Seattle Bike Blog

$115/mo for an electric cargo bike? Wombi launches bike subscription service in Seattle, sets up in the old G&O space

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 19, 2024

Screenshot from the Wombi website.
Electric cargo bikes are incredible machines that can do a lot of what a car can do (and a lot a car can’t do) for a fraction of the cost. They are also a lot of fun.
But even though $2,500 to $8,000 is not very much money compared to buying a car, it is still a lot of cash up-front for a bicycle. For a car-free family like mine, the cost was a no-brainer. We use it every day and are getting close to putting 10,000 miles on the Tern GSD we bought in October 2021. But folks often get sticker shock when they see how much some of these higher-end electric cargo bikes can cost. The problem is exacerbated by the relative lack of financing options available compared to the (often predatory) auto loan industry.
But what if you could lease an electric cargo bike instead? That’s the concept behind Wombi, which just launched in Seattle. For a monthly subscription fee, people can rent an electric cargo bike rather than buy one. Better yet, service as well as theft/damage insurance is included in the price. And let me tell you, service costs can really add up on these things.
Wombi launched in Los Angeles last summer, and Seattle is now the company’s second market. Wombi is the U.S. sister company to Lug+Carrie, which started in Australia in 2019 and operates in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. They currently offer three models of electric-assist Tern bikes: The Quick Haul budget mid-tail (retail starts: ~$2,500, Wombi starts: $115/mo), the HSD mid-tail (retail starts: ~$4,300, Wombi starts: $135/mo), and the GSD longtail (retail starts: ~$4,500, Wombi starts: $150/mo). You can also get the bikes outfitted with kid-hauling, pet-hauling and cargo-hauling accessories for additional fees. Users will have the option to buy the bike after 18 months as a subscriber, according to the Wombi website.
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3 comments on $115/mo for an electric cargo bike? Wombi launches bike subscription service in Seattle, sets up in the old G&O space

tags: g&o family cyclery, tern gsd, tern hsd, tern quick haul, wombi

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You did it! WSDOT will not cut the Harvard Connection path to planned Roanoke Lid

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 16, 2024

Concept diagram from a 2020 report to the Seattle Design Commission.
The efforts by advocates at Central Seattle Greenways as well as readers like you have paid off. WSDOT announced that they are no longer planning to cut the Harvard Connection path to the planned Roanoke Lid as part of the SR-520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid Project.
“Following conversations with legislators, our contractor, project partners and community advocates, we have decided to maintain the Harvard Connection,” wrote WSDOT Program Administrator Omar Jepperson. “It is clear the community feels strongly about keeping this bicycle and pedestrian connection. We look forward to delivering these multimodal improvements to the city and region.”
We wrote about the community effort to save the trail connection Wednesday while also arguing that the path would recreate one of Seattle’s very first bicycle paths from the 1890s. There’s some really interesting potential for public art or historical markers of some kind to connect people with the history of white colonial settlement and development of this place, which began with a bike path that grew into a freeway.
There are still budget gaps to figure out before this final segment of the 520 freeway megaproject project begins its long construction phase. But the cutting the trail connection would barely scratch the surface of the project budget, which includes a full replacement of the entire Portage Bay Bridge between Montlake and I-5. Community advocates previously fought to keep a biking and walking trail on the new bridge, which will shorten several major regional bike routes between the city center and UW, the Burke-Gilman Trail, and Eastside communities along the 520 Trail.
Below is the full text of the letter from WSDOT:
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4 comments on You did it! WSDOT will not cut the Harvard Connection path to planned Roanoke Lid

tags: central seattle greenways, harvard ave e, roanoke lid, sr 520, wsdot

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Let SDOT know the Market/Leary Burke-Gilman route needs to separate walking and biking near storefronts

