TheWashCycle

New DC bill could make biking easier for some and safer for all

A new bill introduced by DC Councilmember Mary Cheh should make cycling easier for DC employees and safer for all.

The Employee Transportation Act of 2012 includes a few provisions of interests to cyclists.

It requires the Mayor to issue a comprehensive plan, termed the Fleet Management Strategy, once a year. This plan would, among other things, certify compliance with the vehicle fleet requirements of section 2 of the Bicycle Safety Enhancement Amendment Act of 2008. That section reads

Sec. 2. Bicycle safety enhancements for District-owned, heavy-duty vehicles.
    (a) The Mayor shall:
        (1) Equip all District-owned, heavy-duty vehicles with the following:
                (A) Blind-spot mirrors;
                (B) Reflective blind-spot warning stickers; and
                (C) Side-underrun guards to prevent bicyclists, other vehicles, or pedestrians from sliding under                 rear wheels.
        (2) Require that operators of District-owned, heavy-duty vehicles receive bicycle and pedestrian         safety training from a curriculum and instructors that are approved by the District Department of         Transportation

Currently everything in that law is being complied with except for the side-underrun guards mentioned in part C. Adding those was estimated to cost $2.9 million in 2008, but the money was never allocated. Perhaps that would be a good use of traffic camera revenue - as it would protect both pedestrians and cyclists. The District is probably at great risk of liability since they have the law on the books, but have never implemented it. A jury probably wouldn't look too kindly on the "Yeah, we knew it was dangerous, but fixing it was too expensive" argument.

It also calls on the Director of Public Works to promote the use of bikeshare for work related travel, and it limits the purchase of new vehicles if the trips they would accommodate can be accommodated by bikeshare or transit.

And finally it calls on both the Mayor and the Secretary to the Council of the District of Columbia to report, separately, by the end of the year "Whether the use of alternative transportation, such as WMATA services, Circulator, Capital Bikeshare, and taxicabs by District government employees for work-related business could be increased and, if so, how."

By helping DC employees to use CaBi as part of their work duties, they could increase the pool of cyclists in DC (and maybe save some money), And if side underrun guards are finally added to all DC heavy-duty trucks, that would make the roads safer for all cyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists and scooter riders. This is a law that cyclists should support.

Wednesday Morning Commute - Ghost Rider

Good morning

• Bicycling advocates want to know why there's been no progress for two years on extending the proposed path between Union Station and Silver Spring. "Some of what we face is a challenge of resources and dealing with multiple trail projects moving forward at the same time," says Sam Zimbabwe who works in DDOT's planning and policy office. "And this is probably one of the most challenging sections of the trail in terms of dealing with competing needs of the right-of-way."
• Stories of early bicycle fatalities and ghosts on Capitol Hill.
• There was another assault in the Capital Crescent Trail tunnel. "A boy was assaulted Saturday evening by a group of six other juveniles in the Capital Crescent Trail tunnel that runs beneath Wisconsin Avenue, Montgomery County police said Tuesday."
• Ice Cream + Bicycles? Is this heaven? "the bikes are a cheaper alternative to a food truck, and they'll allow him to sell from multiple locations rather than one. He says he was inspired by ice cream bikes he remembers from growing up in Peru."
• Check out another DC bike blog: The Family Pedaler.
• Operating revenue is way up in Arlington, see the graph below, and in June 2012, revenue exceeded operating and marketing costs for only the 2nd time. "Fiscal Year 2011 had a 53% cost recovery ratio and FY12 saw an increase to 64%....Arlington’s portion of the service had $411,000 in revenues from memberships, user fees, and sponsorships and $473,000 in operations expenses, plus $170,000 in management and marketing – totaling $643,000 in expenses. The number of trips starting and ending in Arlington increased by about 280% to 88,613 (trips starting) and 86,438 (trips ending). The number of miles ridden in Arlington increased 343% to about 95,000 miles, which helped remove nearly 64,000 pounds of CO2 from the air. The service also got us more active and we burned over 4.1 million calories to be fit."

Wednesday Afternoon Commute - Red Dixie Cup

Listening to NPR while drifting in and out of sleep today I was somehow convinced that they had determined that terrorists had caused the derailment in Ellicot City. When I woke up I realized that idea was possible enough to be scary.

