Tag Archive for LimeBike

Morning Links: It’s a Day Without a Scooter in SaMo, progress on Beverly Hills bike lanes, and NACTO visits LA

August 14, 2018 / / 2 comments

Still more news on the scooter beat.

Supporters of Lime and Bird e-scooters are urged to head to Santa Monica City Hall tonight to protest plans to boot the popular scooter providers out of town.

City staff has recommended using scooters provided by Lyft and Uber, instead, the latter of which clearly intends to monopolize every form of shared transportation humanly possible.

Call me crazy, but it makes far more sense to me to work with the scooter companies that have already established a solid foothold in the city, then bring in other companies to compete with them on an even basis.

Meanwhile, an Ohio city shows that it is in fact possible to take a common sense approach to scooters.

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Patrick Pascal sends word that bike lane striping on the westbound side of Santa Monica Blvd is about one-third finished, currently stretching from Doheny to Palms in the former Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills.

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NACTO will be meeting in Los Angeles in two months.

The group, formally known as the National Association of City Transportation Officials, will be coming here the first week of October to discuss Designing Cities.

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti paints a glowing picture for attendees of a city transforming the way we get around.

Maybe we can get the mayor to take them on a tour of Temple Street, and 6th Street, and Lankershim Blvd, and Westwood Blvd, and Central Ave, and North Figueroa, and all the other streets where LA councilmembers have blocked that “transformation.”

Not to mention Rowena Ave, where Councilmember David Ryu apparently wants to rip out one that’s already been successfully transformed.

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No bias here.

An Ohio TV station reports that a 60-year old bicyclist was killed in a collision after he ran a stop sign.

But what they fail to mention is that he was competing in a triathlon at the time.

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Local

CiclaValley looks at how the North Hollywood Block Party I couldn’t talk my wife into going to claimed the streets, if only for one day.

Councilmember Jose Huizar officially opened the new and improved Alhambra Avenue, including 1.5 miles of lane reductions and door zone bike lanes. Proving that it is possible to implement a road diet in Los Angeles, as long as it doesn’t affect entitled Westside drivers.

Burbank opens far more appealing buffered bike lanes on Riverside Drive, with the buffer on the curb side to keep riders out of the door zone; it could be coming to 1st Street soon, as well.

Pasadena authorities are urging drivers to be cautious as thousands of children head back to school this week. That goes both ways for bikes — ride carefully around children, and ride defensively around their parents as they drop them off.

 

State

California’s record wildfires are having a negative effect on bicycle sales across the state.

A real estate website ranks the nation’s most affordable “outdoorsy” cities, with Bakersfield coming in number two on the list behind Spokane WA.

Berkeley is installing a hybrid traffic signal designed to automatically detect bicycles and trigger a flashing yellow light, followed by a red light.

A bike-riding Stockton minister led the installation of a ghost bike for a man who was killed by a hit-and-run driver two years ago; he also runs the bicycle ministry for a local Episcopal church.

That’s a safe bet. A Chico letter writer says the driver who struck and killed a bike-riding physician apparently didn’t give the victim a three-foot passing distance.

 

National

NFL legend Emmitt Smith is one of us, as the three-time Super Bowl champ has traded his running shoes for a bicycle. Thanks to Jeff Vaughn for the heads-up.

Bicycling recounts 30 “insane” cycling records, including the world’s tallest rideable bike, Stoopidtaller built by LA’s own Richie Trimble.

Life is cheap in Kansas, where no charges will be filed against the driver who ran down and killed two German bike tourists last May. Apparently not noticing two people on bicycles directly in front of your car before you run them over is perfectly legal in Kansas.

A Texas bus driver blames a bike rider after sideswiping him, even though the rider was in the bike lane the bus driver kept drifting into.

A conservative writer calls a Chicago bike rider’s decision not to report a crash with elderly Latina driver who was in the country illegally “lefty compassion run amok,” even though she once did exactly the same thing. Except in her case, he was Irish. Which I’m sure had nothing to do with her change of heart. Right?

A 15-year old Kentucky girl says she’s not going to ride her bike again after she was hit by the town’s mayor while riding in a crosswalk; the mayor was cited for hit-and-run after he drove off, then returned later, claiming he had no idea he hit anyone despite knocking the girl off her bike.

A Vermont police chief survives the dreaded death wobble after crashing while descending at 45 mph. Thanks to Opus the Poet for the link.

He gets it. An Op-Ed in the New York Daily News says it’s time to stop blaming bicyclists for their deaths, adding “those of us who don’t drive SUVs everywhere are not just second-class citizens — we’re disposable.”

A Pennsylvania county adopts an ambitious bike plan calling for 800 miles of bike-friendly paths, even though it currently has just 19 miles of bike lanes. Although as we’ve learned the hard way in Los Angeles, a bike plan is meaningless until you can actually ride it.

Great idea. A coalition of bicycling organizations has released a subway-style map showing what an actual network of connected bikeways could do to better serve the DC area.

 

International

Canadian bicyclists are calling for the legalization of riding two abreast after five riders were run down and injured in Edmonton; a bike club was riding abreast when the driver somehow failed to see them right in front of him. One of the injured riders understandably says it’s heightened his fear of cars.

Speaking of Edmonton, local bicyclists say the proposed location of a protected bike lane is just an attempt to make drivers happy.

Police in the UK defend their actions after being criticized on social media for stopping 50 kids who were popping wheelies and riding their bikes in an “anti-social manner.”

Britain’s Conservative Party has deleted a tweet accused of demonizing bicyclists, as they attempt to crack down on the perceived threat of dangerous bicyclists. Cycling Weekly responds by noting that you’re more likely to be killed by cows than someone on a bike, while Chris Boadman says you’re more likely to be killed by Christmas decorations, and asks why they hate us. Good question.

In a sad commentary on the state of British roads, a 95-year old English couple is giving up riding their tandem after 78 years because of disrespectful drivers.

A Freedom of Information request shows Dublin’s city council is failing to meet demands for bicycling infrastructure. Which sounds like another city council we could name, in a city NACTO will be visiting soon.

Maybe you’d like to try a little Irish speed dating on two wheels.

A German vehicle association has developed a new standard for measuring the range of ebikes, promising to level the playing field in comparing one ebike to another.

Boston-based bikeshare startup Go Bike is focusing on Nigeria as the first step in their goal of becoming the leading bikeshare provider in Africa.

Chinese dockless bikeshare provider Mobike has developed their own ebike with a top speed of 12 mph. Which is the same slow speed a Los Angeles proposal would limit scooters to.

 

Competitive Cycling

The all-diabetic Team Novo Nordisk makes a Rwanda radio DJ eat his words after he said diabetics can’t compete and that the team was a joke, by coming back to win the Tour of Rwanda.

Cycling Tips admires the climbing ability of Tour of Utah winner Sepp Kuss. Then again, who doesn’t?

You may be seeing double at the Vuelta, as the Yates twins make late decisions to ride.

A 33-year old British man set a new record by running the entire course of the 2018 Tour de France, beating the cyclists to Paris, in the latest moving piece by Peter Flax.

 

Finally…

Your next Pashley could be a Morgan. Your next Yamaha could have pedals — and a battery.

And someone should tell the paper this sequence of events is highly unlikely.

 

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

Morning Links: May Bike Month, LimeBike ebikes in SaMo, Aviation road diet fight, and LACBC ED leaving

April 30, 2018 / / 4 comments

It’s Bike Month Eve in LA.

