Tag Archives: bike lanes

Metro promotes bicycle activities and festivities during official “Bike Week LA” May 13 to 19

Posted by

Here’s the news release from Metro:

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is sponsoring “Bike Week LA” activities from May 13-19 to encourage Angelinos to ride bicycles to work, school and other destinations throughout LA County to reduce traffic and air pollution. Bring a bicycle or bicycle helmet on Metro buses and trains for a free ride on Bike to Work Day, May 16.

Metro will be offering a chance to win several prizes, such as a commuter cycling package from REI valued at $750, to those who pledge to bike to work on Bike to Work Day, Thursday, May 16. Pledges may be made online at www.metro.net/bikeweek. Schools, workplaces, and advocacy groups will hold bicycle pit stops that day with free refreshments, giveaways, and bicycling information for bicycle commuters.

Metro has plans to help increase the number of bicycle trips in L.A. County, and has invested close to $200 million in bike facilities and programs. Besides direct investment in bicycle projects, the expanding network of Metro buses and rail service enables more cyclists to extend their trips by combining bicycling with public transit.

All Metro buses are equipped with front bike racks. Bikes may also be taken on Metro trains. On Bike to Work Day, Thursday, May 16, Metro will offer free rides to bicyclists on Metro buses and trains throughout Los Angeles County. Culver CityBus, Glendale Beeline, LADOT, Long Beach Transit, Montebello Bus Lines, Norwalk Transit, Pasadena ARTS, Santa Clarita Transit and Torrance Transit will also offer free transit rides to bicyclists who board with a bicycle or bicycle helmet. Metrolink will offer free transit rides to bicyclists who board with a bicycle.

Cyclists may bring their bicycles on Metro trains during all system hours.

Continue reading →

Transportation headlines, Wednesday, April 17

Posted by

Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

Our response to So Cal Connected’s segment on pedestrian safety (L.A. Walks)

The pedestrian advocacy group wasn’t happy with the piece that focused on new high-visibility crosswalks and where they are installed in the city of Los Angeles. My three cents: I thought the segment was interesting; I also think poor pedestrian infrastructure and the almost complete lack of enforcement of motorists encroaching on crosswalks could be the subject of many more hours of media coverage.

Here’s the KCET piece:

Tabloid columnist calls for bicycle ban in Toronto (The Urban Country) 

The Urban Country spends a few hundred words completely taking apart the argument that traffic congestion in Toronto, the largest city in the Great White North, is caused by cyclists. It’s a very satisfying taking apart/takedown.

Smart tips for building a better subway car (The Atlantic Cities) 

More doors, better spread is the way to avoid crowding and get people to the seats they covet, so says this blog post.

New bicycle friendly universities announced (League of American Bicyclists)

One local school makes it: the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. I bike through there all the time and it is a bike friendly campus — mostly because it’s small and cars are mostly kept out of the two main east-west paths through it. Of course, CalTech is in Pasadena, which hasn’t done much for cyclists in recent years. On the east side of campus is Hill Street, where the city of Pasadena could easily install bike lanes but has decided that providing street parking for cars is more important despite the fact that homes on the street all have big driveways. On the west side of campus is Wilson Avenue, which has bike lanes that are dangerously close to the parking lane and where it’s very easy to get doored.

Transportation headlines, Wednesday, April 3

Posted by

Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

L.A. 2050 — some of the best ideas for the city’s livability (L.A. Streetsblog) 

The GOOD and the Goldhirsh Foundation are awarding 10 grants of $100,000 apiece to people, organizations and nonprofits that have an idea to make Los Angeles a better place. And there are a lot of ideas out there — 279 applications were received. Damien Newton looks briefly at some of his favorite suggestions. The two that caught my eye were creating bike-friendly business districts and a plan to install electronic signs that count how many cyclists are using particular streets/bike lanes.

As for the bike district idea, I think it’s great. I live in Pasadena where existing bike routes are pretty lame and completely break down when you get to either Old Town or the South Lake business districts. I see a lot of cyclists riding on sidewalks on Lake because the sharrows (a good way for making it look like you’re doing something when you’re doing nothing) are roundly ignored by motorists and it’s not a pleasant street to ride on.

