the last-minute nature of this alert…we just heard about it today. Anyhow, if you’re an Indiana resident who cares about this situation, please let INDOT and your local/state representatives know how you feel.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

The Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced at the National Bike Summit that:

Today, I want to announce a sea change. People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.

We are integrating the needs of bicyclists in federally-funded road projects. We are discouraging transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians. And we are encouraging investments that go beyond the minimum requirements and provide facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.

LaHood went on to unveil his Policy Statement on Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodation Regulations and Recommendations.

Obviously, it’s too early to tell what this all means for transportational cyclists and pedestrians, but to me it looks like a VERY positive step in the right direction. About time, too…

From the Bikeleague.org blog via Bicycle Stories (thanks for the tip, Alan!)

Popularity: 2% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Boy, you’d have to be living under a rock today to miss the explosive coverage of the new Google Maps feature that offers biking directions…this news appeared on literally dozens of sites today, from Gizmodo to Urban Velo, Bike Hugger to PC World and many more.

We have a sort of unwritten policy here at Bikecommuters.com not to post anything that’s been covered to such an extent elsewhere…but this is BIG news. One of our readers even gently accused us of being asleep at the switch for not posting the news sooner…but he made up for it by providing us a link to an article that has a Google engineer describing how it works — an article I hadn’t seen too much of elsewhere. Check that out by clicking here.

All this is my segue into pointing you toward coverage of the National Bike Summit. One of my dear friends, the BRAINy-award-winning bicycle advocate Alan Snel, is at the National Bike Summit. He got to see the Google folks roll this news out IN PERSON. Over at Alan’s blog, he’s doing some fantastic coverage of the breakout sessions and other events going on at the Summit, including the announcement of the People For Bikes campaign, a visit from Lance, various chats with fellow advocates and a bunch of other goodies. Swing on over to Alan’s Bicycle Stories to check out his coverage of the Summit.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Tampa BayCycle is sponsoring two Bike to Work days, on March 5th and March 26th. This year, there are EIGHT group rides to choose from: Seminole Heights, two West Tampa routes, Channelside, Bayshore/South Tampa, Harbour Island, Temple Terrace and Davis Island. All rides culminate with a meet-and-greet at Indigo Coffee in downtown Tampa (514 N. Franklin Street).

For a giant poster-sized version with all the lurid details on routes and start times, please click here.

Hopefully I’ll see some of you out there — with luck, I’ll be riding on March 26th…this will be the first time since I moved to Tampa that I’m actually working on Bike to Work day!!!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

As many of you may know, Florida celebrates Bike Month in March rather than May like the rest of the country.

To kick things off, the folks at Tampa BayCycle have (finally!) announced a schedule of events taking place in March. Here are some of the highlights:

–Tuesday 3/2 Free tickets to Lightning game for those arriving via bicycle, sponsored by the Tampa Bay Lightning.

–Thursday 3/4 Street Skills workshop (brown bag, 12 – 1pm), sponsored by Sprinkle Consulting, RSVP to Karen Kress .

–Friday 3/5, 3/26 Bike to Work Day — Join experienced cyclists coming downtown from all directions with a morning meet up at Indigo Coffee.

Words for Wheels free bike giveaway contest opens (due 3/22).

–Log your miles to compete in the Commuter Challenge.

–Discounts at CityBike Tampa when you mention “Tampa BayCycle” (varies each week).

–The Downtown YMCA is even offering free use of the locker room for cyclists throughout the month. And don’t forget our 2nd annual Tampa Twilight Criterium and ECO.Festival on 3/27.

Hope to see some of you out there during Bike Month and at some of these events. With luck, I’m going to try to cover the Twilight Criterium like I did last year.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Some friends and I will be riding in this year’s American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure. Our local event is on March 7th at Ft. Desoto, Florida.

This is the first charity ride I’ve done in a LONG time…probably more than 20 years have passed since I’ve done one.

Anyhow, if you’ve got some extra dollars burning holes in your pockets, you can help support the cause by sponsoring me. Donations are 100% tax-deductible. If you’re interested in helping fight diabetes and want to kick a few dollars towards this charity, please click here and select the “Click Here to Sponsor Me” link in the left-hand corner. Thanks in advance!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

It looks like L.A. bike commuters have gained an ally from the LAPD and Councilman Rosenthal:

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck told a group of bicycle advocates that department-wide training would be implemented to highlight the rights of bicyclists on the road and ensure that officers know how to deal with incidents involving bikes.

Councilman Bill Rosendahl, chairman of the transportation committee, said it was a “historic first” to have the chief of police listening directly to the experiences of cyclists and promising reform.

“Today is the beginning of a new day with the LAPD,” Rosendahl said. “My hope is that six months from now an officer will know the rights of cyclists as well as the rights of motorists.… I think the LAPD, like pretty much the citizenry in general, has had the car culture.”

You can read the entire article here.

I’m pretty sure that the lobbying from our friends from the LACBC had something to do with it. The LACBC is a great resource for us Angelinos, check out their site at http://la-bike.org/index.html.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

It should come as no surprise to our many Tampa Bay-area readers, but the Tampa/St. Petersburg metropolitan area took a beating in Forbes Magazine when it was announced that we are DEAD LAST (60th out of 60 places) — the worst of the U.S. cities for commuters.