Both the LACBC and Bike SGV offer their own calendars of activities in the one month of the year dedicated to bicycling.

As always, the highlight of the month is Bike to Work Day, which takes place on May 17th, with Bike Night at Union Station the following night.

The international Ride of Silence rolls on May 16th to honor fallen bicyclists, including a ride through the San Fernando Valley.

My favorite event, the annual Blessing of the Bicycles will take place at Good Samaritan Hospital near DTLA on May 15th.

And you can ride the Metro Bike bike share for just one dollar for the month of May when you sign up using the code BIKEMONTH2018; after the first one, it will cost $20 for each additional month.

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Just in time for Bike Month, LimeBike has started dockless ebike service in Santa Monica.

According to a press release from the company, the bikes will cost $1 to unlock using your smartphone, and 15¢ per minute of riding.

Let’s hope they manage to avoid the problems that have developed in some other cities with abandoned or illegally parked bikes.

Because this could be a huge step forward for personal mobility in the LA area if they can avoid the usual bikelash.

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Plans for a lane reduction and bike lanes to improve safety on Aviation Blvd face an uphill battle after opponents turned out at a meeting in Hermosa Beach to discuss the project.

As seems to happen in any public discussion of bicycles, at least one person insisted “When bikes start paying the registration fees that fund our streets, then they can start sharing our lanes.”

Which demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of both who the streets are for and how local streets are paid for.

So let’s be very clear. Neither gas taxes or registration fees pay for more than a small portion of the building and maintenance of local streets; the overwhelming portion comes from local taxes, which we all pay.

Although that may change to some degree with the state’s recent gas tax increase — if it survives an attempt to have it repealed this fall.

And our streets have never been the property of fee-paying motorists; streets are for the movement of people and goods, some of whom will be on foot, some on bikes, some using transit, and some in motor vehicles. Usually alone.

Funny how so many LA drivers seem to feel they have a God-given right to the road.

And aren’t willing to concede a single inch of it to anyone else.

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The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition is back in the market for a new Executive Director.

According to an email announcement from the organization, Executive Director Erik Jansen, who replaced former ED Tamika Butler less than a year ago, will be leaving at the end of May.

Erik is leaving the organization after two years of working with LACBC, first as its Development Director, then as its Deputy Executive Director of Advancement, and finally as its Executive Director. A father of two, Erik will be moving with his family to Australia, where his wife accepted a position as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney…

As LACBC enters its 20th year and begins a strategic planning process to outline the next five years, staff remains committed, more than ever, to making streets safer for those biking and walking in Los Angeles County. It is an exciting time for the organization, and the team is looking for an Executive Director to lead the team, LACBC members, and bicycle advocates across the county, to create safer streets in Los Angeles County. If you have an amazing candidate in mind, please send us an email.

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Get a whole body workout by using walking canes when you ride.

No, really.

Unless you’d rather play indoor fixie soccer.

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Local

A Forbes writer says there are holes in Elon Musk’s plans to colonize underground Los Angeles with high speed transportation tunnels, with a professor reasonably noting that most people would rather walk or bike above ground.

The Talking Headways podcast chats with LADOT GM Seleta Reynolds, while the New York Times looks at her efforts to bring Play Streets to the City of Angels.

Metro has released a first-of-its-kind First/Last Mile Plan for the neighborhoods surrounding the Blue Line, calling for “better sidewalks, more and safer crosswalks, more lighting for pedestrians, better and safer bike lanes and facilities.”

Speaking of Metro, comments are now being accepted on the transportation agency’s Vision 2028 strategic plan.

 

State

The next time some NIMBY tries to tell you handicapped people can’t ride bikes, tell them about Jenn Ramsey, who’s ridden the eight-day, 575-mile California Coast Classic a dozen times, even though her crippling arthritis prevents her from standing for more than 30 minutes.

An Op-Ed from San Luis Obispo, where NIMBYs have risen up to fight a proposed bikeway, insists that bike riders aren’t the enemy.

A writer for the SF Gate calls out what he calls Car Blindness, the double standard in which people easily see the relatively minor problems caused by bikes, scooters and pedestrians, but can’t see the major problems caused by motor vehicles.

Redding officials consider closing a roadway entirely to allow for a safe crossing for a new bike and pedestrian trail. Meanwhile, Los Angeles officials won’t even remove a single traffic lane to improve safety for everyone.

 

National

Good piece from Slate, saying no one teaches ebike buyers how to ride them, which is a problem when some bikes can go up to 30 mph; Bicycling offers tips on how to do it safely.

The Wall Street Journal considers the next generation of bike helmets, which may be hidden behind their damn paywall.

There is something terribly wrong with any society where anyone feels the need to give advice on how to properly survive getting hit by a car. Never mind that most cars actually have drivers, which the article fails to mention. Thanks to Steven Messer and J. Patrick Lynch for the heads-up.

Strava’s CEO explains why the app keeps gaining a million users every 40 days, and where he wants to go from here.

Lawrence, Kansas, population 93,000, could soon have more bike boulevards than Los Angeles.

A Houston Op-Ed says the city doesn’t have to be deadly for cyclists. Then again, neither does any other city, even though most of them are.

The pedaling priests of Peoria have finished their 275-mile ride across their Illinois diocese to call attention to religious vocations. I might have considered the priesthood if they’d told me you get to ride bikes all day.

After a reader complains to a Michigan paper, saying someone needs to teach bicyclists the rules of the road, a columnist responds “Whoever does the training, I’m hoping they do a better job than they did with the car and pickup drivers.”

There’s a special place in hell for the hit-and-run driver who left an Indiana man dying in the street — and may have stolen his bike, wallet and mobil phone.

After Columbus OH opened a new two-way cycle track, bike collisions nearly tripled; authorities blamed a jump in ridership, combined with a break-in period for people to get used to the new lanes.

A Virginia couple is planning to bike across the US with their three young kids riding a tandem and a three-person bike.

Nice story about a Charlottesville SC cop who started a new community bike program after fixing kids bikes, then returning to ride with them every week.

 

International

If you build it, they will come. Bicycling rates jump in Victoria, British Columbia, after the opening of a new, safer bridge with bike lanes in each direction.

Heartbreaking news from Canada’s northern Manitoba province, where three boys were killed by a suspected drunk driver while walking and riding their bikes with a group of friends.

The Guardian says smart exercise will keep you young longer.

A writer for the Financial Times says London cyclists are abominable, and she knows because she’s one of them — and she’ll continue to break the law until streets are made with bikes in mind.

An English letter writer says she doesn’t ride a bike in her home town, but would like to if she felt safer. Surveys consistently show that roughly two-thirds of the people in the US feel the same way — including here in Los Angeles.

A British father and son planned to ride Penny Farthings 50 miles in top hats and tails yesterday to raise funds for the Aston Villa soccer team’s charity foundation.

This is who we share the roads with. A man in the UK learns the hard way that if you’re going to put your Tesla on autopilot, at least stay in the driver’s seat.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a truck driver walks on charges of killing a bicyclist, despite attempting — and failing — to overtake the rider on a blind curve.

The Telegraph says the best way to see the Netherlands is by boat and bicycle.

No bias here. An Aussie paper says “bike riders are still dicing with death.” Even though the article is really about dangerous drivers.

 

Competitive Cycling

New British pro discusses how his dream of making a WorldTour team nearly hit the rocks.

Yahoo previews Friday’s Jerusalem start of the Giro d’Italia. Tainted pro Chris Froome clearly intends to allow his alleged doing case to overshadow the Giro.

