TheWashCycle

Monday Afternoon Commute - Here's to the losers

Good afternoon

• Mayor Gray's Sustainable DC isn't as ambitious, when considering bike lanes, as it would appear "But as WABA noted in its action alert at the end of 2011 about anemic progress in bike lanes, DC had installed 4-8 lanes per year from 2006-2010, which if continued should put the District at 130-210 by 2032 rather than just 100. Gabe Klein's Action Agenda set a target of 80 miles by 2012, so only 25% more than that 20 years later seems a bit underwhelming." Of course, you could argue that adding 5 miles a year gets more difficult each year as the low-hanging fruit gets picked (more and more often you have to take out parking to get in bike lanes). On the other hand, it gets easier as more cyclists and more cyclist-friendly voters creates greater political will. Which force is larger, I can't say.
• WABA is hiring.
• Virginia's transportation plan will lower the tax on gasoline (and thus driving) while using more of the sales tax to make up the difference (among other things). Since much of the money will go to roads, and cyclists mostly use roads, it's hard to say if they'll be winners or losers. A 100% cyclist will definitely pay a larger percentage of Virginia's transportation costs, but they may get more of the benefit too. Drivers are clearly winners and transit users are clearly losers. 
• More on the dud of a year that the Virginia legislative session was for cyclists. 

Monday Morning Commute - Argo

Good morning

• WABA's annual meeting is tomorrow night.
• The last of the Silver Spring Transit Center's section of the Metropolitan Branch Trail opened. So now I can stop following the whole weak concrete/transit center delay drama. The Metropolitan Branch Trail now extends from the Silver Spring Metro station to Ripley Street.
• "During the 2013 National Bike Summit, March 4-6, Capital Bikeshare will have additional corrals at its regular station at H and 8th  Streets (just two blocks from the Summit hotel). That means you can pick up a CaBi at any location in the city and ride it to the Summit — without having to worry about the bike docks being full. Capitol Bikeshare will have valets there ready to take your bike and point you in the right direction."
• There were some losses in the Virginia legislature this year, including a bill that allows localities to put stop signs or lights on trails where the intersect roads, but there was one win with a bill that will make texting while driving a primary offense and raise the penalty. Both those bills now go before the Governor.  
• A letter writer to Dr. Gridlock warns other pedestrians about speeding cyclists on the sidewalk. Dr. G adds "Conditions aren’t as bad for pedestrians as they were in the heyday of the bicycle messenger, but walkers still need to be very aware of their surroundings. As Wahl points out, it’s not paranoid to look behind you."
• Bicycling advocate and Montgomery County Planning Board member Casey Anderson is also the spokesman for Marylanders Against Gun Violence. But has he watched every episode of Smallville?
• "In fact, Marylanders enjoy bicycling for many reasons and at many levels of expertise, and some, including me, even do so on occasion simply to feel the joy of the wind in their hair."
• DDOT is rolling out more Leading Pedestrian Interval intersections. "Leading pedestrian intervals are already in place at 14th Street and U Street N.W., which had nine crashes involving a cyclist and seven more involving pedestrians between 2010 and March 2012, " If the Bicycle Safety Amendment Act of 2013 passes, they would become Leading Pedestrian (and Bicyclist) Intervals.  
• Do you like drinking wine while riding around in a pedicab? Well, not only is it a new Olympic sport but also a groupon.
• "The Catonsville Short Line Trail between Maiden Choice Lane and Paradise Ave. will be resurfaced with a crush and run (CR6) gravel surface beginning on February 25, 2013."

