Seattle Bike Blog

Last day to tell SDOT Rainer Ave needs bike lanes

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 31, 2017

Phyllis Porter of Rainier Valley Greenways (left) leads community members in a march across the crosswalks holding signs calling for a safer Rainier.

Map of collisions along the study area for Phase II of the Rainier Ave Road Safety Corridor Project.

Rainier Ave needs bike lanes. There’s just no way around it. It’s the flattest and most direct way between Rainier Valley’s biggest business districts and downtown. The neighborhood cannot be truly accessible by bike without Rainier Ave bike lanes.

Today (Thursday) is the final day to complete SDOT’s online open house and survey about plans for the next segment of the Rainier Ave Road Safety Corridor project. If you don’t have time to complete the open house, Cascade Bicycle Club has also created a quick and easy way to email your support.

Unfortunately, as Martin Duke at Seattle Transit Blog points out, the city seems to be pitting transit against bikes with their two options. This is a false dichotomy. We need to prioritize both. It something is going to give, it can’t be bus ridership or street safety. I’m looking at you, on-street car parking.

Both options include on-street parking, and the bike lane option (Alternative 2) actually includes more parking than the bus lane option without bike lanes. Why is car parking mandatory in the city’s plans, but bus and bike lanes are optional? That’s completely backwards. Why not use some of the space for parking in Alternative 2 to instead help speed up buses?

Rainier Ave deserves an Alternative 3 that goes big and bold on safety, walking-friendly business districts and efficient transit. (more…)

tags: rainier ave, rainier valley

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Protected bike lanes coming to Pike/Pine a big improvement, but fall just short

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 30, 2017

From a recent project mailer (PDF)

Pike and Pine Streets downtown are among the biggest missing bike connections downtown, and the city wants to take action to make them safer and more comfortable by the end of the year.

Like with 2nd Ave in 2014, SDOT staff have been moving quickly to get the Pike/Pine bike lanes planned, designed and ready for construction. And even though the planned lanes are far from perfect, they should be a big improvement over the status quo.

For the first time since it was constructed in 2014, the 2nd Ave bike lane will actually connect to another protected bike lane.

Pike and Pine are already heavily used by people biking despite having no bike lanes downtown. The geography of downtown all but requires these streets to be major bike streets because they are the first east-west streets in the northern end of the downtown core that are both relatively flat and do not dead-end into I-5. No street between Pike and Jackson fits this description.

But Pike and Pine don’t just provide a vital east-west role downtown, they are also the best connections between downtown and the city’s densest residential areas on Capitol Hill and First Hill. It’s hard to over-stress how vital safe and connected bike lanes on Pike and Pine are to Seattle’s bikeability. Few bike lane projects in the city could have as big an impact as this.

The 2017 project bites off the most difficult chunks of the Pike/Pine connection, including links to the 2nd Ave bike lane (and Pike Place Market) and through the heart of the downtown retail core. The bike lanes will be on the left-hand side of each one-way street (Pike eastbound, Pine westbound) to keep the right-hand side for bus lanes. Turning conflicts should be eliminated either by new restrictions on motor vehicle left turns or through new bike signals to separate the biking and turning phases.

Work on the new connections is set to begin in September and should come online around the same time as the under-construction 2nd Ave bike lane extension through Belltown to Seattle Center, which should open in the autumn. Some key pieces of the Basic Bike Network are coming together. (more…)

tags: basic bike network, downtown, pike/pine, sdot

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The 2017 Your Voice, Your Choice recipient projects

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 29, 2017

From the very start, the city’s revamped neighborhood parks and street funding process was a victim of its own success. Early outreach generated around 900 projects ideas from community members.

This was a huge increase in participation compared to the previous process, which went through the Neighborhood District Councils. But with only $2 million to go around, very few of those proposed projects could become reality.

In other words, the limited budget all but guaranteed a lot of people would be disappointed.

Well, the list is here (actually, I’m a bit slow to post it). Funds were divided evenly across City Council Districts, and the final projects were narrowed down after rounds of professional study and public voting.

