In talking about why vehicle registration is down in the District, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John Townsend said that in addition to the flagging economy,
Action alert from the League of American Bicyclists:
Calling All Bicyclists and Pedestrians! Please Take Action Today!
Thanks to calls from bicycle and pedestrian advocates like you, the Senate refused to hear an amendment that would have blocked any Economic Recovery Bill money from being spent on biking and walking infrastructure projects. Now we need EVERYONE’S HELP to make certain that there is strong support for Transportation Enhancements $ for biking and walking in the final bill!
Support Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects in the Economic Recovery Bill
The House and the Senate have each passed their own version of the Economic Recovery Bill, aimed at creating jobs and stimulating the economy. Both bills include billions for transportation infrastructure, but only the House bill includes funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects in the Transportation Enhancements program. The House bill includes approximately $1.35 billion for Transportation Enhancements of which 50-60% is traditionally spent on bicycle and pedestrian projects. The Senate bill does not explicitly include Transportation Enhancements, so it’s unclear whether this funding will be in the final bill.
We need to make sure Transportation Enhancement funding is in the final bill.
This week there will be a conference committee where several members of the House and several members of the Senate will work together to reconcile the two bills. Conferees need to hear that Transportation Enhancements are important to stimulating the economy, creating green jobs, and moving us towards a sustainable future.
CALL TODAY! http://capwiz.com/lab/callalert/index.tt?alertid=12647931
Please call your senators and representative and ask them to tell the Conferees to support Transportation Enhancements in the Economic Recovery bill. Tell them:
Please share this email alert with all bicyclists and pedestrians you can, and encourage them to join you in supporting biking and walking today! Thank you – together we will make a big difference!
During the Summer flood of 2006, my car was damaged and I'd hoped it'd been totaled, which led me to think, "if you don't want your car then get rid of it." So I set out to see if I could live without my car (part 1). I tried it for a couple of months and decided I could and to sell my car (part 2). I wanted to recap on how things have worked out since then.
The Blue Book people are liars: I tried selling my car for something close to the blue book value, but I had a standard and it seems driving one of these is, like churning butter, a lost art form (didn't anyone else's Dad make them learn how to drive a stick in case their drunk, truck-driving friend needed a ride home?). Finally, after several months, I sold it to Carmax for $2200 (not the $3425 that bluebook recommended). So I only made a little under a $1000. Not bad, but not as good as I hoped. (Funny story, Carmax has a little van that they'll drive you around in to get lunch or something while you wait for them to do the paperwork. After I sold my car I asked if they would give me a ride to the MARC station so I could get home. "Why don't you just drive home?" they asked. "I sold my car." "But you bought one right?" "No" Blank stare. Turns out they can't drive you to the train station. So I rode my folding bike - which I'd brought in the trunk and barely caught the train I needed).
One time windfall: $965
Gas is Really F***ing Expensive - The cost of driving for me in 2006 was $2600. The average price of gas was $2.80 a gallon. Now it's at $3.97. Extrapolating that to this year I'm saving $2984 by not operating a car.
In 2007 I spent $640 at the bike store (that may include stuff I bought for my wife, but let's go with it) as opposed to $465 the three previous years. That's an increase of $195 a year after selling my car.
It turns out I took Metro much less often than I anticipated - once I started biking everyday it was no big deal. Spending $420 in 2007 as opposed to $300 the year before. Now, often I ride the bus when I would've biked because Mrs. Washcycle doesn't like to show up places sweaty, but I can't account for that so the extra $120 a year is higher than it should be. But then I've taken more taxis and have no idea how to account for that so, let's call it a wash.
Also I quit the gym since I get 2 hours of exercise every workday. Savings = $252 a year.
I barely used zipcar ($39.96), never needed to rent a car, already accounted for taxis and never took the Super shuttle.
Annual savings: $2881
I may be understating my cost. DC has the third most costly commute. Here's more on calculating the cost of owning and operating a car.
Time waits for no man: The time has been a killer. Between biking both ways, taking an extra shower and changing clothes 3 extra times I lose about an hour everyday over days when I drove to work, came home and ran. And, I realize I didn't always run after work - so it feels like I have much less free time. I could get some time back if I rented a bike locker at New Carrollton and did a Metro/bike commute, but I haven't broken down and done that yet. I hate riding my folding bike but still do it when I have class after work (it's the only way to do it).
On the upside, Mrs Washcycle pointed out that beforehand, she was worried she'd have to haul my butt everywhere, but now she says she's never found herself inconvenienced by my not having a car - and is glad parking is freed up outside. Also I can estimate pretty accurately how long it takes to get places. Barring a flat tire, I know when to leave. Last week we had a meeting in Silver Spring and my wife was late due to traffic, whereas I was only a little late - because I lost my cue sheet and had to do it by memory.
