Tag Archive for Los Angeles Times

The true cost of California’s cancelled ebike program, and how to know ebike classifications and still get it wrong

December 19, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 352 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Just 5 days left in the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

 

Thanks to Brian, Joel, and Robert for their generous donations to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy!

But time’s running out! Just seven six days left to give! 

So stop what you’re doing, and donate right now through PayPal or Venmo, or via Zelle to ted@bikinginla.com using the banking app on your smartphone.

And happy Chanukah to everyone wrapping up your celebration this weekend!

………

This is the cost of cancelling the state’s ebike voucher program.

According to a paywalled story from the Sacramento Bee, republished by Governing, the California Ebike Incentive Program was literally life-changing for residents of a low-income neighborhood in the city.

Dewayne McDaniel, who got a bike he uses to get to the store to buy food, praised the scuttled e-bike program: He couldn’t afford a car but, with the bike, he could easily pick up groceries for himself and for his neighbor who was unable to walk. Another neighbor in his complex, AJ Ortiz, walks with a cane but loves the e-bike he purchased with a voucher. Ortiz’s bike gives him a low-impact way to incorporate more exercise and movement into his life, and he can visit friends downtown and get to the bank without having to rely on the bus.

The money remaining in the program, about $23 million, was shifted to California’s Clean Cars 4 All vehicle trade-in program, which only helps if you can afford a new car.

And many low-income Californians can’t.

But Ortiz, McDaniel, Crespo, Emery and Sala were disappointed that the e-bike program was ended rather than retooled.

In a lot of our families in our community, those old 15-year-old cars, that’s the only car they have, and they’re not gonna give it up,” Sala said. The Clean Cars 4 All program gives up to $12,000 toward the purchase of an electric or hybrid vehicle made within the last eight years, but participants have to trade in their old, less-efficient car. “To give it up for an e-vehicle that costs more money, that will — they’ll have to get a loan — they’re not gonna do that. … The program the way they’re designing it now will not work for poor communities. It just won’t.”

Not to mention that the vehicle program is a trade-in program, so it only works if you already own a car.

So if you don’t have a car or can’t afford one, you’re screwed. And without the voucher program, many low-income Californians would even struggle to afford a used bicycle, let alone a new ebike.

Sala said that many people in low-income neighborhoods would love to get an e-bike if they could afford the initial purchase: The $2,000 voucher could cover the whole cost of a bike as well a helmet and locks. The California Air Resources Board reasoned that an e-bike can replace many shorter car trips for far less money.

As the story points out, not only can an ebike replace shorter car trips, they can also serve as mobility devices for people who might not otherwise be able to get around.

McDaniel uses the bike to get food, too. He said he couldn’t afford a car and — because he has congestive heart failure — he couldn’t walk very far or carry much weight. “I can only do a limited amount,” he said. But now with a new form of transportation, he can go to the store and pick up food for himself and one of his neighbors.

“It makes life simpler,” he said “It gives you a better quality of life.”

Even with his health issues, he can get around with the help of the bike.

This is what CARB took away from us with their money grab that took ebike vouchers from low-income Californians to redistribute to people who can afford a car, actually want one, and are able to drive one.

But according to CARB, they didn’t have a choice, arguing that the state’s budget crisis required them to transfer any available funds into the car program.

Which may or may not be true.

But if they hadn’t had their heads so far up their own asses so badly mismanaged the program for three years, the funds would have been distributed to people in need long before the state budget became an issue.

I’m not the only one who’s called for a state investigation into the whole damn thing. But California Attorney General Rob Bonta apparently is too busy suing Donald Trump to look into problems closer to home.

So we’re stuck with waiting for legislature to find the funds, and the will, to restore the program.

And hopefully find another state agency to manage it.

………

They get it. And they don’t get it.

Simultaneously.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the problem of ebike-born hooligans who attacked a man in Hermosa Beach, leading to charges against at least two boys in their early teens, along with alleged South Bay teen ebike gangs, and others who engage in aggressive behavior.

Some beach cities residents say the teens’ aggression reflects a broader attitude: that e-bike riders, emboldened by their protected status as minors, increasingly act as if they own the streets.

“They run stop signs, they’re speeding, they’re flipping people off. They’re on their phones or filming themselves for social media,” said Redondo Beach resident Darryl Boyd. “It’s a circus — a psycho circus.”

Then the Times carefully makes the point that there are differing types of ebikes.

The machines cost anywhere from $1,000 to $6,000. Type 1 e-bikes, which are pedal-assisted, and Type 2 e-bikes, which are pedal- and throttle-assisted, can reach up to 20 mph, while Type 3 e-bikes can go up to 28 mph and may only be ridden by those 16 and older in California.

Pocket bikes, electric motorcycles and electric dirt bikes, which are generally not street legal in California, can reach speeds of 45 to 55 mph. These devices are particularly popular among teen boys, who use them to perform high-speed stunts.

So far, so good.

The problem comes in the rest of the whole damn article, which never bothers to point out that the misbehaving lads aren’t riding Type 1 or 2 ebikes. Or even Type 3, for that matter.

Instead, they’re roaming the streets on the bikes discussed in that second paragraph above. Mini bikes, e-motorbikes, dirt bikes, and other assorted fast and high-powered machines of questionable legality, too often purchased by indulgent parents.

Which wouldn’t matter, except when the inevitable crackdown comes — as it has in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo and now Torrance — affecting everyone on any type of ebike, from middle school students and working class bike commuters, to the dirt bike-riding miscreants who caused the problem in the first place.

So congratulations to the LA Times for being one of the first media sources to crack the code on the various ebike classes.

But maybe they could be just a tad clearer on which riders actually cause the problems.

………

‘Tis the season.

A Christmas bike giveaway started by a late police officer will donate 44 bikes to kids in Sinton and Corpus Christi, Texas.

A restaurant in Big Sandy, Texas is hosting a bike giveaway tomorrow, asking donors to just show up with a new bicycle, and kids who want one to just show up with a parent. Apparently, they just have to trade their parent to get a new bike. 

The 18th annual Arkansas Stop the Violence bicycle drive hopes to give away 500 new bicycles to children in need this year, after already collecting 390.

The Tampa, Florida Habitat for Humanity teamed with onbikes to give away 50 bicycles to kids in need, while 25 families will move into new homes built by volunteers.

This one belongs here too, as the kindhearted employees of a Florida school pitched in to buy a new bike for a coworker who rides 17 miles to work every day.

………

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

This is why people keep dying on our streets. An alleged road-raging driver who chased an Irish bike rider and pinned his bike to the curb, just for the crime of being told to get off his phone behind the wheel, had his two-year driving ban for failing to cooperate with police investigators lifted, after convincing the judge that it was just too darn inconvenient.

………

………

Local 

Metro has released the draft environmental report on extending the LA River Bike Path south from Elysian Valley through DTLA, Vernon and Maywood; the comment period began yesterday, and will continue to February 2nd, with a series of public hearings at the end of January.

 

State

Huntington Beach has designated September 18th of each year to be Kolby Aipa Day, marking the birthday of the 20-year old surfboard scion killed when the ebike he was riding was being towed by a friend’s car.

This is why people keep dying on our streets, part two. A Fresno man walked without a single day behind bars after pleading no contest to killing a bike-riding college professor and mother of five, after the CHP helpfully testified that it was just really, really hard to see her due to a hill; the judge sentenced him to 180 days split between work release — which doesn’t have to be served in jail — and home vacation.

San Francisco Streetsblog helpfully suggests six projects that fit with the mayor’s new safety initiative, which replaces the city’s failed Vision Zero.

