Seattle Bike Blog

Bike share ridership keeps climbing quickly, Spin and LimeBike start rolling out city’s next 1,000 bikes

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 8, 2017

See our Seattle Bike Share Guide for an updated list of bike share companies in Seattle, links to download their apps and a quick rundown on how it all works.

This Spin bike has an upgraded headlight. The company is rolling out improved bikes with better headlights and lower gears.

LimeBike says its first 500 bikes saw “about 10,000 rides” in their first week of action. When added to Spin’s total the same week, Seattle’s 1,000 bike share bikes likely quadrupled Pronto’s best week ever and surpassed even Portland’s Biketown in its first week of operations in July 2016 with the same number of bikes.

This is a big deal because Portland has significantly higher biking rates, many more miles of connected bike infrastructure and is much less hilly than Seattle. So if the same number of bikes is doing the same or better here compared to there, that’s eye-opening.

Spin declined to give us a ride count for the same week, but CEO Derrick Ko said that combined with LimeBike’s reported total, the two companies “significantly bested” Biketown’s opening week ride count of 13,402.

The days of comparing these new bike share systems to Pronto are already over. We’re in all-new territory for West Coast bike share. Because unlike Biketown, the bike share companies in Seattle are not stopping at 1,000. Starting Monday, Spin and LimeBike started rolling out their next 500 bikes each. Both companies say they are adding bikes gradually all week, so Seattle’s bike share total should be up to 2,000 in a couple days.

Two more companies, VBikes and ofo, have also submitted permits to operate in Seattle and could add 1,000 each if approved. And in one month, companies will be able to increase their bike counts to 2,000 each. Then in October, caps will be lifted. That’s really the start of stage two for this new private bike share experiment in Seattle: The search for the magic number of bikes needed to best serve our city (and, of course, win riders and make money).

ofo in particular has an enormous amount of investment capital behind it, having raised $700 million just last month. They claim that riders have taken two billion (like, with a “b”) rides on their 2.5 million bikes in operation, mostly in cities in Asia. They also have my favorite bike share company name because if you type ofo lowercase, the letters look a bit like someone on a bike. Cute! (more…)

tags: bike share, limebike, spin

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Five miles of the Eastside Trail could open by the end of the year

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 7, 2017

From the Eastside Rail Corridor Master Plan.

Five miles of the Eastside Trail are on schedule to open by the end of the year, including a mile extension from the current end of the Cross Kirkland Corridor Trail and four miles of trail between Renton and Newport Beach Park just south of I-90.

These interim trail sections will be hardpack gravel, similar to Kirkland’s existing section of the trail. Hardpack gravel is very bikeable using any kind of bike and is much cheaper and easier to build while the full, multi-million-dollar paved vision for the trail is developed and funded.

Speaking of the full trail vision, that is also moving forward. King County recently selected its preferred alternative as recommended in the Eastside Rail Corridor Master Plan that the King County Council approved 9-0 back in February. This boring-sounding step is an important technical step closer to crafting a construction-ready trail design. The sooner the County has designs in hand, the sooner they can begin the search for grants to help fund it.

The single biggest gap in the trail is also the biggest potential asset of the whole plan: The Wilburton Trestle. This amazing, towering railroad structure in Bellevue needs to be rehabbed in order to host the trail, and it’s going to be the single most expensive part of the whole plan. State, regional and private partners have already committed $10 million of the $13.5 million trestle project budget.

Combined with a nearby I-405 crossing that is planned as part of a state freeway project, the two most seemingly insurmountable hurdles for the trail could be cleared within a couple years. Compared to the trestle and the I-405 crossing, the rest of the trail should be a cakewalk (yes, I know, knock on wood, salt over the shoulder, etc). Trail projects of this magnitude often take decades to be completed (for example, the first section of the Burke-Gilman Trail opened in the 70s, and the Ballard section is still incomplete), so this is basically light speed for a major trail in a developed area.

