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Bass out as LA gets a new immigrant mayor; LA gives us all the finger with HLA noncompliance; and Claremont follows LA’s bike plan blunder

November 6, 2026 / / No comments

By now, you’ve undoubtedly heard that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass officially conceded yesterday, ushering in the Nithya Raman era at LA City Hall, and making her the city’s first mayor of South Asian descent.

According to LAist,

Nithya Raman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who offered a message of hope to a city beset by crises, has beaten Karen Bass in the race for Los Angeles mayor, the first time an incumbent has been ousted from that office in nearly a quarter century…

“And that work starts now, so that we can build housing that people can afford, parks for our children to play in, a transit system that can get people where they need to go, a city that is safe for its working people and its families, and a city government that is actually capable of delivering on its promises,” she said in the statement.

“I love this city, and I love its people, and I cannot wait to get started on building a better future together with all of you,” she continued. “Thank you so much, Los Angeles.”

She is also the first immigrant in memory to lead what has become a city of immigrants.

And in the Los Angeles Times’ look at how Raman will remake City Hall, the very first word is “bike.”

Bike lanes. Housing vouchers. A new police chief and many more new apartments, even in single-family neighborhoods.

And above all, data to find out if City Hall programs are working.

That’s a word that has been missing in action for the last four years, as the mayor led the city with a single-minded, and largely failed, focus on reducing homelessness.

Which isn’t to say that housing people living on the streets shouldn’t be a primary focus of a new Raman administration.

But it shouldn’t be the only one.

Los Angeles is failing as a city, with just two years to get our shit together before the world comes to our door for the ’28 LA Olympics. Will those visitors find today’s pothole-riddled and trash-lined streets? Or will Raman somehow find a way to make LA work in the short time before they get here?

This is how Streets For All founder Michael Schneider framed Raman’s ascension.

We will finally have a Mayor who is a trained urban planner who believes that you shouldn’t have to risk your life to cross the street, or ride a bike. Who believes in prioritizing efficient transit, and will accelerate good projects in the pipeline. Who endorsed Measure HLA and will tell city departments to stop fighting it. Who wants to build a ton more housing and will cut red tape to do so. A Mayor who is thoughtful, and cares about solving problems instead of speaking in platitudes.

However, it will be up to us to hold her feet to the fire, and ensure this becomes the bikeable, walkable, livable city we’ve been promised.

Because it isn’t now. And that, more than anything, is why Bass lost.

……….

Speaking of Measure HLA, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that the city continues failing to comply with the requirements of the ordinance.

According to Linton, the city has installed only 300 feet of new bus/bike/walk/accessibility facilities since Measure HLA became law in early 2024. That’s because the city insists that the only project “HLA required the city to install is a 300 foot of Reseda Boulevard bike lanes in Tarzana,” as they’ve continued to find creative workarounds to avoid complying with the measure.

But, according to Linton,

But you shouldn’t have to come to Streetsblog to find this quantified. Measure HLA required the city to set up a website to “provide the public access to monitoring and evaluation data for the implementation of the Mobility Plan as required by [Measure HLA].”

The city’s HLA dashboard website has been online since early 2025, but it’s basically a sad joke: incomplete, opaque, and in many places outdated and incorrect. It’s worse than malicious compliance.

The public still has no straightforward way of tracking city progress related to HLA or the Mobility Plan that HLA requires the city to implement.

In other words, just like with Vision Zero and the mobility plan, where the city was required to maintain a website listing bicycle and pedestrian death, and hold monthly meetings to update the public on progress building out the plan.

Something they gave up on in both cases, when it became just too damned inconvenient for them.

Hopefully, Raman will force the city into compliance with the law. Because right now, the city is just basically giving us all the finger.

………

She gets it.

A Pomona College professor complains that Claremont is one of the state’s most dangerous cities for children on bicycles, as well as one of the worst for speed-related injury collisions. Yet local officials are wasting funds on a hobbled transportation plan.

According to an op-ed by Heather Williams in the Claremont Courier,

Will our elected officials rise to the moment and make Claremont safer and greener? Or will they squander our best-in-a-generation opportunity to change that?

In March 2025, Claremont’s City Council authorized a $482,919 contract with Alta Planning+Design to develop an Active Transportation Plan. The objective was laudable: study our streets, consult residents, and develop a comprehensive strategy for making Claremont safer, more accessible, and more environmentally sustainable.

But she was disappointed to learn that the plan they came back with is disjointed and disconnected — because those were the marching orders Alta was given.

According to participants, Alta’s pedestrian proposals include promising improvements: raised crosswalks, curb extensions, flashing pedestrian beacons, and traffic-calming measures. But the proposed bicycle network is fragmented, with protected lanes that begin and end unpredictably, disconnected routes, and stretches offering little meaningful protection.

Why? Advisory group participants report that Alta was instructed to preserve existing vehicle lane configurations, landscaped areas, medians, and substantial on-street parking, while avoiding conflicts with driveways and school drop-off areas.

These restrictions effectively rule out many of the changes necessary to create continuous, protected bicycle routes.

According to Williams, city leaders need to explain to constituents why they’re spending nearly half a million dollars on a plan that “institutionalizes the very deficiencies it was commissioned to address.”

Most importantly, council members should ask a simple question: would they feel comfortable allowing a 10-year-old child to bicycle independently along the routes this plan recommends?

If the answer is no, the plan isn’t finished.

That was exactly the problem with the first draft of the 2010 Los Angeles bike plan, also prepared by Alta, which brought the phrase “currently unfeasible” into LA’s biking lexicon.

Alta returned a bike plan where most of the key connecting routes were considered “currently unfeasible” because they required the removal of parking spaces or travel lanes — or even just the narrowing thereof — and that was something beyond the comprehension of city leaders.

Fortunately, that plan was rejected by the city Planning Commission at the urging of the bicycling community, which told Alta and LADOT to go back to the drawing board.

Literally, in this case.

The result was a bold plan that re-envisioned Los Angeles streets, and how Angelenos could get around in the years to come. And which was unanimously approved by the city council.

Then allowed to wither and die on the shelf.

In fact, UCLA’s Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies estimates that just five percent of the bicycling facilities called for in the city’s mobility plan have been built out — which is why Measure HLA was required, and passed by an overwhelming majority of LA voters.

The question is, will that be the route that Claremont will be forced to take? Or will city leaders listen to local residents and send Alta back to the drawing board, with instructions to come back with something that actually works?

Let alone something that will save lives, and move the city far down on that list of dangerous cities for bike-riding kids.

………

Local 

Fifty-five-year old Jose Antonio Zayas pled not guilty to murder in the fatal shooting of a Culver City bus driver who refused to turn around or stop in the middle of a traffic lane; Zayas allegedly fled on a bicycle taken from the rack on the front of the bus after the shooting. No one has said whether the bike was actually his, however, or if he just grabbed someone else’s bike to get away. Which probably the least important detail, but still. 