 

National

If your kid is riding in a Schwinn Ovation Bicycle Child Carrier stop using it immediately, after they were recalled for a risk of falling off; meanwhile, about 400 Pedego Fat Tire Trikes have been recalled due to risk of the frame breaking.

Albuquerque, New Mexico is addressing a troubling number of bicycling deaths by installing the city’s first protected bike lane, though only as a pilot project. Because apparently, something that has been repeatedly proven to work to improve safety doesn’t count unless it’s proven again here, wherever here happens to be. 

Once again, someone has been killed in a dispute over a stolen bicycle, this time in Austin, Texas, where police allege a 30-year old man shot another man after accusing him of stealing his bicycle. How many times do we have to say it? No bike is worth a human life. Just let it go, and let the cops handle it.

Suspected ICE agents, who refused to identify themselves or who they work for, tackled a Columbus, Ohio man off his bicycle as he was riding by. Which begs the questions of whether they had a warrant for him, and how could they tell if he was here legally by how he rode a bike? 

The Plymouth, Massachusetts Select Board showed a little common sense by rejecting even a watered-down crackdown on ebikes. By all means, go after the kids on illegal electric motorbikes and dirt bikes, but leave ped-assist bikes out of it. 

Adding a shared use bike path to a replacement for Baltimore’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge could add more than a billion bucks to the total cost, which is already double previous estimate of $7.8 billion. Maybe if they didn’t pave the pathway with gold and diamonds it might lower the cost a bit. 

Woodstock, Georgia — no, not the one where the famous music festival took place — is considering a crackdown on minibikes and ebikes after two men on the former caused $7,000 in damage by doing burnouts on their e-minibikes in a shopping mall elevator. Once again victimizing all ebike riders for the actions of a few on e-motorbikes.

A Florida website considers why the Sunshine State remains the nation’s most dangerous state for people on bicycles, and what can be done about it.

 

International

Momentum says Canadian bicyclists are, like the eponymous geese, migrating south for the winter, but opting for spots in South and Central America rather previous sunny spots like Arizona and Florida, which may seem questionable in the current environment.

A British tutoring firm examines some of the people who have ridden a bicycle around the world.

Ghost bikes have made their way to Cape Town, South Africa to honor the victims of traffic violence.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo doesn’t seem to be fans of the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team’s new orange and whitish kits, either. I mean, we all know what happens when you sweat through white bike shorts, right?

A UK pro cycling site considers the psychology and history of the 21 hairpin bends that make up the legendary Alpe d’Huez.

Bike Radar considers the rich and ever-changing tapestry of WorldTour cycling team sponsors.

The legendary Eddy Merckx hopes to be able to ride a bike again, after the 80-year old Cannibal broke his hip, and underwent a third hip replacement.

 

Finally…

Doesn’t everyone ride a century on a Penny Farthing dressed as Santa? So much for riding a new Porsche ebike.

And your new riding glasses could be smarter than you are.

Okay, maybe just smarter than me.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA tripping over transportation for ’28 Olympics, and New York cops dismiss kite string that severely injured bike rider

June 9, 2025 / / One comment
Day 160 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

No surprise here.

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez says the city is tripping over itself in the lead-up to the 2028 Olympics — including being behind on planned transportation improvements.

And that’s after Metro has already backed off on several improvements originally promised in the Twenty-Eight by ’28 plan, including adding more bus and bike lanes, as well as completing the LA River Bike Path before the Games.

Meanwhile, People For Bikes listed their top priorities for the coming year. starting with redefining electric motorbikes, which are too often confused with ebikes, and improving standards for lithium-ion batteries.

But they also listed reimagining LA’s transportation system in time for the Games.

Looking ahead to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles, and following two major wins in 2024 at the city and state levels, PeopleForBikes is working alongside local advocates and bike companies to champion an overhaul of Los Angeles’ transportation system to include more safe and connected bike infrastructure. Leveraging the attention on and injection of funding into Los Angeles ahead of 2028, we are proud to support the Festival Trail, a multimodal network that links and expands on existing projects to connect residents and visitors to LA28 venues and several of Los Angeles’ famous attractions without needing a car. We are also advocating for mobility hubs that feature bike share stations and bike parking at major transit stations. At the state level, we supported legislation that would provide $3.5 billion for active transportation projects in Los Angeles.

These investments in preparation for the Olympics can benefit Los Angeles far beyond 2028 by supporting mobility opportunities for all Angelenos, particularly in communities that have been historically underserved by public transportation. This is also a chance to show that transformation in one of America’s most car-centric cities is possible and provide a model for other cities to transform their transportation networks to cater the needs of all road users, regardless of whether people walk, ride a bike, take transit, or drive a car.

Let’s hope they can get something done.

Because the city hasn’t given us any reason to believe they can do it on their own.

Logo for LA ’28 from Wikipedia. 

………

Police in New York bizarrely concluded no one broke the law when a man was was nearly killed by an apparent kite string as he was riding a bicycle.

He required multiple transfusions to replace the blood lost when the string slit his throat, severing his windpipe, even though it seems unlikely that a normal kite string could do that kind of damage.

People who were riding with him suggested that the string could have been intentionally strung across the bike lane, or that it could have been coated with glass for kite fighting.

A woman was also injured when the string struck her hand and forehead, moments before injuring the man, who was riding just behind her.

………

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

The bicycling community in Wellington, New Zealand is fighting back against whoever has been scattering tacks on bikeways for the past decade, offering free puncture repairs and sweeping up tacks and other objects with magnets.

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

Irate Salt Lake City drivers complained about getting stuck for multiple light cycles and surrounded by angry bicyclists during a growing, weekly bike ride, as motorists honked, called the riders names and yelled at them to obey the law. Someone should at least teach that group how and when to properly cork an intersection.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Streetsblog says AB 891, California’s Quick-Build Project Pilot Program, is a third of the way home after passing the state Assembly; now it needs to pass in the state Senate and survive Newsom’s overactive veto pen.

A San Francisco man faces a felony hit-and-run charge for last month’s crash that seriously injured a 5-year-old girl riding her bike with her mother. Although under California’s lenient hit-and-run penalties, he’ll face no more than four years behind bar — which will likely by plea bargained down to a slap on the wrist. 

Sad news from Northern California, where a 13-year old girl was killed by a driver while riding an ebike in a South Lake Tahoe crosswalk.

An estimated 2,100 people turned out for the 32nd annual America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride around Lake Tahoe, with rides up to 100 miles to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

 

National

Wired offers advice on how to buy a bike helmet, while a Pittsburgh paper considers how often you should replace it.

Some rare tariff good news, as Chinese-made bike helmets and aluminum-frame bicycle trailers maintain their exemptions until the end of August.

An Oregon man encountered a turtle while riding his bicycle, which initially played dead before scrambling off the pavement. Unfortunately, that tactic seldom helps bike riders escape threats from drivers.

Oregon Republicans want to rip away funding currently directed to rail, transit, bicycle and walking projects, and redirect it to the State Highway Fund to benefit the people in cars at the expense of everyone else.

Pink Bike offers more information on the delayed opening of Idaho’s Panhandle Bike Ranch, after a judge jerked the park’s conditional use permit just ten days before its planned opening.

Trump’s funding freeze is putting at risk $6.3 million previously approved by the Biden administration to close gaps in a 230-mile pedestrian and biking corridor between Butte and the Idaho border, part of Great American Rail-Trail route.