• In this article about 4 pedestrians who were struck on 14th Street NW the writer adds at the end "The alley where Wednesday's crash happened is also the same one where a cyclist was struck and killed by a dump truck in April." This is the first I've heard of this. Does anyone know what they're talking about?
• DC neighborhoods NoMa and Capital Riverfront embrace bikes and biking as part of their identity. 
• NYC veterinarianmakes house calls via bike "with her cocker spaniel Milo in the front basket and supplies and equipment in a rear trailer."
• Two NYC startups are working on alternatives to Citi Bike. One rents out private bikes like airBnB and the other uses bikes with built in locks and no kiosks. 
• A study will evaluate how much changes to zoning that were meant to increase activity "are being implemented in communities -- through structural changes to the environment such as sidewalks, parks and trails, bike paths, and street connectivity -- and ultimately, whether or not these changes are increasing physical activity levels within communities."
• Premium Rush might have some cool scenes. 
• Bike accessories for couples.  

And, the Atlantic has an article about separated bike lanes - or green lanes as advocates are calling them now. It's start with one cyclist who taped red dixie cups along a bike lane to keep cars out - an experiment that appeared to work. 

The message? Physical barriers, even small ones, have a greater effect on driver behavior than painted lines.

Sunday Video - Moving On Up

Wednesday Afternoon Commute - My kind of town

Happy Pi Day

• More new bike lanes - this time on Eye Street SE. 
• Sekou Biddle is a CaBi member. Others - not so much. 
• MoCo votes to fund Capital Crescent Trail. 
• Better headline: "Man somehow bikes all around PG County."
• Alta and Bixi, the two companies who manage and produce Capital Bikeshare, won the contract for Chicago's bike sharing system. That system will be 3 times as large as DC's.  
• For the 11th Street Recreation Bridge to work, it will need serious investment.
• San Francisco area passes one law like LA's anti-harassment law and one like NYC's bicycle access to buildings law. 
• Clement is not the only former solicitor general to bike commute. 

Saturday Morning Ride - Grocery store

So long to the Brightwood Car Barn. We hardly knew you.

• One letter writer asks why non-driving customers to a grocery should subsidize those who drive. My take: if a grocery store decides on their own to offer free parking then that is just business. Maybe another grocery store will ask customers to pay for parking but charge slightly lower prices and attract my business that way. My problem is when the government mandates more parking than the business wants to provide, or fails to include the environmental costs of zoning decisions into the cost structure. But I don't see a business decision as a subsidy.
• Rhode Island Row is using the Met Branch Trail as a way to promote the livability of the area. "Of course being right on the red line and bike trail is not a bad marketing hook, and the development team has capitalized with "a ton of bike storage". Kenney said she hopes to have a Capital Bikeshare location on site in the future.
• The new New York Avenue bike lanes.
• Bikeshare in PG County?
• Maybe the price of helmets actually is an impediment to using them?
• Better image of the new Columbia Pike/Washington Blvd interchange with a new 10' wide shared use path.
• RTC writes about the old Dupont streetcar station which will probably not be a bike station or a bike trail. 
• Lots of DDOT employees use bikes to get to, or get around for, work.
• The near SE section of the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail in pictures. 

Thursday Afternoon Commute - Blue Bike

Good afternoon

• Extensive comments on the 14th Street Bridge EIS bicycle components. 
• NCPC has approved the CaBi stations on the Mall. "Now they only need permits from the National Park Service, which has been supportive of the stations.The stations are seen as first step, opening the way for more stations on the Mall, plus potentially to other park service sites around the region....The bikesharing system only has enough equipment on hand to have one station in place by the time the cherry blossom bonanza begins, said Chris Holben." The rest they hope to have in place by July 4th. 
• At the Ward 7 transportation summit, "Shane Farthing raised the idea of subsidizing bike sharing for residents east of the river, and suggested changing Capital Bikeshare rules to allow younger members. "
• Mark Blacknell calls for more Arlington employees to use bikes on the job. 
• Arlington is asking for input on CaBi expansion and some are pushing for stations on Columbia Pike. 

