It’s National Bike to School Day! Here are few scenes from around town. Got photos or stories to add? Let us know in the comments below or email [email protected].
We had over 200 kids ride to Bryant today. If we had more protected bike lanes we’d have this many every day of the year. #BiketoSchoolDayhttps://t.co/1JdJJ80C3R
Map from SDOTThe only sidewalk on the Holgate Bridge currently turns into stairs. SDOT is replacing the stairs with a ramp. Photo from SDOT.
The S Holgate Street Bridge is far from the friendliest bike route between Sodo and North Beacon Hill, but it is definitely the most direct. But because the only sidewalk on the bridge turns into a staircase at the Sodo end, people biking have to take the steep and often scary roadway. Worse, the bridge is not accessible at all to people who can’t navigate stairs.
But there’s some good news. The city is making some key changes to at least make the sidewalk accessible and provide an option for people biking who don’t feel comfortable or safe on the steep roadway. The project will also make some improvements to help people cross to the north sidewalk at the Sodo end of the ramp.
The project will not make Holgate a great route for biking and walking, but it will address the most basic accessibility needs. And that’s a good thing. (more…)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is by Taylor McAvoy through our partnership with UW’s Community News Lab journalism course.
Haley Keller has adopted the Ballard Bridge sidewalks. She holds cleaning parties for the bridge every two to three months. Photo: Taylor McAvoy
Riding home at night a few years ago, Haley Keller had to cross the Ballard Bridge with its notoriously skinny three-foot-wide sidewalks. She usually carries only one bag on the left side of her bike rack to avoid the occasional concrete pillars that protrude into the sidewalk on that section of the bridge. That night she carried two, one on each side.
“I don’t know exactly what it was,” she said. “Whether it was a gust of a wind or a car had come by that had pushed me a little bit but I went over and my bike bag hit the side wall.”
Catching on the wall, Keller’s bag threw her off balance and over a ten-inch-high curb, into the oncoming traffic lane.
“I was able to pick myself up and get off the bridge quickly,” She said. “But if it had been in the middle of traffic on a busy day, I don’t know what would have happened.”
Terry McMacken was biking on the bridge in July 2007 when something similar happened. He fell over the curb, too, but someone driving struck him. He died in November 2008 from complications from the injuries he sustained.
McMacken and his wife filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle in July 2008. His estate settled with the City a year after his death.
“The fixes are very simple,” attorney Jack Connelly told the Seattle P.I. in 2008. “The concern that we have is that there were people telling the city about this problem well before this incident.”
But the city of Seattle has noticed and is taking steps to improve bicycle safety.
“You hear about an accident or a collision and you have to realize there are real people affected by that,” Connect Ballard activist Sean Cryan said. “And the number of those things that were around the city just from ten years was really startling, that that many people have died on the roadways. I think that is something to keep in mind as all of this moves forward. Really the goal is to not have any more white silhouettes out on the streets.”
Yours truly about to ride a Bluegogo bike around downtown
I took a ride on what could be one of Seattle’s next bike share bikes and made it up one of downtown’s steepest hills.
It was a Bluegogo bike, one of at least two companies actively pursuing Seattle as one of the first major U.S. markets to launch a low-cost, app-connected, stationless bike share service.
We broke the story late last week about Bluegogo and Spin eyeing a Seattle launch in the very near future. How near? Bluegogo has thousands of bikes in storage in the Bay Area right now (UPDATE: Bluegogo requested I not list how many thousands), said Anthony Desnick, who works on strategy and expansion for Bluegogo. 3,000 of them are earmarked for Seattle. That’s six times as many bikes as Pronto.
But because stationless bike share is such a new concept, Seattle does not even have a permit these companies can buy for their bikes, let alone a set of rules for how they can operate. Both companies have expressed a desire for the city to create these rules soon, saying they can have bikes in operation on Seattle streets this summer.
If the city delays, however, another company could choose to launch without permits, following the “ask for forgiveness” business model that Uber used when it first launched. Companies are eager to gain market share ahead of the competition, and that means getting on the ground first.
But before getting too far into the weeds about market share and city regulations, perhaps you all want to know: How are the bikes?
Desnick invited me to take one of the company’s bikes for a spin downtown Monday. (more…)
It’s May, which means it’s time to give in to your co-worker’s constant reminders and say, “OK, fine! I’ll sign up for your Bike Month team if you just let me sit here and enjoy this cup of coffee for five freaking minutes!”
The annual online challenge is a good way to stay motivated for the whole month, biking as often as possible and logging the trips for your team. Once you build your biking habit over a month, it’s much easier to just keep it going the the rest of the year. You may also be very surprised how far you’ve biked just by running errands or going to work for a month.
Bike To School Day is May 10, and Bike Everywhere Day (AKA Bike to Work Day) is May 19.
Friday (May 5) is the Bikery Bash, a party at Love City Love on Capitol Hill to benefit the Bikery.
Bike to either Lake Union Park or Occidental Park May between 7 and 9 a.m. May 12 for a free bagel, cup of coffee and other bike swag as part of Commute Seattle’s annual Bikes and Bagels event. People who walk or take transit to work are also invited. But if you drove to work, buy your own bagel.
And get ready to close the month out with Cascade’s second Emerald Bike Ride a rare chance to ride on the I-5 express lanes, the 520 Bridge and the I-90 express lanes May 28.
You can check out more events on Seattle Bike Blog’s events calendar. And if you know of anything that’s missing, be sure to add it!