 

State

Circulate San Diego offers an open letter explaining their Vision Zero budget priorities. Which is pretty much the same case they made in their last open letter on the subject, signifying the lack of progress. 

The Guardian examines how Lancaster transformed the former Highway 14 car sewer into a a leafy oasis of walkable ramblas rebranded as The BLVD.

The San Francisco Chronicle dropped its usual draconian paywall for a story about a “whimsical” birdhouse-lined bike trail just a BART ride from the city.

Bad news from Elk Grove, where a 72-year old man suffered life-threatening injuries when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike.

California appropriated $75,000 for an art and storytelling project by Indigenous groups at a new $400,000 bike park under construction in Northern California.

 

National

A Salt Lake City man gets his stolen Surly back after a friend spotted it at a local bike co-op, four years after it had gone missing.

Sad news from Michigan, where an 82-year old man was killed when a driver crossed the center line and hit his bike head-on. Although despite what the story says, he was not “killed after being hit by a vehicle,” unless someone put him out of his misery afterwards. 

 

International

Momentum debunks ten anti-bicycling myths used to argue against bike lanes. Which is pretty much the same arguments they debunked before.

Garmin is working with WAZE to provide drivers with an early warning about the presence of bicyclists.

Talk about missing the point. A writer for Pinkbike considers how El Salvador went from “murder capital to mountain bike haven.” Yet somehow fails to mention flawed elections and President Nayib Bukele ignoring a constitutional ban on two consecutive terms, while glossing over mass arrests, imprisonment without trials, and extrajudicial killings. But I guess none of that matters as long as it’s a great place to bike, right?

Tragic news from Bolivia, where the family of a 33-year old South Korean influencer has asked people to stop baseless speculating and malicious comments after he was killed by a hit-and-run truck driver while on an around-the-world bike tour.

London’s city assembly has called on the mayor to halt installation of floating bus stops until they agree on a better design, because of the danger they pose to blind bus riders when bike riders don’t stop like they’re supposed to.

Cycling Weekly follows a 127-mile singletrack trail along the UK’s River Wye, from its source in the boggy swamps of Wales’ Cambrian Mountains to the Bristol Channel.

A writer for The Independent makes the case for requiring numbered license plates for British bicyclists to rein in scofflaw riders. Because it has clearly worked so well to make drivers follow the laws, right?

Beijing, China has opened a new 21-mile riverfront trail along the south bank of the Qinghe River.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your KOM defeated by a squirrel. Why settle for natural loam when you can make your own?

And not all Limerick’s are funny. Or rhyme.

Especially the anti-bike ones.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

’28 Olympics provide an opportunity to build a real LA bike network, and fight in-person to close a gap in the LA River bike path today

November 5, 2026 / / No comments

A Los Angeles bike shop manager says the ’28 Olympics provide a perfect opportunity to build out an effective, connected bike network.

Writing for Planetizen, Alexander Golden argues that the city could emulate Paris in the buildup to the 2024 Olympics.

With less than 650 days to go and no concrete plan for moving the 3-5 million expected visitors around the city, Los Angeles should be looking to take as much strain off its Metro system during LA28 as possible. Given that the city is more than ready to embrace cycling, one answer could be to look to Paris’ “first bikeable olympics.” Two years before the opening ceremony Paris had no Olympic bike plan at all. By the time the Games rolled around, Paris had created a robust bike network that not only served Olympic spectators, but continues to move Parisians around the city to this day. If L.A. starts now, it could see the same lasting success.

However, Los Angeles has thus far gone the other way, despite years of clearly stated demands of local residents.

Similar to Paris, L.A. residents have spent the last decade begging officials for more bike infrastructure — with limited success. LA’s Mobility Plan 2035, adopted in 2016, maps roughly 260 miles of protected bike lanes and 660 miles of unprotected lanes. Execution has been the problem. By the city’s own count, only 22 miles of the protected network had been built by late 2023, along with 285 of unprotected lanes.

In 2024 voters tried to force the issue by passing Measure HLA, which won 65.5% of the vote. HLA requires the city to add the plans for bike, bus and pedestrian upgrades whenever it rebuilds a street. The City Administrative Officers report on the measurecalled it an unfunded mandate, and the ballot analysis put its cost at $2.5 billion over 10 years. Facing a roughly $1 billion deficit, the city cut the budgets of LADOT and StreetsLA, the two departments that build street safety projects.

It’s worth reading the whole thing. Because, if the current trends hold, Los Angeles is on the verge of electing a progressive mayor, like Paris’ Anne Hidalgo in the years leading up to the ’24 Paris Olympics.

I’m tempted to say we can only hope that a Nithya Raman administration would follow through on her stated support for bicycling and other forms of alternative transportation leading up to the games, and beyond.

But we can do more.

We can demand it. And we should.

……….

Speaking of which, I received the following email from Streets Are For Everyone yesterday.

A critical project to close a gap in the LA River Bike Path near Griffith Park is at risk of further delays, and we need your help!

Public comment at Thursday’s Recreation and Parks Task Force meeting will be accepted in person only, so we need as many advocates as possible to show up in support of this important connection.

Please join us tomorrow morning at 10:30 AM to speak in support of this critical project. Your presence and public comment can help demonstrate the community’s strong support for closing this gap.

Recreation and Parks Task Force Meeting Details

Thursday, November 5, 2026
10:30 AM
Valley Plaza Recreation Center
12240 Archwood Street, North Hollywood, CA 91606

Again, public comment will be accepted in person only.

Context

The approximately one-mile section between Riverside Drive and Forest Lawn Drive, known as “LARiverway – LA River Bike Path Phase 4,” is facing major opposition from some in the local equestrian community.

The project has already cleared environmental review and received City Council approval; however, the Recreation and Parks Department still needs to grant the rights necessary to establish the right-of-way and move forward. An earlier agenda item to approve the Grant of Rights was deferred following significant pushback, again, from some members of the local equestrian community.

This Thursday, the Recreation and Parks Task Force will hear from both equestrian and cycling advocates. We need cyclists and community members to attend in person and show strong support for completing this important connection.

I have written suggested talking points which you can access here: Talking Points – LA River Bike Path Phase 4.

……….

SAFE also invites you to attend their observance of the World Day of Remembrance for the the victims of traffic violence, which will be held just off the Pasadena CicLAvia route, below, a week from Sunday.

……….

The last CicLAvia of the year takes place on Sunday, November 15th when the open streets event returns to Pasadena for just the second time; CicLAvia offers highlights you can expect along the route.

……….

In news that really shouldn’t surprise anyone, a new study of collapsable, aka foldable, bike helmets has found that on average, they provide less protection than other bike helmets, although there is nothing inherent in their design that would prevent them from being improved to match the risks protection of other bike helmets.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going. 

