It’s time for the weekly Bike News Roundup! As always, this is an open thread.
First up, Berkeley threw their first Sunday Streets ciclovia-style event. It’s time for Seattle to throw down and hold a center city ciclovia (“SEAclovia?”):
First-Ever Sunday Streets Event Transforms Downtown Berkeley from Streetfilms on Vimeo.
Pacific Northwest News:
- Could an urban gondola solve the Montlake Mess? | montlaker – with room for a bike?
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We just got word that Eckstein will be getting another mini-grant from SDOT to help with next year’s bike program! Woo-hoo! Thanks SDOT!
— Eckstein Bikes (@Eckstein_Bikes) December 13, 2012
- 2 | Kickstarting: Finally, Stylish Cycling Fashions For Ladies | Co.Design: business + innovation + design
- Protruding Metro bus ‘bulbs’ work, but at the expense of drivers | The Seattle Times – Again, a balanced transportation story given an unnecessarily combative headline. “Expense”? TRANSIT REDUCES CONGESTION. Slower buses mean fewer bus riders means more traffic. We’re all in this transportation thing together. All talk of buses vs drivers vs walkers vs bikers is pointless.
- In ‘war on cars,’ Seattle has some catching up to do | Seattle Times – See above.
- SDOT Blog » Pedestrian Master Plan shines a light on lighting
- Cyclists and Pedestrians Can End Up Spending More Each Month Than Drivers – Commute – The Atlantic Cities – “spending more” being a good thing in this case.
- BikePortland.org » City reports double digit bike to school rates for first time ever
- The Bicyclist’s Gift Guide « Cascade Bike Blog – All I want for Christmas is more advertisers :-)
- Seattle Speeders Give School Zone Cameras Something to Click About | The SunBreak
- Gregoire Prepares to Push More Highways – Seattle Transit Blog – Sigh…
Halftime Show! Mikael Colville-Andersen of Copenhagenize fame talks about the key difference between “engineering” and “designing” urban spaces. I love how he describes great people-oriented ideas being stopped by some computer program in a city office.
National & Global News:
- Google Maps for iPhone on the iTunes App Store – But it doesn’t have bike directions?!!?!? #$%#@$%
- Bicycle Perth: The crazy paths of Amberton – Weird!
- Danish History: How Copenhagen became bike-friendly again | Grid Chicago – At its lowest point, Copenhagen still had ten percent mode share.
- If You Build Bike Lanes, They Will Ride | Bikes on GOOD – Duh!
- Population Adjusted Vehicle Miles – Business Insider – No more highway expansions!
- Cyclists: the new rich? – a Bike Culture article on Cyclorama – Without the cost of a car, you can afford so many things that are way more fun.
- It’s time we stopped living with roads that are killing us – The Washington Post
- What’s Behind the Rise in Cyclist and Pedestrian Deaths? | Streetsblog.net
- 9 people, including a baby, hit by cars in separate incidents – thestar.com – In just a 45 minutes on Toronto morning. Terrifying.
- Road Rage is Precious | Cycling Sojourner – Surprising reflection on road rage.
- Streetfilms | ‘Tis the Season for Driving An Acura Like a Maniac
- Will We Finally See an Increase to State and Federal Gas Taxes? – Politics – The Atlantic Cities
- What do you think about Adventure Cycling Association? » Biking Bis – Take this survey
- The Effects of Climate Change in One Gorgeous, Terrifying Video – Technology – The Atlantic Cities
Comments
4 responses to “Bike News Roundup: Seriously, it’s time for SEAclovia”
Thinking out loud about the bike rack conversation from a few posts ago…
What do you think the “correct” amount of bike parking is? Clearly what we have today is too little. But I do catch myself sometimes getting upset about having to walk a block to lock my bike to a rack. I don’t honestly think that’s unreasonable, if I really stop to consider it. I would never expect to park a car directly in front of where I wanted to go in Seattle, unless it were by pure luck (or they offer a parking lot).
But again, I think the amount of bike parking we have today is too little, at least in many commercial districts. The city agreed with this, but we are not on track to meet the goals established a few years ago for the number of bike racks to be installed by 2017. We need to do better.
I personally think that bike corrals make a lot more sense than sidewalk bike racks. Sidewalks in many areas (like, for example, downtown Ballard, often identified as a bike-rack-deficient area) are already rather cramped due to the amount of pedestrian traffic they carry. Adding racks in these areas just doesn’t make sense, in my opinion. It’s much easier to justify simply allocating a parking space to a bike corral.
We could put these corrals in predictable spots: for example, always in the last parking space of a block. That way, you immediately know where to find them. One per block downtown, two per block on major commercial strips.
Of course this would generate complaints about lost parking spots. One way you could address this would be to put the corrals where it’s already illegal to park cars anyway — within 30 feet of stop signs or 20 feet of crosswalks. Bike corrals don’t impede visibility in the same way that large SUVs or trucks do.
I agree that increased bike parking is not the top issue facing people on bikes. And walking a block is not all that bad of a thing.
However, if a business wants a bike rack so badly they are willing to pay permits for one that they have to bring inside at night, then clearly there should be a mechanism for installing a permanent, public one. That’s my main beef.
I thought that November to March in the area was already “Ba(llard)clovia” wearing weather!
Vancouver’s first bike corral was put in where there wasn’t enough room to have a car parking spot so nobody complained. It’s been a hit.
http://www.mainwriter.com/2010/08/20/east-van-pilot-project-on-street-bike-racks/