Seattle Bike Blog

Opening May 1: Shoreline Bike Shack brings community-powered repair resources to the Tool Library

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 25, 2024

The Shoreline Bike Shack is part of the Shoreline Tool Library.
A few years ago, Ryan Townsend needed a cheap way to get his bike fixed. His search led him to the NE Seattle Tool Library, which had absorbed the volunteer-run Bike Shack. Not only did he find the tools and advice he needed, he also found a community.
“I started volunteering with essentially no experience other than how to adjust my brakes,” Townsend said. “It’s really cool to be able to meet all my neighbors and help out.” Now he not only has bike repair skills, he is the member of the tool library’s steering committee in charge of opening a second Bike Shack along the Interurban Trail in Shoreline May 1. To start they will be open Wednesdays from 5–8 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. But stay tuned for a potential expansion of hours in the future. They will also be hosting a Bike Everywhere Day station all day May 17.
The Shoreline Bike Shack seems poised to take the concept to the next level. Located in a densifying area without a nearby full-service bike shop, the Shoreline Bike Shack has already attracted a lot of volunteer interest. Their trailside location just north of N 165th St (one block south of the cemetery) should also make it easy for bicycling community members to find them.
Unlike most other elements of the NE Seattle and Shoreline Tool Libraries, the bike tools are not available for people to take home. Instead, the shop space is open to anyone who wants to bring their bike to the community space and use the tools. A volunteer will be on hand to help, but the goal is for people to learn how to do the repairs themselves. Volunteers range in skill level from newbies to retired professional bike mechanics, but all new volunteers shadow an experienced volunteer for a few weeks before taking shifts on their own.
Did I mention that it is free? Well, there are suggested donations for shop time, parts and a membership, but they will not turn anyone away for lack of funds. The shop operated on a first-come, first-served basis, but you can also fill out their assistance request form to give them a heads up that you are coming and will likely need some help.
The Bike Shack aims to be able to help handle most bike maintenance and repair jobs that a regular shop would do. But at the very least, they can help triage an issue and point someone in the right direction. Though selling bikes isn’t their main goal, they often have a bike two for sale for someone who needs one.
As part of the non-profit tool library, they are also dedicated to the goal of building a collection of tools for as many different part sizes and standards as possible. So if you have an old bottom bracket tool or headset press or whatever for an old bike you don’t even own anymore, the Bike Shack would be an excellent place to donate it. They are also looking for volunteers of all skill levels, even people who have no bike repair experience at all but want to learn. If you want to donate, volunteer or ask any other questions, email them at [email protected].
Likewise, if you have an old bike made of outdated or proprietary parts, then the Bike Shack could be a great place to go to find that weird tool you need. Don’t spend a bunch of money buying some old tool off eBay that you’re only going to use one time. That’s what the tool library is for.
The opening of the Shoreline Bike Shack feels like the third generation of the Bike Shack, which really did start in a shack in north Seattle. It was absorbed by the NE Seattle Tool Library, and now it is expanding to a new community that needs it.
They also accept bikes and parts for donation. Though they have limited space for stockpiling stuff, anything they can’t use is donated onto Bike Works. But they could especially use donations of consumable bike goods like chains and cables. I asked Townsend for a list, and this is what he sent:
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tags: bike shack, ne seattle tool library, shoreline, shoreline bike shack, shoreline tool library

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Council passes the Seattle Transportation Plan with few changes

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 24, 2024
The bicycle facilities map in the mayor’s proposed Seattle Transportation Plan.
After making very few changes, the City Council passed the Seattle Transportation Plan (“STP”) this week, supplanting the 2014 Bicycle Master Plan and sending it to the city archives.
The STP is an ambitious document that attempts to combine all the city’s modal plans and transportation priorities into a single mega plan, resolving as many modal conflicts in advance of project development. Project development should go much more smoothly since the guidance for each street has been predetermined at a high level. Or at least that is the city’s hope. Now that the STP is official city policy, we will soon see how the framework holds up under pressure.
Seattle Bike Blog is still moving through our neighborhood-by-neighborhood analyses of the new plan, and posts about Central, NE and NW Seattle are coming soon. But the council did not have much of an appetite for making changes to the plan after it left Mayor Harrell’s office. Aside from a handful of minor changes and some additional whereas clauses, these are the Council’s substantive changes (PDF):
- Boost the section about building missing sidewalks
- Water down the 14th Ave NW bike lane in the plan
- Slightly water down the Pike Place Event Street proposal and rename it the Pike Place Access Review project (the adopted change is significantly less extensive than CM Kettle’s initial suggestion to defund the project, which received a lot of pushback)
Additionally, Council added a section outlining what they would like to see from future implementation plans, which you can find in their omnibus amendment (PDF):
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tags: 2024 Seattle Transportation Plan, 2024 transportation funding measure, bruce harrell, city council, sdot