London’s Westminster Council says it just doesn’t know where bicyclists should go after the recent pedestrianization of Oxford Street, even though the council had previously published plans for alternative bike routes. In other word, when asked where bike riders should now go, they politely said go to hell. 

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly. 

Boston cops are looking for a bike rider who “went berserk” when a man told him to stop riding on the sidewalk, arguing with the victim before chasing him down and punching him in the face, then returning to take pictures of the man lying on the ground. While that’s major asshole behavior, it does seem to lower the bar a tad for berserking.

A Long Island man faces charges after throwing an object at a Tesla, then spitting on the car and pulling a pocket knife on the driver after the driver rolled down his window to ask him why; the driver then struck the man when he was attempting to get away. At least that’s his story, and he’s sticking to it, although it seems likely that he may have done something to provoke that response, but still.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 38-year old London man was sentenced to less that four years behind bars for punching a man nearly twice his age to death, because the older man had told a kid riding a Lime bike on the sidewalk to slow down.

………

Local 

LA officials are encouraging feedback on the second phase of remaking Westwood Blvd to install dedicated bus and bike lanes, and are willing to bribe you with the somewhat slight possibility of winning a $50 gift card.

 

State

A San Francisco woman tells the local public radio and TV station how much she loves riding her ebike 12 miles to work every day, and how much she’ll miss it when she switches back to driving for the winter. Which raises the obvious question of why switch, then. 

San Franciscans have reaffirmed their vote to remove cars from the former Great Highway, which has been converted to the Sunset Dunes linear park, by a nearly two-thirds margin.

If you think you’ve seen women’s cyclist Lotte Kopecky or her husband, Axel Merckx, riding around the Bay Area, you’re probably right.

 

National

The Pedaling Relief Project established by Seattle’s Cascade Bicycle Club reached a dramatic milestone by rescuing two million pounds of food and essential goods by bicycle and delivering them to local food banks.

A 64-year old construction flagger faces a charge of criminally negligent homicide for the death of a school teacher walking her bike through a construction zone in my ostensibly bike-friendly Colorado hometown, after allegedly flagging her into the path of a semi-truck four months ago; the charge carries a maximum penalty of one to three years, plus two years of mandatory probation. Although you’ll have to get around my hometown paper’s paywall if you want to read it. 

A woman in her 30’s describes being terrified of her own body for most of her life after living with spinal scoliosis, until she moved to Colorado and accepted an invitation for a bike ride, and what she thought would be an easy ride around town turned into a 20-mile ride into the countryside.

The family of 34-year old Boston transportation planner begged city counselors to turn their words into action, and improve safety on the street where she was killed riding to work; they also announced plans to distribute the $100,000 raised after her death to ten local advocacy groups.

Tuesday’s blue tsunami extended to ballot measures pushed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, which all passed, including measures supporting outdoor dining and speeding the construction of bus and bike lanes.

A Philadelphia bike ride protesting against Jewish-owned businesses has been roundly and rightfully condemned by Pennsylvania’s two US Senators, the state attorney general and local organizations. Just to be clear, protesting against the government of Israel is no more antisemitic than protesting Italy is anti-Catholic, but extending that protest to individual Jews is. 

 

International

Life is cheap in British Columbia, where prosecutors are asking for a lousy two years probation for a 63-year old man who ran a red light a full six seconds after it had changed from green, killing a 68-year old woman riding a bicycle — but it’s no biggie, because he was thinking about his poor mother in the hospital instead of watching the road in an effort not to send anyone else there.

The four people arrested in Toronto for protesting the forced removal of bike lanes over the objections of local officials are contesting their arrests by arguing that police are trying to stifle dissent.

A fan of the 141-year old Luton Town football club had his effort to ride to every one of the team’s away games this year prematurely ended when someone stole his bike after he stopped at Starbucks to use the loo, but says he’s been blown away by the support he’s received from the team and its supporters.

Riding without lights in Oxford, England could cost you the equivalent of $94.

In yet another example of keeping a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late, the killer hit-and-run driver who dragged a British bike rider under his car for nearly five minutes, while repeatedly swerving to dislodge the victim, has been sentenced to 25 to life behind bars, along with a lifetime ban on driving, after he was convicted of murder; he had 28 previous convictions, including multiple driving offenses, DUIs and fleeing from police.

 

Competitive Cycling

Classic Italian cycling component maker Bianchi has learned the hard way that you can’t mass produce handmade quality, entering the European equivalent of bankruptcy with over $112 million in debt.

Zwift’s new hi-def video world may be a little too realistic, after a user spotted a digitized Tom Doumalin taking a dump on the side of the road.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can wear Brandon McNulty’s rainbow jersey while you ride Tadej Pogačar’s Colnago. Your old ebike batteries could have a new life as someone else’s industrial energy storage system.

And nothing like going out to ride your bike, and finding a six-foot python curled up under the frame.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Court rules in favor of bike lanes on Fountain Ave, and victims of LA County traffic violence to be honored on World Day of Remembrance

November 3, 2026 / / No comments

This time, the law was on our side.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge ruled that the bike lanes planned for Fountain Ave can go forward, after concluding that they don’t violate CEQA or

According to WeHo Times,

In a ruling issued Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, Judge Richard L. Fruin denied a petition for writ of mandate filed by Michael J. Kilroy against the City of West Hollywood and other defendants. The court granted judgment in favor of the city, rejecting the claims raised in Kilroy’s verified petition and complaint.

The case, filed Oct. 29, 2025, challenged the city’s decision to move forward with Phase 1 of the Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project without conducting a full environmental review. Kilroy, who owns an eight-unit apartment building at 1308 N. Flores St., near the intersection of Flores Street and Fountain Avenue, argued that the city’s reliance on CEQA exemptions was improper…

The project is being implemented in two phases. Phase 1 consists of the initial roadway reconfiguration and safety improvements, while Phase 2 is expected to involve a more extensive reconstruction, including wider sidewalks where feasible, upgraded Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant curb ramps, landscaping, street lighting, traffic signal improvements and utility relocation.

However, as a commenter on the site pointed out, whether the project actually moves forward will depend entirely on the outcome of today’s election. A shift of just one vote coming from a slate of more conservative candidates running in WeHo could be enough to doom it.

So call it a win for now. Whether it stays that way is yet to be determined.

My selfie skills may suck, but today’s photo is a reminder that there’s more than one way to Bike the Vote. 

……….

Streets Are For Everyone invites you to join them to commemorate the local victims of traffic violence on the World Say of Remembrance November 15th, this time at Pasadena City Hall.

Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE) invites you to join us and hundreds of communities worldwide for World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on Sunday, November 15.

In 2025 alone, 705 people were struck and killed on LA County roads, and 56,893 were injured, over 6,000 of them severely. World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is a UN-recognized day, the third Sunday in November, when communities across the world remember those lost, support those impacted by traffic violence, and take action to prevent these tragedies from ever happening.

