Seattle Bike Blog

Want to learn how to be a bike advocate? Register for Cascade’s ‘virtual ALI’

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 2, 2020

Screenshot from the Cascade/WA Bikes email.

Cascade Bicycle Club is transforming its excellent Advocacy Leadership Institute into an online training course. So if you want to learn more about how to be a bike advocate, organize a campaign or tell your personal story, this could be a great fit. I mean, you’re not going anywhere anyway, right?

It’s a six-week course that starts April 21, and because it is online it is open to anyone in Washington State. That’s one advantage of holding it online rather than in-person. The deadline to apply is April 10, just fill out this form. Oh, and it’s free.

More details from Cascade:

While our first responders, hospital workers, and others are on the front lines of COVID-19, many of us are rightfully obeying ‘stay home, stay healthy’ orders during these unprecedented times. That is why here at Cascade we are rethinking our community gatherings, trainings, and community building.

After eight years of sharing our Advocacy Leadership Institute (ALI) trainings in person, we’re excited to announce that we’re going virtual. The good news – that means ALI is now open to Cascade advocates across the state!

During our virtual six week ALI series, we’re sharing the same great content – including tools on how to develop your own unique story and plan an advocacy campaign. We’re also bringing together speakers to share their work and discuss how we continue working with others. You will hear from news reporters, other advocates, and elected officials on how to best make an impact – and help advance the issue that you care about most.

If you care about bicycling and want to be a more effective organizer in your community, or are interested in learning how to mobilize your neighbors to stand behind important bicycling projects that will make our streets great places to ride, please join us for the virtual Advocacy Leadership Institute program during April-June 2020.

tags: advocacy leadership institute, cascade bicycle club, washington bikes

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JUMP is offering free rides to essential workers + City is adding bike parking where needed to ease crunch

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 1, 2020

To help people get around during the COVID-19 outbreak, Seattle’s only bike share company JUMP is offering free 30-minute rides to essential workers during the stay-at-home order (“at least”). Workplaces just need to email [email protected] to get ride codes they can send out to employees.

Bike share is an interesting option during this outbreak because while it is a shared object in public, you really don’t come into contact with many parts of it while using it. JUMP says it is disinfecting the bikes every time they are serviced, including every time workers replace dead batteries with charged ones. But there is no way to guarantee that the bike has been disinfected between rides, so you have to assume it has not and take your own precautions.

If you are disinfecting the bike with Lysol-style wipes, be sure to wipe down all the parts you touch including the locking mechanism, the seat clamp, the back of the saddle and, of course, the handlebar grips and brake levers. It’s also a good idea to sanitize your hands once you are all adjusted and ready to start pedaling in case you end up touching your face during the ride. And, of course, you should sanitize or wash your hands when the ride is over.

The good news is that ultraviolet rays from the sun are a great disinfectant. The bad news is we live in Seattle, so that’s not very reliable.

The city also announced in a recent blog post that SDOT is working with JUMP to install extra bike parking in places where it is needed. With a lot of people turning to bikes as an affordable, reliable and socially-distant way of getting around, bike parking crunches are likely. And the last thing a healthcare or grocery worker needs right now is to waste time trying to find a place to lock up or spend their shift worrying about whether their bike is secure.

tags: bike share, covid-19, jump, sdot

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Watch: With the West Seattle high bridge closed, here are some popular bike routes to get across the Duwamish River

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 31, 2020

Transcript (auto-generated .txt)

There is still no timeline for reopening the West Seattle high bridge, by far the most-traveled way to get across the Duwamish River and connect to the rest of the city. In the meantime, the lower Spokane Street swing bridge and its walking and biking trail is still open, making biking a vital way for people to get to and from the neighborhood.

The full impact of the closure has not yet been felt because so many residents are on lockdown in their homes due to the outbreak. But there are still many people with essential jobs or who need to make essential trips, and biking may be their best option. This will especially be the case if the bridge is still closed when workplaces reopen.

So I reached out to Anthony Palmieri, a member of the local bike advocacy group West Seattle Bike Connections, to ask him what advice he would give new riders. He also helped walk through some basic bike routes people can take from various parts of the peninsula, including the Alki/North Admiral, the Fauntleroy Ferry, the Junction, White Center/Delridge and South Park. I then put together a Google Earth tour to help you visualize the routes. The goal of the video was to demystify these bike routes a bit. They are mostly comfortable and easy once you know the way, and some parts are even kind of magical and wonderful.

Palmieri urged anyone who is interested in biking but needs some more specific advice or help to reach out to West Seattle Bike Connections. Their volunteers are happy to help. Join their Facebook Group or email them at [email protected].

WSBC played a vital community role during the winter 2019 Alaskan Way Viaduct closure, hosting how-to rides and sharing bike route knowledge. Bike counts across the low bridge registered August numbers in January that year, taking a lot of pressure off the transportation system.

tags: anthony palmieri, lower west seattle bridge, sdot, upper west seattle bridge, video, west seattle, west seattle bike connections

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Bike Works reopens shop by appointment only, offers medical and grocery workers 50% off repairs

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 30, 2020

Image from Bike Works.

Bike Works was among the first major bike organizations in Seattle to shut down operations amid the COVID-19 outbreak, doing so well before Governor Jay Inslee’s order requiring many businesses and education services to close.