Bicyclists Colorado State University in my bike-friendly hometown held the second annual Ollie’s Ride for Change, including a Pokemon-themed bike parade, to remember a ten-year old boy killed by a distracted driver while riding his bike in a nearby town; the woman behind the wheel was sentenced to a lousy year behind bars after she was convicted of careless driving.

Bowling Green, Kentucky got its first green lane, but for biking not bowling.

No surprise here, either, as Nashville advocates issue their first State of Our Streets report, calling for more walking paths and protected bike lanes, as well as including quick-build projects as part of the city’s Vision Zero plan.

As the NYPD continues its misguided crackdown on scofflaw bike riders by issuing criminal summonses instead of traffic tickets, the state legislature considers a Stop As Yield law, aka Idaho Stop Law, that would legalize treating stop signs as yields, and red lights as stop signs, taking away tools they use to for pretextual stops and to target riders. California isn’t likely to get one until Gavin Newsom leaves office, since he’s already vetoed it twice.

Sad news from Charlotte, Virginia, where the 73-year old father of a local traffic safety advocate was killed when he was struck by a semi driver while riding the recumbent bike he used to maintain his independence.

Good news from Melbourne, Florida, where 15-year old boy reclaimed the bicycle he inherited from his dad, who died of Covid, after it was stolen while he was working as a lifeguard; he got it back with the help of his swim coach and the local police, as well as hundreds of people who shared the news on Facebook.

 

International

Bike riders in Halifax, Nova Scotia accuse the mayor of scapegoating bicyclists and backing out of campaign promises by calling for halting bike lane construction, pending a review on congestion and costs.

A Canadian columnist says no, a ringing bike bell doesn’t mean you have to get the hell out of the way — and if someone on a bike hits you, sue ’em.

A new research report indicates that young adults aged 25-34 are driving the rising popularity of ebikes in Britain.

Something doesn’t add up in the UK, where two men face murder and attempted murder charges for the alleged hit-and-run death of a 16-year old boy who recently arrived from Yemen, striking the teen as he was walking after first crashing into an ebike rider — raising questions of why police think the act was intentional and who was the intended target.

She gets it. A Belgian writer wants to know why an unlicensed DUI driver was released by police after killing someone riding a bicycle, asking what’s the message that sends about accountability on the country’s roads.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in Cyprus, where a 42-year old driver walked with a lousy $1,370 fine for killing a 62-year old man riding a bicycle while traveling at nearly twice the posted speed limit, and was banned from driving for five whole weekends.

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-four-year old Kiwi cyclist Ally Wollaston says she’s overwhelmed after a final stage sprint gave her the overall victory in the women’s Tour of Britain, edging out previous tour leader Cat Ferguson by four seconds.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your classic space-age bicycle looks more like an oversized pizza cutter. Now you, too, can have horns coming out of your bike helmet, or maybe a banana.

And when you’re a convicted felon riding at night with illegal narcotics and a loaded firearm, stay in your lane and put a damn light on it.

The bike, that is, not the lane. Or the gun.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Hollywood meets Koreatown CicLAvia, help provide bikes for fire victims, and 2 boys arrested in mob driver beatdown

February 28, 2025 / / Comments Off on Hollywood meets Koreatown CicLAvia, help provide bikes for fire victims, and 2 boys arrested in mob driver beatdown
Day 59 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

CicLAvia returns to Koreatown and Hollywood on the first Sunday in April, with a semi-new route traversing Wilshire, Western, Santa Monica and Highland.

Which makes it one of the easiest CicLAvia’s to get to, with Metro subway stops at either end.

Not to mention the semi-protected bike lanes on Hollywood Blvd, although they dump you off three blocks from the Hollywood and Vine Hub, leaving you to deal with the Amoeba Records and Funko traffic on your own.

https://twitter.com/CicLAvia/status/1895172175625097495

………

The Los Angeles Times’ outdoor newsletter The Wild calls out a pair of bike events this weekend we touched on earlier this week, both helping to provide bicycles to people and families affected by the recent firestorms in the LA area.

1. Walk and bike for a good cause in Culver City
Walk ‘n Rollers will host its annual Walk More Bike More Festival from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Ivy Station in Culver City. The event raises money for Walk ‘n Rollers’ adopt-a-bike program, which has refurbished and donated more than 350 bikes to families in need. This year, bikes will be primarily donated to families affected by recent wildfires. At the festival, guests can participate in free bike repairs, a scavenger hunt and a prize raffle. There will also be e-bike and skateboard demos. The event is free, but registration is requested, with the option to donate. Register at walkmorebikemore.org…

3. Build bikes in Mar Vista to help Eaton fire survivors
Bikerowave Co-op needs volunteers with bike wrenching experience to prep bikes that will be donated to people affected by the Eaton fire. The repair event will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday at its shop (12255 Venice Blvd.). The shop has several bikes to repair but welcomes donations. All bikes will be checked by a head mechanic before they’re distributed. Learn more at the shop’s Instagram page.

You can sign up for the email newsletter here.

………

Two arrests have been made in Saturday’s violent mob attack on a driver at San Vicente Blvd and McCarthy Vista by a group of teens riding bicycles.

Both boys have been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, but aren’t likely to be publicly identified unless they are tried as adults. Although it’s questionable what the deadly weapons may have been, unless the DA is counting the shoes they kicked him with.

Hopefully, these two can help identify some of the other kids, who deserve to be grounded until they’re 30, at the very least.

………

Local  

Jalopnik looks at that violent mob attack, and apparently concludes there’s a gang of teens riding around the city just randomly attacking drivers. Which unfortunately may not be that far off the mark.

 

State

Mountain View will attempt to tame one of the city’s “diciest” bicycling routes with new protected bike lanes.

Life is cheap in Fremont, where a 31-year old man was sentenced to a lousy year of home vacation detention — and will likely do less than half of that —  for the 2019 hit-and-run that killed a man riding a bicycle, after swerving to strike the victim for no apparent reason while doing 25 mph over the posted speed limit.

A new study shows San Francisco’s Slow Streets program has been successful in improving safety for all road users, and could be a key tool to reduce traffic deaths.

This is the cost of traffic violence. The 47-year old Vallejo man killed this week while riding his bike on a deadly Napa County highway has been identified as a beloved nurse and humanitarian, as well as a Tahitian dancer.

 

National

Women’s online magazine Redbook recommends the 17 best ebikes on the market. Which probably aren’t, but still.

Portlanders will join bicyclists in 74 other cities in a Tesla Takedown ride this weekend to protest Elon Musk in absentia. And yes, there are several rides planned for the LA and Orange County areas.

A writer for the University of Arizona student newspaper says the school needs better bike safety on campus. Just like pretty much every other university campus in the US. 

Bike riders in Boise, Idaho fear a new bill in the state legislature to add two new members to a county commission is intended to stack the board with opponents of bike safety projects.

An Arkansas cycling startup accelerator has selected its first ten participants, in an effort to help bicycle companies from Bentonville and around the world get a jumpstart in the industry.

A 57-year old New York man was killed by the driver of a city bus in the Bronx, which was being used as a replacement shuttle for an out-of-service subway; the crash occurred on a “killer corridor” known for traffic deaths.

Atlanta’s “massively successful” ebike rebate could see another round of funding, after already helping 800 city residents get a new ebike, many of whom might not have been able to afford one otherwise. Which is exactly what California’s designed to fail program should be doing.

A 78-year old hit-and-run driver critically injured a 78-year old Florida bike rider while fleeing from an earlier hit-and-run crash, while on his way to yet another crash before finally stopping. Once again raising the eternal question of how old is too old to drive, and why the hell we can’t get people off the road before this kind of crap happens. 