There are some great projects here. And the process was certainly more transparent than the old Neighborhood District Council process, where projects could be approved or killed on the whims of individual District Council members. (more…)

tags: your voice your choice parks & streets

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Weekend Guide: Star Wars Critical Mass, Urban Ag Tour, bike parades + more!

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 25, 2017

It goes without saying that you should probably spend your whole weekend on a bike. And hey, now that there are thousands of $1 bikes all over the city, you can’t use your bike’s flat tire as an excuse.

Here’s a quick look at just some of the bikey events happening this weekend. If you know of anything big that I’m missing, be sure to let us know in the comments below. And, of course, anyone can add events for free to Seattle Bike Blog’s Events Calendar.

You can also check out the FREE BIKE calendar for more bike events in the area through September 22. Perhaps this is the time to try your hand at organizing your own bike event.

Friday

Safe Routes to School Bike Rodeo – Brighton Playfield 1–5 p.m. (more…)

tags: weekend guide

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ofo launches in Seattle, but their goal is ‘unlocking every corner of the world’

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 24, 2017

In story after story about ofo, writers trained to capitalize company names write “Ofo.” But there’s a reason to type the name in all lowercase letters: The typography looks a bit like someone riding a bike. ofo

This is part of the $2 billion company’s global strategy, a name that transcends language much like the humble bicycles they hope to offer the whole world.

“Our founders from the beginning thought that the bicycle is a global language,” said VP of ofo U.S. Grace Lin, “that bicycles can be a link to connect people and a way for people to live more healthily and extend their reach.”

And the Beijing-based company’s stated goal is enormous: “To unlock every corner of the world, and to make bicycles accessible to anyone, anytime, anywhere,” said Lin.

And though that sounds like a lot of bluster, ofo already has more than 8 million bicycles in operation, mostly in China, and claims to serve more than 25 million daily rides.

To top that off, ofo received $700 million in venture capital last month with its eyes set on global expansion. And Seattle is their first city in the United States. By the end of the year, the company hopes to be in more than ten U.S. cities.

“In a few months or in a year” Lin said she hopes many people across North America “will make bike share a part of their transportation options.”

So far, there are a few hundred ofo bikes on Seattle streets, and the company is rolling more out gradually and consistently. Maintenance staff will scale up as the number of bikes increases. Their permit allows up to 1,000 bikes now, increasing to 2,000 September 7. (more…)

tags: bike share, ofo

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Spin/LimeBike announce access for people without smart phones or credit cards + Spin offers 50¢ rides for ORCA Lift holders

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 23, 2017

Spin outreach staff spreading the word about the company on opening day in July.

Spin and LimeBike have both announced new ways for people without smart phones, data plans or a credit/debit card to access their bike share services.

People will soon be able to buy pre-paid Spin Access cards at Bike Works in Columbia City that include an access code and a phone number to text to unlock a bike. So you still need a phone, but any phone that can send text messages should work.

And to make the Spin program even better, anyone with an ORCA Lift transit card can get the passes for half price. That means 50-cent rides for people who have already qualified for the low-income transit pass. Just show your ORCA Lift card at the register.

This announcement comes about a week after LimeBike started accepting cash payments at its Fremont headquarters. In the LimeBike program, users can call a phone number to unlock a bike after loading cash into their accounts in person. And though LimeBike did not mention a discount for ORCA Life users, the company said rides for students only cost 50 cents.

Seriously, what even costs 50 cents anymore? A gum ball? You could take three discount Spin trips for the cost of a single discount transit fare. If your work is within a half hour ride, a week of round trip commutes would cost $5 (if it is within an hour ride, your week’s commute bill would be $10) (CORRECTED MATH). That’s a week of biking for a fraction of the cost of a single Uber or Lyft ride. And since the average cost to own, operate, insure and maintain a car in the U.S. is $8,500 per year, that’s equivalent to nearly 17,000 discount Spin rides. If you averaged three rides per day, it would take nearly 16 years to reach the cost of a single year of car ownership. The difference is so vast that the math gets a little silly.

In a city where everything just keeps getting more expensive, these companies are offering new services that slash transportation costs. Transportation is one of the biggest costs of living, so that’s a pretty big deal. (more…)

tags: bike share, limebike, spin

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