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A new Eastside bike map just dropped

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 23, 2024

The Move Redmond Station Access Map’s bike and transit overview (PDF). Online version and other views are available on the Move Redmond website. Physical copies will be available at various community events like the 2 Line opening celebration and the Move Redmond open streets festivals June 22 and August 17.
It has been a long time since King County stopped maintaining a bike map. Seattle releases their updated map every year, but it ends at the city limits. But folks biking on the Eastside are mostly left to cobble together route info from wherever they can find it.
That’s why I have been very excited about Move Redmond’s new map. Full disclosure: My spouse Kelli is the Executive Director of Move Redmond, so I’ve been watching them develop their new Station Access Map for a while now. They created it as a way to help people figure out the walking, biking and transit options available to get them to and from the 2 Line light rail stations that are set to open Saturday (April 27). But in the process, they also created a unified Redmond, Kirkland and Bellevue bike map for the first time in a decade.
The design of this thing is excellent. It was crafted by Oran Viriyincy, a very talented mapmaker who previously designed the also excellent Seattle Transit Map. Oran has somehow managed to clearly communicate a lot of information without making the map appear overwhelming or confusing. You can find all the current bike routes, trails and bus lines in addition to the new light rail lines. But if you keep looking, there even more to unpack. For example, there’s a faint yellow dashed outline showing all areas within a 10 minute bike ride of a 2 Line station.
Though the utility of the 2 Line won’t be fully unlocked until it crosses Lake Washington, this is a big moment for the Eastside. Ever since suburban development began, cars have been the default way of getting around the area for a lot of residents, workers and visitors. Transit, walking and biking have been gradually becoming more and more important as Eastside communities get denser, setting up what could be a watershed moment when light rail service begins. This is a chance for people to redraw their mental maps of the Eastside based not on the locations of freeways and off-ramps but on the pathways to transit stations. This is a chance for people to invent entirely new transportation options for themselves. That bus route that used to take too long to get you where you need to go may now get you to light rail. That long and intimidating bike ride to Bellevue Transit Center may now be a shorter and easier bike ride to a 2 Line station with secure bike parking (also marked on the map). Or maybe you can just bike the whole way after all now that you can see where the bike lanes are.
(more…)

tags: 2 line, bellevue, bike map, kelli refer, kirkland, move redmond, oran viriyincy, redmond, sound transit

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Support trail funding in the next King County Parks levy

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 22, 2024

The King County trail network is on the precipice of next-level greatness. Our regional trails are already backbones for recreation and bicycle transportation, but major sections and connections along the EasTrail are just now coming online with more coming in the next couple years. The East Lake Sammamish Trail also opened last year, closing a long and difficult chapter in the county’s trail-building history. With each completed section, the region’s trails grow closer and closer to becoming a fully functional network that can bring together communities that for so long have felt far apart due to a lack of safe biking and walking routes.
A lot of the funding for all this amazing work has come from the King County Parks Levy, which typically goes to voters every six years. The current levy expires at the end of 2025, so the county is beginning their outreach to craft the next version for a vote in the summer or fall of 2025.
Take the county’s survey by April 29 to show support for increasing their excellent trail-building and community-connecting work. There is also a virtual community meeting 6 p.m. April 23 (tomorrow).
The existing $810 million levy passed on an August 2019 primary ballot with more than 70% in favor, an overwhelming landslide. The 2013 $396 million levy also received 70% support. The county was able to double the levy without losing any voter support. King County residents love their parks and trails and are eager to continue supporting this work.
The next levy will be a remarkable chance to connect trail investments the county, state and individual municipalities have been making for decades. For example, the Lake to Sound Trail from Des Moines to Renton could connect to the EasTrail, the Cedar River Trail and bike routes into Seattle. This would make Renton a hub of regional bike routes, the jumping off point for all kinds of adventures across the county. How amazing would that be? But it’s going to take a lot of work and funding to get there.
From a King County Parks levy info sheet (PDF).