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 15, 2024

Top two images from SDOT’s early designs. Bottom is Seattle Bike Blog’s loose concept.
It is a great idea to redesign Leary Way NW and NW Market Street so they are safer for everyone while also connecting the Burke-Gilman Trail through Ballard, but SDOT’s current design needs significant work in order to achieve those goals.
SDOT has not released any new details about Councilmember Dan Strauss’ Market/Leary plan since we last reported on it, but they now have a simple online form for collecting public feedback. So go fill it out!
Question 1 regarding the Market Street segment is the most important. SDOT’s most recent 30% design includes several significant “mixing zones” where the trail and the sidewalk would merge together. SDOT’s own design guidelines for intersections say, “A mixing zone is not appropriate for two-way protected bike lanes.” The current design would create situations where people trying to bike in both directions along the route would mix with shoppers, people heading to the bus, people waiting for the walk signal to cross the street, and anyone else hanging out this this busy business district. This would be frustrating for people on bikes and it would be uncomfortable for people on the sidewalk. People should be able to hang out on the sidewalk without worrying about bikes coming through, and people biking should be able to rely on being able to travel along this route without needing to crawl through a crowd of people. It is in everybody’s best interest for walking and biking spaces to be separated in a busy business district, and the design team should be following best practices for two-way bike lanes through a business district. The Market segment also needs more traffic calming and safer crosswalks, goals that combine well with the goal of separating biking and walking spaces. SDOT’s Vision Zero research found that 80% of pedestrian deaths in Seattle occur on streets with multiple lanes in the same direction, so reducing the number of lanes on Market in this highly-walked business district is a worthy project entirely on its own merits while also creating the space needed to keep biking and walking separate.
If this project is designed well, the bike and scooter volumes could be very high, so it needs to be designed accordingly. Imagine a nice day with a constant stream of people biking and scootering out to Golden Gardens while another stream of people walk and bike through here to a bustling Sunday Farmer’s Market. That should be the design team’s use case.
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8 comments on Let SDOT know the Market/Leary Burke-Gilman route needs to separate walking and biking near storefronts

tags: ballard, burke-gilman trail, dan strauss, leary way, market st, missing link, sdot

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Trail connection to planned Roanoke Lid would restore a historic Seattle bike path + Tell WSDOT not to cut it

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 14, 2024

Not only would the Harvard Ave path connect the Roanoke Lid and 520 Trail along a safer and less steep route, it would also restore a small piece of Seattle’s first ever bike paths.
You can support a Central Seattle Greenways effort to protect the proposed path from budget cuts on the freeway megaproject.
The 1895 Lake Union Bike Path cannot be accurately restored because, well, it’s now the path of I-5 between downtown and SR-520. But photos from the turn of the 20th century show the crossroads where the Lake Union path connected to the 1896 Lake Washington Bike Path that lead folks east through the forest now known as Interlaken Park. That old crossroads would most likely be located somewhere within the I-5/520 interchange on land that was excavated for freeway construction, and the Lake Washington path hugged the hillside as it curved to the east. The closest existing land to this historic path would be the proposed Harvard Connection path that has been planned as part of the Roanoke Lid of the SR-520 replacement project.
Base map with grades from Central Seattle Greenways, historic photo and approximate location added by Seattle Bike Blog. The exact spot where the photo was taken has since been excavated for freeway construction.
Like the old path, the Harvard Connection would hug the hillside to follow the least-steep route as it turns east toward the lid and Interlaken Blvd. The only surviving engineering plot of the old Lake Washington path (that I was able to find, anyway) ends on top of the proposed Roanoke Lid on the northeast corner of what is now 10th Ave E and E Roanoke Street, and the early design for the lid already includes a path that follows a similar path. The proposed Harvard Connection would meet up nicely with the historic route, creating opportunities for heritage markers or public art connecting the past to the present. With the freeway interchange roaring in the background, it could be an opportunity for folks to reflect on the marks we leave on this land, how an innocent-looking bike path through the forest was a harbinger of white colonial land theft and settlement that in just a few short decades grew into a freeway.
Here’s the text of the action alert you can sign from Central Seattle Greenways:
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8 comments on Trail connection to planned Roanoke Lid would restore a historic Seattle bike path + Tell WSDOT not to cut it

tags: action alerts, central seattle greenways, history, i-5, interlaken, lake union bike path, lake washington bike path, roanoke, roanoke lid, sr 520, wsdot