The first 2,000 pounds were the hardest: I've lost 10 pounds since I sold my car. And I've kept the weight off. Since getting back from Peace Corps I'd been consistently putting on 5 lbs a year. Even if I retain my weight, I feel like I've stemmed the tide. And if I could lay off the Popeye's chicken I might lose more. I do get some road rage related stress (Really, you needed to zip around me by one inch so you could get to the red light first? Really?), but mostly I find it much more relaxing. Especially the middle section along the Anacostia where I watch herons, falcons and ducks or spot foxes, deer and beaver while riding through a field of wildflowers. It's like a pharmaceutical commercial.
On the downside I was dinked by a car the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (both our faults - we both changed lanes without signaling) and I came out with a couple of bruises and a bent rear wheel - but you should see the car.
I make no change to the social cost.
So still it's worth it. It's like I'm getting paid $12 an hour to bike commute. Not Alex Rodriguez territory, but not so bad. And as gas goes up, so does my salary (though personally, I think we're in a bit of an oil bubble and I don't expect this to go on. If gas is $6 a gallon next year as someone predicted today that will shock me).
Two years ago, gas was expensive. Now it's "Holy bejezus, I can't believe how freaking expensive gas is!" expensive.
So, Americans are biking much more (and driving less)
The Department of Transportation said Monday it had seen the sharpest monthly drop in driving since it began keeping records. In March, Americans drove 11 billion fewer miles than in March of 2007.
And that's March. Wait until the April, May, June, etc... numbers come out.
Janaki Purushe, a 22-year-old genetic researcher living in Rockville, Maryland, bikes just about everywhere she goes. "When I had the opportunity to finally plan my own life after I graduated college," Purushe explains, "I took into consideration where I was going to shop, where my friends live, where my boyfriend lives, and I definitely tried to plan the location of my home around where I was going."
Now, although she still has a car, Purushe bikes to work every day. It's a 10-mile round-trip commute, and she carries a change of clothes for when she gets to the office. She says she loves it. "When I'm riding my bike, I really pay attention to what's around me, and the weather's been great. I feel like I'm getting more out of my days."
“A lot of people have given [high gas prices] as their reason for coming in,” said Lisa Frederickson, a saleswoman with Capitol Hill Bikes. “We’ve been hearing this for about a year,” said Frederickson, but have noticed more interest in the last few months.
“It’s become an economic issue for a lot of people,” said Eric Gilliland, executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, who said he has been getting a lot of calls and e-mails from those starting to commute by bike. The WABA has had to double the number of safety classes it is offering to new bicycle commuters this year over last year.
Most customers are only going a few miles, but Frederickson has seen more commuters traveling 10-plus miles. Some of the 2008 hybrid bicycle models, which are popular with commuters, have sold out, and the 2009 models are being released, said Frederickson.
Ray Felsecker, a shop mechanic with Wheels Nut Bike Shop in Alexandria, has also noticed increased interest in hybrid bicycles, which can carry bags and backpacks, can accommodate business clothing, move more quickly than a mountain bike, he said. Aside from new bicyclists, Felsecker has also seen more people bring in their old bikes for repairs.
Bicycle shops across the country are reporting strong sales so far this year, and more people are bringing in bikes that have been idled for years
Giant, the Taipei-based maker of international bicycle brands such as Boulder, Yukon and Iguana, is reaping the profits. The company, which produced 5.5 million bikes in 2007, is expected to pull in $1 billion in sales this year, up 10 percent, it says.
Giant's story is typical of the global $61 billion bicycle industry, which is enjoying unprecedented growth as cycling becomes a major recreation sport and lifestyle option in many Western countries.
Bicycle sales have over the past five years increased by 14.6 percent among European Union nations, which buy 70 percent of the world's bikes, according to Bike Europe. In the United States, sales have increased by almost 9 percent in the same time period.
But it's not all good news.
Price hikes in metals -- especially steel, aluminum and chrome which are the main metals used in bikes -- have eaten into profits and pushed up prices as manufacturers seek to maintain margins.
And getting rewarded for it. Here a woman traded the use of her car for one year for a free bike. Bicycle Benefits is a new program designed to encourage and reward people who bike to businesses.
Businesses become Bicycle Benefit Business Members and individuals purchase their Bicycle Benefit helmet stickers. When the individuals adhere their Bicycle Benefit helmet stickers and ride to Bicycle Benefit Business Members locations, they recieve discounts or rewards.
Maybe someone knows a business that would like to be the first in D.C? I'll promote them here for whatever that's worth. (About $100 a year according to the market).
Or just as a protest.
The Brits are biking more too.
Compared to the average annual cost of running a family car in Britain -- currently 6,250 pounds ($12,300), according to the Automobile Association (AA) -- the 1,400 pound ($2,755) cost of the [Danish-made Christiania three-wheeled transporter bike with a cargo box attached] and accessories pales into insignificance.