As part of this year’s theme – Remember,  Support,  Act – SAFE is honored to partner with CicLAvia in presenting a large-scale public art installation featuring 705 empty chairs set up in Pasadena’s Memorial Park, each adorned with a single yellow rose, representing a person lost to traffic violence in Los Angeles County last year.

Friends and family of those who have lost a loved one at any point, anywhere (not just in LA County), are also invited to contribute to the public art installation by decorating chairs and adding them to the Field of Remembrance, or by drawing chalk-art pictures on the paths winding through this field.

Our Remembrance Ceremony includes a press event, dove release, and songs – bringing together traffic violence survivors, victims’ families, elected officials, community organizations, and advocates around these three calls to action: Remember, Support, Act. Through personal stories and remarks, the ceremony will honor those affected by preventable violence and carry forward our collective effort to put an end to traffic violence.

Event Details

Date: Sunday, November 15, 2026
Location: Pasadena Memorial Park
85 E Holly St, Pasadena, CA 91101
Field of Remembrance: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Press Conference and Remembrance Ceremony: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

……….

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going. 

No bias here. Anaheim city leaders are grappling with “life or death” ebike policies, even though the people causing the problems aren’t riding ebikes, but illegal e-motorbikes and non-street legal dirt bikes.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly. 

An Irish newspaper says “mobs of yobs” on bicycles and e-scooters armed with fireworks terrorized people walking on the newly pedestrianized Oxford Street — yet illustrated the story with long lines of cars no longer allowed there.

………

Local 

As usual, Metro and most other LA County transit systems will offer free rides today for Election Day. Which should be a paid legal holiday, but isn’t. 

Speaking of Metro, Streetsblog has a list of Metro scoping meetings for the Sepulveda Transit Corridor beginning tomorrow night.

Also tomorrow, Pasadena will host the city’s second virtual community meeting for the 1.8-mile Pasadena and St. John avenues corridor tomorrow, as they continue to accept comments online.

South Pasadena will hold a community meeting on Thursday, Nov. 12, from 6 to 7:30 pm in the South Pasadena Middle School auditorium on the Huntington Drive-Fremont Avenue Corridor Improvements Project.

 

State

An Atwater intersection will now carry the name and memory of 10-year-old fourth grader who was struck and killed while riding his bike near his home and school in April.

Sad news from south Sacramento, where a man riding a bicycle was killed in a right hook by a pickup driver.

 

National

Eighty-four-year old Harrison Ford relies on tennis and riding his bike to stay in shape in his 80s.

A law firm says that 68% of bicyclists killed between 2015 and 2024 were not wearing helmets, but only 19% of bicycling injuries in 2024 involved head injuries. Make of that what you will, because sure as hell don’t know what it means for us. 

Seattle Bike Blog calls for breaking all the city’s records for biking during the dark, rainy months.

Heartbreaking story from Oklahoma, where the family of a 16-year old boy are taking comfort in his decision to be an organ donor, just two weeks before suffering a catastrophic brain injury when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike home from a new job.

Sad news from Wisconsin, where Harry Spehar, Trek’s first product manager, died after suffering a stroke; the Vallejo, California native was 80.

 

International

PeopleForBikes rates the best international cities for bicycling, with the large city category led by the usual suspects, although a few German cities managed to break into the top ten; the medium-sized cities are all in Belgium and the Netherlands, while Canada fares well in the small cities camp.

Despite being in Ontario, bike lanes are not being removed in Montreal, unlike Toronto, but that didn’t keep an 18-year old man riding a bicycle from being killed by a driver in a suspected stolen car who was fleeing from police; hundreds of bicyclists staged a die-in to protest the death.

Also in Montreal, the family of an 89-year old man killed killed by a driver while trying to get into the passenger door of his car honored him with a pair of white ghost shoes suspended from a lamppost.

They get it. An Ethiopian website says “the measure of a city’s greatness is not found in the height of its buildings alone, but in the freedom of a child to walk safely, the ease with which a commuter can cycle to work, the pleasure of a family strolling beside a restored river, and the dignity of people reclaiming public spaces as their own.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. 

A 29-year old Singaporean man was sentenced to five years and nine months behind bars for the 2024 death of a bike rider in Australia; he was originally charged with murder before pleading to manslaughter in August.

 

Competitive Cycling

If you’re going to hold a gravel race, might as well do it in the Great Karoo region of South Africa, if only so Cycling News can show off their knowledge of what multiples of giraffes and zebras are called.

Velo says Chinese bikes are in and Bianchi is out as major changes come to WorldTour sponsorships next year.

 

Finally…

Peddling pies by pedaling. That feeling when the insurance company says blame your marriage, not the bike crash.

And the new British version of Saturday Night Live celebrates Brits joyfully risking their lives on Lime bikes.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Protesting bike lane removal in Halloween costumes, last minute LA mayoral advice, and flying your bike in the light of the moon

November 2, 2026 / / 2 comments

Well, that was a fun meta moment. 

I asked Claude AI for an accurate count of bicycling fatalities in the City and/or County of Los Angeles, hoping it might be able to ferret out more information than I’ve been able to find. 

It responded by citing an advocacy blog called BikinginLA, giving the latest county figures I’ve been able to dredge up. So while it may be artificial, it at least knows about this site, so it’s clearly intelligent. 

One other semi-quick note. 

Last week, I wrote the following in regards to the double murder counts filed against Valentin Alberto Rodriguez for the two DUI deaths on the Montclair Halloween ride: 

It also means that he could face multiple life sentences — which from what I’ve been told about the crash and the damage he inflicted, doesn’t began to seem harsh enough.

A comment from Charles asked what “harsher than life imprisonment” I would find satisfactory. 

My comment above was based on information that hasn’t been reported in the press — which I’m not sure if I will even share here, given that friends and family members frequently find this site — and the anger and revulsion I felt, and continue to feel, over the violence and cruelty inflicted on the victims. 

It was also based on the knowledge that life imprisonment in California seldom means imprisonment until death. Unless a prison sentence specifies “without parole,” or the guilty party is sentenced to consecutive sentences, rather than concurrent, someone could easily be back out in 15 to 20 years. 

So while I may feel that a given punishment is not harsh enough to fit the crime, that does not mean I actually want to inflict something harsher. I do not support the death penalty, nor do I support torture or dismemberment, as Charles suggested. 

I means that I am mad as hell, and my heart cries out for vengeance, knowing that there is no possible penalty that could ever make something like this right. 

In truth, I can envision no greater punishment than waking up every day with the full knowledge of the harm you inflicted on someone else, and the guilt and shame of living with that every day. 

And I hope you’ll tolerate a little AI slop as our corgis, living and dead, wish you ¡Feliz Día de Muertos!