Organizers are confident that the Cascade Cycling Classic stage race will be back next year, despite its cancellation for 2018. Which is what bike event organizers usually say just before you never hear from them again.

 

Finally…

When spending $15,000 for bespoke bike is a relative bargain. If you’re going to drive in the bike lane while drunk and with a suspended license, at least stay closer to the speed limit.

And you haven’t got bike skills until you can flip pancakes while riding.

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Thanks to Stephen K for his generous donation to help support this site. I am constantly blown away by the kindness and generosity of our supporters. 

 

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

Morning Links: Los Angeles leads nation in pedestrian deaths, and CSUN petition to save campus LimeBikes

March 7, 2018 / / 2 comments

We’re #1.

Preliminary data from the Governor’s Highway Safety Association ranks Los Angeles as the deadliest county in the US for pedestrians, with twice as many deaths as the second-leading county.

San Diego and Orange Counties also ranked in the top ten nationwide.

Clearly, we’ve got a long way to go.

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The student association at Cal State Northridge has started a petition to save the school’s LimeBike program, after Councilmember Mitch Englander introduced a motion to temporarily ban dockless bikeshare from the streets of LA.

Thanks to Steve for the heads-up.

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Place your bids.

The CBS2/KCAL9 cycling team is auctioning off a new Giant TCR Advanced 2 road bike on eBay to benefit BikeMS.

Sounds like a good bike for a great cause.

And thanks to the cyclists at CBS2/KCAL9 for their efforts to give back to the community.

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Evidently, not everyone likes Santa Monica’s Bird scooters.

Thanks to David Drexler for the video.

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Local

Great letter to the editor from Jonathan Weiss saying if CD5 Councilmember Paul Koretz really wants to understand how to save lives while keeping traffic moving, he should stop killing traffic safety studies.

Good piece for Streetsblog from Don Ward, who questions how Vision Zero can work when LA continues to prioritize speed.

Rapha offers a guide to bicycling in Los Angeles. Although anyone who comes to LA looking for “movie stars around every corner” is going to go home sadly disappointed. And there seem to be large, mostly non-white, sections of the city missing.

State

Santa Barbara gets its first protected bike lane, the first completed project from the city’s new Bike Master Plan. Although I have a hard time calling something separated from traffic by flimsy plastic bollards “protected.”

The rich get richer. San Francisco approves plans to extend a parking-protected bike lane in the South of Market neighborhood.

 

National

The road-raging Sante Fe NM driver who allegedly backed into a group of bicycling senior citizens says he just stopped in the middle of the road to confront the cyclists he claims flipped him off, and didn’t do anything wrong. Because apparently, he thinks slamming on his brakes in front of other road users and stopping in the middle of a highway is perfectly acceptable. Not that his story strains credibility or anything.

No surprise here. Aspen CO business owners are up in arms over plans to remove just 15 parking spaces to make room for a bike lane. Just like business people almost everywhere, they seem to like cars more than customers.

One way to keep homeowners from opposing a new Minneapolis bikeway — make sure they don’t have to pay for it.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. An Ohio driver who spent four years in prison for killing a bike rider while driving drunk is headed back to jail for once again driving drunk, despite a lifetime driving ban.

More employees are biking to New York’s La Guardia airport, even though that Port Authority has failed to come through with long-promised bike lanes.

Not surprisingly, New York’s Citi Bike bikeshare is having trouble getting users to ride bikes back uphill to higher stations.

DC is now a gold-level Bicycle Friendly Community, something bronze-level Los Angeles can only envy.

International

Cycling Weekly offers advice on how to recover after hard rides.

Bicyclists in London — no, the one in Canada — criticize a half-billion dollar plan for bus rapid transit lanes, saying they don’t do enough to accommodate bicyclists and other non-motorized road users.

A Halifax, Nova Scotia letter writer says no, it’s the drivers who are hogging the roads.

A British correspondent living in India offers an outsider’s perspective on bicycling in the country — Manali-Leh highway good, New Delhi, not so much.

A letter writer in The Guardian says riding a bike isn’t an “act of ‘culture war,’ it’s a positive choice to make things better.”

An Irish paper explains why bicyclists need a safe passing distance.

Treehugger examines why car-crazy Germany is safer for bicyclists and pedestrians than the United States.

Some Indian high schools are providing all their students with bicycles, not just to provide access to school, but to level the playing field with better off students.

A planning student from Kathmandu finds echoes of Jane Jacobs in the ancient layout of Nepal’s major cities, and suggests emulating the Dutch and their bikeways is a better alternative than destroying the city to widen the roads.

A South African woman had her bike and cellphone stolen at knifepoint.

A New Zealand company is offering employees $10 a day to ride to work. Thanks to Jon for the link.

Caught on video: A Singaporean bike rider was wrestled to the ground after allegedly braking in front of a bus after the driver honked at him for riding too slowly.

Competitive Cycling

CNN looks at the efforts of the Kenyan Riders to become the first all-African team to qualify for the Tour de France. South Africa’s MTN Qhubeka, now Dimension Data, competed as a wild card entry in 2015.

A team of British cancer survivors will take on this year’s Race Across America, aka RAAM, to prove it’s possible to lead an active life after cancer.

Finally…

When the punishment for your shoplifting attempt is anything but kosher while trying to make a getaway by bike. Pity those poor, put-upon drivers.

And a writer for Outside says enough with the podium girls, already.

Enough indeed.

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

Not everyone loves CSUN LimeBikes, Melissa Balmer talks bikes, and bike riders swarm convenience store

January 31, 2018 / / 4 comments

Apparently, the new LimeBikes at Cal State Northridge aren’t popular with everyone.

Steve S forwarded this flyer he received from someone on the campus, where the dockless bikeshare was officially introduced last week.

He notes that LimeBikes have already been abandoned in the middle of busy Lassen and Nordhoff Streets.

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This week’s ShiftUp Podcast talks about The Surprising Promise of Bicycling in America with Long Beach’s Melissa Balmer, founder of PedalLove.org.

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Local

A large group of bike riders swarmed a Pico Union convenience store on Sunday, stealing up to $3,000 worth of merchandise.

CiclaValley offers advice on choosing the right bike cam, saying having one — or more — on your bike is as necessary as carrying an extra tube.

Pasadena approves a wish list to submit to Metro in the wake of the cancellation of the 710 Freeway extension, including free bus passes for high school and college students, and a number of bicycling projects.

State

A new feature film focuses on the life of San Diego, and former Glasgow, resident and BMX star John Buultjens.

An architect, planner and former Davis resident says San Luis Obispo’s plans for a two-way cycle track gets it all wrong. Meanwhile, a frequent bikeway opponent uses LA as an example of what not to do, installing bikeways only to rip them out later in the face of public opposition.

A San Francisco paper looks at why male bike riders outnumber women two to one on the city’s streets, suggesting more protected bike lanes could be the solution.

Bicyclingoffers a moving photo essay on the efforts of the bicycling community to rebuild after last year’s Sonoma County fires.

 

National

A Dallas writer says its too soon to clamp down on the chaotic dockless bikeshare in the city, saying the problems reveal the lack of bicycling infrastructure and the flaws in human nature.

An Orlando FL magazine takes an in-depth look at the question of whether bikes and cars can ever share the road in harmony.

After walking across the US with his then 10-year old son to raise awareness of diabetes, a Florida man is biking back from Santa Monica to Savannah GA to continue the discussion.

International

A bike and pedestrian safety advocate in Luxembourg says safety campaigns are deflecting the blame, and it’s not the victim’s fault if they get hit by a car crossing the street.