Police in Buena Vista, Florida arrested a fake “homeland security officer” for impersonating an officer, after he tucked a loaded gun inside his jacket and rode his bicycle to an apartment complex to look for “Mexicans” in the country illegally — and handing the cops a blue ID card, which was actually his application to become a licensed security officer.

 

International

Momentum recommends the best solutions to store your bikes.

If you’re planning to escape head to Canada anytime soon, don’t walk or ride in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, which has been the deadliest city north of the border for both over the last ten years, on a per capita basis; then again, Toronto isn’t much better.

A pair of hammer-armed bikejackers on a motorbike forced a man off his bike in London’s Regent Park, stealing his $5,200 bicycle in a crime captured on security cam.

Life is cheap in Scotland, where a woman walked without a single day behind bars for killing a “legendary” Glasgow bicyclist, despite falsely telling investigators that her vision was impaired.

Distracted drivers killed 32 people in Japan last year, while causing 164 serious crashes; that compares to one person killed by a distracted bike rider, despite the massive new penalty for using a cellphone while biking.

You may be freezing your ass off this winter, but Down Under they’re spontaneously stripping off their clothes and joining a naked bike ride.

 

Competitive Cycling

It’s going to cost you more to watch cycling on the Max streaming service after they discontinued bike racing on the ad-supported level.

 

Finally….

There’s just nothing like riding a dilapidated bike surrounded by ghosts and ancient cycling spirits. If you’re riding your bike with a gun, illegal drugs and an explosive-filled backpack, put a damn light on it, already.

And watch the Bob Ross off mountain biking shredding on a hundred buck bike.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

New book examines past, present and future of Black bicycling; and bike to clean up Angeles National Forest trail tomorrow

January 24, 2025 / / Comments Off on New book examines past, present and future of Black bicycling; and bike to clean up Angeles National Forest trail tomorrow
Day 24 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

An upcoming new book takes a look at the past, present and future of Black bicyclists in the US and around the world.

According to the Los Angeles Sentinel, New Black Cyclones: Racism, Representation and Revolutions of Power in Cycling by Marlon Lee Moncrieffe examines “several cycling communities throughout America and several countries in Africa, highlighting their perspectives on racial issues and general experiences.”

“I’m using the past to understand the present,” (Moncrieffe) said. “And taking the voices of current Black cyclists to understand what might be the future of our representation in the sport.”

The book will be available from all the usual source — yes, including that one — next month.

………

The Wild newsletter from the Los Angeles Times reports you can ride your bike to help clean up the Valley Forge Trail in the Angeles National Forest (scroll down).

2. Bike to trail clean-up in Angeles National Forest
The Mt. Wilson Bicycling Association will host a bike-in trail cleanup from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday on the Valley Forge Trail. Volunteers will park at Redbox Picnic Area and are responsible for getting themselves to Valley Forge Trail Camp by bike. The group will meet at 8 a.m. for a safety briefing before riding to the trail. The organization will provide lunch to volunteers. Participants should bring water and snacks and wear long sleeves and pants to protect themselves from poodle-dog bush and other irritants in the area. Register at eventbrite.com.

………

Gravel Bike California takes one fond look back to their favorite rides of the past year.

………

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

No bias here. Readers of an Oxford, England newspaper say the best way to improve safety for bicyclists is to ban bicycling in the city.

A British city scrapped a controversial bicycling ban on a pedestrianized Main Street — or High Street in the Brit vernacular — despite claiming it had widespread support just last April.

………

Local  

Torched takes an in-depth look at the smoke fouling air in the Los Angeles area, as fires continue to burn throughout the region. So go ahead and ride your bike this weekend — just try not to breathe.

At least 54 hiking trails were burned in Eaton and Palisades fires, let alone what may have gone up in this week’s Hughes Fire above Castaic. Which raises the troubling question of whether your favorite mountain biking or gravel trails will still be around when all the flames are extinguished.

Santa Monica Next takes the beachside city to task for failing to adequately enforce the state vehicle code, in the wake of a deadly hit-and-run crash last month.

 

State

A group of 61 local, state and national advocacy groups signed onto a letter to Caltrans and the California Transportation Commission urging them to speed up action to meet the state’s transportation-related climate goals, as they continue to build dirty freeways instead of bikeways.

Police in Huntington Beach recovered a stolen ebike and arrested the alleged thief after the victim’s mom tracked it down herself.

Streetsblog takes a look at Irvine’s first curb-protected bike lane — or protected bike lane, period.

 

National

Bicycling recommends the gear you need for riding in all types of cold weather this winter. Although here in Los Angeles, that usually just ranges from drought weather to fire weather to earthquake weather. Read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you.

People For Bikes highlights last year’s best new US bikeways, including San Diego’s Pershing Bikeway. But as usual, none are in Los Angeles.

A new bike mapping app promises to rate every street in the US on a scale of one to five for bike-friendliness.

An Oregon Marine Corps vet got his stolen custom-made ti bike back after a sharp-eyed sheriff’s detective spotted it while serving a search warrant, even though it had been partially disassembled and some of the parts used to create a Frankenbike.

The new Arkansas Global Cycling Accelerator is taking applications from bicycling-related startups and innovators hoping to jumpstart their business, as Bentonville strives to become a hub for the mountain biking industry, as well as a world-class mountain biking destination.

In today’s most touching story, councilmembers in Schenectady, New York joined a caravan of police, fire and public works vehicles to honor a local man famed for simply riding his bike throug the city while bringing warmth and cheer to everyone he met, after 56-year old Ronnie “Rondon” Cridelle lost his battle with cancer. Although when my time comes, I’ll be lucky if I get someone pulling a corgi in a wagon around the block.

A not too surprising side benefit of New York’s new congestion pricing program is that less traffic also means fewer collisions, and fewer injuries, as a result.

Bad news from North Carolina, where bicycling deaths jumped 50% last year, despite an overall drop in traffic fatalities.

 

International

Rouleur talks with Phil Cavell, author of The Midlife Cyclist, about how to ride a bike after 40 while staying healthy.

Despite the recommendations of an independent investigation office, a Canadian Mountie in British Columbia won’t face charges for using his police cruiser as a weapon to knock a 15-year-old robbery suspect off his bicycle; prosecutors say there isn’t enough evidence to support the recommended charges of aggravated assault, dangerous driving and dangerous driving causing bodily harm. All of which seems pretty self-evident, given the circumstances. 

London bicyclists are avoiding the popular riding route around the outer circle of the city’s Regent Park, after a rash of violent high-end bike thefts.

Riders of London’s Lime dockless ebikes discover the hard way that “break a leg!” isn’t just a way to avoid jinxing theater performers.

A Scottish driver pled guilty to killing a “legendary” local bicyclist, despite playing the universal Get Our Of Jail Free card, as the woman claimed she didn’t see the 64-year old man riding his bike because the sun was in her eyes.

A historic Cardiff, Wales outdoor velodrome lives to fight another day, after plans to build a new replacement fell through.

A British man was found guilty of manslaughter for fatally stabbing another man in a dispute over an allegedly stolen ebike, after the purported thief continued to send threatening voice mail messages.

Retro bike collector and head of British Cycling Bob Howden invites Cycling Weekly into his trove of classic bikes.

You can add adventure bicycling around Taiwan to your bike bucket list.

A writer for Streetsblog sends a postcard from Shanghai, saying “the Chinese mega-city provides an example of great urban mobility, albeit with a side of authoritarianism.” Because as we all know, a side of authoritarianism goes great with Peking duck and stinky tofu. 