I also love the bike counter idea, but good luck: I’m not sure any city wants to publicly advertise the effectiveness of its bike lanes. Don’t get me wrong. I love bike lanes — but they have to be done right to succeed. And by ‘done right’ I mean they need to offer some type of separation from car traffic and they need to be plugged into a bigger network instead of just ending and dumping the cyclist into vehicular traffic. (See: Cordova Avenue, Pasadena, California).

Quick question to no one in particular: where the heck is the media on this? If the region was building miles of new roads or transit lines, the media would likely be doing stories. Yet there are miles upon miles of bike lanes being installed across our region with little media scrutiny of their design and ability to serve those they intend to help — cyclists!

Okay, got that out of my system….

Cincy proposes eliminating parking requirements to save buildings and neighborhoods (Cincinnati Post) 

My hometown is as car-centric as most places in the Midwest. Yet there’s a proposal now in some parts of town get rid of parking requirements that mandate how many parking spaces each residential building must have. The problem is that many buildings in downtown’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood were constructed in the later half of the 1800s and have no parking spaces. That means that some building owners either have to find parking for tenants, demolish the building or let it languish because redevelopment is too expensive. I’m guessing many residents of old buildings will want cars anyway — there’s certainly no shortage of downtown garages or parking lots where they can store them, just like car owners do in other large cities.

The great Red Car conspiracy of Los Angeles — is it real? (KPCC/99% Invisible)

This podcast takes a look at the alleged conspiracy that car interests dismantled the old streetcar lines in order to force people into cars. Sorry, but the reporters here don’t buy it, nor do I. What happened? A lot of things. Low fares kept streetcars unprofitable and poorly maintained, streetcars were slow and unable to serve the sprawl they helped create and many people enjoyed the newfound freedom of having a car.

A streetcar on Brand Boulevard in Glendale in the mid 1950s. Photo by Alan Weeks via Metro Transportation Library and Archive's Flickr collection.

A streetcar on Brand Boulevard in Glendale in the mid 1950s. Photo by Alan Weeks via Metro Transportation Library and Archive’s Flickr collection.

Crosswalks in New York are not havens, study finds (New York Times) 

The new study looks at injuries suffered by pedestrians and cyclists brought to Bellevue Hospital Center. The major findings: of those pedestrians struck by cars, most were in the crosswalk and had the crossing signal in their favor and cyclists tend to be disproportionately injured by taxis. The study also found that many of those injured were using electronic devices. Overall traffic-related deaths in New York have plummeted in recent years and officials hope that the new data may help with future safety initiatives.

Metro press release on its new bike safety campaign; cyclists have legal right to take a full lane

Posted by

13-1362_otd_bike_traffic_safety_30sheet_jl_lo

Let’s face it. There are only so many bike lanes in our region and there remains many places where cyclists are faced with a grim choice. They either must ride in a pebble-strewn parking lane/gutter where they have to avoid obstacles such as parked cars and garbage cans. Or they must ride in traffic lanes with vehicles that are faster than bikes and outweigh bikes by thousands of pounds.

With that in mind, here’s a news release Metro issued today on its new bike safety campaign which is more blunt than the “share the road” signs seen on many area streets. The point is this: cyclists are legally entitled to share most surface streets in California. And motorists are legally bound to pass them at a safe distance, although California law doesn’t specify an exact distance. 

Here is a good summary from the California Department of Motor Vehicles on cycling laws and guidelines:

Bicyclists:

  • Are entitled to share the road with motor vehicles.

  • Have the same rights and responsibilities as motor vehicle and motorcycle drivers.

  • Must obey all traffic signals and stop signs.

  • Are lawfully permitted to ride on certain sections of roadway in rural areas where there is no alternate route.

  • Must ride in the same direction as other traffic, not against it.

  • Shall ride as near to the right curb or edge of the roadway as practical– not on the sidewalk.

  • Are legally allowed to ride in the center of the lane when moving at the same speed as other traffic.