……….

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going. 

Dozens of Toronto residents spent their Halloween protesting the removal of a popular bike path by provincial authorities, over the objection on city leaders, riding bikes and carrying signs, both in an out of costume, as some handed out candy to passersby.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly. 

A 75-year old British woman riding a bicycle suffered serious injuries when she was hit head-on by another bicyclist, but at least the other rider apparently stopped.

………

Local 

The Los Angeles Times offers a last-minute guide to the LA Mayor’s race, comparing incumbent Karen Bass with challenger Nithya Raman on issues including housing, policing and homelessness, without touching on streets or traffic safety. But if you still haven’t decided, here’s a simple way to make a choice: If you like what you see when you look around this city, vote for Bass; if not, don’t. 

Politico profiles Raman, calling her an accidental politician drawn into office by concern over homelessness, and an “Evil Elmo.”

Metro will close a portion of Pasadena’s Arroyo Parkway between Holly and Union streets today and tomorrow to stripe new bike and travel lanes.

 

State

A 52-year old Ocean Beach woman suffered serious facial fractures when she was hit by a DUI driver while riding an ebike, when the driver decided to make a U-turn even though she was in the way.

SF Gate tells the story of how one of the most iconic and indelible scenes in modern movie history was shot on a rainy night on a ranch just outside Crescent City, when Elliott escaped authorities on his flying bicycle ride silhouetted against the glow of the moon with E.T. in his basket.

Thousands of people turned out for the 8th annual zombie bike parade in Davis, to raise funds for adaptive bicycles for children with disabilities.

A letter writer strongly urges city officials to the Davis Bicycle Hall of Fame as a temporary shelter this winter, because the building is underutilized. And who really cares about a bunch of old bikes and the people who rode them, anyway?

 

National

Velo considers why flying with your bicycle is always a gamble, and how to improve your odds. Personally, I prefer flying with an airplane and a licensed pilot, but as E.T. showed us, flying with a bike is doable with a little help.

The California Post highlights five destinations from National Geographic’s ‘Best of the World’ travel list, including our own PCH and Catalina Island, though failing to mention that the southern end is one of the deadliest roadways in California.

Nope, no bias here. A Boise, Idaho mom wants to know why the motorcyclist who killed her 15-year old son as he rode an ebike isn’t facing charges, in what the local paper describes as an ebike crash, rather than a collision caused by someone riding a motorcycle 80 mph in a 25 mph zone.

Horrible news from Ohio, where a 26-year old man fleeing from police crashed his pickup into several vehicles, losing a wheel, then proceeded on three wheels before slamming into a 35-year old man riding a bicycle, and dragging him half a mile to his death in the missing wheel well; he faces murder and involuntary manslaughter charges, as well as 31 other counts including multiple charges of felonious assault, tampering with evidence and hit-and-run.

Tragic news from New York, where four people have now died following a fire in the Bronx caused by an ebike battery that blocked escaped from the apartment in a public housing complex.

Relatives marked the ninth anniversary of the 2017 New York terrorist attack in which a man in a rented truck sped down the city’s Hudson River Bike Path, killing eight people and injuring 14 others.

Brooklyn’s best Halloween party was held on a dead-end street by costumed revelers on bicycles, whose only rule was “don’t be an asshole.”

A 24-year old New Jersey man was arrested six days after a hit-and-run crash that killed a 71-year old dishwasher riding a bicycle, and charged with tampering with evidence as well as the fatal hit-and-run; another driver remains to be identified after also leaving the scene.

A Pennsylvania bike co-op is operated by a 32-year old nonprofit group with perhaps the best name in advocacy, the Coalition for Appropriate Transportation.

 

International

The Guardian looks at London’s “Sin Bin” for lawbreaking bicyclists who are forced to watch a roadside safety video in lieu of getting a ticket and paying a fairly minimal fine. Kinda like a hockey player getting five for fighting, or a toddler forced to take a timeout for throwing a temper tantrum.

Meanwhile, calls are growing for cops to enforce a ban on bicycling on the newly pedestrianized Oxford Street in London before someone gets hurt, while bicyclists call for alternate routes, instead. When I visited London 25 years ago on a delayed honeymoon, Oxford was a car sewer of the highest degree, and people got hurt by cars on a regular basis. And a lot worse than with a bicycle. 

Speaking of perceived bad behavior, bicyclists in the English town of Kenilworth were reportedly abused by fellow residents for riding their bikes through a park — which they had to do to get to the bicycle parking on the other side.

Even bicycle advocates call scofflaw sidewalk cyclists in the London borough of Putney “the elephant in the room.”

An English radio host is preparing to ride a bicycle 400 miles to visit all four countries in Great Britain in five days, despite not being a “sporty person” or “a cyclist in any way, shape or form.” In parts of this country, it’s difficult to visit four states in 400 miles, let alone four countries.

A British hit-and-run driver faces life in prison for hitting a man riding a bicycle, and knowingly driving another mile dragging the victim under his car.

The rich get richer, as Paris commits the equivalent of $224 million to improve bicycling, while building 87 miles of new bike lanes in six years.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tadej Pogačar was hurt worse than officials let on, revealing that he broke three vertebra when he crashed at the Vuelta, and the outcome may not be as good if he crashes again. There is something to be said for walking away while you still can. 

Twenty-four-year old American Amanda Coker set a new Guinness World Record by riding a remarkable 86,573.2 miles in 12 months, beating the old record by more than 10,000 miles, and now plans to set another by riding 100,000 miles in the shortest amount of time to break a record set 86 years ago.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you get swept away by flood waters, but recover your missing bicycle after someone fishes it out of a storm drain, fixes it up and posts about it online. Or when a major news service can’t decide whether to call a homeless bike rider he or they, so they use both at once.

And GQ answers the difficult question of what to wear to an ebike jousting tournament.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , ,

Double murder charge in alleged DUI Montclair Halloween ride hit-and-run, and San Diego fails to check if Streets For All is already in use

October 30, 2026 / / 2 comments

I honestly don’t get it. 

A couple of trains crashed in Spain, killing 68 people — a horrible tragedy that made headlines around the world. 

Yet every year in the United States, we lose the population of a small city to traffic violence, and almost no one even notices. And ever fewer care

Somebody make it make sense. 

Photo by Kindel Media for Pexels. 

……….

At least it’s murder now.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office filed multiple charges, including two counts of murder, for last Saturday’s fatal hit-and-run that killed two people taking part in a joyful Halloween ride last Saturday.

According to the DA’s office,

“Multiple lives lost in one tragic, senseless, but entirely avoidable DUI. An October celebration turned into carnage because of one person’s decision to drive while intoxicated. There were numerous alternatives available to get home safely, yet he chose to get behind the wheel. That decision has now cost two people their lives,” said District Attorney Jason Anderson.