Folks around here know it stinks…where the few bicycle lanes and infrastructure are hard-fought concessions, bus service is spotty and inefficient, there is no light- or commuter-rail (yet) and millions of dollars are being poured into widening existing highways rather than alternatives to the motor vehicle. And statistically, we’ve been proven time and time again to be decidedly dangerous to the lives of bicyclists and pedestrians: 1 in every 10 US pedestrian fatalities is in Florida. 1 in every 6 US bicycle fatalities is in Florida. And within these deaths, the Tampa/St. Pete metro area is #2 in “Pedestrian Danger Index” (right behind Orlando).

One thing mentioned in the Forbes study is that the sweltering heat contributes to the unfriendliness of commuter choices such as bicycling and walking, and while that heat CAN be rough, I’d argue that it is much easier to deal with than the brutal cold faced by many other cities — and in those cities, choices abound for commuters. Some of the most bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly cities such as Minneapolis, Chicago, Portland, Toronto and Seattle have horrendous weather…cold, rain, snow and ice. Meanwhile, in a state which is blessed with nearly year-round nice weather, we suffer from a lack of choices and an out-of-touch political mindset. Florida just doesn’t get it…what little improvements we’ve seen are an afterthought, despite some very powerful and knowledgeable advocacy organizations and the ugly fatality statistics staring us all in the face.

There may be hope on the horizon, what with the Obama Administration announcing over $1 billion to create ahigh-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. But, as with all such projects, more money is needed to complete this line and taxpayers are going to be asked to vote for a penny sales tax increase. As you might imagine, this isn’t sitting well with a lot of area residents who can’t see a benefit to commuter rail and other improvements.

All this makes me want to pull up stakes and head somewhere else where the residents and the politicians understand and appreciate alternatives to the car. What do you think?

Popularity: 4% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Our local PBS station featured winter bike commuting last night on their show Chicago Tonight.

Wherever you’re riding this winter, happy winter biking! And as one bike commuter commented at the end of the segment to all those motorists, ” Give us a break, ok?” (I read “give us a brake”.)

What’s your biggest challenge or joy of biking during the winter?

Popularity: 4% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Minneapolis will soon be home to another bike-share program called “Nice Ride Minnesota”, joining a handful of world cities in this innovative way to get urban dwellers on bicycles for sightseeing, errand-running and other uses. Roepke Public Relations was kind enough to share the following artist drawings and press release with us.

Minneapolis Chooses BIXI as Bike Share Equipment Vendor

MINNEAPOLIS (Feb. 2, 2010) – Nice Ride Minnesota, a new non-profit created to bring public bike sharing to Minneapolis, today announced that it has chosen Public Bike System Company (PBSC), developer of the Montreal BIXI(tm) bike-share system, to supply bikes and kiosks to Minneapolis. BIXI launched its 5,000-bike system in Montreal last year to rave reviews.

Advanced bike-share systems have been operating in cities like Paris and Barcelona for several years now. The engineers at BIXI learned from the successes in these cities and built a bike share system that is elegant, rugged, and simple to use. Time Magazine recognized BIXI as one of the top inventions of 2008, right behind the Mars Rover.

The BIXI system enables an annual subscriber to take a bike from any kiosk with the swipe of a card and return it to any kiosk by simply pushing it into a dock, which locks automatically. The solar-powered system creates accountability: subscribers sign a user agreement online and the system keeps track of who has each bike at all times. The bikes are designed for short trips in the city, such as across downtown for an appointment or a quick trip to a local market, which in turn reduces pollution and congestion. The bikes are designed to be ridden by people wearing regular clothes and include full fenders, lights and a cargo rack.

Nice Ride Minnesota’s Phase 1 plan calls for 1,000 bikes in 80 kiosks throughout downtown, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus and surrounding commercial districts. Nice Ride expects to have at least 65 of these kiosks in place when it launches Minneapolis’ bike share in June 2010.

Minneapolis joins Boston and London in selecting the BIXI equipment as the best for an urban bike-share system. Nice Ride Minnesota expects to finalize a contract with the PBSC very soon.

The primary funding sources for this purchase come from a Bike Walk Twin Cities (BWTC) grant and a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) sponsorship using proceeds from its historic settlement with tobacco companies.

BWTC is a federally funded initiative to increase biking and walking and reduce driving in Minneapolis and neighboring communities. A program of Transit for Livable Communities, BWTC allocates funds to local governments for safer crosswalks, bike lanes, and other improvements, and works with organizations, businesses and residents on public education about biking and walking options.

Blue Cross’ commitment to promoting prevention and wellness is evident in its anti-smoking campaigns and efforts to fight obesity. The bike-share program will help people to be active and move more making it a strong complement to the Blue Cross do campaign, which encourages everyone to “groove your body every day.” Each bike will display the do message.

Nice Ride Minnesota has also received support from a diverse group of businesses. Target, Augsburg College, Grant Thornton, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Seward Co-op, Wedge Co-op, Equal Exchange, Peace Coffee, Birchwood Cafe, DERO Bike Rack Co. and Aveda have all committed to sponsor Nice Ride bike-share kiosks.

For more information or to offer your support, contact Bill Dossett, Executive Director of Nice Ride Minnesota, at 612-747-4659.

Check out the Nice Ride Minnesota website for even more information and a rollout timeline.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Bookmark It

Hide Sites