If everything lines up perfectly, the full trail could be open in 2020 or 2021.

There are two open houses in September for those interested in the sections opening this year and what construction will be like (see details below). Cascade Bicycle Club also has a new action signup form if you want to stay up to date on the project and be ready to voice your support when needed.

Here are the sections scheduled to open by the end of 2017: (more…)

tags: eastside rail corridor, eastside trail

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You can now take a bus hiking on weekends, and there are spaces for bikes

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 4, 2017

Photo from King County Metro.

King County Metro and King County Parks have partnered to launch a new transit-to-trailheads service that starts tomorrow. And each shuttle will have two spaces for bicycles.

The shuttle starts at Issaquah Transit Center and makes stops at trailheads throughout the “Issaquah Alps” at Margaret’s Way, Poo Poo Point and East Sunset Way before swinging by the Issaquah Highlands Transit Center and returning to the Issaquah Transit Center.

Shuttles will run every half hour from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays tomorrow through October.

This effort could help improve access to hiking for people who don’t own cars and help ease increasing parking crunches near area trailheads.

“We’ve been seeing alternative transportation as a necessary part of the solution,” said Ben Hughey with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust. He credited King County Parks with taking the initiative to reach out to Metro to make this happen. “Issaquah is the natural first step for showing demand for a hiking shuttle.”

More on how the shuttle came to be, from Seattle Transit Blog: (more…)

tags: issaquah, king county metro, king county parks, transit to trails

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City updates Northgate bike/walk bridge design, open house Thursday

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 3, 2017

The city is ready to unveil the latest design for the Northgate biking and walking bridge, set to open in 2020 to connect the under-construction Northgate Station to North Seattle College.

They are hosting a drop-in open house Thursday (today) from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the Hampton Inn near the station site (map). An online open house is set to go live Thursday as well.

The project is funded through a partnership of the city, state and Sound Transit.

More details from SDOT: (more…)

tags: northgate, northgate station bridge

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The Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board is seeking new members

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 2, 2017

The agenda for the August meeting (tonight!) is a good example of what a typical meeting is like.

The Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board is a great way to get more hands on with bike projects in the city and get some government experience at the same time. It’s a volunteer gig that meets the first Wednesday of every month for two hours, though there is usually more work to do between meetings.

The Bike Board gets early looks at public projects that affect bicycling, and the board can provide often influential advice to push the city to be bold on bike safety.

You do not need to be an “expert” on biking or transportation policy. You just need to support the goal of more and safer cycling and be willing to listen and ask questions.

So apply, and be sure to tell anyone you think has a good perspective on biking in our city to apply, too.

Details and how to apply, from SDOT: (more…)

tags: seattle bicycle advisory board

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No, the state’s new ‘E-DUI’ law does not apply to people biking

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 1, 2017

There has been a bit of confusion in recent days about whether Washington State’s new so-called E-DUI distracted driving law applies to people biking.

It does not.

The Seattle Times published a story over the weekend saying explicitly that the law does apply to people biking. Shelly Baldwin, government liaison for the WA Traffic Safety Commission told Mike Lindblom of the Times that as noted in RCW 46.61.755, people biking are generally subject to all the rights and duties of people driving vehicles. Her conclusion was that this means people biking are subject to the new distracted driving law.

However, as Seattle Bike Blog pointed out on Twitter, the new law specifically says “motor vehicle,” which is different than “vehicle.” Bicycles are vehicles, but they are not motor vehicles.

We also consulted with Alex Alston of WA Bikes, who worked to help craft and pass the new law, and local bike lawyer John Duggan (a longtime Seattle Bike Blog advertiser).

Alston was surprised to see the interpretation that the law applied to bikes and worked to get another interpretation from her contacts at the Traffic Safety Commission. She received responses from the WA State Patrol and the Traffic Safety Commission that, in fact, the law only applies to motor vehicles and not to bikes: (more…)

tags: alex alston, distracted driving, john duggan, mike lindblom, seattle times, washington bikes

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