Saturday Morning Ride

DCist has more information on the Giro to DC story. Danillo Gallinari? Really?

Good news from Richmond, SB546 which protects railroads from nuisance lawsuits when recreational users cross railroad property at designated places, to access rivers, boat takeouts, or trails.

Passage of SB 546 is a big first step in creating rails-with-trails, and a significant barrier for recreational access has now been eliminated.

Montgomery County Planning Board staff recommend putting the CCT on the north side of the Purple Line in the Georgetown Branch Corridor, giving special attention to the Lynn Drive access path, connecting the CCT and Met Branch Trail at the transit center with as little interference with pedestrians as possible, and making the Green Trail at least 8 feet wide - with the trail plus buffer at least 13 feet wide.

A student group at George Mason, the Bike Village, is working "to make bikes, as an alternative form of transportation, more accessible to the George Mason Community through recycling old bikes."

Specifically, we will provide bikes to students for use during the school year as an alternative to automobiles. We are starting with 40 bikes with the possibility of expanding in the future. The idea is to charge $15 dollars per bike per semester, plus a $50 refundable deposit. We will also keep up to 10 bikes on-hand for daily rentals.

We will also have a small repair shop where members of the Mason community can use our tools to build their own bikes or repair a bike that they already have. Additionally, we hope to offer regular workshops to teach people the skills that they need to maintain their bikes.

As far as we know, the Bike Village will be the first such program in Virginia and we are very excited to be pioneers in this area. We're planning a big kick-off event in a few weeks so be on the lookout for that. Hopefully, we'll be able to set an example for schools across the commonwealth to follow our lead.

Richard Layman likes believes  that we need to really think about electric bikes as they increase the number of people who can now bike to work (and they do involve pedaling). But obviously they come with new challenges (Can they use the bike lane? bike trails? Can the bus racks hold them? Will they be allowed to hang out with other cyclists at lunch or will they have to sit at the segway rider's table?)

The jobs bill includes $932 million in transportation grant funding. That money may go to TIGER grants if the House version wins out - which would be a third bite at the apple for Metro-DC bike sharing super expansion, or it might go to two other grant programs that would automatically send 58% of the money to California, Louisiana, Washington and Illinois if the Senate version wins.

Comments

[Richard Layman]

I wouldn't say I "like" electric bikes, but I do believe that we need to really think about them. Given the current rules on trails--no motorized vehicles--they wouldn't be legal.

[Richard Layman]

Oh, and re the George Mason project, that sounds cool. What they are doing is in tune with the reaction I had to this feature in the Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/22/AR2010022204808.html

My response to the photos was rather than paint up the bikes, why not fix them and have people use them?

[Michael H.]

Maybe Gallinari is one of the only Italian-born and raised NBA players? Then again, he has zero connection to Washington as far as I know. I don't know what his connection is to cycling either. So that's 0 for 2.

Caron Butler would have been a better candidate. He is a bike enthusiast. He frequently gave away bikes to children from poor families while he was with the Wizards. He was co-chairman along with Mayor Fenty of the Bike for the Heart charity event last October. But Butler was traded away by the Wizards recently so he no longer has a D.C. connection. No Italian connection either. OK, scratch the idea about having Butler at the photo op.