TheWashCycle

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

Thursday Morning Commute - Facemask

Good morning

• Phase I of the Wharf, the SW Waterfront project that includes a new section of the Anacostia Waterfront Trail and other bike-friendly components, announced the approval of its Phase 1 Planned Unit Development (PUD) by the District of Columbia Zoning Commission. 
• Very old photo of the C&O Canal (and the towpath).
• Wearing a facemask while biking in the winter makes you a scofflaw cyclist. You're giving us all a bad name. 
• Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) will speak at the Bike Summit. 
• Following MAP-21 funding.

Wednesday Afternoon Commute - Bedfellows

Good afternoon

• After a man sees his stolen bike on the front of a bus, he puts his bike on with it and rides a stop. He gets off and attempts to take both bikes off. But then a man who presumably put that first bike on the bus, jumped off, attacked him and rode away with the new bike. 
• More on the WABA app (it also has a flashlight) "The program was developed by Apps and Apples, an Indian company that WABA discovered after noticing a personal-injury lawyer's smartphone app. "Because in the event of a bike crash we want to collect the same kind of information a personal-injury attorney would want," WABA's communication coordinator Alex Baca writes." And here too.
• Sen. Peterson of Virginia on the dooring law: The bill passed in part because “Senate Democrats stayed in peloton formation to support me . . . It now moves on to the Pyrenees, i.e. the House Transportation Committee.”
• "We doubt that the first couple noticed as they walked, but bike lanes down the middle of America’s Main Street are one indication that this city takes bicycling seriously."
• More on the congestion pricing scenarios. And the Cato institute agrees with Earl Blumenauer about the need for a VMT to fund roads (that won't happen often). Still, if you think they're all buddy buddy "The Oregon representative obviously hopes vehicle-mile fees will help close the gap, allowing him and his colleagues to continue funneling billions of dollars into rail transit and other forms of travel that are actually pretty obsolete."

Tuesday Afternoon Commute - Stunts

Tough day for biking out there, but then, it sounds like it was no picnic driving either.

• This is no knock on Obama, but most of the progress in the region's bike-friendliness and mode-share uptick would have likely occurred under McCain. Unless...you think that the McCain administration would have denied Arlington/DC's use of CMAQ funding to pay for Capital Bikeshare. Biking in the area boomed during the Bush years too. 
• More from State Sen. Wagner on the anti-dooring law "It's establishing you're guilty for opening your car door whether you're guilty or not." No, that's not how the law work. If you fail to use due care, then it does kind of establish that you're guilty. But of course, a court will decide what is due care - and thus guilt. It is, however, correct to say that the current law establishes that you're not guilty, whether you're guilty or not - since opening a car door into someone without looking isn't a crime.
• Salisbury, MD has agreed to let mountain bikers maintain park trails. "The trails would not be what people imagine for mountain biking or stunts." This follows the passing of a bike lane ordinance last summer. 
• This is a surprisingly good article on the quiet car initiative conclusions. 
• A doctor who, in an act of civil disobedience, tried to block the removal of a bike lane was sentenced to community service. He'll be doing it with Cycle Toronto.