Life is cheap in Australia, as former cycling champ Rohan Dennis formally entered a guilty plea in the death of his wife, former Olympic cyclist Melissa Hopkins, copping to a single aggravated count of creating likelihood of harm, with a maximum sentence of seven years behind bars and a five-year loss of his driver’s license; Hopkins died after falling off the hood of Dennis’ SUV as she clung to it for dear life as he sped off.

 

Competitive Cycling

The United State’s only remaining one-day men’s UCI bike race is coming back this September, as the Maryland Cycling Classic adds a long-awaited women’s race to go with it.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can finally own that ’73 Schwinn Stingray you always wanted, for less than it will probably cost you to have it shipped. Nothing like a nice, brisk 20 below fat bike ride.

And that feeling when your editor tells you to write about bike memes, but neglects to explain there’s a difference between bicycles and motorcycles.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Broxton ped plaza soft opening this weekend, and promise of carfree LA Olympic plan short on time and money

October 25, 2024 / / Comments Off on Broxton ped plaza soft opening this weekend, and promise of carfree LA Olympic plan short on time and money
Just 66 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

The bouncing baby pedestrian plaza on Westwood’s previously nearly useless Broxton Ave is having a soft opening this weekend, apparently ahead of the official opening at some undetermined date in the future.

Rendering from Westwood Village website. 

………

Evidently, the Los Angeles Times doesn’t buy the city’s promise of a carfree 2028 Olympic any more than the rest of us, politely noting it’s running short of time and money.

Which is putting it mildly.

Local officials have a litany of projects they want to complete ahead of 2028, including adding charging infrastructure and improving Metro stations close to venues, but so far attempts to secure federal funds have been hit-and-miss.

The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $3.3-billion list of projects needed to make the Games run smoothly is 5.2% funded. If the money doesn’t come through soon, transit planners predict some critical projects may be scuttled — making it tougher for visitors and commuters to get around town.

Los Angeles has just four years to build the bus lanes, bike lanes and sidewalks necessary to move the hundreds of thousands of tourists likely to arrive for the Games.

And doesn’t even have a final list of the venues where it will take place. Let alone a plan for how to get it done, or the funding to do it.

Which just adds to the city’s long and ever growing list of transportation promises made and not kept.

Or have you forgotten all about Vision Zero and Garcetti’s Transportation Green New Deal? Not to mention the 2010 bike plan, and every failed bike plan that proceeded it.

This city is great at making transportation promises.

But keeping them, not so much.

………

Santa Monica bicyclists will now enjoy concrete protection from motor vehicles and the people driving them on 26th Street.

………

It looks like Culver City’s shortsighted and auto-centric decision to rip out the MOVE Culver City protected bike lanes could cost it nearly half a million bucks.

Oops.

………

A new short film explores how Taiwan’s Liv Cycling came to be the world’s leading women’s bicycling brand.

………

It’s now 310 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

A Seal Beach cop had to inform a “well intentioned” letter writer that California bike riders aren’t required to licensed and/or registered, which would take a significant change in state law. And requiring big black license numbers to be painted on little kids bike helmets would be just a tad problematic, for a number of reasons.

No bias here. A Tucson, Arizona woman was killed in a hit-and-run as she rode her bike at 3:30 am, yet the cops somehow decided it was her fault for making an unsafe turn, even though they haven’t talked to the driver because they don’t even know who the hell killed her. Then again, what else would they expect on a road named Speedway?

………

Local  

Seriously? The Beverly Press reports in detail on last week’s Fountain Ave protest demanding a halt to the plans for a lane reduction and protected bike lanes on the West Hollywood street. But somehow apparently failed to notice the larger demonstration held at the same time supporting them.

 

State

Calbike considers the state of protected bikeways, ten years after the Protected Bikeway Act of 2014 was passed by the legislature.

A San Francisco woman was collateral damage when she was struck by a driver being chased by the cops while riding her bicycle; the driver abandoned the car after hitting her and fled as a passenger in another vehicle, while a third driver drove off in the abandoned car, and was arrested after crashing into a building. I’d say this is yet another example of an innocent person being injured as a direct result of a police chase, but I’m still trying to figure out what the hell happened.

A Streetsblog guest post considers how the San Francisco mayoral candidates stand on safe streets. Hopefully on the curb.

 

National

Bicycling unveils their Gear of the Year for 2024, offering over 100 of the best bicycling components, clothing, devices and tools. Read it on AOL this time if the magazine blocks you. 

A new Chicago report shows the city’s investment in traffic calming and bike/ped safety measures has resulted in a 27% drop in traffic deaths since 2021.

After police recovered a bicycle stolen from a Walmart in upstate New York, the store fixed it up and donated it to a local high school student instead of selling it.

Philadelphia has finally gotten around to making it illegal to stop in bike lanes, which had been allowed for up to 20 minutes. And somehow, the decision is bizarrely considered controversial.

A Miami man has been sentenced to life for the “cold-blooded murder” of a 48-year old man on the city’s Rickenbacker Causeway, shooting the victim to death after knocking him off his bike with a motorcycle, as he rode in a peloton with his cycling club.

 

International

A longtime British Columbia bike rider patiently explains why a bicyclist could be in the way of your car, from cars parked in the bike lane to roads designed to be shared, speed differential be damned.

They finally get it. The Toronto Star changed a headline that initially read “Residents, cyclists clash at Etobicoke bike lanes meeting” to reflect the fact that people who ride bicycles are residents of the city, too.

A British appeals court is allowing a lawsuit challenging cuts to bike funding in England to move forward, saying the case, which could establish sustained, longterm funding for bicycling in the country, has a real chance of success.

Disgruntled motorists are calling a new Cambridge, England roundabout an obscene, chaotic and distracting “birthday cake” marked by 36 traffic lights, colored panels and bike lanes, but bike riders say it’s finally safe to ride.

It takes a major lowlife to steal bikes from a UK children’s bicycling club.

The British government has launched a new campaign urging consumers to “Buy Safe, Be Safe” when it comes to purchasing an ebike, saying if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.

The city of Fukuyama, Japan is urging the country to recognize a scenic 20-mile bike route through Hiroshima Prefecture as a new National Cycle Route, adding to the six currently running through the country.

 

Competitive Cycling

Both road cycling and mountain biking have been kicked out of the 2026 Commonwealth Games, held every four years between British Commonwealth countries, as a cost-cutting measure; fortunately, track cycling events will still be held since that’s presumably cheaper.

 

Finally…

Well, who hasn’t been hogtied to a quad bike by an angry farmer while trying to retrieve your ebike? Or attempted to make the jump from snooker champ to Ironman competitor?

And yes, it is possible to live carfree in San Diego for a whole year.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Get ready for Clean Air pontificating today, and written test waived for elderly California drivers – for better or worse

October 2, 2024 / / 6 comments
Just 89 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

……..

Happy California Clean Air Day.

That joyful day when all the elected officials and bureaucrats who blocked active street and transit projects and approved highway expansions will bend over backwards to tell us all just how important clean air is.

Then again, those of us who have been biking, walking and using transit have actually been doing something about it all along.

Today you can do something about it for free on virtually any SoCal transit system, Metro included.

And yes, bicycling and walking are still free. At least for now.

https://twitter.com/metrolosangeles/status/1840891052364087321

Meanwhile, it’s also National Week Without Driving, and SoCal Transit Week.

And Metro Bike will wrap things up with a Clean Air Day Joy Ride through DTLA on Saturday, which isn’t Clean Air Day.

But close enough, I guess.

Top image from Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay.

