TheWashCycle

Monday Morning Commute - Better know a bicycle

The question "Is this recyclable?" must be one of the most asked questions in America.

• Greg Billings of WABA sits down for a 3-minute interview. 
• Stephen Colbert was spotted Friday riding a bike in the Longworth Building with Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa.
• What can DC do to make cycling better?
• DC is installing HAWK signals.
• Biking is part of this complete commute.  
• Underground bike parking at the Mall. 
• Another reason to oppose bicycle registration - it leads to communism. 
• Streetsblog: "Two Oregon researchers observed people’s behavior and eye movements as they operated a driving simulator to see if they noticed pedestrians. David Hurwitz from Oregon State University and Christopher Monsere from Portland State University found that danger increased with more cars and fewer people walking. There is safety in numbers: The more pedestrians there are, the more drivers pay attention. But if there are more cars, they take up more of the drivers’ attention."
• Guerrilla flex post installations. 

Thursday Afternoon Commute - Faranwalia

Good afternoon

• A bicyclist was injured early this morning when two other men, who were fighting in the street, ran into him. "The man on the bike was [taken] to GW [hospital] but is expected to be fine."
• It might be that the Caffritz property in Riverdale - that straddles a future gap-closing section of the PG County Trolley Trail - is closer to being reality. 
• The Silver Spring Transit Center, and it's section of the Met Branch Trail, are further delayed. ""We're still pushing to have this, whatever we do, done before the cold weather sets in," Dise said. Though he would not commit to an opening date, he suggested the possibility of opening parts of the facility while continuing to repair others."
• If not New York City, what is DC like. Alan Sunderman argues Faranwalia, Guinea where many people bike despite being 99.99% black; and Alex Baca argues Montreal - because we use the same bike sharing system and we both have a lack of dedicated funding. Although I think Baca is wrong to worry that CaBi might go bankrupt or lack for necessary funding. 
• Fairfax County Parkway Trail still closed at Fair Lakes Blvd
• Bike tours of Virginia wine country. 
• This was to be the summer of bikeshare in NYC and a huge victory for the 40 year-old Transportation Alternatives non-profit. But software delays have halted deployment. "Any stumbles could call into question the wisdom not only of bike share itself, but of its underlying premise: that bicycles are a key part of the city’s transit system, an argument the group has made since the 1970s." Nonetheless, much of what the group once promoted as pie-in-the-sky has come to be. 
• Converted bike-advocate, Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH), has suddenly decided not to run for re-election this fall. 
• Choosing a bike to match your outfit (future project runway theme)
• In Milan, Italy a parking garage sued the city over the new congestion charge, which was working, but costing them revenue. "The ruling, which eliminated a charge of 5 euros, or about $6, to drive into the city’s core, was embraced by many businesses in the affected area. Environmental groups and cycling lobbies reacted angrily, saying that the ruling suspended what had been a strong effort to improve the air quality and livability of one of the most traffic-clogged and polluted cities in Europe. ...During the six months when the charge was enforced, traffic within the zone decreased by 34 percent and overall traffic in Milan by 7 percent, Mr. Maran said, noting that the point of the fee was to diminish the use of private cars. The money raised was tagged for more public transport, bike lanes and parking lots outside the city center." Maybe giving parking garage operators a cut of the revenue - at least for a few years - is a solution. 