Wednesday Morning Commute - Dominate City Streets

Good morning

• More biking is part of Mayor Gray's Sustainable DC Plan. "Although cars would still dominate city streets, it would cost more to park them and they would be expected to share the road with a streetcar system and tens of thousands of bicyclists.  By 2032, according to the plan, a quarter of all commuter trips would be by bike or foot and half would be by public transportation... Other “medium term” goals include having ... an additional 200 Capital Bikeshare stations, twice as many bike lanes..."
• WABA supports the Bicycle Safety Omnibus Bill. 
• Attend the Bike Maryland Symposium next week. 
• Support Capital Bikeshare at Arlington Cemetery Metro on the southern sidewalk of Memorial Drive. NPS has another location in mind, one that is harder to see, harder to access and harder to service. 
• Virginia texting bill passes Senate awaits Governor's signature. "Currently, texting is a secondary offense — drivers can be cited only while stopped for something else. Fines are only $20 for a first offense, $50 for subsequent offenses. The new law would raise fines to $250 and $500 respectively. Additionally, drivers convicted of reckless driving would face a $500 fine if they were texting at the time of the offense."
• "Traffic fatalities rose 5 percent last year, according to an analysis of preliminary state data, reversing a seven-year decline in which the number of annual traffic deaths reached their lowest level in more than six decades." While more driving is part of the reason, the rate of deaths also went up. Faster driving, driving on rural roads, more freight traffic and distracted driving are possible reasons. "Increases in pedestrian and bicyclist deaths — a reflection of more people walking and biking in urban areas — may also be a factor, said Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway safety offices."

Friday Morning Commute - Jane emily

Good morning

• Photos from WABA's L Street outreach. 
• The "Following Too Closely" bill made it out of committee and now goes to the Virginia House. Del Rust of Loudoun County was one of only 3 votes against it. 
• Elias Webb was found guilty of felony hit-and-run in the Lanie Kruszewski case. The jury recommended he serve 3 years. While it is good that DA's prosecute hit and run, it's disappointing to see that running someone down from behind and killing them isn't a crime, just leaving the scene afterward is. [But then the following too close bill could change that].
• Driving may get more expensive. 
• Ann Clymer, passed away. She was a leader in the fight against drunk driving after her daughter was killed by a drunk driver. "Jane emily, then a junior at the University of Vermont, was walking her bike along a rural road near the school when she was struck by a drunk driver."
• 5 points from Understanding Walking and Cycling

Thursday Afternoon Commute - Whirlpool or circling the drain?

Good afternoon

• Jonathan Kass, who has been an invaluable source of assistance to cyclists in his work on the District Council is moving on. Luckily, he's staying in DC where he will be the Transportation Director for the Georgetown Business Improvement District and can still influence cycling in the district. Former WABA director Ellen Jones has been an invaluable ally in the same position for the downtown BID. 
• DDOT released a study of bicycle and pedestrian crashes in the District. (You can see DCist's coverage here - I'll point out now that the cycletrack conclusions they report on are not new and I covered those at the time that study came out). I'll have more tomorrow. 
• The dooring law appears to have been unlucky. "Rust and Comstock said in e-mails that they and Hugo were in a Commerce and Labor Committee meeting at the same time, where Rust was presenting a “major health care bill.” Rust said “no one notified me the bill was up in order to leave Commerce and Labor to vote.” Anderson said he was scheduled to present two of his own bills to Senate committees at the same time and that took priority. “Had I been there, I would have voted for Sen. Petersen’s bill,” Anderson said in an e-mail, noting that he’d voted for it in subcommittee. “I felt bad for Chap because his bill got caught in the whirlpool that the General Assembly becomes in the last two weeks.”"
  • Why else did people oppose the bill? “Spite,” Blacknell theorized. He noted that Del. John Cox (R-Ashland) runs a trucking company. “He makes his money off the public roads, he just doesn’t want to share them,” Blacknell said. “It’s just maddening.”