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Seattle Times: The attention after February’s cougar attack has faded, but the women’s trauma continues

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 12, 2024

Read the story from the Seattle Times.
Keri Bergere, Annie Bilotta, Tisch Schmidt-Williams, Aune Tietz and Erica Wolf will receive the Carnegie Medal “for extraordinary acts of heroism” following their widely-reported effort to fight off a cougar that attacked Bergere while the group was biking northeast of Fall City in February. But behind the truly remarkable story of bravery and perseverance are real people who did not ask for this to happen and are struggling in their own ways to deal with life after their group trauma.
The women spoke with Xavier Martinez at the Seattle Times for a powerful follow-up story, and the women once again have shown bravery by sharing the hardship they continue to endure. I highly recommend reading the whole story:
But, in the weeks and months following the attack, as the physical injuries have healed and the media attention has faded, each of the cyclists has separately struggled to adjust to a new normal.

Bergere and one of her teammates gravitated toward giving minute-by-minute accounts to eager reporters on local and national news outlets. A couple of them took a back seat, choosing to process what they’d lived through largely on their own. They have struggled to find a sense of normalcy, distancing themselves from the rest of the group.

In their own ways, they’ve all made their impact by telling their stories, spearheading efforts to promote wildlife safety and serving as an inspiration to the broader community — most recently as recipients of the Carnegie Medal, a global award for heroism. Even six months later, though, their mental and emotional struggle persists.

“We didn’t set out to have a group trauma on that day,” Schmidt-Williams said.

Read more at the Seattle Times.
(Note: Online resources from the Seattle Public Library are mostly back online following their cyber attack, including access to the Seattle Times via Newsbank. You can use the service for free by signing in with your library card and PIN. Here’s the link to the print version of this story.)

No comments on Seattle Times: The attention after February’s cougar attack has faded, but the women’s trauma continues

tags: annie bilotta, auna tietz, cougars, erica wolf, keri bergere, seattle times, tisch williams, xavier martinez

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I rode Lime’s new sit-down scooter

By

Tom Fucoloro

| Posted

August 9, 2024

I took the new Lime Glider sit-down scooter for a test ride a few days before the company rolls 280 of them out in the U District starting for a trial. People can ride them anywhere they want within the Lime service area for the same price as their bikes and scooters, but Lime staff will eventually rebalance them back to the U District during the trial period.
Seattle is the only market getting the Gliders for now, and Lime staff pointed to strong ridership here as well as SDOT’s role as “a well-grounded regulator,” according to Director of Government Relations Hayden Harvey. “They keep up honest, but they are also collaborative in innovating in this industry,” he said.
Lime is positioning the Glider as a more approachable and comfortable device. The step-over height is even lower than on their bikes, and riders can easily keep their feet on the ground before they start moving. Like with a bicycle, the center of balance is further back than on a foot scooter, making it far less likely for a rider to fall forward. But it’s also not a bicycle, which could appeal to people who find bicycling intimidating. Or at least that’s their hope.
Legally speaking, the device is not a bicycle and must follow scooter rules. In Seattle, that means no sidewalk riding “unless there is no alternative for a motorized foot scooter to travel over a sidewalk that is part of a bicycle or pedestrian path.” They can be ridden on roads, bike lanes and paved multi-use trails. Only one person is allowed to ride at a time, though I suspect we’ll be seeing folks trying to squeeze together on the longer seat.
It can climb hills, but it struggles up the really steep ones. My go-to test for all these bikes and scooters has been to climb the absurdly-steep block of Cherry Street between 4th and 5th Avenues. The Glider barely passed, slowing all the way to 4 mph using motor power alone. I ended up using my foot to give it a boost. On flats and more typical hills, it was zippy and easy to ride.
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2 comments on I rode Lime’s new sit-down scooter

tags: bike share, lime glider, limebike, scooter share, sit-down scooters

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