Staff have been working for the past three weeks to reorganize Bike Works’ Columbia City community bike shop to create an online store and a socially-distant way of operating so they could reopen the shop safely and keep folks in the southend rolling. The biggest change is that they are asking people not to visit the shop without first making an appointment. You can do so my calling the shop (206.725.8867) or emailing Josh. You can also call if you have any questions.

In addition, they put together a new online store, so you can browse there instead of going into the shop. Then you can just make an appointment to swing by and pick up whatever you ordered. They will disinfect bikes before giving them to you. They can’t offer test rides, but are offering a 30-day return policy if it doesn’t work for you.

In declaring the state’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order — Washington’s version of a shelter-in-place order — Governor Inslee created an exception for bike repair shops, citing them as an essential service. With many people avoiding transit, where it can be difficult to maintain proper social distancing, biking has become an even more vital and affordable way to get around for essential workers or people making essential trips. Bike Works is among the relatively few southend bike shops, so it’s great that they are finding a way to responsibly reopen.

On that note, they are also offering medical and grocery workers a big 50% discount on repairs, including parts and labor. That’s an awesome service for community members who are doing so much for us right now.

Of course, Bike Works is much more than a shop. Its other work, such as its popular after-school programs, remain on hiatus. (more…)

tags: bike works, covid-19

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King County Parks closure includes County-run trails, though they remain open for essential transportation only

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 27, 2020

The Burke-Gilman Trail north of Seattle is a King County Parks trail. Image from King County Parks.

King County Parks took an extraordinary step this week to close all its parks in an attempt to further discourage people from crowding or gathering as we fight the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. And unless you are an essential worker or are accomplishing an essential task (like going to the grocery store or a doctor’s appointment), that means county-run trails are closed, too.

While Governor Jay Inslee did say that getting outside for exercise is still allowed so long as you practice social distancing, the County does not want to you do so on its trail network. This includes about half of the 300+ miles of regional trails in the county, including sections of the Burke-Gilman, Sammamish River, Interurban South, Green River, Cedar River, Eastrail and Snoqualmie Valley Trails to name a few. It does not include any trails within the Seattle city limits or trails operated by WSDOT (like most of the I-90 and 520 Trails). There are also sections of regional trails under the control of local municipalities (like the Cross-Kirkland Corridor stretch of the Eastrail) that are not affected.

So yes, it’s a little confusing. The average user probably has no idea when they’ve crossed from a municipally-managed trail segment to a County one (sometimes there will be a King county branded sign letting you know, but not always). But we’re in an emergency, so do your best to follow official public health guidance and forgive some sloppiness in the rules.

And regardless of who operates a trail, the spirit of the King County ban should be on your mind. We talked about this a bit in our post: Let’s talk about responsible biking during this pandemic. Even if a trail is open and the governor says its OK to bike for recreation, you have to avoid bunching or crowding. If that means exiting the trail, waiting or turning around, then that’s what you’ve got to do. Residential streets are your friend right now, since they are typically wide open. Some stretches of trail have plenty of space, but others get crowded. It would be great if folks had more space to spread out, but that’s no excuse for joining a crowd right now. Six feet of separation is a minimum.

Here’s the official trail use guidance from King County Parks:

If an individual is part of the essential workforce and needs to commute for work or needs to accomplish essential tasks by using the King County Parks regional trail network (i.e. grocery store, doctors appointment, etc.) they are allowed to do so. Individuals who use trails for these purposes should follow social distancing guidelines and our standard trail rules and etiquette.

Non-essential use of the RTS remains closed as part of the ongoing efforts to protect public health and curb transmission of COVID-19.

tags: king county parks

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One idea for socially distant outdoor space: Make roadways like Lake Washington Blvd and the I-5 Express Lanes car-free

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

March 26, 2020

Seattle this week closed parking lots at eight busy parks to discourage congregating and enforce social distancing. This was a wise move, as crowds were a bit too dense in many places, including Alki Beach, Seward Park, Green Lake and Golden Gardens.

But while closing parking lots is one way to reduce the number of people gathered in those places, the city, county and state should also consider opportunities for opening more wide-open space to recreation so people can safely and responsibly get around if they are headed to the grocery store or an essential job, or get outside if they are just trying to get some exercise and unwind from the stress of it all.

Traffic has plummeted across the city, which is great because that means people are staying home. It also means that there is a lot of excess street space lying around right now, an asset we might be able to put to better use during this time.

This conversation has been going on in cities all over the world, and really gained steam when Bogota, Colombia, made some of its world-inspiring Cicolovía routes open 24/7 to help people get around without packing into crowded transit. But, of course, Bogota has been hosting these massive open streets events for decades, so they have it down and residents are familiar with them. It is a much bigger ask to request that a city start a whole new open streets program in midst of the COVID-19 shutdown.

Open streets, especially on busy streets through dense areas, will likely require a ton of coordination, communication and on-the-ground workers in order to make them safe and functional. In general, the more intersections (especially big intersections) along the route, the more money and staff are required to make them work as part of an open streets event. As much as I would like to say the city should create a citywide network of car-free streets, I know that such a project would be immense and require a significant budget and a lot of staffing. I would love to be wrong, but I doubt this is a reasonable use of city resources at this exact moment in time.

However, Seattle doesn’t need to start from scratch. Like Bogota, we have experience with open streets that we could enact right now without dedicating a ton of resources. (more…)

tags: covid-19

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