New bike wheel lights designed by a Siberian physician promise to light your entire wheel, starting and stopping automatically as you ride, with no wires or batteries.

Despite the horror stories of abandoned bikes, dockless bikeshare has helped double bicycling rates in China.

Competitive Cycling

When you retire from Olympic track cycling, you have time to get married and open a cake baking company.

What the well-dressed WorldTour cycling teams will be wearing this year.

When Chris Froome posts a 168 mile ride to Strava, averaging over 28 mph despite a 3,500 foot elevation gain, other Strava users call BS.

Finally…

Pedal up in spandex with a backpack full of sex toys, and leave in handcuffs. Now you can own your very own Dutch-style bike maker.

And when the ‘roo jumps, duck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4QkGoOZ_AE

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

Morning Links: Bike helmet debate, CSUN LimeBike opens today, and why people keep dying on our streets

January 25, 2018 / / 5 comments

Doctors and medical groups have long led the push for bike helmets.

So it’s surprising when a leading medical journal questions their usefulness.

But that’s exactly what a pair of letters in the prestigious British medical journal BMJ — formerly the British Medical Journal — do.

The first one suggests that the safety in numbers benefit provided by more people using bikeshare outweighs the benefits of bike helmets.

And the other concludes this way —

The key issue in considering the use of helmets is of course the risk. In recent years, more detailed assessment of risk in personal travel in England has been published [4]. This shows that risk varies considerably more by age than by mode of travel. The range of risks experienced in bicycling are in the same range as faced in walking or driving, except possibly for the most elderly bicyclists.

In conclusion, there is no objective reason to consider even the promotion of helmets for bicycling, in the absence of similar measures for all other road users.

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We mentioned last week that LimeBike had established a dockless bikeshare beachhead on the CSUN campus in Northridge.

Now they’re having their official unveiling this afternoon.

LimeBike Bike Demo and Inaugural Unlocking (1/25) at 1 p.m. PST at CSUN Campus Bookstore

  • When: Thursday (1/25) from 1:00 p.m.-2:00 pm. PST
  • Where: University Bookstore,18111 Nordhoff St, Northridge, CA 91330
  • What: An opportunity to learn more about how LimeBike works and hear from the CSUN Director of Energy & Sustainability, LimeBike’s LA Operations Manager, and other CSUN officials on how CSUN is leading the way to revolutionize sustainable transportation.

To celebrate the launch, the company is offering 10 free rides through the end of January by using the code LIMEWITHCSUN.

You can download the app to find and rent the bikes through their website.

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This is why people keep dying on our streets.

The Los Angeles DA’s office decided not to file charges against the alleged hit-and-run driver suspected of killing a popular homeless woman living in Boyle Heights, saying it would be too difficult to get a conviction.

Even though a security camera showed the driver appearing to carefully drive around her body as he left the scene.

And even though a witness claims to have told the driver he’d backed over the victim as she was sweeping the street around her trailer, contradicting the driver’s claims that he didn’t know he’d hit anyone.

So once again, an innocent woman is dead. And no one will ever be held accountable.

Which is how Vision Zero becomes meaningless.

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The LA Times’ Steve Lopez wrote about a father who became an activist against illegal immigration after his son was killed in a crash with an unlicensed man from Honduras.

While story focused on immigration, J. Patrick Lynch thinks Lopez missed the point.

The real takeaway of this article should have been how easy it is for people to get behind a machine that can easily kill . Whether it be an illegal immigrant, a driver with a suspended license for traffic violations, or someone who’s had their license revoked for multiple DUIs or has even killed someone already, if you want to drive, there’s really little stopping you.

Which is something else that has to change if we’re ever going to reduce traffic fatalities.

Let alone end them.

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Local

Work has started on the Main & Spring Forward Complete Streets project in DTLA, including converting the buffered bike lanes on Main and Spring Streets to protected bike lanes. Thanks to 14th District Councilmember José Huizar for having the courage to move forward with the project, despite LA’s recent anti-bike lane hysteria.

A Caltech researcher creates art by pushing 800 bicycles until they fall over to better understand how we keep them upright.

 

State

The San Diego Association of Governments, aka SANDAG, broke ground the two-mile Rose Creek Bikeway, part of the planned 44-mile Coastal Rail Trail between Oceanside and downtown San Diego.

The San Diego Reader says mountain bikers don’t want illegal trails, either.

Ventura County has received $3.8 million to fund three bike projects in Ventura, Fillmore and Thousand Oaks, including $1.8 million for a three-mile bike lane on Potrero Road.

LimeBike and Ofo are complaining about San Francisco’s opaque licensing requirements after they were denied permits to operate dockless bikeshare systems in the city.

Too scary. A San Francisco man was busted for bashing another man with a hammer and stealing his bicycle; the victim suffered non-life threatening injuries.

The family of a Napa Valley man is suing Caltrans after he was killed when he caught a wheel in a railroad track crossing a highway.

 

National

Nice piece on the current demonization of distracted pedestrians, which is just more of the usual victim blaming while ignoring the real danger on our roads.

The Guardian looks at Seattle’s efforts to install bike racks to keep homeless people from sleeping on the street.

One of the NFL’s top prospects is sort of one of us — as in a unicycle-riding tight end from South Dakota State.

Streetsblog accuses the ACLU of having a dangerous windshield bias for their opposition to traffic safety cameras in Iowa.

Nice story. An Arkansas girl born without a hand can ride a bike for the first time after her elementary school classmates designed and built a handlebar attachment using a 3D printer.

A Wisconsin writer says winter cycling is dumb, but in a good way.

America’s only remaining Tour de France winner is suing a father and son in a Minnesota court for cybersquatting on at least 66 web addresses that infringe on the LeMond trademark; the father’s defense is that someone must have stolen his ID and registered the sites in his name. Sure, let’s go with that.

Minneapolis MN will get a temporary fat tire bikeshare service for next month’s Super Bowl. Hopefully it will work well enough they’ll make it permanent.

A Minnesota man was busted for possession of meth and driving with a revoked license while appealing his five-year sentence for killing a bicyclist; he’s also facing charges for hiring an underage prostitute.

Forbes profiles former Livestrong CEO, bicyclist and three-time cancer survivor Doug Ulman, CEO of Columbus OH-based Pelotonia.

Boston bike riders are demanding a change in the city’s auto-centric culture after authorities refuse to prosecute a truck driver who fatally right hooked a physician as she rode to work.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in NY, where the widow of a 9/11 victim walked away with five-year’s probation for killing a bike rider while she was high on dope.

A DC writer suggests that there’s hidden racism in many complaints about dockless bikeshare in the city, which is popular with black youths.

After a hit-and-run driver put a bicyclist in the hospital, Florida Reddit users figured out the make, model and year of the car before the police could.

 

International

A Chicago writer bikes the backroads of Cuba.

They get it. A Canadian website points out why bike lanes are good for everyone, even drivers and business owners. Which should be required reading for anyone who questions the value of bikeways.

A Victoria, British Columbia chef is taking advantage of new bike lanes by opening a restaurant with a bike-through window. Which is a perfect example of how businesses can take advantage of the opportunity presented by bike-friendly streets, rather than fighting them tooth-and-nail.

A writer for Singletrack looks at the real reasons women bike less than men in the wake of a BBC report.

A British bike rider was lucky to escape with minor injuries after he was hit by a student driver, who carried him nearly 200 feet on the hood of his car.

Bicycling suggests a cycling vacation in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where you can ride where the pros train. If you can keep up.