Filed Charges:

  • Counts 1–2: PC 187(a) – Murder
  • Counts 3–4: PC 191.5(a) – Gross Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated
  • Counts 5–6: VC 23153 – Driving Under the Influence Causing Injury
  • Additional Charge: VC 20001 – Felony Hit-and-Run

Additionally, our Office filed special allegations for Personal Infliction of Great Bodily Injury or Death and Fleeing after Committing Vehicular Manslaughter. Arraignment date and location is pending.

The murder charges likely indicate that this was not Montclair resident Valentin Alberto Rodriguez’s first DUI charge, and that he had received a Watson Advisement indicating that he could face a murder charge if he killed someone while driving under the influence going forward.

It also means that he could face multiple life sentences — which from what I’ve been told about the crash and the damage he inflicted, doesn’t began to seem harsh enough.

I struggle with cases like this, because I recognize that alcoholism is a disease which should be treated, not punished.

But as the DA indicated, no one forced Rodriguez to get behind the wheel after — allegedly — getting shitfaced. And no one forced him to keep driving after the crash, dragging one of the victims with him, or to foot bail after finally coming to a stop.

All he had to do was call an Uber, or take a fucking bus, and Robert Garcia Umanzor and single mother Rumor Ortiz could have finished their ride in peace, and gone home to their families instead of dying in the street.

So if there’s any justice left in this world, Rodriguez will sober up behind bars, and have decades to reflect on the cost of his actions.

………

San Diego has launched a new guide for safer streets. Although they might have picked a name that wasn’t already in use just over a hundred miles away.

The City of San Diego has launched Streets for All, a new resource designed to guide communities that are interested in transforming their neighborhood streets into safer, more welcoming spaces, finding solutions to calm traffic or creating more spaces for neighbors to gather.

Streets for All is community-driven, meaning residents and businesses work together to develop and fund near-term “quick build” projects in their neighborhoods to calm traffic or create more gathering spaces. Communities can use the manual to help identify potential solutions to fit their location and existing conditions.

Whether they can get away with using the same name as the Los Angeles and San Francisco street safety PAC depends on the generosity of, and lawyers for, the Los Angeles-based group.

But you’d think San Diego would have done a basic web search before choosing the name — unless their purpose was to cause confusion with the previously existing group, in which case, carry on.

………

Streets for All — the real one — calls for a no vote on prop 43.

Twitter post

Meanwhile, Calbike concurs on 43 and adds a no on 45.

No on Prop 43: Protect Local Funding for Safer Streets

CalBike urges Californians to vote NO on Proposition 43. The measure would make it harder for communities to approve citizen-led taxes for safer streets, reliable transit, and other essential local services. CalBike’s vision for California is a place where a bicycle can carry more of your daily life: the ride to school, the trip to the grocery store, the connection to a bus or train.

We have worked tirelessly to help California as a whole be knit together by Complete Streets, with signature legislation like SB 960. In this future, safe bikeways and reliable transit work together, putting more destinations within reach. Making a walking-friendly street into a biking-friendly neighborhood and less car-dependent regions or. Read more, or watch on our social media channels.

California voters will have a chance to push back against the Trump Administration’s rollbacks of the laws that protect our public health, air, land, and water this November by voting No on Proposition 45. Prop 45 is backed by PACs representing oil companies, for-profit utilities, and industrial developers, and would make it easier to build data centers, warehouses, and other polluting projects.

Prop 45 harms air, water quality, and public health by severely limiting critical public oversight of a long list of harmful projects. The independent and non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates implementing Prop 45 could cost taxpayers $100 million or more annually.

Every voter needs to know:

  • Prop 45 weakens protections in California for clean air, clean water, and public health.
  • Prop 45 doesn’t reduce costs – it shifts them to taxpayers and includes no guarantees to bring costs down for everyday Californians.
  • Big corporations are spending tens of millions of dollars so they can build polluting projects – including data centers – with less public oversight.

Check out the No on Prop 45 website to learn more.

………

Bike Long Beach is hosting a post-Halloween ride on Sunday, although the forecast is somewhat soggy for Sunday.

Bikes and Coffee 11/1/26: Post-Halloween ride

Join us on Sunday, November 1st for a post-halloween Bikes and Coffee ride! This is actually our October ride, which we had to push a week due to schedule conflicts. Starting at SteelCraft, we’ll loop up to Rancho Los Cerritos and other houses before heading down mainly through Wrigley via Daisy/Magnolia, checking out the Bembridge house before making our way down Broadway for a stop at Coffinated Coffee – they’re having their soft opening this weekend.

We’ll meet at SteelCraft at 9 a.m. and roll out at 9:30. This is a casual pace ride of about 14 miles on bike paths and quiet streets. Everyone is welcome, on any kind of bike. Come meet and hang out with fellow bike people. Bring a bike in good condition, helmet and a lock. See you there!

Please sign our ride waiver if you’re planning on attending.

Start and end location: SteelCraft, 3768 Long Beach Blvd
Meet time: 9 a.m.. We’ll roll around 9:30 a.m.
Distance: 14 miles
Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/57708403

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going. 

Nope, no bias here. An English police force blames “dark clothing” for crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians, but can’t seem to find the words blame drivers for speeding or looking at their phones.

A British cafe replaced its billboard with an ad on the side of a car, which was thoughtfully parked blocking a bike lane.

………

Local 

Streetsblog offers five amazing simple hacks to avoid getting a ticket from the new Los Angeles speed cams, including only driving 10 mph over the speed limit.

Los Angeles General Medical Center gave away pamphlets on ebike safety and 100 bike helmets in an effort to reduce ebike injuries.

 

State

Um, okay. The Cal State Fullerton Daily Titan says the Anaheim Police Department outlined a three-pronged approach to ebike safety focusing on enforcement, education and engineering, while categorizing ebikes into three classes — which coincidentally just happen to be the same three classes spelled out under state law.

San Diego will host the 13th Annual Jim Krause Memorial Charity Cycling Ride the Point on November 7th to raise funds for pancreatic cancer research, with rides ranging from five miles to a metric century.

Horrible story from Stockton, where a 23-year old Navy vet was found dead two months after his bicycle was found half a mile from the In-N-Out Burger where he was last seen on July 19th; investigators don’t seem to have any idea what happened to him, or why it took so long to find his body. A crowdfunding campaign to help pay his funeral expenses has raised just $340 so far.

 

National

Life is cheap in Utah, where an 81-year old truck driver was sentenced to just 75 days behind bars, with credit for time served, along with three years probation, for the hit-and-run death of a nine-year old boy riding his bike in a crosswalk, because the victim’s family asked for forgiveness and mercy; he said afterwards that he knew he hit a bicycle, but didn’t think anyone was on it. Because apparently, people in Utah just randomly leave bicycles standing in crosswalks. 