Tuesday Afternoon Commute - L Bar

Good afternoon

• Transportation Nation and WAMU are tracking all of DC's abandoned bikes in the hopes that DDOT will remove them. One commenter at DCist links to this clever method of tagging possibly abandoned bikes. Does it make you sad to know that abandoned bikes go to the dump?
• Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) "typically gets around town on Metro or his bike."
• Earlier this month, a Maryland cyclist - Russell Henman - was killed by a driver in Rehobeth Beach at 2:00 am. The driver - Brian Meegan - hit him from behind without ever stopping and then left the scene dragging the bike beneath his car before pulling into a CVS parking lot. He was reportedly drunk and had been arrested for drunk driving just six weeks earlier in the same area. His insurance had expired. "The documents say Henman’s bicycle had both front and rear lights: the front light was still operating after the crash, and pieces of the rear light were found at the scene...Meegan was charged with first-degree vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to report a collision resulting in injury or death, inattentive driving and failure to have minimum insurance.... In the first incident, Meegan was charged with DUI, failure to have insurance identification in his possession and failure to have registration in his possession. Court documents show his blood alcohol level in the first incident was 0.18, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08." Meegan is out on bail and may have fled. According to his employer “We don’t know where he is."
• "Two doctors and a team trainer associated with Lance Armstrong’s cycling teams during his run of seven consecutive Tour de France titles received lifetime bans Tuesday for doping violations from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency." And, a rider in this year's tour was arrested for doping. 
• Chuck Thies equates livability with "a city that caters to devotees of streetcars, Draconian parking restrictions and bicycling." Actually, that sounds fantastic.

Friday Afternoon Commute - "I was a Bikeshare member, and it encouraged me to get a bike."

Good afternoon

• Must Read: "Bike store owners say bike sharing is actually helping their businesses by fueling an explosion in bicycling enthusiasm. Moreover, bike shops say they are witnessing a culture change in their neighborhoods as more people leave their cars at home and hop on two-wheelers." and "a 2008 report in Bike Europe, a website for bike professionals, cited a 39 percent growth in sales of city bikes possibly attributed to the huge popularity of the Vélib system."
• Apartment building owners are looking to attract customers who are looking for bike-friendly accommodations. This includes locations near trails, access to CaBi or other bike rentals and storage or bike-repair rooms. 
• The BAC has some suggestions for improving Ward 4 and the Georgia Avenue corridor. 
• The ICC Trail isn't particularly good, perhaps we can make it better. 
• “At least it’s not as bad as our Republican colleagues wanted,” complained Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Oregon Democrat, who has championed bike and pedestrian programs. “But make no mistake, it is not a bill to be proud of.”  Meanwhile, the Heritage Foundation thinks cutting bike funding is fantastic. Mark Blacknell tries to discuss this at Patch only to have the comments overrun by Streetcar opponents. 
• A rundown of Tour de France favorites, and of the way in changes how male cyclists view the Olympics. Mark Cavendish, for example, is focusing more on the Games in his home country than on the Tour. Meanwhile, news continues to trickle out about the accusations against Lance Armstrong. 

Friday Morning Commute - Halfway

Good morning

• Silver Spring security guard stops a cyclist for riding their bike on the closed section of Ellsworth. He claimed that cyclists have to walk their bike, as the road is closed to vehicles. I'm sketpical. 
• "In a June 27 letter signed by [Lance] Armstrong’s attorney, the seven-time Tour de France champion claims USADA broke its own protocol this week by belatedly providing information about two witnesses against him. Armstrong further contends the new information — which comes from a television interview and letter previously made public — is so feeble and fraught with problems that it actually undermines USADA’s case and even jurisdiction in the matter."
• On the transportation bill, Republicans agreed to drop two issues that have nothing to do with transporation (the Keystone pipeline - an issue of their own creation - and the EPA coal ash regulations) and in return Democrats "gave up on $1.4 billion for conservation and agreed to allow states more leeway in how they use money that was once mandated for landscaping, bike improvements and pedestrian walkways" much of which is directly related to transportation. This from a bill that was already a compromise with Senate Republicans. So Democrats gave into Republican demands not once, but twice, and somehow Barbara Boxer can say with a straight face "“I am so glad that House Republicans met Democrats halfway." I'm sorry to tell you, but that is not halfway. If she thinks it is, then I would love to sell her a used car.  