Australia’s most notorious driver finally had his license revoked after 11 suspensions in 12 years, not that a little thing like that ever stopped him from driving; he also killed a ten-year old girl who was riding her bike in 2003, while driving at over three times the legal alcohol limit.

Merchants in an Australian town are fighting plans to remove parking on one side of a street to make room for bike lanes, over fears that it will kill their business. Proving once again that anti-bike lane bias is the same all over the world.

 

Competitive Cycling

Like father like sons. Twenty-three-year old Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas Jr was banned for four years for doping, 15 years after his dad received a one-year ban for using EPO at the 2003 Giro d’Italia; sadly, his brother died last year under suspicious circumstances that may have been linked to doping, as well.

Former pro — and yes, doper — Alexandre Vinokourov pranked the members of his Astana pro team by disguising himself as an old man, then dropping them on a steep climb.

Speaking of doping, the Netflix documentary that blew the top off Russia’s state-sponsored doping program could win an Oscar, thanks to the nomination of Icarus for Best Documentary Feature.

Last year’s winner of the Amgen Tour of California has been ordered to stop touching fans to protect his health.

When you’re three-time world champ Peter Sagan, you get an audience with the pope. And when you’re the pope, you get a monogrammed bike in the papal colors from Peter Sagan.

 

Finally…

Stick a candle in your next energy gel. There’s nothing more French than eating foie gras on toast while watching a video while driving; thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

And polite bike riders always share their water. Especially with a cute little koala.

 

 

Category: Bicycle Safety, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Fix deadly La Tuna Canyon, LimeBike off to a fast start, and ‘tis the season for bike giveaways

December 20, 2017 / / 2 comments

Well that was a major pain in the tukus.

Please forgive the extended unplanned and unexcused absence this week. Sometime between Friday night and early Monday morning, a problem developed that prevented me from posting anything or saving any changes to this site.

After extended troubleshooting, the problem was tracked down to an invisible folder hidden on the webhost’s site. We still don’t know why it was acting up, but the problem finally seems to have cleared up, at least for now.

The good news is, you haven’t missed anything. You’ll find all the news from the last five days included in today’s massive post.

So make yourself comfortable. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.

Thanks to Steve S, without who’s invaluable help we’d still down for the count.

………

A new petition calls on LADOT to immediately implement long-delayed safety improvements on La Tuna Canyon to reign in speeding drivers and improve safety for bike riders and equestrians.

There’s no way to know if that would have prevented the hit-and-run crash that has left Keith Jackson in a coma for the past week.

But it may help prevent the next one.

………

Dockless bikeshare provider LimeBike released a year-end report detailing its impact in cities across the US, from DC to Seattle.

As well as a pilot project in LA’s CD15.

Although those figures pale compared to the 103,000 active riders and 220,000 miles traveled on their bikes in Seattle in just the last five months.

………

‘Tis the season.

Note: There’s so much bad news out there, it helps to take a few moments to realize that there are a lot of bighearted people trying to do a little good in this world.

A Santa Clarita landfill company donates 60 bicycles and helmets to kids through a pair of local groups, part of a nationwide effort to donate 2,000 bikes across the US.

Fontana police gave nearly 200 bicycles to local kids.

Eighteen Adelanto students got new bicycles after winning a drawing for bringing non-perishable food items to their schools.

A group of Lompoc mountain bikers have given 120 bicycles and helmets to children of military personnel stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The San Luis Obispo sheriff’s office donated 150 kids bicycles that were refurbished by inmates at a local honor farm.

A local property company donated 50 bikes to kids at a Fresno elementary school.

Fifty kids in Coarsegold CA received new bicycles thanks to donations from people throughout the Central Valley.

An Idaho group gave 400 bicycles to kids in need; no one was turned away, even if they weren’t registered for the program.

Hundreds of people in Austin TX volunteered their time to distribute thousands of bikes and other gifts for families who struggle to put presents under their tree.

GM employees donated 260 bicycles, along with toys for 30,000 North Texas children.

An Arkansas church bought and built over 400 bicycles for struggling families.

A thousand Michigan volunteers helped build bikes to be given to kids in need.

A Kentucky Audi dealer has donated 262 bikes through the local Big Brothers Big Sisters program; a local bike club gave funds to include bike helmets and locks for each kid.

The son of a late Pennsylvania school nurse has continued the woman’s bike giveaway drive, donating 150 refurbished bicycles to local school kids.

Eight Pittsburgh-area special needs kids received new adaptive bicycles, enabling them to ride for the first time.

The wife of North Carolina’s late Bicycle Man is carrying on his tradition by giving 1,200 bikes to kids.

Seventy kids in Savannah GA received new bicycles thanks to a pair of local nonprofits.

Florida’s Jack the Bike Man continued a 26-year tradition by giving 1,500 bikes and helmets to kids in need.

A Florida artist is teaching 24 kids how to build their own bicycles that reflect their personalities.

………

It’s the last four days of the 3rd Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

You can help keep SoCal’s best bike news coming your way with just a few clicks by using PayPal. Or by using the Zelle app that is probably already in the banking app on your smartphone; send your contribution to ted @ bikinginla dot com (remove the spaces and format as a standard email address).

Any donation, in any amount, is truly and deeply appreciated.

As an added bonus, frequent contributor Megan Lynch will provide a free download of her CD Songs the Brothers Warner Taught Me to anyone who makes a contribution during the fund drive. If you’ve already contributed and would like a copy, just email me at the address above and I’ll forward it to her.

Thanks to Steven F and Dennis F for their generous donations to help keep this site coming your way!

………

Local

More theater of the absurd in the fight against road diets by overly entitled LA drivers, as Keep LA Moving is continuing their lawsuit against Los Angeles — even though they’ve already won by getting the Playa del Rey road diets ripped out. All because some of the traffic lanes are narrower than they were before, and a few small sections of bike lanes still remain on the streets where there was enough room for them after the traffic lanes were reinstalled.

No surprise here. Our old friend Richard Lee Abrams once again confuses the cure with the disease, insisting densification is killing Los Angeles. What’s really killing the city are the NIMBYs who fight growth, creating more sprawl and forcing people live miles from their jobs. The solution is more walkable, bikeable neighborhoods served by adequate transit, so people don’t have to drive to get to work or shopping.

No surprise here. The British tourist who was accidently shot by an LAPD cop last year as she was riding on the Venice beach bike path has filed a suit against the city; the bullet passed through the dog the cop was trying to shoot and hit her in the calf. The city might as well just open the treasury and let her walk out with as much as she wants; it will still be less than a jury is likely to give her.

A Georgia man will arrive at the Santa Monica pier at the end of this month, completing a 10,000 mile ride around the perimeter of the US that he began 17 years ago; he’s raised $75,000 to fight childhood cancer along the way.

A Long Beach letter writer says bike lanes need to be maintained, and trash and broken glass removed. It doesn’t do any good to build bike lanes if they’re not kept in a safe and ridable condition.

Ofo is bringing their bright yellow dockless bikeshare bikes to Bellflower.

Monterey Park’s vote on its first protected bike lane has been put off until next month.

CLR Effect discovers that basketball great Reggie Miller is one of us, too.

 

State

The LA Times says the car can no longer be king of the road if California is serious about climate change, as proposed new CEQA guidelines will make it easier to build bike lanes and transit oriented development projects.

Chula Vista was honored by the San Diego Bicycle Coalition for their efforts to make the city’s streets safer for people on bikes.