Nothing like learning just how cheap life is near your own hometown, where a distracted driver who killed a ten-year old boy three years ago while he was riding his bike in a crosswalk, just 10 miles from where I grew up — then deleted the incriminating text message to hide the evidence — got a whopping one year behind bars, with work release so she could continue teaching other little kids while doing her time. However, the story is hidden behind a paywall, so you’ll have to find a way around it if you want to see for yourself just how little a little kid’s life is worth. 

It’s been four years since an 18-year old Michigan man was shot and killed by a driver while riding his bike, and police have nothing more than a sketch of a long-haired, bearded man and a light-colored sedan to go on.

An Indianapolis, Indiana man faces a felony hit-and-run count for killing a 56-year old woman riding a bicycle and just driving off, leaving her on the side of road where she was found 15 minutes later. But at least that carries a penalty up to three times what a fatal hit-and run would carry in California.

A 41-year old New York State man faces five to ten behind bars after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter for the hit-and-run death of a 50-year old woman riding an ebike.

 

International

An Indian man has spent the past 20 years riding over 124,000 miles through 191 countries to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-year old rising French cycling star Paul Seixas, who just happens to share my birthday, calls for better safety standards following the death of 19-year old British cyclist Finlay Tarling at this year’s Volta a Portugal.

Cycling Up To Date says the late, great Tour of California could make a comeback, seven years after Tadej Pogačar won the final edition. Personally, I’d like to see a two-to-three week race that starts in Colorado and continues by stages to the West Coast.

A Dutch amateur cyclist was lucky to escape with relatively minor injuries when he was hit head-on by a driver while on a training ride, leaving him with bruised ribs and one majorly fucked up bike, below.

Instagram post

 

Finally…

Nothing like keeping humans out of the loop by having your AI chatbot answer calls from a customer’s AI chatbot. Or imitating the Wizard of Oz by being lifted up by a tornado while riding your bike.

And nothing like recording a motorist merrily following behind you on a separated bike path.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A new mayor may not fix what ails Los Angeles, a bike street can improve the whole neighborhood, and Caltrans schedules PCH workshop

October 29, 2026 / / 2 comments

Somehow, I managed to get through today’s post, after spending all day yesterday flat on my back with my eyes closed to keep the world from spinning around me. 

Good times. 

As for today’s photo, scroll down lower to see what I missed out on over the weekend, dammit. 

……….

It’s not just you.

Crosstown says Los Angeles is spending more and getting less, in a town that’s “not designed to work.” And getting a new mayor won’t fix things.

From street sweeping to tree trimming, Los Angeles residents are seeing less of the basic services they rely on.

With the mayoral race heating up, candidates are promising to fix the problem. But Los Angeles is spending more and getting less — and whoever wins will inherit a system that limits how much they can actually change.

In five years, Los Angeles’s budget grew 34%. The number of sidewalks it repaired fell 33%.

Residents are feeling the effects in their neighborhoods. In 2021, Los Angeles cut street sweeping from weekly to every other week. In Westlake, a group of volunteers responded by picking up trash the Bureau of Sanitation left behind, said Elaine Alaniz, president of the Westlake North Neighborhood Council.

Never mind that the city went eight full months without repaving a single stretch of roadway last year.

Then there’s this.

Rick Cole, an advisor to Nithya Raman’s mayoral campaign, has spent 40 years working in city governments across Southern California. For Cole, the decline in services is the symptom of a deeper problem. In June, during a farewell speech at City Hall as he stepped down from his role as deputy controller, he told the crowd, “LA is not designed to work.” Decades of ignoring “mind-numbing bureaucracy” have made the city ungovernable, he said. “Beneath the broken sidewalks is a broken system.”

On the other hand, Karen Bass has had nearly four years to fix things, and hasn’t shown up for anything but homelessness and rebuilding after the Palisades fire until she was faced with a fight for reelection. And hasn’t made a lot of progress on the former, and complaints from literally burned-out residents on the latter.

So if you like the job she’s done, and the city we have today, vote for her.

If not, don’t.

………

A new German study has found that transforming even a busy street into an “advanced bicycle street” can change the character of the entire neighborhood.

Momentum did a good job of translating the dense study results into something a little easier to understand.

Researchers examined Oeder Weg, a 1.4-kilometre (0.87 mile) street in central Frankfurt transformed into what they call an advanced bicycle street. The project went beyond adding signs. It combined traffic restrictions with physical changes intended to make the street safer, more comfortable and more useful to the surrounding neighbourhood.

Before the changes, Oeder Weg carried as many as 9,183 motor vehicles a day, well above the recommended volume for a bicycle street under German guidelines.

The city began by designating it a bicycle street in August 2021. The following April, it introduced bollards, planters and barriers to restrict car access at key entrances and discourage through-traffic. Other changes included red-painted intersections, marked dooring zones, additional bicycle parking and the removal of some on-street parking. Those spaces were repurposed for restaurant patios, greenery, street furniture and delivery zones.

While cars were still allowed on the street, diverters prevented drivers from using it as a shortcut, cutting daily traffic rates nearly in half while increasing bicycle traffic by 25%.

And contrary to common fears, traffic did not increase on the surrounding streets, but actually decreased throughout the entire neighborhood. In addition, traffic collisions fell by nearly half, while bicycling collisions dropped 27%, despite the increase in bicycling rates.

………

Caltrans is hosting a virtual public meeting next month to discuss safety improvements on LA’s killer highway.

Caltrans District 7 invites you to the second virtual public workshop for the PCH Segment A Safety Improvement Project – Project Initiation.

Whether you attended a previous workshop or are joining us for the first time, we welcome your participation. This second virtual workshop provides another opportunity to learn about the project, ask questions, and share your input.

Workshop Details

Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2026
Time: 6:00–7:00 p.m.
Platform: Microsoft Teams
Register here: PCH Segment A (meeting link will be sent upon registration)

The project is in the early Project Initiation Document (PID) phase. The workshop will cover the proposed safety improvements and alternatives being considered. Your feedback will help inform the evaluation and refinement of these concepts.

Please share this invitation with others who may be interested. For additional information, visit the PCH Segment A Safety Improvement Project webpage.

………

A new movie screening at Laemmle theaters next month is described as “not just a ‘bike film,’ but a film where the bike is the philosophy.

According to a publicity email I received yesterday, A Simple Machine was inspired by a novel from Evan P. Schneider.

Shot in luminous black and white in Portland, it follows Nick Allander (Richard Blackmon) as a recent grad drowning in debt who chooses radical frugality. His bicycle becomes his tool for economic independence: mobility without debt, technology that enhances human agency, instead of extracting from it. In a city where cycling is cultural currency, Hoffman reframes the simple machine as a deliberate choice toward simplicity, dignity, and embodied presence.