Thursday Morning Commute - ACA

Good morning

• Washingtonian asks "How truly bike-friendly is DC?" Which is sort of a tough question to answer. Less than Portland they say, but more than most other cities in the US. Which sounds about right. It could be better, but it could be worse. The UK transportation department once esitmated that if everything possible were done (short of banning the car) that bicycle mode share would saturate at 40%. Copenhagen is at 36%. If that becomes the scale  - 0-40% - then let's say above 20% is an A, 10-20% is a B, 5-10% is a C, 2.5-5% is a D and below 2.5% is an F. DC is at 2%, so the answer is "not very," just like almost every other city in the world.
• It looks like there will be a new transportation bill, but it won't be very good for cyclists. The money for bike/ped projects will now be inlcuded under “Additional Activities," which will get less money that Transportation Enhancements. TE was only one program that provided money to cycling in the old law, along with CMAQ and Safe Routes to Schools - both of which are also rolled into AA, so it's even more of a reduction than it looks like. Furthermore, some road projects will qualify fot the AA money, so it won't even all go to biking and walking.  And finally the money will be split 50-50 between states and cities and states will be able to "opt-out" and spend that money on roads it they want (dont tell anyone, but they want). So all in all, it will be a massive reduction in the amount of money given to cycling. 
• The town of Vienna, VA will sponsor a Summer Safety Campaign. 'Bicycle Advisory Committee Co-Chair Cris Janoski said, "We're seeing more and more people use the trail. Thus, there's this quote-on-quote 'overcrowding',' I think safety education is a good idea, but what is clearly needed is more trails to reduce overcrowding. Perhaps Congress will provide more funding.

Monday Afternoon Commute - instinctively Neanderthal reaction

Good afternoon

• In 1903, a bicycle race track called the Coliseum, opened on A Street NE, between 14^th and 15^th Streets. "The name was a bit of a misnomer, as it consisted of two short sets of stands at right angles at one corner of an oval course of 1000 ft. Nonetheless, it was considered one of the finest tracks in the country.....The crowd that evening was treated to [Elkes] traveling around the 1/5 mile track 5 times in 1 minute and 39 seconds, indicating a speed of 36 mph – this at a time when the top speed for a production automobile was something like 20 mph...Elkes would die almost exactly 2 years after his debut at the Coliseum when his tire burst during a race in Cambridge, MA."
• "If the purpose of bollards is to deter motor vehicles from accessing pedestrian and bicycle facilities, they should only be located at points where trails and streets intersect. This makes particular sense at points where a driver may mistake a trail for a street. There aren’t too many of these situations in Arlington, but the W&OD near Bluemont Park is no stranger to SUVs driving to the picnic pavilion. And I can imagine how bored teenagers might find it fun to try to drive up the access bridge from the Roosevelt Island parking lot. So yes, bollards do have their place."
• How Montgomery County should sign bike routes. 
• Once, when we were going to an art opening of an acquaintance of mine, my friends and I planned ridiculously over-the-top comments we could make about the art to complete strangers. One that sort of struck a chord and been repeated often was, "This work is all the more terrifying for its repulsive brilliance." It is praise I would bestow on this letter. 
• "Bicycle advocates in Washington are worried that the path to a possible deal in Congress on a transportation spending bill this week will involve throwing them under the bus."
• The US Census Bureau's "Profile America" feature (who knew?) focuses on the development of tires, inlcuding the invention of balloon tires by a Scottish veterinarian in 1884.

Monday Morning Commute - Group

Good morning

• DCist put together a handy listing of free, weekly group bike rides in the DC area. 
• Cyclist in San Francisco to be charged with felony manslaughter after a fatal crash with a pedestrian. "Some 4,834 cyclists and 59,925 pedestrians were killed by motor vehicles in the United States between 1999 and 2009 (the most recent year for which figures are available), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cyclists killed just 63 pedestrians, or about six a year, during the same time period." And one letter writer to the Post thinks that last week's fatal trail crash should serve as a warning to pedestrians. [I'm actually unclear on the letter-writer's point. Are they actually trying to warn pedestrians, or just complaining about cyclists?]
• I think Congress should fund biking and walking programs, but I've come to believe that we should probably retire the word "war" except for those cases where we're actually blowing things up and killing people. This is especially true at a time when we're actually at war. A better headline might be "Republicans want to defund biking and walking."
• The reason Hincapie didn't make the Olympic team? He asked not to, as did three other cyclists associated with Lance Armstrong.