Thursday Morning Commute - Ride away from the trouble

Good morning

• Christine MacDonald writes about her experience in the sharing economy, which includes Capital Bikeshare.
  • Capital Bikeshare still struggles to match supply to demand: As anyone who uses the sturdy red two-wheelers knows, too often there isn’t a bike or a dock available when you need one.
  • Capital Bikeshare has seen its usage more than double since it opened in September 2010. Today the system has 22,146 “active members” with one-month or annual memberships, and has tallied another quarter million one-day and three-day “casual” memberships in the last two years. That’s between, 20,000 and 60,000 trips per week depending on the season, according to Capital Bikeshare.
  •  I donated my clunker to charity and signed up for Capitol Bikeshare months before it opened. And my husband later bought me a used bike at a moving sale.
  • Grocery shopping on a bike took some getting used to.
  • If companies can’t work out the glitches—like Car2Go’s Internet connection problems and Bikeshare’s apparent inability to expand its bikes and docks fast enough to meet demand—they could kill sharing:
• WABA tries to educate cyclists about the L Street cycle-track. 
• The D.C. Bicycle Advisory Council is scheduled to provide testimony at its Fiscal Year 2012-2013 Performance Oversight Hearing before the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, chaired by Council member Mary M. Cheh (Ward 3).
• Letter writer is right on how bike lanes can free up automobile parking. "Perhaps we should all pay more for the privilege of street parking — $100 a year, say, instead of $35 — with new revenue dedicated to transit, bike lanes and sidewalk repair."
• Following Too Closely bill in Virginia still alive, but 3-Foot Passing is not. 
  • Del John Cox launching into the slide show on his lap top of RABA cyclists riding more than two abreast and refusing to fall into single file formation when being approached from the rear by a faster moving vehicle. He continued by noting that he took these photos himself on Blanton Rd. near his home, and that we also could take such pictures almost any Saturday or Sunday morning.
• "The commenter got caught up in the Green Line shutdown Jan. 27 but found a Capital Bikeshare station nearby and rode away from the trouble."
• Maybe congestion pricing should be renamed Road Fare?
• Movie shows cycling as romantic and practical, not weird. 

Dooring bill hits Virginia House, does not survive

Bad news

State Sen. Chap Petersen’s bike safety bill has met the fate of an unlucky cyclist in a bike-vs.-car collision: instant death.

Petersen had proposed legislation directing people not to open their car doors into the path of cyclists or any other traffic. Because there is no law against “dooring,” insurance companies often refuse to cover injured cyclists because no one is found to be at fault.

The bill cleared the full Senate but died Tuesday in a 7-7 vote of the House Transportation Committee. Petersen’s office issued a release titled: “Petersen’s bicycle safety bill hits House Transportation Committee: Does not survive.”

How dumb is the opposition

Some committee members opposed to the bill expressed concern that young children who open their car doors without looking could be cited for a traffic infraction, punishable by a fine of up to $100.

OK, well that seems unlikely, but even more relevant

Petersen said it would not apply to anyone under the age of 14.

 

Monday Morning Commute - Launch Day

Good morning. If you aren't doing anything a little after 1:00pm today, you can watch my satellite launch over on NASA TV.  Blogging might be light for awhile. 

• See, even without the three foot law it's hard to pass without inadvertently crossing the yellow line.
• Developers broke ground on Fenwick Station in Silver Spring. The building will back up to the future Capital Crescent Trail extension (should the Purple Line ever be funded) and will include a Capital Bikeshare station. Until the Purple Line work ends, it will also include a temporary walking and biking trail that will ultimately connect to the planned Capital Crescent Trail.
• The Cafritz-Riverdale Park-Trolley Trail project continues to make changes. 
• Stop by the public hearing for Washington Boulevard bridge over Jefferson Davis Highway rehab project between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 13 at the VDOT Arlington Area Headquarters, 1426 Columbia Pike in Arlington.
• FABB's Bruce Wright responds to the LTTE complaining about DC's new priority on safe streets that provide space for everyone. 
• The Broadneck Trail's first phase will be delayed until summer because of utility relocation problems.
• Tales from the Sharrow's Brian McEntee has a family history with bicycling. 
• A discussion of police enforcement of events they didn't see. 
• Update on progress of bike-safety bills in Virginia. 
• CaBi serves as an example of how going big can often succeed where going small (SmartBike) did not. [Lesson for high speed rail?]
• Part of Chris Dorner's rambling manifesto: "Cyclist, I have no problem sharing the road with you. But, at least go the fucking speed limit posted or get off the road!!! That is a feasible request. Livestrong you fraudulent assholes."
• Wisoncon Avenue's road diet was meant to slow down traffic, which it did, and now people are unhappy. Is it easier to bike?
• Pedicabs in Reston.