  • May move left to pass a parked or moving vehicle, bicycle, animal, or avoid debris or other hazards.

  • May choose to ride near the left curb or edge of a one-way street.

  • Should ride single file on a busy or narrow street.

  • Must make left and right turns in the same way drivers do, using the same turn lanes. If the bicyclist is traveling straight ahead, he or she should use a through traffic lane rather than ride next to the curb and block traffic making right turns.

  • Must signal all their intentions to motorists and bicyclists near them.

  • Must wear a helmet if under the age of 18.

  • Should carry identification.

  • Shall not operate a bicycle on a roadway unless the bicycle is equipped with:

    • A brake which will enable the operator to make one braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement.

Public officials also held a photo-op Monday to help spread the word. If you’re a motorist and don’t like it, I have this gentle suggestion: perhaps you can join cyclists in calling for more bike infrastructure to be built that helps separate cyclists from vehicular traffic.

The news release:

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is launching a bold new campaign to increase bicycle safety in Los Angeles County.  The campaign, called “Every Lane is a Bike Lane … Bicyclists may need a full lane; Please share the road” will include messages on the back of 75 Metro buses, 135 billboards and spots on 21 local radio stations throughout the region.  The campaign will run between March and May, leading up to Bike Week L.A. May 13-17.

With bicycling increasing in popularity as a viable transportation mode, more biking events like CicLAvia and more new bikeways being installed on a regular basis, Metro’s extensive campaign will help raise motorist awareness that cyclists have equal rights and responsibilities to the road per the California Vehicle Code.

“The breakneck pace of bikeway construction demonstrates that Los Angeles is riding fast on its way to becoming a truly bike-friendly city,” said L.A. City Mayor Antonio Villariagosa. “As more cyclists take to our streets we need to ensure that safety and awareness are of utmost importance as our riders share the road.”

Continue reading →

Transportation headlines, Monday, March 18; With Expo Line coming soon, plan to transform Bergamot Station area takes step forward

Posted by

Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

Council moves Bergamot area plan forward (Santa Monica Patch)

Great news, me thinks. The plan will guide development on 140 acres around the future Expo Line station at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, with the Council voting last week to begin the formal environmental review process. As one city official puts it, the plan will help create a “city within a city” with new apartments, public plazas, 10 new streets and 15 new bike and pedestrian corridors. Critics fear traffic and the cars that will come from new residents but let’s face it — Santa Monica needs the housing to go with its many jobs and the area is being designed in such a way it should cut down on car trips by new and existing residents alike.

Here’s a slide from a city of Santa Monica power point released last year on the goals of the Bergamot area plan (on the map, left is north, top is east, etc.):

Designing the Districts PPT

One-way car flow on Colorado is better for traffic (Santa Monica Patch) 

Speaking of Santa Monica, city studies found that making Colorado a one-way street between Ocean Avenue and Fourth Street would not make traffic any worse. The Expo Line’s final Santa Monica station will be at Fourth and Colorado and the city is converting the street between the station and the Santa Monica Pier into an esplanade that will greatly curtail car traffic — and widen sidewalks to 55 feet on one side of the street. Gasp! Good news: so far the Earth has not ended because of such talk.

The bigger point about this item and the one above: the city of Santa Monica seems intent not just on having a new rail line, but using it to transform some public spaces badly in need of a change in direction.

Glendale infrastructure upgrades to benefit bike riders (Glendale News-Press)

City officials say they will increase the number of in-street traffic signal sensors that can detect cyclists in addition to vehicles. The city also says it’s planning miles of new bike lanes and a bike sharing program. You know what would be great? If officials from Glendale, Pasadena, Burbank and Los Angeles County got together and figured out some good bike routes between those cities. By “good” I mean “good” — not passable, not piecemeal, not bike lanes that are poorly maintained, unsafe or used for parking.