………

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez celebrates that California drivers over 70 will no longer have to deal with “irritating technical glitches, confusing options and maddeningly irrelevant test questions” by having to take a written test to renew their driver’s licenses.

I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

It’s not like traffic laws have changed in the 50 or 60 years since they first started to drive.

Or last year, even.

I understand the inconvenience, and the fear of losing the driver’s license someone has depended on for so many years in our car-dependent society.

But I also understand the risk posed by people who don’t have a working knowledge of current traffic laws. Like understanding that bike riders are allowed to take the lane on most right lanes in the state, for instance.

Or that some older people shouldn’t be driving at all anymore.

Myself, included.

Meanwhile, in a totally unrelated story, a British woman has become the oldest person convicted of causing death by dangerous driving in that country, at the tender age of 96.

Because we all know drivers, like fine wine, just get better as they age.

Right?

………

A new Calbike report is calling out Caltrans for its repeated failure to build Complete Streets, in violation of their own policies.

Here’s what the organization says about the report, titled Incomplete Streets: Aligning Policy with Practice at Caltrans.

The report details where Caltrans has succeeded in adding elements for people biking, walking, and taking transit when it repairs state roadways that serve as local streets. But the findings also detail, for the first time, evidence of where Caltrans falls short, using data to show pattern and practice at the agency and case studies to illustrate how district staffers downgrade and leave out infrastructure people biking and walking on Caltrans projects.

It should make for a good light read for these long autumn nights.

………

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton takes an up-close look at the new modular curbs on the Main Street protected bike lane in DTLA, expressing hope they can quickly be expanded throughout the city.

Close-up photo of the modular curbs on Main Street at Spring by Streetsblog’s Joe Linton

While they aren’t bulky enough to keep all drivers out of the bike lane, as Linton notes, they could be enough to discourage more people from parking and driving in them.

And they beat the hell out of the usual plastic car-tickler bendy-posts LADOT seems so enamored with.

Let’s hope they try them out on other bike lanes, as well.

Because they could prove to be a fast and relatively inexpensive solution to LA’s painful lack of curb-protected lanes, in a city that doesn’t seem to know the meaning of quick-build.

………

This is who we share the road with.

A Greenfield, California man will spend the next 30 years to life behind bars for intentionally killing a random pedestrian, after leading police on a chase through Monterey County in a stolen car.

Twenty-seven-year old Paulo Cesar Alcaraz Ortiz tried and failed to run down several other people on the street, in the mistaken belief that it would cause the police to stop chasing him.

That is, until he successfully ran down and ran over Guadalupe Garcia with the hot car on his second attempt, after chasing Garcia through a field.

………

A New York photographer captures what Streetsblog calls “the unexpected beauty of the Williamsburg Bridge’s less-than-perfect design.”

I just call it a damn good shot.

………

It’s now 287 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And an even 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. A transportation policy analyst from the libertarian Reason Foundation calls out the failure of Complete Streets in California and Vision Zero Los Angeles, years after their passage, while failing to note that neither one has been adequately funded or implemented — as evidenced by a new law requiring Caltrans to implement their own damn Complete Streets policy.

Bedford, England has banned bicyclists from riding through the city centre, uh, center, in response to bike riders “flying through” and endangering pedestrians — but they’re also fining people for getting off and walking their bikes.

Two British men have been sentenced to a well-deserved 14-and-a-half years each after police arrested them for deliberately running down a pedestrian — and discovered video on one’s phone showing them intentionally running down someone on a bicycle days earlier.

………

Local  

Streetsblog visits the new bike lanes on hilly Avenue 51 and Townsend Ave in Eagle Rock and Highland Park, calling them a “worthwhile modest step toward safer, more multimodal streets.” Although they only have sharrows on the downhill side. 

Call it a win for the Department of DIY, as Los Angeles makes the guerrilla crosswalks at Council and Westmoreland in Koreatown permanent, a year after they were surreptitiously striped by Crosswalks LA.

West Hollywood is hosting a mobility expo in Plummer Park this Saturday.

Um, okay. An Indian American entrepreneur, as opposed to an American Indian entrepreneur, has launched the “revolutionary” CaliBike ebike brand in Corona, bizarrely positioning it as the perfect last-mile complement to the coming Brightline West high speed rail line between Las Vegas and Rancho Cucamonga. Because it’s just too revolutionary for regular trains, I guess.

 

State

Don’t plan on driving — or riding — all the way on California’s iconic coastline Highway 1 until next year at the earliest.

Orange County will invest $55 million in improved street lighting to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists.

The California State Universities Board of Trustees has signed off on a proposal for a new bridge on Fenton Ave over the San Diego River, providing car, bike and pedestrian access to Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley.

A Fresno man in his ’60s was hospitalized with major injuries when he was hit by a car, which apparently didn’t have a driver, after “riding his bike into traffic.” Which could mean almost anything, or absolutely nothing. 

Sacramento safety advocates are calling for armadillo traffic dividers to be installed in intersections to stop automotive sideshows.

 

National

Streetsblog says maybe it’s time to stop calling bike lanes “bike lanes,” arguing that a rebrand is in order since they “can slow dangerous car traffic, give walkers more space to move, and save lives across all modes by getting would-be drivers into the saddle instead.”

Bicycling looks forward to sales on some of their favorite bike products ahead of next week’s Amazon Prime Days. Which probably isn’t paywalled because they likely get a piece of any clickthrough sales, but you can read it on AOL, anyway. 

The NTSB finally got around to issuing its report on the Goodyear, Arizona mass casualty crash that killed two bicyclists and injured 14 others, blaming driver Pedro Quintana-Lujan’s “diminished state of alertness, likely due to fatigue;” he faces just 11 misdemeanor charges, despite having a “small amount” of THC in his system at the time of the crash.

Bighearted staffers at a Sioux Falls, South Dakota coffeeshop pitched in to give a new ebike to dishwasher at the restaurant, after the bicycle he rode to and from work every day broke down — again.

They get it. Chicago Streetsblog tells a local website that merchants claiming a new bike lane could put them out of business is not a legitimate news story worthy of investigation, any more  than the news item “Merchants say Bigfoot exists.”

Next City asks if low-cost, self-charging ebike libraries can bring newfound mobility to low-income communities in Massachusetts.

Rochester, New York’s Larry the Bike Man donated hundreds of refurbished bicycles to local kids, as the local paper says “everyday heroes don’t always wear capes.” Indeed.

The New York Times wraps up their short-lived Street Wars newsletter by noting the constant state of change on the city’s streets, observing that new battles over traffic and radical solutions mean they won’t always be like this, for better or worse.

Talk about bad luck. A North Carolina bike shop owner got hammered by Hurricane Helene, 19 years after she was chased out of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.

 

International

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan has installed green bike boxes at an intersection where a killed in a right hook by the driver of a cement truck last year. Proving once again that commonsense safety improvements usually only come after it’s too late. 

Scottish bicyclists have proclaimed a local zig-zagging bike lane the world’s worst. We should invite them to ride with us here in SoCal sometime.

A columnist for The Guardian considers the lesson’s learned falling off a Lime Bike on the streets of London, conceding her initial impression was correct, that “they are a young hoodlum’s game, not an old hoodlum’s game.”

Men’s Health talks with Tokunbo Ajasa-Oluwa, founder of London’s Black Unity Bike Ride, who says people “hear and feel our joy coming through” before they even see them. Which pretty much sums up what bicycling is all about. 

Another UK bicycle company has gone belly-up, after the major distributor behind the Orro Bikes brand filed the equivalent of bankruptcy, and sent workers home without last month’s pay.

