Just 12 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025, a decade of failure in which deaths have continued to climb.
Yet no city official has mentioned the impending deadline, or the city’s failure to meet it.
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Just seven six days left in the 10th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!
Thanks to Stephen C and Todd T for their generous donations to bring you all the best bike news and advocacy from around the corner, and around the world.
Time is rapidly running out to support this year’s fund drive. So just stop what you’re doing and give now!
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The California Ebike Incentive Program actually launched yesterday, so we can finally stop our failure to launch countdown, after nearly a full year since it’s previously promised launch date, and three-and-a-half years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law.
Now if they could just a) get their collective shit together, and b) at least make some effort to meet the demand.
I’m told this was the typical experience for people attempting to apply for an ebike voucher.
1) Attempt to login at exactly 6 pm
2) When that fails, attempt to login again, and again
3) Keep trying to login until you finally get in
4) Get a message saying you are in a very long line to apply
This message was received by someone attempting to apply at exactly 6:30 pm and 23 seconds.
That was followed by,
5. Attempt to login again an hour later
6. Get the following message when they finally let you in
So far, everyone I’ve heard from has had a similar experience. And I’ve yet to hear from, or even about, anyone who actually got a voucher.
Though I’m sure there has to be someone, somewhere.
Seriously, though we’ve been predicting this for months, if not years.
The initial funding of a paltry $3 million is ridiculously low for a state of 38 million people, even when limiting applications to lower-income residents, ensuring that demand would far exceed the available funds.
And outside administrator Queue-it appeared to throttle the application process, ensuring that only a handful of people fortunate to get in on the first or second try would even get a chance to apply.
I’m told the problem may have stemmed from Queue-it launching the program a few minutes early, so that people who attempted to log in at 6 pm had already been blocked by those fortunate few who coincidentally tried to login ahead of time.
Unless, of course, those people somehow knew the window would open before 6 pm. But that would be cheating, right?
At lease the website didn’t crash, as has happened in other states.
Let’s be honest, though.
This program, as now established, is just an underfunded joke.
Funding for California’s electric car rebate program has likely now exceeded $1.5 billion — yes, with a B — fueling sales of over 600,000 vehicles.
Not around 1,500, which is how many ebike incentives were predicted to be funded in the first round.
And without the interminable three-month between application windows faced by ebike buyers.
While those EVs are much cleaner than gas-powered cars, they are still cars. They take up just as much space, and pose just as much risk to others as any other car, while contributing the same amount of particulate pollution from brake, tire and roadway wear.
Ebikes don’t.
Ebikes can easily replace car trips of up to ten miles – which represents the overwhelming majority of motor vehicle trips — while removing nearly one car for every ebike pressed into service.
Ebikes are also much cleaner than even zero-emission vehicles, requiring significantly less energy to operate, and contributing almost no wear and tear to the road surface.
And ped-assist ebikes work to improve the health of the user, unlike motor vehicles, which reduce life expectancies with every mile driven.
Never mind that limiting ebike rebates to lower-income residents is counterproductive in a state with more cars than people. Or that Pedal Ahead, the group administering the program for the California Air Resources Board, is currently the subject of a criminal investigation by the state DOJ.
Other cities and states have tied vouchers to a commitment to replace or reduce motor vehicle usage, making them more efficient at replacing motor vehicles than California’s misguided approach of only funding ebikes for people who may not be able to afford a car in the first place.
But at least the launch wasn’t a total shitshow.
So there’s that.
Early indications are that the lane reduction and protected bike lanes on east Hollywood Boulevard are improving safety, according to councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez.
But as usual, that’s not good enough for local business owners, who complain that their apparently nearsighted customers can’t see their stores, since they now have to park a few feet from the curb.
Sure, that makes sense.
They also complain that drivers have to wait while other cars park, and that fewer lanes cause traffic to slow down.
Which is kinda the point, yes.
Although that would seem to benefit local businesses by making their businesses more apparent to drivers who would otherwise speed past, just like they did before.
And God forbid that they would want to enjoy the benefits that other cities have seen, as more walkable and bikeable business corridors usually see increased sales over the long run.
But that would require a little patience, which seems to be sadly lacking these days.
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Um, sure.
John Franklin, author of Britsh bicycling skills manual Cyclecraft — and the country’s answer to Effective Cycling author John Forrester — says bicycling on the country’s roads is “very safe,” while calling for “less exaggeration of danger” facing bicyclists.
Meanwhile, South Bay-based LA bike writer Peter Flax says the books offer useful information for experienced bicyclists. “But as far as offering a philosophy or policy prescription that can grow participation and make cities safer, they are complete dogshit.”
Which is just one of many reasons I strongly recommend his new book, which is perfect for holiday giving.
Even if you’re giving it to yourself.
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Sadly, no surprise here.