One other media note: who really knows what will happen with the proposed football stadium at L.A. Live — I don’t get any clear sense from the abundant media coverage of AEG’s announcement last week that it is no longer for sale. On the plus side, a football stadium would be near the Blue and Expo lines’ Pico station — which would get an additional platform under the stadium proposal. As for my personal opinion, I have no beef with a football stadium but I’d be more excited to hear about a baseball stadium in downtown proper — something that seems to work in many other cities around the world.

New York City’s transportation boss offers a few lessons on making the big changes actually happen

Posted by
Janette Sadik-Khan at last night's event. Photo by Juan Matute/UCLA.

Janette Sadik-Khan at last night’s event talking about closing parts of Times Square to traffic in favor of pedestrian plazas. Photo by Juan Matute/UCLA.

I had the good fortune of attending a forum last night with Janette Sadik-Khan, the innovative Transportation Commissioner for New York City. She was the featured speaker at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs Complete Streets Initiative, an effort to make local streets more user-friendly for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and motorists.

New York has taken a number of bold steps since Sadik-Khan began working for Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007: building new public plazas in places that were once streets (including parts of Times Square), creating new bus rapid transit lines with the New York MTA, adding 300 miles of bike lanes and implementing traffic calming measures to reduce fatalities and injuries caused by motor vehicles in New York City’s five boroughs. The New York MTA is also building a new subway line and extending another.

In other words, New York City made a lot of significant changes quickly, not letting distractors or controversy get in the way even when things didn’t break their way (such as a plan to implement congestion pricing in Manhattan). I think most of what she discussed is highly relevant here, given that some big changes are underway in L.A. County courtesy of Metro’s Measure R program along with many other local initiatives and projects that are either being discussed, studied or implemented across the county.

I few things I heard that I really liked:

•”Just remember the headlines don’t always translate into the opinions of actual people,” said Sadik-Khan. Couldn’t agree more. It’s difficult in some media reports to gauge the degree of opposition or support for a particular projects and many media outlets either don’t offer the context or disclosed they rely on the same people for years for quotes.

•”Safety and sustainability go hand in hand,” she said. “You won’t get more people walking or biking if they don’t feel safe.” Several cities in L.A. County are quickly putting in new bikes but I haven’t seen a lot of data about which are being used and which are not — and why not. For example, there are new bike lanes directly next to three lanes of freeway-like traffic on Huntington Boulevard in El Sereno. It’s great to have the lanes, but I have seen very few people actually using them and non-productive lanes could harm the overall program. 

Continue reading →

Transportation headlines: toll lanes, bike lanes, bus lanes & art of transit

Posted by

Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

ART OF TRANSIT: A Metro Rapid bus crosses the Broadway bridge over the Los Angeles River on Wednesday afternoon, the day after a storm greened the local hills and dumped snow in the San Gabriel Mountains. Click above to see larger. Photo by Steve Hymon/Metro.

ART OF TRANSIT: A Metro Rapid bus crosses the Broadway bridge over the Los Angeles River on Wednesday afternoon, the day after a storm greened the local hills and dumped snow in the San Gabriel Mountains. Click above to see larger. Photo by Steve Hymon/Metro.

 

Readers respond to proposed bike lanes (LA Observed)

Mark Lacter wrote recently that he doesn't believe it's a good idea to add bike lanes to parts of Westwood and Sepulveda boulevards on the Westside at the expense of traffic lanes. Reactions run the gamut — fun read — and the question that swirls above the issue is this: how many cyclists are using the new bike lanes in the city?

More freeway toll plans? Slow down, Southern California (Daily News)

The editorial lightly punches Metro for proposing new toll lanes on 13.5 miles of the 5 freeway through the Santa Clarita area before the impact of the ExpressLanes on the 110 and 10 are known (the lanes on the 10 open Saturday). Metro, however, did send a letter to the Daily News saying there's a key difference: the toll lanes on the 5 are being proposed as a way to accelerate the project and have it built by 2019 instead of 2040 or after.

The mayoral candidate video interview series: Jan Perry (L.A. Streetsblog)

Councilwoman Jan Perry gets her turn in part three of the series; her interview takes place on an Expo Line platform.