 

Competitive Cycling

No one seems to have seen the crash that killed 18-year-old Swiss cyclist Muriel Furrer during the junior women’s road world championships last week, and no cameras captured her riding off the rain-slicked roadway; in fact, her body wasn’t found for over an hour after she crashed, once people finally realized she never crossed the finish line.

The greatest cyclist of all time says Tadej Pogačar is the real goat, arguing that Pogačar has now topped anything Eddy Merckx did himself.

 

Finally…

Your Everesting record is now obsolete. We may have to deal with aggressive LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about rampaging escaped rhinos — even if the victim was on a motorcycle, but still.

And the late, great Kris Kristofferson was one of us, too.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Climate change sucks more than traffic, no progress on broken Braude bike path, and get a grand from Uber not to drive

June 28, 2024 / / One comment
Just 186 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

My apologies for the late appearance of yesterday’s post. My site went down just as I was about to publish it, so I wasn’t able to get it online until my web host got it working again in the morning. 

You can catch up here if you missed it. 

………

He gets it.

The climate columnist for the Los Angeles Times says yes, sitting in traffic sucks, but climate change sucks a lot more.

Talking about California Governor Newsom’s head-scratching decisions to approve projects that can only exacerbate climate change despite his forward-leaning public posture in fighting the onrushing climate emergency — including approval of a half-billion-dollar freeway widening project on I-80 between Sacramento and Davis — Sammy Roth writes this,

But the common thread is this: Instead of putting carbon at the center of his decision-making — which is what one of the world’s most powerful politicians should be doing just about every time — Newsom is treating climate like most other political issues.

Some days he and his team are taking groundbreaking steps to phase out gasoline cars; other days they’re expanding freeways, and failing to fully protect people from extreme heat because they’re worried it would be too expensive, and making it harder to install batteries. They’re letting politics play far too large a role in the risk-reward calculation, to all of our detriment.

He goes on to conclude this way (although it should be noted that electrification will do nothing to reduce induced demand or traffic congestion),

Hopefully over time, as we get more electric cars on the road, “induced demand” from highway expansions will become less of a problem, because more of the cars sitting in traffic will be powered by solar and wind. But for now, state officials have made very clear — in theory, not in practice — that electrification isn’t enough. We also need to start driving less. California’s formal climate plan sets targets of reducing “vehicle miles traveled” by 25% per person by 2030, and 30% by 2045.

That means we’ll need to spend more time walking, biking and taking trains and other public transit — and more money building infrastructure to support those modes of transit. So why is Newsom wasting nearly half a billion dollars widening a freeway when the result will be more smog-spewing traffic, more climate pollution and less money for the stuff we actually need?

It’s worth a read.

Because while Newsom presents himself as a leader in fighting the effects and causes of climate change, his actions often paint a far different picture.

And it’s up to us to make sure he lives up to his word.

………

The Santa Monica Mirror reports that nearly five months after an atmospheric river washed out the beachfront Marvin Braude bike path between Chautauqua Blvd and Entrada Drive, nothing has been done to repair it.

As in, nothing.

Compare that to the emergency repairs that fixed the collapsed I-10 Freeway in DTLA in less than two weeks following a devastating fire at a storage facility under the elevated highway.

Which means the estimated 10,000 people who use the path every day have faced a truncated trail that ends far short of the former terminus at Will Rogers State Beach. And bike riders have been forced onto a particularly dangerous section of PCH through Pacific Palisades if they want to continue north towards Malibu.

The paper says LA County, which is responsible for that portion of the trail, hopes to have a schedule for repairs next month.

LA County Public Works hopes to have a concrete schedule for repairs by mid-July; the cost of which is estimated at $800,000, according to a spokesperson with the department.

“LA County Public Works engineers continue to finalize the repair design for the Marvin Braude Bike Trail at Will Rogers State Beach.” read a statement from the department. “The California Coastal Commission is currently reviewing the project.”

Note that they’re only promising a schedule for repair work, rather than actually beginning — let alone completing — the long overdue repairs.

And we’ll excuse their unintended pun of promising a “concrete schedule” for fixing the concrete pathway.

………

Need a little extra cash?

Uber will pay you $1,000 if you agree not to drive for five weeks, and walk, bike, ride public transit or use ride-hailing services instead.

Like Uber, for instance.

The company will select 175 people to participate in the “One Less Car” challenge; it’s open to residents of Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Miami, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver.

I’d toss my hat in the ring, but something tells me they’re not looking for people like me who are already carless.

………

It’s now 190 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And three full years since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

Local 

More proof that bikes can be lifesavers in an emergency. A young boy in Valencia was able to escape an alleged kidnapping attempt at a local pool by riding away from the suspect on his bicycle; sheriff’s deputies are looking for the man who followed the kid before he got away.

 

State

An estimated 15,000 people are expected to turn out for the Huntington Beach 4th of July Bike Cruise tomorrow, held annually on the Saturday before the 4th.

San Diego officially broke ground on the $25 million, 3.5-mile Imperial Avenue Bikeway.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for the owner of a white, adult Giant bicycle with a black rear rack, which was recovered when they arrested a 14-year old boy on animal abuse charges while he was riding the bike. He’s accused of killing chickens. In other words, murder most fowl.

The seemingly uninformed editor of a Palo Alto paper says putting bike lanes on the city’s Camino Real will hurt small businesses, arguing that car traffic is essential to their success. Which ignores repeated studies that show bike lanes are good for business, and the increased retail sales that result from them tend to more than make up for the loss of any parking.

Bad news from Northern California, where an allegedly lightless bike rider was killed by a pickup driver in an early morning crash in tiny Colfax.

 

National

Cycling West reposts a recent US university study showing ebike incentive programs are a costly way to cut emissions, but also promote health, equity and cleaner air.

REI is recalling their Co-op Cycles REV 12 Kids Bikes due to the risk the training wheels could detach and cause a fall.

A new bike park broke ground in Lahaina, Hawaii, offering fresh hope to young residents after last year’s devastating fires.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole two bikes in Eugene, Oregon from participants in the Texas 4000 charity ride; 25 people are riding from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska to raise funds for cancer research and support services.

Streetsblog Chicago talks with photographer and longtime city resident Vicktor Köves, creator of Chicagoans Who Bike, about his ongoing visual essay depicting the wide range of people who ride bicycles in the city.

The New York Times considers the consequences of New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s shortsighted decision to put congestion pricing in Manhattan on indefinite hold, after complaints from a handful of diner customers.

Baltimore baseball fans are forming a group to ride to Oriole games together. Which is what happens when a team actually encourages bicycling to their games, unlike a certain Dodger team we could name.

 

International

Frequent contributor Megan Lynch forwards news that bicycling giant Specialized is accused of owing Salvadoran apparel workers over $650,000 in unpaid wages and severance a year and a half after they lost their jobs.

There’s not a pit deep enough for the London cop accused of stealing cash from the body of an Italian filmmaker who died of a heart attack while riding his bike.

Twenty-two-year old English soccer player Anthony Gordon is one of us, becoming the butt of jokes in training camp when he fell off his bicycle two days after making his international debut with the team. Because apparently, grown men aren’t supposed to ride bikes, or crash them. Or maybe just not English footballers. 

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 86-year old British man is Everesting on a trainer in his back yard in memory of his late wife — 60 years after he crashed on a rain-slicked road near the finish line, and lost out on making the podium with the legendary Eddy Merckx in the 64 Tokyo Olympics.