This moving film will be in LA on Nov 16 at Laemmle NoHo 7, and on Nov 17 at Laemmle Monica Film Center. Q&As with director Mark Alan Hoffman and star Richard Blackmon will follow both screenings, and Santa Monica Spoke is doing a “ride to show” event on the 17th.

Meanwhile, a new documentary tells the story of a 51-year old Army vet who rode her bike across the US and became a Paralympian after losing her eyesight while working as an EMT.

………

Last weekend I was invited to take part in something I would have jumped at under other circumstances — a ride to San Diego on the Pacific Surfliner, followed by a Brompton ride through the city.

Unfortunately, I had to turn it down, despite the combination of two of my favorites, Bromptons and trains.

I’m tempted to say that sometimes dealing with diabetes and the various associated medical conditions suck.

But it sucks all the time.

75 Riders, One Train, Two Cities: Brompton and Pacific Surfliner Celebrate Partnership With LA-to-San Diego Ride

California, October 27, 2026 – Brompton, the London-based folding bike brand, celebrated its new partnership with the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner by bringing 75 riders and their Bromptons aboard the Surfliner from Los Angeles to San Diego. The ride showed how rail and a folding bike together can replace the car for both the daily commute and the weekend adventure.

A bike turns a train trip into a door-to-door journey, and the Pacific Surfliner makes it easy to bring one, with free bike reservations on every train. A folded Brompton goes one step further, riding as carry-on luggage with no reservation necessary. That flexibility is what lets a group this big travel together on a single train.

On Saturday, October 24, riders boarded the Pacific Surfliner at Los Angeles Union Station, with more joining along the way. In San Diego they unfolded their bikes and explored Balboa Park, Little Italy, the Gaslamp Quarter and the Embarcadero, then took the ferry to Coronado Island to watch the sunset at the Hotel del Coronado. Train, bike, ferry and back: a full car-less day out.

The partnership brings together two leading names in urban mobility: the iconic folding bike brand and the busiest state-supported intercity rail route in the country. Together, Brompton and the Surfliner aim to show how multimodal travel can fit into daily life, and they’re doing it as more Californians choose the train. Preliminary July 2026 figures put the Pacific Surfliner on pace for the highest monthly ridership in its history, with more than 300,000 passengers.

“Southern California is our fastest-growing market in the US, and it’s easy to see why,” said Alex Balansay, Brand Manager at Brompton North America. “The climate, the coastline and a growing rail network make it one of the best places in the country to travel without a car. Saturday showed what that looks like: 75 people, one train, and a whole city to explore at the other end.”

“A great rail journey doesn’t begin or end at the train station,” said Jason Jewell, Managing Director of the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency, which manages the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner service. “Making it easier for passengers to connect to their final destinations is an important part of improving the overall travel experience. This event highlights how folding bikes and passenger rail can work together to give travelers more flexibility, convenience and freedom to explore Southern California without relying on a car. We’re excited to showcase how simple first- and last-mile connections can open up new possibilities for our riders.”

Riders can plan the same trip themselves. On the Pacific Surfliner, folding bikes under 34 x 15 x 48 inches ride free as carry-on luggage with no reservation. Full-size bikes need a free bike reservation when booking.

Schedules and tickets are at pacificsurfliner.com, and Brompton models and dealers are at brompton.com.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going. 

Boston is ripping out a newly installed protected bike lane in front of a senior home, after residents complained they weren’t consulted first, it prevents them from crossing the street, and kept an ambulance from pulling up right in front; meanwhile, the head of a local advocacy group offered a perfectly reasonable response promising to work with residents to come up with a solution that works for everyone.

………

Local 

That’s more like it. Long Beach has secured the funding for a $73 million project to move a spectrum of Shoreline Drive out of César Chávez Park, and convert it to a miles-long network of open space. Because cars don’t belong in parks, period. 

LA Times readers take the paper to task for a recent article that basically said “boys will be boys” while using illegal e-motorbikes, not unlike I did yesterday.

Congratulations, Los Angeles, your official slogan for the ’28 Olympics is “Stars Align.” Which could pretty much refer to anything, and therefore means absolutely nothing.

 

State

Calbike says California could soon have its best chance in years to pass the Bicycle Safety Stop, aka Idaho Stop, aka Stop as Yield, because Governor Gavin Newsom will soon be out of office, after vetoing two separate versions of the bill.

USA Today takes up the sentencing of 33-year old Samuel Matthew Rocha to 27 to life for intentionally killing 16-year old Pedro Valdez as he rode his bike in Port Hueneme, in a traffic crime rampage that began with a confrontation with another man in a case of mistaken identity.

A Bakersfield bike rider suffered major injuries when they were struck by the driver of a white vehicle. Because evidently, the color of the car has a big impact on how bad the crash is, pun intended.

Sad news from Visalia, where a 63-year old woman was killed when she tried to make a left turn on her bicycle, and was struck by an oncoming driver.

San Francisco Streetsblog says a new 0.2-mile quick-build protected bike lane wasn’t quick, it’s not really protected, and it’s not continuous, with gaps for handicapped parking and a bus stop.

 

National

A woman in an undetermined city posted video of a driver getting stuck in a protected bike lane, as she walked ahead of him — never mind that as a pedestrian, she didn’t belong in the bike lane, either.

The New York Daily News calls for rejecting a ballot measure that would speed approval of street safety projects, including bike lanes, because of “lawless” ebike riders, most of whom are riding e-motorbikes that aren’t legally allowed in bike lanes, anyway. But then they hide the editorial behind a paywall, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of voicing their opinion in the first place.

The NYPD called off a “hastily planned” raid on an ebike parking lot used by hundreds of delivery workers, because a) it’s not illegal for bikes to be parked in spaces which would otherwise be used by motor vehicles, and b) the workers politely moved to the other side of the street. Although a local radio station says the raid was called off after cops spotted reporters waiting for them.

Oddly, New York continues to function as a world-class city, as Mayor Mandami announced plans to redesign a 2.1-mile stretch of one of Brooklyn’s most dangerous streets. Something Los Angeles somehow seems unable to do.

A Florida police captain will ride his bicycle around a four-mile park route for 24 hours to raise funds for a Spanish-language religious mission.

 

International

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 39-year old road-raging driver walked without a day behind bars for grabbing a bike rider by the neck and throwing him to the ground and causing a serious brain injury, for the crime of being in his way.

 

Competitive Cycling

The chief of USA Cycling says the one thing missing after Brandon McNulty won the world road championship is an American WorldTour race.

Nineteen-year old ‘cross cyclist Tofik Beshir has a long way to go in his recovery after he was struck by a driver while on a training ride three weeks ago, as his teammates rally around him; a crowdfunding page has raised has raised over $142,000 of a $200,000 goal.

Instagram post

 

Finally…

You know you’re good when you set a new Strava KOM during a photoshoot. And apparently, bicyclists legally using the roadway are road hogs.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin.

 

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