 

CicLAvia unveils map for CicLAvia to the sea on April 21 (L.A. Streetsblog)

The map of the new route is out and the big to-do is that cyclists and pedestrians will be able to take Venice Boulevard from the ocean all the way into downtown L.A. The new course will also intersect with the Expo Line, Red Line, Purple Line, Blue Line and Gold Line.

 
 

 

Transportation headlines, Monday, Feb. 11; Santa Monica’s complete street, CEQA reform!, would you give up your car for Lent?

Posted by

Here is a look at some of the transportation headlines gathered by us and the Metro Library. The full list of headlines is posted on the Library’s Headlines blog, which you can also access via email subscription or RSS feed.

The new Ocean Boulevard "Green Street" in Santa Monica between Neilson Way and Lincoln Boulevard. Sidewalks were widened, bike lanes painted, trees were planted, among other things. Click above to see a fact sheet on the project. Photo by Steve Hymon/Metro.

The new Ocean Boulevard “Green Street” in Santa Monica between Neilson Way and Lincoln Boulevard. Sidewalks were widened, bike lanes painted, trees were planted, among other things. Click above to see a fact sheet on the project. Photo by Steve Hymon/Metro.

Monrovia officials to weigh settling lawsuit over TOD at future Gold Line station (San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

The lawsuit was brought by a developer who alleged the city of Monrovia and its former redevelopment agency for violating a development agreement to build new residences and retail on 80 acres of land near the station. The city is weighing giving two acres plus about $600,000 to the developer, clearing the way for about 200 apartments to be built.

What would ideal CEQA reform look like (California High-Speed Rail blog)

Smart post about efforts to change California environmental law — which many see as getting in the way of good projects that could ultimately help the environment. While long studies and lawsuits play out, financial backers of projects have to absorb the large cost of sitting and waiting. Making changes will be tough. Many environmental advocates fear changing the law will lead to abuses while others say that something must be done to make it easier to build in cities.

Car fasting for Lent? (Copenhagenize.com)

Some members of the Catholic and Protestant clergy in Austria are urging following to give up or significantly reduce their car usage during the upcoming Lent. It’s part of a push to improve public health and increase park land and, yes, it means walking to church.

Pro Walk/Pro Bike conference wrap-up

Posted by

A bike rack in bike-friendly Long Beach. Photo by Marie Sullivan/Metro.

Just before eight on Thursday morning, a few shamed drivers walked from their cars, past a sizable bike corral and into the Long Beach Convention Center for the last of three days of the Pro Walk/Pro Bike 2012 conference organized by the Project for Public Spaces. The 800-plus “zealots” sported a decidedly more casual dress than most professional convention goers. Messenger bags replaced briefcases and bike lapel pins adorned nametags on many of the attendees.

Work group sessions included speakers from bicycle advocacy groups, bike and pedestrian coordinators from municipalities across the country, directors of Safe Routes to School programs and traffic engineers.

Long Beach's success with expanding bike infrastructure was featured prominently in the conference, in addition to the city's new general plan. The plan used decreased parking requirements to lure business downtown and increase density, at a time when density was a dirty word. It looked to cities like Vancouver and Tacoma for inspiration, and called for the first “parklets” – which are street parking spaces converted to parking spaces – south of San Francisco (Long Beach now has three).

Continue reading →

Bill sponsored by Metro to ease construction of bike lanes moves to Governor's desk

Posted by

Here's some good news from last Frida, when a Metro-sponsored bill cleared the Assembly in Sacramento. The bill would allow class II bikeways — that's bike lanes along existing roadways, in plain English — to be built without agencies having to do time-consuming and time-gobbling environmental review studies to determine the impact of bike lanes.

In recent times, some anti-bike lane activists have tried to force agencies to perform the studies, alleging that re-striping streets to include bike lanes may cause more traffic — even when no vehicle lanes are lost.

Here's the update Friday from Metro's government relations staff:

Just a short while ago, AB 2245 (Smyth) passed on the Assembly Floor on a concurrence vote of 63-0. The measure, sponsored by Metro, would allow for a modified exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act for certain bike lane projects. The bill now moves onto the Governor's desk for signature.