Riding to the Coachella festival should be a little easier in 2019, as plans are underway for bike lanes in Indio leading to the festival site.

A San Luis Obispo Op-Ed points out that not only do bike riders pay for the roads, bicyclists were responsible for paved roads in the first place.

Even the trees are out to get us. A Palo Alto man was severely injured when a tree fell on him as he was riding his bicycle during high winds.

Sacramento bicyclists complain that the closure of a bridge leaves no safe route into the city.

 

National

If the GOP tax plan passes today, you can kiss your paltry $20 a month bike commuting benefit goodbye. Thanks to Erik Griswold for the link.

The LA Times examines Rep. Tom McClintock’s bill to allow mountain bikes in wilderness areas, which has split the offroad community.

Slate says the dockless bikeshare invasion is going to be messy, but worth it.

A writer for Road and Track says traffic calming just makes drivers angry. And that Vision Zero won’t work without a scientific approach to reducing fatalities. Which is exactly what Vision Zero is supposed to be, anyway.

A new study says the pollution you suck in on your bike commute may be killing you after all.

A singletrack site offers advice on how to buy a new bike without your significant other catching on.

Bicycling offers advice on what to do if your bike breaks down in the middle of nowhere. I always carried wire, a bandana and a roll of duct tape in my seat pack when I rode far from civilization, which was usually enough to patch it up — or stop the bleeding — long enough to get home.

Bike-friendly Portland is going the wrong way, tearing out a popular bike route to widen a freeway.

Seattle will continue with dockless bikeshare through at least the middle of next year, even though the pilot program technically ends this month. And decides to install bike racks where they’re not needed to discourage homeless camps.

Arizona police are looking for an elderly woman who right hooked a bike rider, then drove off after giving him $100 for a new bike.

A Santa Fe NM writer says the way to make bicycling safer is to build more separated bike paths, and improve the ones they have.

No bias here. An Indianapolis radio host says people complaining about the plot of The Last Jedi are the worst people in the world — even worse than people who ride in bike lanes.

Memphis will remove the bollards from a protected bike lane in front of a 72-year woman’s home, because she wants to be able to “twirl” into her driveway.

A Syracuse NY scumbag asshole cycling coach gets seven years for sexually abusing a girl under the age of 15 who he was training.

New York considers proposals for dockless bikeshare to serve areas where the city’s successful Citi Bike system doesn’t reach.

Over 200 New York delivery people protest the city’s absurd ban on ebikes, which are legal to own as long as you don’t use them on city streets.

New York appears to be practicing Vision Zero in reverse, with bicycling deaths up nearly 50% this year. But all the mayor wants to talk about is busting delivery people for riding ebikes.

No bias here, either. The NYPD bends over backwards to blame a bike rider in a fatal crash, saying he just happened to fall over as he was trying to pass a truck. A more likely explanation is the driver didn’t see the rider, and passed him close enough to knock him off his bike.

A proposed DC rail bridge could include a parallel crossing for bikes and pedestrians.

Louisiana’s West Baton Rouge Parrish is prepared to meet a court challenge over plans to build a five-mile recreational bike path atop the Mississippi River levee; they’re being sued by four landowners who have refused to grant access to construction crews.

 

International

The researcher following the migration of the Monarch Butterflies finally finished her journey in Mexico, after over nine months and 10,000 miles.

A British Columbia columnist says separated bike lanes squeeze buses and other drivers. But a letter writer says that’s why we need protected bike lanes, because there are enough angry drivers out there already.

Nice piece from the Guardian, where a writer says bicycling helped him overcome depression and panic attacks.

If you build it, they will come. Bicycling has surged another 15% in central London after the city built a network of protected bikeways. Which suggests what could happen here, where the distances may be longer, but the weather is a hell of a lot better.

An English community concludes that reducing speed limits to 20 mph in some areas has actually resulted in an increase in fatalities, but it would cost too much to roll it back; a nationwide study shows lowering speed limits is more effective when done in conjunction with other traffic calming measures.

A British man has refurbished roughly 1,000 bikes a year for the last 18 years, donating them to local charities or selling them for the equivalent of $13 to pay for parts.

British black box driving data shows women are safer drivers than men, and speed is the single biggest risk factor.

Authorities are looking for a UK mountain bike rider who allegedly went berserk after a driver accused him of preparing to run a red light, by attacking her car and threatening her with a knife.

A new movie will tell the story of Scottish BMX star John Buultjens, who rose from a battered childhood to portraying his own abusive father on film.

An Australian writer says drivers and bicyclists break the rules of the road in equal proportions, that there are aggressive drivers as well as cyclists, and that no motorists have been killed by anyone on a bicycle. So don’t hate us because we wear Lycra.

A test of bicycling paramedics on Australia’s Gold Coast has proven so successful that it’s spreading to other cities.

Former Aussie pro Adam Phelan writes movingly about the healing power of riding a bicycle. Something I think most of us have experienced at one time or another.

Over 120,000 people voted to name Seoul’s bikeshare system the Korean city’s favorite public service. Personally, I’d vote for indoor plumbing, but that’s just me.

A Japanese ebike rider is accused of gross negligence in the death of a 77-year old woman while using a smartphone in one hand and holding a drink in the other.

 

Competitive Cycling

Let’s just get all the Chris Froome news out of the way first.

Lance’s invitation to speak before next year’s Tour of Flanders is called “absolutely reprehensible.”

Former pro Alexander Vinokourov faces charges for paying a competitor to take a dive in the 2010 Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The women’s pro peloton has formed a union to fight for better treatment and a living wage.

Britain’s Tour de Yorkshire has set an example for the rest of the cycling world by replacing podium girls with successful local businesswomen.

Sad news from the UK, where former British national champ Sharon Laws died of cervical cancer; she was just 43.

 

Finally…

No, the shoulder of a roadway is not a bike lane, even if it has a bike route sign. Your next bike could be a classic seat tube-less mountain bike worth $6,500. If you’re going to sell a hot bike, try taking the sticker with the owner’s name on it off first.

And an Italian bicyclist fulfills every rider’s fantasy to shoot down threatening motorists.

And yes, I know that last one is probably fake. But still. Thanks to Erik Griswold and Ed Rubinstein for the heads-up.

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

Morning Links: LimeBikes dockless bikeshare lands in LA, and work underway on Arroyo Seco bike path

November 7, 2017 / / 11 comments

They’re here.

Just one day after the unexpected announcement that ofo had introduced dockless bikeshare to Griffith Park, came the equally unexpected announcement that LimeBike had established a beachfront in Councilmember Joe Buscaino’s 15th District.

According to a press release, LimeBike has partnered with Buscaino for a three-month pilot program, calling it the first time a dockless bikeshare company has operated in any of America’s five biggest markets.

Or maybe the second, since it comes a day after ofo’s landing in the City of Angels.

The bikes cost $1 for 30 minutes, or 50 cents for students; entering the code LIMELA after downloading the iOS or Android app will get you 25 free rides until November 20th. The bikes can be picked up anywhere one is available, and left anywhere once you’re finished.

Low income residents can pay just $5 a month for up to 100 rides, with an option for cash rather than credit card.

Meanwhile, CiclaValley searches for, and finds, the ofo outposts in Griffith Park — and nearby, on someone’s lawn.

And the Guardian looks at the epic battle being pitched behind the scenes between Silicon Valley-backed bikeshares like LimeBike, and their Chinese competitors, including ofo.

Let’s hope Angelenos take better care of the bikes than people have in other cities; bikes abandoned in creeks and trees could mean the end of what promises to be a very useful program that could benefit a lot of people.