CTC is predicting that an extra 1.25 million journeys will be made by bike every day because petrol and diesel are now so expensive.
Branham, who heads his department's bike unit, said it began with two officers in 1994 and has grown to 25 full-time officers and 150 part-time riders. The department has about 1,800 officers.
Trek Bicycle Corp., in Waterloo, Wis., sells more than 1,000 police bikes a year, and sales have been going up for three years
"You think the car's the great savior of us all, but in urban areas and dense areas, you're probably better off on a bike," said Chris Menton, an associate professor in the School of Justice Studies at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island who has studied police bike patrols.
But there is still room to grow
More than one-quarter of all car trips in America are shorter than a mile, and half of all workers commute 5 or fewer miles, according to the community group Seacoast Area Bicycle Routes.
Let's all remember what Patrick McHenry told us
"The..answer to our fuel crisis, the crisis at the pump: Ride a bike. 'Save energy, ride a bike.' Some might argue that depending on bicycles to solve our energy crisis is naive, perhaps ridiculous. Some might even say Congress should use this energy legislation to create new energy, bring new nuclear power plants on line, use clean coal technology, energy exploration, but no, no... The miracle on two wheels that we know as a bicycle will end our dependence on foreign oil."
And clearly the American people (and the British) have listened. Wise man.
I don't know if it's the high gas prices, the continuing shift to non-car travel or what, but there seems to be a lot more "commuter challenges" this year than in years past. CommuterPageBlog has a post on how biking is often the Fastest Way There.
Travel in urban areas by bicycle is often the fastest and most efficient way to travel. This has been my experience for years as a bike commuter. It's always faster than transit. And often faster than cars--especially during rush hour. Here are some links supporting this point:
- Average speed of a car in London is just 7mph, says Citroen
- Travelling by bicycle is faster than you think
- Proof that biking is the fastest way to get around town (Scroll down to page 4)
- Crosstown traffic in New York City was 5.2 mph in 2000 (you can almost walk this fast!)
- This European Commission study indicates trips of 5 km or less are fastest by bicycle.
While the car won in CNN's competition here in DC pitting car vs. bike vs. Metro, I contend the bike went the wrong way. In Minneapolis, the Mayor on a bike won. Bikes also won in New York City (7th time in a row) and London. The NY Post argues the New York race is biased against straphangers because
it was a sidewalk-to-sidewalk race, meaning that the bicyclist did not have to lock up the bike and the driver did not have to look for parking
that may be true, but locking a bike takes 1 to 3 minutes. Looking for parking in NYC on the other hand fahgetaboutit.
Marc Fisher was discussing parking around Nationals Park at Potomac Confidential and this little conversation occurred:
Capitol Hill: .... I can't wait to bike to ballpark, have a couple of beers and a halfsmoke and head on home.
Marc Fisher: Bikers will be treated like royalty at the new ballpark--valet bicycle parking, free of charge. I know a bunch of folks who plan to park their cars downtown or on the outskirts of downtown and bike in the rest of the way. Sure beats sitting in traffic.
To which someone replied.
Washington, D.C.: Unless there are special and specific bike lanes/paths, you will still be sitting in traffic. It's against the law for bicyclists to ride on the sidewalk or ride between/next to stopped cars. Bicyclists have to follow the same road laws as drivers.
Marc Fisher: Could be, but they don't, do they?
Washington, DC there is wrong on so many counts. One - it is not illegal to ride on the sidewalks, except in the few places where it is. Two - cyclists may ride between/next to stopped cars - aka 'lane splitting'. And three - while bicyclists have to follow the law as do drivers, there are several subtle differences to the specific laws each must follow - in fact cyclists have a whole chapter (well, along with motorized bicycles and miscellaneous vehicles) of the DC code with things like
1201.3 (c) If a lane is partially occupied by vehicles that are stopped, standing, or parked in that lane, a person operating a bicycle may ride in that or in the next adjacent lane used by vehicles proceedings in the same direction
1201.9 There shall be no prohibition against any person riding a bicycle upon a sidewalk within the District, so long as the rider does not create a hazard; Provided, that no person shall ride a bicycle upon a sidewalk within the Central Business District except on those sidewalks expressly designated by Order of the Mayor, nor shall any person ride a bicycle upon a sidewalk in any area outside of the Central Business District if it is expressly prohibited by Order of the Mayor and appropriate signs to such effect are posted.
In addition there will be some bike lanes in the area, such as on 1st Street, SE.
Everyone keeps saying that Metro will be THE BEST WAY to get to the game. That's not true. For those living more than 5 miles away that may be true. But if you live in the city - or even close - biking will be THE BEST WAY to get to the game.
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