I am told by sources that @City_of_Upland has already removed this #GhostBike less than two weeks after it was installed.https://t.co/UNP8v0iFkq@CalBike @bikinginla @Caltrans8
— erikgriswold.bsky.social (@erik_griswold) December 19, 2024
Ghost bikes make drivers uncomfortable, which is exactly the point, reminding them to drive safely because the cost could be another human life.
And they make city officials uncomfortable, because they offer a stark reminder of their failure to build streets that protect the lives of their residents.
So while they may offer some silly excuse like ghost bikes are unsightly, or get in the way — as if officially sanctioned objects like homeowner trashcans don’t — the real real reason can be found in their red faces, sweaty brows and tight collars.
Although you’d think someone like Claremont resident Donna Orange would deserve better.
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‘Tis the season.
Twenty San Diego elementary students got new bicycles courtesy of the San Diego Unified Police Department.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
A San Diego letter writer wants the city to charge bicyclists for annual bike licenses to pay for all the bike lanes he claims no one uses, because apparently, our taxes somehow don’t pay for them like his does.
A Toronto news outlet considers the burning question of why does Ontario Premier Doug Ford hate bike lanes so much, as he carries on the legacy of his late bike-hating, crack-smoking brother, former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
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Local
Streets For All asks you to email Metro to demand that the Vermont Ave Bus Rapid Transit project comply with the recently passes Measure HLA, with is now law in the city of Los Angeles.
Longtime Los Angeles Times writer and editor Shelby Grad relates how he transformed from a bike lane pessimist to falling in love with those little strips of striped asphalt. Hint: It didn’t happen here.
Momentum profiles Santa Monica film editor Caro Vilain, whose viral pro-cycling videos are “fueling a fun-filled cycling revolution.”
State
This is who we share the road with. A police chase has once again taken the life of an innocent victim, this time in Fullerton, where a driver fleeing from the cops caused a multi-vehicle pileup, killing a woman in her 60s; this was the suspect’s second crash of the chase, which really should have convinced pursuing cops to break it off and track him by other means just a tad less risky to the public.
San Francisco has paid out $40 million over the past five years to settle 151 claims from pedestrians run over by city workers, with dozens still outstanding.
National
Smart Cities Dive considers the two men charged with ripping up Biden’s bike, rail and EV friendly transportation policies, and implementing Donald Trump’s vision for how we’ll get around.
New legislation expected to pass both houses of Congress and be signed by Biden could mean an end to exploding ebike batteries by setting safety standards for them. Or maybe not, since that was part of the bipartisan budget deal Trump blew up at the last minute yesterday.
Oregon is investing $330,000 to reduce motor vehicle use in underserved communities.
A Colorado Congressman has introduced a bill to require automatic emergency braking systems on all new passenger vehicles, capable of detecting bicyclists, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users, regardless of skin tone, clothing color or protective gear; the bill is named in honor of 17-year old US national team member Magnus White, who was killed by a driver while on a training ride last year.
A Pittsburgh attorney is teaching kids leadership skills by taking them on bicycling adventures through other states that they might never see on their own.
New York cops caused their own police chase crash when a suspected drug dealer fleeing from police slammed into a man riding a bicycle, before ditching the car several blocks away.
Florida thieves are targeting online bicycle sellers by arranging meetings for a test ride, then taking off without paying for the bikes.
It’s back behind bars for a former Florida bridgetender convicted of failing to look before opening a drawbridge while a woman was walking across it, causing her to fall to her death; she will now serve ten years for violating her probation for the original conviction by smoking cannabis to help her sleep. Then again, I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I caused that, either.
International
Historic cycling brand GT Bicycles is temporarily ceasing operations, significantly reducing staffing and liquidating existing merchandise as parent company Pon Holdings announces a major restructuring; a Bike Radar columnist says the company’s death would be a tragic loss for bicycling.
A Toronto collision sent two pedestrians and a man riding a bicycle to the hospital with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries, after they were collateral damage in a multi-vehicle crash. Once again pointing out the danger motor vehicles and the people who drive them pose to everyone around them.
Nice gesture, as bicyclists in Brighton, England greeted workers with a cake, mince pies and alcohol-free Prosecco to thank them for building a new protected bike lane. Although why they would then punish them with mince pies is beyond me.
An Irish family ditched the car and fell in love with their new cargo bike, going so far as to decorate it for holidays, and worrying when they have to lock it up somewhere.
Competitive Cycling
Sad news from Belgium, where Belgian cycling legend Rik Van Looy died two days before his 91st birthday; Van Looy was known as the King of the Monuments after becoming the first cyclist to win all five single-day Monuments in the same year, as well as being a two-time world champ with a remarkable 371 total wins.
Finally…
That feeling when your potential pro career depends on always having the wind at your back. Your old bike parts could be somebody’s new Christmas ornaments.
And no, those new bollards aren’t there to stop people from driving golf carts in the bike lanes.
That’s just an added benefit.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
