Good morning
- Evidence of safety in numbers
- Bike and Roll is hiring
- Three foot bill in Virginia needs your help now
- Check out the Wash Cycle Laundry in Philadelphia (no I don't get royalties). They pick up and deliver laundry using bicycles.
- Montgomery County is serious about bike sharing. Council President Valerie Ervin (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring questioned whether some federal funding could be secured for a Montgomery County bike-share program, similar to one in Washington, D.C., that has 110 stations in the District and Arlington, Va. "Anyway we can get these projects moving," Cardin said. "We need them, and we need them now."
- The CCT yesterday:
It would be madness for Montgomery County to have bike sharing that wasn't integrated with CaBi.
I know it's hard for people in government to realize this, but people don't organize their lives around political boundaries.
Posted by: contrarian | February 10, 2011 at 09:32 AM
re bike crashes and safety in numbers: this is great news, and should be mentioned to our four wheeled, motoring, brethren who always cite the danger of riding a bike (see recent DC council hearing).
Of course, then they might switch to what really bugs them: having to slow down. :)
Posted by: SJE | February 10, 2011 at 11:24 AM
While I support bike sharing in MoCo, its not going to be as successful if the roads and routes are not safe or usable by cyclists.
Just look at the CCT in DC vs MoCo.
Most major road routes in lower MoCo are not particularly bike friendly.
Posted by: SJE | February 10, 2011 at 11:28 AM
Great video. Trail conditions this week are much better in northern PG county. The NE branch all the way to Berwyn Heights, the College Park trolley trail, the NW branch as far north as 38th street in Brentwood are now completely clear and suitable even for narrow tire bikes.
Posted by: Greenbelt | February 10, 2011 at 11:36 AM
I just emailed Councilwoman Erwin with my thoughts on CaBi, the CCT, and bike safety/friendliness in MoCo.
Speaking of MoCo, can anyone tell me what the state said in response to Quinzy Fraser's request for a reduced sentence?
Posted by: SJE | February 10, 2011 at 12:12 PM
If MoCo invests in a bike-sharing system it absolutely needs to be CaBi. I know a lot of people think that bike sharing HAS to be super dense to work. I'm not one of them. I think you could add a station at the Bethesda CCT trailhead and at the Silver Spring Transit center and get an interim Purple line going. It's still probably faster than the bus. That would not be the ideal system, but I think that might be the minimum needed to get it started. And it would place you just close enough to the peripheral DC stations to get to those in the 30 minute time limit. I'm not saying they should build only 2, but if that's all they can pull together, it might be worth it.
Posted by: washcycle | February 10, 2011 at 12:57 PM
Other locations in inner MoCo
1. Takoma Park, near the metro
2. Montgomery College in Takoma
3. Walter Reed in Silver Spring
4. In Bethesda: NIH, USHS, and the Naval Hospital (partial solution to BRAC?)
5. Friendship Heights.
If people are going to use them as more than just CaBi station to station, what about locks?
Posted by: SJE | February 10, 2011 at 01:27 PM
I'm unsure whether a bike share system can work in Mont. Co. with the existing state of roads and trails.
A bike share system based on Bethesda, Walter Reed in Silver Spring, Silver Spring, Takoma College, and Takoma Park will have a chance, IF the CCT and MetBranch are actually completed and maintained. But right now much of the ride to these destinations is on unfriendly streets.
Posted by: Wayne Phyillaier | February 10, 2011 at 01:43 PM
Wayne: thats pretty much what I wrote to Valerie Ervin.
Especially since the CCT connects 4 schools which are used by kids in her district, having the CCT in the state it is does not facilitate "safe routes to school" or getting kids outside and exercising.
Posted by: SJE | February 10, 2011 at 02:04 PM
@ the posters who doubt the safety of biking in southern MontCo. I live in NW DC and work in Silver Spring. My commute is by bike and as much of my shopping and other errand running as possible is by bike in Silver Spring and Bethesda. It is no less safe than downtown DC and in many way more so as the residential side streets offer many routes between the dense commercial development cores. The trail from SS to Bethesda is a 20 minute ride - on a high traffic day it can literally be as fast to bike the trail as to drive from Bethesda's restaurant row to the end of the trail in Silver Spring. Many a time I have lamented the fact that someplace in Rockville or Gaithersburg was so far from the metro during hours when I couldn't take my bike on a train. Bike share would make that a non-issue. MontCo residents would benefit enormously from tying into CaBi.
Posted by: Riley | February 10, 2011 at 02:34 PM
Riley, I don't think they doubt that one can, I think the question is will the median person feel comfortable with it? Biking with my wife I've learned that she is unwilling to ride a lot of places that I think are totally safe. She's not being unreasonable, she's just more cautious. Wayne is talking about ways to get my wife and people like her to ride around SoMoCo.
Posted by: washcycle | February 10, 2011 at 03:10 PM
Riley: I would also add that it is very different proposition to weave through back streets when you need to ride a long way, every day. (13 mi in my case). I do like my time on the bike, but I also have work and family.
However, the main point is that cyclists should not have to beg for the scraps. If MoCo wants to encourage cycling, they could do a lot by clearing trails and enforcing the current laws: clearing of sidewalks, traffic laws, and encouraging the police and courts to protect cyclists.
Posted by: SJE | February 10, 2011 at 03:46 PM
SJE-
Good luck getting a response from Ervin. She is notorious for having the worst constituent services/email response system in the county. She is only interested in moving herself up the chain.
Posted by: think a little | February 10, 2011 at 11:05 PM
WashCycle reflects my thinking about the median person not feeling comfortable riding on local streets. I think completing a few good trails like the CCT and MetBranch can get this "median person" onto a bike.
I've elaborated on this in a post today to my silverspring trails blog at http://www.silverspringtrails.org/?p=1163
Posted by: Wayne Phyillaier | February 11, 2011 at 09:05 AM
Think a little: thanks, I was surprised not to hear from her. I will see if Hans Reimer has more interest.
Posted by: SJE | February 11, 2011 at 10:44 AM
SJE-
Nancy Floreen is great at responding and her staff is good. So is Sen. Maldando's staff as well.
Posted by: think a little | February 11, 2011 at 11:12 PM
@ Riley-
East-West is safe and easy in southern MoCo, you have respectively, the CCT, Jones Bridge Rd., Cedar Lane, and Beech Dr/Grovesnor.
North-South (my communte) is death on a handlebar.....your choices are GA Ave, Conn Ave or Colesville or spending an extra 3-5 miles taking the Rock Creek or Sligo Creek trails.
If you live West of the park it gets much better, but East of the park gets pretty much nothing.
Posted by: think a little | February 11, 2011 at 11:14 PM