Thursday Morning Commute - “All signs from my case are pointing to the fact you can be assaulted on the road”

Good morning

• CaBi will be having a two-millionth rider celebration on Monday at the Blind Dog Cafe.
• WABA's full testimony at yesterday's hearing.
• Also from the hearing comes news that John W. Diehl, the driver who - in a highly publicized incident - was recorded intentionally hit a cyclist with his car,  has not been prosecuted "because the man has not shown up for court and has not been arrested on the outstanding bench warrant issued in the case. Reached on Wednesday by phone, 56-year-old Mr. Diehl said he had no idea he had been summoned to court and denied being involved in the accident. 'This is all news to me,” he said. “I never hit anyone. If I had a bench warrant, I would turn myself in.'" Put me down for skeptical.
• Last night, DDOT had a pre-construction meeting on the U St. Streetscape project. There are no bike lanes planned, but I also don't see mention of more bike parking. 
• Hurt is now calling CaBi bikes "dirty with disease-spreading handlebars." But when he says "I think it is awesome you want to ride [them]" I don't think he's telling the truth. I don't think he actually thinks it's awesome. Then there is a bunch of "stop spending my money on things I don't want" stuff in there. Look, we could all point to things that government spends money on that we wish our money didn't go towards. [For me it's the American Embassy in Canada. I don't want anything to do with those people.] But that's the price of living in a democracy. Welcome to being a grown-up Mr. Hurt.
• On the US Transportaton bill: "There has been next to no indication of where House leaders like John Boehner or Eric Cantor stand on Cardin-Cochran."
• "Of the four services I tested, Google is the only to offer bicycle directions. It's different from walking directions in that cyclists must respect one-way signs. Bike routes also favor bike lanes and shun steep hills when possible."

Wednesday Afternoon Commute - Duryea Motor Wagon

Good afternoon. Tulsa is going to make a bid for the Olympics. I don't know if it's winter or summer, but I give either bid about an equal possibility of being successful. 

• At a meeting last night, DDOT formally presented plans for the 1st Street NE cycletrack. "The cycletrack will be 8 feet wide and separated from automobile traffic. Plastic bollards will handle that duty from the circle to K Street. From K to M, a 2-foot-wide precast concrete barrier will keep automobile and bicycle traffic separate. This barrier will be the same height as a standard curb."
• The Hunt opinion piece on CaBi isn't just stupid, it's sexist too.
• The SuperNoVa Survey for northern Virginia transportation is still taking comments. 
• How times change "The first recorded automobile accident involving two vehicles occurred on this date in 1896 in New York City.  Henry Wells of Springfield, Massachusetts, was driving a new Duryea Motor Wagon, the first automobile to be made and sold in the U.S.  Unfortunately, he collided with Evelyn Thomas of New York, riding a bicycle.  Thomas went to the hospital with a broken leg, and Wells spent the night in jail."
• The father of Beto O'Rourke, the new Democratic nominee for Texas' 16th Congressional District, was killed in a bicycle crash and now has a hike and bike trail named for him. Police seemed to blame the sun instead of the driver for driving too fast under dangerous conditions. 
• Ray LaHood "And we’ve put our actions behind those words with grants for complete streets initiatives, better sidewalks, and more bike infrastructure like bike-sharing programs, bike lanes, and off-road paths. The Federal Transit Administration has made it easier for commuters to access transit service by bicycle."