And help make bicycling more accessible to everyone.

………

Bike SGV posts proof that the South Pasadena extension of the Arroyo Seco bike and pedestrian path is on its way.

………

Over 500 Phoenix-area cyclists turned out to honor former SoCal resident and Big Orange cyclist Rob Dollar, who was killed by a drunk and stoned teenage driver last week.

………

Sad news, as promising 20-year old Belgian cyclist Bjarne Vanacker was found dead after apparently passing away in his sleep from unknown causes.

Alberto Contador looks at the changes in pro cycling over his career as he prepares to retire, including climbing 30% grades and the advent of motor doping.

Bicycling talks with SoCal’s own Coryn Rivera, saying she has the potential to become America’s best ever bike racer. Which would mean surpassing a certain Texan, who once was great but officially isn’t anymore.

Cycling News talks with former great American hope Andrew Talansky as he transitions to tri.

And probably not the best idea to attack the members of another cycling team, even if you do blame their team car for your crash.

………

Local

Paranoid much? A dermatologist and Mar Vista Community Council member says the Venice Blvd Great Streets project is just a secret attempt to turn Mar Vista into another Wilshire Blvd.

A Medium post says the effort to recall Councilmember Mike Bonin is really an Alt-Right campaign in disguise, and calls recall leader Alexis Edelstein a flesh and blood version of a Russian Facebook bot.

The LACBC’s Operation Firefly light distribution campaign kicks off tonight in Van Nuys.

Claremont police are investigating a break-in at the Jax Bicycle Shop last week.

Long Beach will consider a road diet and parking protected bike lanes on a half-mile stretch of Alamitos Ave. Unlike Los Angeles, where road diets are in danger of becoming an endangered species.

 

State

The Voice of San Diego looks at how that city screwed up bikesharing.

San Francisco will vote on a proposal to remove parking spaces on 17th Street to install one-way protected bike lanes.

Sacramento State University campus police busted a pair of suspected serial bike thieves.

The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward for the arrest of a Davis-area woman who apparently fled to Mexico after being convicted of vehicular manslaughter for a 2014 hit-and-run that killed a bike rider.

 

National

Streetsblog says distracted walking is a distraction from the real problem of distracted driving.

A crowdfunding campaign is offering a chance to buy a new $2,000 electric foldie for just $499. Unless you’d rather travel to Europe to buy a new BMW ebike for over six times as much.

A Portland letter writer complains about a red light-running, dog pulling bike rider who managed to flip him off anyway.

A Dallas writer says riding on carfree streets was great, unless you were in one.

A kindhearted Wisconsin woman gave her own three-wheeled adult bike to an 80-year old woman after hers was stolen in a burglary.

A Brooklyn writer says ebikes could be the future of transportation, but no one wants to let them on the road.

A HuffPo writer calls protected bike lane networks, like the one in Brooklyn, a breakthrough to make bicycling easy for almost everyone. Meanwhile, CityLab says European cities like Paris, Madrid and Lisbon have figured out how to live with ebikes, so why can’t New York?

A New Yorker movingly remembers a friend killed in last week’s bike path terrorist attack.

No surprise here, as Juli Briskman was fired from her job with a Virginia government contractor after they learned she was the bike rider who flipped off the president last week. Which doesn’t make it right. Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.

A Philadelphia writer learns how to ride a bike as an adult.

Buy a special North Carolina license plate, and help give a kid a new bike helmet. Although giving the kid a safer place to ride his bike would probably help a lot more.

Atlanta is attempting to become a top ten bicycling city, which would mean jumping 33 spots in Bicycling’s latest rankings.

Miami police are looking for a cape-wearing, bike-riding armed robber who shot his victim in the face.

A Florida paper examines the benefits of bike paths in terms of health, financial investment and crime, noting that rails-to-trails conversions generally have lower crime rates than the abandoned railways they replaced.

 

International

An Argentine city is mourning the deaths of five residents killed in the New York bike path terrorist attack, while the president of Argentina placed flowers at the site of the attack.

Toronto’s bike-riding parking cop is still off the job, and off Twitter, giving drivers a chance to park in the bike lanes again.

Montreal elects a new bike-friendly mayor, the first woman to lead the city.

A British dog walker uses his cam to record what he considers dangerous, speeding cyclists riding illegally through a park. Although they appear to be riding safely, slowly and considerately, even if they’re not supposed to be there.

An Australian website asks if Adelaide’s future as a bike-friendly city is already in its past.

 

Finally…

A cycling kit for bike-riding Beyoncé fans. Riding backwards while pedaling forwards.

And it might surprise many women to learn that riding a bicycle 75 miles is harder than childbirth.

………

On a personal note, my wife will be having major surgery this week to correct a condition that has the potential to be life-threatening.

I’ll do my best to keep up with this site every day, but please accept my apologies in advance if I miss a day or two, or have to settle for a shortened post.

And if anyone would like to submit a guest post, now would be a great time to do it.

 

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

Morning Links: Dockless bikeshare isn’t here yet, more on NYC bike path attack, and goodbye LAist

November 3, 2017 / / 2 comments

For a moment, it looked like dockless bikeshare had arrived in LA.

Even if it’s not entirely legal yet.

Marc, aka @mcas_LA, tweeted a pair of photos showing a fleet of LimeBikes in the Jewelry District in DTLA, even though the proposed ordinance to legalize dockless bikeshare hadn’t made it through the city council yet.

Alas, it was not to be.

Not yet, anyway.

LimeBike was quick to respond that the bikes were being test-ridden by their employees at a private event, and that they would never launch Uber-style without waiting for the proper permits.

So you’ll just have to wait awhile longer.

………

New York is responding to Tuesday’s terrorist attack by installing K-rail barriers at 57 intersections, including the one that Sayfullo Saipov used to drive onto the bike path.

A bill in the US Senate would provide $50 million a year to install bollards, planters and other barriers along bikeways to protect cyclists. Get back to me when they get serious; $50 million works out to a token gesture of just $1 million per state.

A student injured when Saipov’s rented truck crashed into a school attended class on Wednesday to keep his record for perfect attendance.

A writer for Opposing Views considers what the attack says about bike safety.

In an Op-Ed in the Washington Post, Eben Weiss, aka Bike Snob, writes that a terrorist attack isn’t going to scare bicyclists off their bikes because we already have to deal with motorists.

And it hasn’t stopped them, as New Yorkers flocked to the pathway when it reopened yesterday.

………

You can kiss LAist goodbye. The billionaire publisher of the “ist” and DNAinfo sites pulled the plug on the entire network yesterday, taking down all the archives at the same time.

The site had regularly written about bike issues, and been a supporter of safer streets in Los Angeles, and other cities around the world.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the closure came after employees had voted to unionize.

………

Local

Streeetsblog’s Joe Linton and Damien Newton correct the pernicious lie that Mike Bonin somehow stole money from the Measure M transportation tax to fund Vision Zero.

The LACBC’s Operation Firefly kicks off in Van Nuys next week, providing lights to bike riders who don’t have them.

The Pasadena Star-News asks if new trains, busways and bike lanes can end SoCal gridlock. Short answer, no. With more people bringing more cars here every year, our street will continue to be clogged. The only solution is to provide alternatives to driving, so the people who choose to leave their cars at home won’t be stuck in that mess.

Authorities are looking for funding to build a roundabout at the intersection of Highway 39 and the Old San Gabriel Canyon Road above Azusa to slow traffic and provide a safe extension to the San Gabriel River Trail, which currently dead ends at the roadway.