Wednesday Afternoon Commute - "Iron"y

Good afternoon

• Barbara Favola's SB959 bill, that would allow local jurisdictions to put stop signs on trails at highway intersections, passed out of the House Transportation Subcommittee #2 this morning.
• A non-scientific poll to see who will use Capital Bikeshare in Bethesda. 
• The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors endorsed three major trail project funding applications that will be submitted to VDOT for Transportation Alternatives funding. 
• After trying to get the sidepath off the Wilson Bridge improved, a cyclist was hit by a car on the actual facility he was concerned about. 
• Expect more cyclists. Americans are spending more on gasoline than they have since the early 80's.
• New Bicycling move (sort of) - Walk of Shame. 

Thursday Morning Commute - 1990 is going to be awesome

Good afternoon

• DC to crack down on Pennsylvania Avenue U-turns across the cycle-track (which are illegal). 
• Why one VA State legislator opposes the 3 foot passing law. "But Senator and former state trooper Charles Carrico said narrow, two-lane country roads are also a problem. He said the bill would cause drivers who pass slower cyclists to inadvertently break the law by crossing the double-yellow line." Heaven forbid that they should inadvertenly break the law, when they could be legally endangering a cyclist instead. "The lane of travel on a two-lane highway is 11 feet, 6 inches. A normal vehicle is about 8 feet," Carrico says. "If you have a bicycle that's a foot wide and you got 3 feet, if you have a double-sided line, you have to cross the double-sided line to pass the bicycle, which, within the code, is illegal." OK. Well, another option would be not passing the cyclist and instead waiting for a time when it is both safe and legal.  But why tempt drivers with breaking the law? What he never talks about is safety. 
• Another piece on the Maryland mandatory helmet law. 
• WABA and Black Women Bike DC Formally Join Forces
• Politico has a story about how LaHood will be missed in bike community (but it's behind the paywall): http://politico.pro/WNZOkd. Meanwhile in a parting shot on LaHood, the Heritage Foundation criticizes the $10M TIGER grant DC received to connect the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail to the PG County Anacostia Trails. "TIGER grant projects do not necessarily provide cost-effective mobility or reduce traffic congestion. Some fiscal year 2012 grants went toward developing 4 miles of bicycle and walking paths in Washington, D.C." Of course, they mention neither the cost nor the expected effectiveness of the trail, but take their word for it - it's not cost effective. [While we're at it, the CA to Las Vegas train they hold up as a boondoggle has received no federal funding - but is seeking an FRA loan]
• Below are snips of the AA County Trail Map that's in the Draft AA County 2013 Land Preservation, Parks and Recreation Plan. It shows close ups on the South Shore/WB&A Trails and the Chesapeake Beach Rail Trail. Extending the CBRT from Chesapeake Beach is one goal of the town's mayor. 
• Someone actually wants to hear your commuting stories.
• In 1990, cities will have no cars (as predicted in 1968). "The 1-mile diameter of this supercity of the future would have bicycle paths, golf courses, parks, streams and lakes—and no automobiles. Barring autos from the center of cities is expected to be a growing trend by the 1980s. A major reason: to cut down on air pollution caused by exhaust fumes. A California official recently called for a ban on all gas-burning autos in the State by 1980."

Anne Arundel County - Proposed South Shore, WB&A and Broadneck Trails

Chesapeake Beach Railway Trail in AA County