• Mid-Pike Plaza in White Flint could become more bike friendly, with bike parking and a recreational loop of bike lanes and walking paths. 
• Lynchburg's Blue Bike system - fleet bikes available at one location - is being cancelled due to theft. Time to go to modern bikesharing. 
• A new report was recently published on Promoting Bicycle Commuter Safety. "Bicycle accidents that involved a motor vehicle were a very small percentage of all bicycle accidents; however, the vast majority of fatal bicycle accidents involved a vehicle. This is why engineers suggest keeping cyclists separate from vehicles."

Merry Christmas

Santa Strong by M.V. Jantzen, on Flickr

He's going to have to pedal fast to deliver all those presents tonight.

Saturday Night Ride - Live from New York

Good evening

• A DC police officer hit a cyclist in Sherman Circle with his cruiser during yesterday's morning rush. "According to a witness, the police car "[came] around the corner -- flying -- and hit the citizen and knocked him to the ground." Both the cyclist and bike were thrown 20 feet, and the cyclist was transported to the hospital. The driver had a yield sign adn two teenaged passengers in the car. The yield sign was a bit bent over as you can see in the video below.
• The Post congratulates NPS for reconsidering its decision to keep CaBi off the Mall
• The Greenbelt City Council voted to apply for grant funds to study the feasibility of a bike-sharing. Reportedly, MDOT has a program that will cover 80% of the cost of either study or implementation of bike-sharing (that's the first I've heard of it). The study will cost between $25,000 and $50,000. They've talked with nearby communities about partnering.  "Councilmembers had numerous questions about details of such a program, including how it might integrate with bikeshare programs in the District of Columbia and nearby communities such as College Park. Councilmember Leta Mach questioned whether people would use such a program.
• Rep.Donna Edwards tours Edmonston's Green Street as she touts her bill "Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act."
• Great bike photos.
• A Canadian man started an advertising buisness pulling signs behind his electric bike. But in one town, it's illegal. 

DC Police Car Hits Bicyclist: MyFoxDC.com

Wednesday Morning Commute - vulnerable, like a taxpayer

Good morning, I bet CaBi is so drunk after last night.

• Catania: "what's special about bicyclists?" Bowser: "They're vulnerable". Catania: "taxpayers are vulnerable" - The BAC supports the anti-harassment law that these two councilmembers were discussing.
• Bike to the solar decathlon
• The Huffington Post writes about cycling in DC. "This is my mode of transportation, damn it. And I'm proud of it."
• Peregrine Espresso delivers coffee by bike. And pedicab drivers stay fit while working.
• People in Takoma DC are itching for a bikeshare station. Pass the boot around. 
• Car Free Day is tomorrow. "GW will participate in Car Free Day as part of the University’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. The Office of Sustainability will raffle off 50 discounted Capital Bike Share memberships to those who take the pledge." And better yet - "In addition to participating in Car Free Day, Waskow announced that GW will launch a discounted shower-pass membership at the Lerner Health and Wellness Center later this semester. The membership will allow commuters who bike or walk to work to access showers at the fitness center." I wonder if that is only available to GW employees.
• VeloCity is moving, but they don't know where to. "Our warehouse home at 204 S. Union St. in Old Town has been sold, and we must move out by the end of January. We have limited time, and need a short list of viable locations so that we can review options, make a decision, negotiate a lease, and relocate.  We can use your skills, knowledge, contacts, and ideas to help us find and finance a new location in Alexandria, Arlington, or DC"
• TBD covers recent politics/cycling overlap. 
• Today we find out if Richmond will get the 2015 World Cycling Championships.
• Metro North in NY/CT is studying various mounts for bikes on trains.
• Around 1000 pedestrians are injured in collisions with cyclists in New York State per year, with about half of them in New York City. "One quarter of those injured were under age 10, and in New York City many of the victims came from poorer neighborhoods like East Harlem." But crashes are going down even as cycling increases "The number of injuries statewide declined from 1,112 in 2008 to 927 in 2010, researchers said." About 15,000 pedestrians are injured by cars each year in New York State. Which makes bike-related ped injuries about 6.25% of the total. Higher than their mode share, but then cyclists have more opportunities to crash into pedestrians. And the fatality ratio is around 300:1. So still safer, but there is room for improvement for sure. 
• Drinking and biking I frown upon. Doing so with your kid strapped in the child seat attached to your bike - and when you're so drunk that you fall down twice, thus injuring her, makes you candidate for worst dad ever.