tags: king county parks, king county parks levy

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Sunday: Can you complete the Ride for Major Taylor/Bike Works fundraiser doubleheader?

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 18, 2024

I sure hope you didn’t have any other plans on Sunday, because you can do bikes bikes bikes morning ’til night. Bike Works Executive Director Ed Ewing pitched to Seattle Bike Blog that people could attempt a Ride for Major Taylor/Bikecitement doubleheader. Are you up for the challenge?
Route map for the long route, from Cascade.
The day kicks off with Cascade Bicycle Club’s annual Ride for Major Taylor, which is quietly one of the the organization’s best rides of the year. And this year’s long route will be a banger. It’s a 62-mile loop that starts in White Center and heads south to Tacoma before catching a ferry to Vashon, then a second ferry to Fauntleroy before heading back to White Center. That’s right, it’s a double-ferry route showcasing the two main options for biking from Seattle to Tacoma. There is also a shorter 26-mile loop with no ferry rides for those not ready to bike all the way to Tacoma and back.
But don’t wait. Registration closes at midnight tonight (April 18). The ride is a major fundraiser for Cascade’s education programming, including their excellent Major Taylor Project.
Also, remember that the Spokane Street Bridge trail will be out of service, so plan your route to the start line accordingly.
Bikecitement 2024
Bike Works’ annual fundraiser Bikecitement is Sunday evening. This is by far the most fun of all the transportation-related fundraiser parties in town. It’s even fun for people who aren’t fundraiser types of people. I mean, just look at the Dreamcycle poster. What is happening?!?

tags: bike works, bikecitement 2024, cascade bicycle club, events, ride for major taylor

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How Mayor Harrell’s proposed transportation levy compares

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

April 16, 2024

The $930 million Move Seattle Levy was the most ambitious city transportation levy in the U.S. in 2015, but it also overpromised on what it could feasibly deliver for those dollars. The result is that Seattle has completed a lot of great work while also failing to meet the goals promised to voters, especially for transit but also for walking and biking.
Now, nine years later, Mayor Bruce Harrell is proposing a larger eight-year, $1.35 billion transportation levy to replace the Move Seattle Levy when it expires at the end of this year. That is a 45% increase in total, but a 63% (24% when adjusted for inflation) increase per year since the new levy will be in effect for one fewer year. Though most spending categories would see increases in the new levy, some increases outpace others, and other increases do not keep up with inflation. You can see more details and provide public feedback via the city’s online engagement website.
Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, Disability Rights Washington and a coalition of other organizations are holding an Earth Day rally 2 p.m. Saturday (April 20) at Jimi Hendrix Park calling for “more housing and better transportation” from Seattle’s transportation levy and comprehensive plan.
The 2015 and 2024 levy proposals break out their funding levels slightly differently, so it’s a bit difficult to compare them directly. I created a spreadsheet that combines categories that seem to cover similar work to get an idea of where the bulk of the increases will go. The Move Seattle Levy figures come from this spending proposal document (PDF) and the Harrell levy figures from from this summary document (PDF). My spreadsheet includes one sheet with the numbers for each as stated and another in which I attempted to combine funding pools to make it easier to compare the changes:
Table by Seattle Bike Blog. The 2015 and proposed 2024 levies do not use identical funding categories, making a direct comparison difficult. We combined funding categories to make them more comparable, but they may not be perfect. Dollar figures are in millions. $1 in 2015 is equal to about $1.32 in 2024 after inflation, so any percent change lower than 32% is effectively a cut.
(more…)

tags: 2024 transportation funding measure, bruce harrell, disability rights washington, move seattle levy, seattle neighborhood greenways

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