Helen’s Cycles is holding a trio of rides this weekend, while Santa Monica’s Breeze bikeshare celebrates its second anniversary on Saturday. And CicLAvia hosts their 2nd Annual pLAy Day in LA fundraiser on Sunday.

 

State

Nice piece in the LA Daily News about the recently completed, 450-mile Challenge Ride from San Francisco for wounded vets, including a former four-star Army Chief of Staff helping an injured ex-private up a hill.

The owner of a Coronado bike rental company opposes a proposal to allow LimeBike to operate on the island.

Bakersfield has received $200,000 in funding from Kern County for a number of bike-related projects, including bike parking in the downtown area, and the Build-A-Bike program that allows kids to earn a bicycle while learning about bike maintenance and repair.

San Luis Obispo is moving forward with plans for 50 new bicycling facilities, including buffered bike lanes and a bike boulevard, to fundamentally change the way people in the community get around.

Kindhearted Visalia residents pitched in to buy a new ebike for a legally blind teenager after the one he got for his 16th birthday was stolen.

A San Jose columnist says a planned bike and pedestrian bridge is a key link to improve safety, even if a letter writer considers it a waste of money.

A San Francisco man was critically injured when a bike rider opened fire on the victim following an argument; the suspect was arrested nearby.

San Francisco protesters create a people-protected bike lane on the Embarcadero to call attention to the need for greater safety.

 

National

People for Bikes offers four reasons why businesses should embrace ebikes.

A Seattle magazine says it’s good that dockless bikeshare bikes are being abandoned in trees, because it removes the moral superiority of bicycling, and makes it seem like it an everyday activity. Which it already is.

Over 8,000 people are expected to attend Denver’s one-day VeloSwap bike swap meet and expo this weekend.

A Dallas columnist says relax, and give dockless bikeshare time to work itself out.

Former cyclist Sinead Miller is now working with Nashville’s Vanderbilt University to put an end to sepsis, after ending her pro career when she suffered a traumatic brain injury in a collision.

A driver tried to run over a group of Miami police officers on a weekly community ride, and apparently got away.

 

International

An Op-Ed in Canadian Cyclist Magazine calls out the special status of drivers, and says laws that make a cyclist’s life cheap have to be changed.

Glasgow’s Philippa York says she would have gladly given up the fame that came with her cycling career as the former Robert Millar in order to transition to a woman when she was younger.

 

Finally…

Oprah is one of us, even if one of her favorite things looks suspiciously like a ghost bike. And evidently, the painkiller Tramadol will make you faster.

Even if it has the opposite effect on me.

 

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

Morning Links: LA River bike path reopens, and app-based bikeshare could pose a challenge for Metro

March 16, 2017 / / 7 comments

Today’s big news is the reopening of the LA River bike path.

According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the bike path was finally reopened following months of repair and maintenance on the stretch below Griffith Park, after it was closed to install needless flood barricades for the storms that never came last winter.

Now weekday riders can finally stop following that circuitous and bike-unfriendly detour that was put in place to get around the construction work. Or more likely, start riding the path again after finding other routes or modes of transportation for the past several months.

Here’s the link to the Corps LA River page that was included in the above tweet.

………

Another Chinese-style app-based bikeshare system is coming to the US, as San Mateo’s LimeBike has raised over $12 million in venture capital funding. The company says its bikes will rent for $1 for 30 minutes, and can be picked up and left anywhere, rather than at a dock.

That could pose a significant challenge to the more traditional bikeshare programs — if you can call something that only gained significant US acceptance in this decade “traditional.”

Programs like LA’s Metro Bike, which costs nearly three times as much if you don’t have a membership while offering less flexibility, could struggle to compete against cheaper competition that will inevitably arrive within the next few years — at a significant cost to the taxpayers footing the bill.

If Metro Bike, and others like Santa Monica’s Breeze and West Hollywood’s WeHo Pedals, are to succeed, they will have to expand quickly into currently unserved areas, while somehow addressing the issue of affordability.

Because, as the taxi industry has learned the hard way, it’s a lot more convenient to just pick up your phone to find and pay for a ride.

Whether you’re on four wheels. Or soon, two.

………

Local

Los Angeles Magazine offers advice on how to keep ridership surging on the Expo Line, including a call for better pedestrian access. The same could be said for bicycles, as Westside bikeways leading to and from the Expo Line aren’t just bad, they’re virtually nonexistent.

Santa Monica will have four bike valets for the LA Marathon on Sunday; however, three Breeze bikeshare stations will be disabled for the day.

Grab your bike, hop on Metro and hit the bars.

CiclaValley is starting a campaign to bring a former LACBC intern from the Netherlands back to compete in the Amgen Tour of California.

The Street Librarians will hold their monthly ride to restock street libraries on the 26th, while reading selections from the poet Rumi.

 

State

Speaking of app-based bikeshare, San Francisco approves rules for the dock-less systems, which seem more like an attempt to regulate them out of business.

A San Francisco driver faces charges for attempting to flee the scene after hitting a bike rider; fortunately, the victim is expected to recover.

 

National

Bicycling, the magazine, gets it right, as contributors say bicycling, the sport/transportation/activity, is the key to a lifetime of pure, unadulterated joy. Although my personal joy has been adulterated on numerous occasions by angry drivers, bad roads and bees on the beach. Not to mention my own damn carelessness from time to time.

Speaking of Bicycling, after the magazine offered seven reasons why bicycling was better than running, Running, the magazine, responds with a whopping 37 reasons why they think their sport is better.

A writer for a design site says building the new Ikea bike was the worst hour of his life. Besides dental work and real emotional loss, that is.

A new Portland bicycling collective composed of women of color is attempting to crack the city’s overwhelmingly white and male cycling scene. And doing it with a donut ride, which is always a smart move.

WaPo belatedly discovers the glowing Texas bikeway everyone was talking about last month. Or last year, even.

Instant karma strikes hard in Little Rock AR, where a wrong way truck driver fleeing a previous hit-and-run was killed in a collision with a bike rider, who also died in the crash.

Caught on video: A Minnesota driver faces charges after brake checking a bike rider, then threatening to kill him before nearly running over his foot. All for the crime of being in the driver’s way at a red light.

Life is cheap in Michigan, where a judge refuses to reconsider her original sentence of just one year in county jail for a killer drunk driver who was over twice the legal limit when he ran down a bike rider; sentencing guidelines called for a minimum of nearly two and a half years in state prison, with a max of 15 years.

Indiana homeowners — and passing bike riders — have to literally dodge bullets escaping from a nearby gun range.

Courses were unveiled for the US national road cycling championships in Knoxville KY this June.

An Ohio letter writer says it’s unfair to segregate bike riders onto bike paths, because people on bikes have to get to businesses and residences just like anyone else.

New York releases plans to make bicycling safer for commuters looking for an alternative after the L train shuts down for 18 months of repair work.

 

International

A new study shows bicycling really does improve your memory.

A Philippine actor tells fans he’s okay after he was injured in a bicycling crash.

Don’t bother biking to the airport in Bangkok for the next seven months.

 

Finally…

If you don’t want the cops to shoot at you, put a damn light on your bike — and don’t flee when they try to stop you. If you have to pee while you ride, try not to do it in view of the breathless British press.

And why settle for a time trial when you can have a six-legged obstacle course?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX9rpfl5WTw

Category: Bike Access, Bikeshare, Morning Links, Streets and Infrastructure / Tags: , , , ,
 
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