Munich correspondent Ralph Durham sends news that the rich are getting richer, as the city nears completion of a spoke-and-hub bikeway network leading to the city center, with the red pathways on the map approved, and the blue already completed — although you may have to read German, or at least rely on a translation app to read the story.

A German columnist celebrates the “lightness of being a cyclist” after getting back on her bike, a year after breaking her elbow going over the handlebars.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo looks at the current status of the leading contenders for this year’s Tour de France, which begins tomorrow, including Tadej Pogačar’s admission that he recently had Covid, but he “recovered good.”

Hats off to 14-year old Santa Cruz, California mountain biker Nathan Peterson, who is winning cross-country races while riding his grandfather’s rebuilt 1994 Merlin Mountain.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your local bike path is the world’s worst, and people are using it anyway. Every decent bike trail should have at least one good brewery along the way.

And yes, Biden may have fallen off his bicycle, but at least he rides one.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

Happy National Bike & Roll to School Day, and the LA Times calls for genuine action on city’s moribund Green New Deal

May 8, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 237 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we all face on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

We’re up to 1,131 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until she meets with us! 

………

Happy National Bike & Roll to School Day!

Or as it’s known here in Los Angeles, Wednesday.

………

They get it.

The Los Angeles Times writes that Los Angeles needs to take genuine action on the city’s moribund Green New Deal — there’s that word again — to reach its climate goals, not more excuses.

According to the paper, former mayor and current ambassador Eric Garcetti had the easy job of setting ambitious goals for the city, leaving it to his successor to actually carry them out.

You can guess how that worked out.

Plans for more than $40 billion in rail, highway and mobility projects that were supposed to be finished in time for the 2028 Olympics have been scaled back dramatically after Metro was unable to line up even half of the funds needed. A City Controller’s report last fall found that Garcetti’s Green New Deal plan has not accomplished much, lacks meaningful metrics of progress and doesn’t amount to a “comprehensive and actionable set of steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

It’s disappointing that these lofty efforts to make Los Angeles an environmental and transit model have yielded so little.

In the latest instance of lowered expectations, Metro’s staff has for the second time in a year tried to delay the transit agency’s 2030 deadline to convert its entire 2,000-bus fleet to emissions-free electric models, without so much as a vote. In the seven years since Metro adopted the zero-emission policy, it has managed to order only 145 battery-electric buses and get just 50 of them delivered.

A big part of what’s been forgotten in the brief 3+ years since Garcetti breathed the program into life has been any commitment to expanding the city’s bicycle network.

After Garcetti initially left bicycles out of his first draft of the Green New Deal, he followed up a month later by signing a new executive order calling for a “comprehensive citywide network of active transportation corridors, including protected bike lanes, paths along regional waterways and low-stress neighborhood bike improvements,” along with a host of other transportation and energy goals.

In fact, the city committed to expanding the percentage of all trips made by walking, biking and micro-mobility to at least 35% by next year, climbing up to 50% by 2035.

But Los Angeles won’t come close to meeting that goal, after failing to build more than a tiny fraction of the city’s ambitious mobility plan. And it’s not likely to meet the goal for 2035 unless someone lights a fire under city leaders, who so far have shown more interest in delaying, if not halting, any action on building out the plan.

Which is exactly what led to Measure HLA, committing them to building out the mobility plan as streets get resurfaced.

Yet Mayor Bass and the city council have responded to HLA by proposing a cut in transportation funding and a hiring freeze for the already understaffed LADOT and LA Street Services. And slow walking the street resurfacing program to delay implementing the measure.

Ensuring that the city will fail to meet its Vision Zero and Green New Deal commitments for next year, and likely for years, if not decades, to come.

So if you ask me why I’m angry, and why we need to meet with the mayor, there’s your answer.

………

A hard-hitting Scottish traffic safety PSA tells drivers to give bike riders a 1.5 meter passing distance — the equivalent of nearly five feet —  “Because it’s not just a bike. It’s a person.”

………

It’s now 140 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 35 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. After a man riding in a London bike lane was filmed being cut off by a driver turning into a No Entry roadway to make a U-turn, UK pro-driving traffic lawyer Mr. Loophole blamed the victim, insisting the bike rider should be prosecuted for the crash, while bike-riding BBC presenter Jeremy Vine said anyone who thinks the bike rider was at fault “should have their driving license rescinded” — a comment that got Vine labelled as “arrogant.”

No bias here, either. Local residents say the UK’s biggest bike lane is a waste of money because not enough bicyclists use it, and the space should be given back to motorists because “they’re the majority.” Meanwhile, bike riders say they don’t use it because it’s covered in twigs and stones, making it too dangerous to ride.

Welsh drivers claim that a new bike lane and walkway that gives more space for bicyclists and pedestrians than to drivers is “an attack on your right to drive a car,” and part of an “anti-car agenda.”

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

Police in Singapore busted a group of 20 bicyclists for violating the country’s draconian limit of no more than five people riding single file, or groups up to 10 riding two abreast; they were also charged with using “non-compliant active mobility devices,” whatever that means.

………

Local 

A Next City podcast discusses LA’s “mobility wallet,” which it describes as the biggest Universal Basic Mobility experiment ever attempted in the US; the program provides 1,000 South LA residents with $150 per month to spend on any form of transportation, from transit and micro-transit to bikeshare and ebikes.

West Hollywood will hold an informational open house in Plummer Park on Tuesday, May 21st, to discuss the planned bike-friendly Complete Streets makeover of Willoughby Ave, and Vista/Gardner and Kings streets.

LA County has approved a nearly $3.4 million settlement in the killing of Dijon Kizzee, who was shot by sheriff’s deputies as he tried to flee from a traffic stop for riding his bike on the wrong side of the road, in the Westmont neighborhood of South LA in 2020.

 

State

Calbike reports on what they hope is the last workgroup meeting for the California E-Bike Incentive Project before it finally launches. They hope.

Twenty-six-year old Christian Joshua Howard pled not guilty to a felony count of hit-and-run causing death for the St. Patrick’s Day death of 51-year old Oceanside postal worker Tracey Gross as she rode her bike home from work.

Sad news from San Jose, where a male bike rider was killed in front of a local high school when a speeding driver ran a red light, and slammed into the victim. But sure, tell me again about that bike rider you saw roll a stop sign.

 

National

Bicycling considers how long it takes to ride a century. Read it on AOL this time if the magazine blocks you. 

Electrify News says ebikes are the greatest form of green transportation, and now is the best time ever to buy one. Thanks to Malcomb Watson for the links.

Outside recommends the best bike accessories and tools for road and gravel riding.

A writer for Streetsblog says ebikes are the key for creating financially sustainable bikeshare programs.

Strong Towns considers five ways the National Bike to Work Day can miss the mark.

The White Line Foundation, which was founded in response to 17-year old US National Team cyclist Magnus White’s tragic death, will host the memorial “Ride for Magnus: Ride for Your Life” this August along the same Colorado road where he was killed last July.

California isn’t the only state considering requiring speed limiting devices; a New York state bill would require the devices on vehicles belonging to serial speeders, limiting them to no more than 5 mph over the limit, unlike the California bill, which would require the devices on all new vehicles while allowing a maximum of 10 mph over the posted speed limit. The New York approach sounds like a great complement to the California bill, which will take decades to replace every car now on the road. 

New York plans to permanently reroute the city’s First Avenue protected bike lane through an existing underground tunnel in time for September’s meeting of the UN General Assembly.

A Baltimore woman started selling ice cream from her bicycle ten years ago, founding a company that now brings in a quarter-million dollars a year.

 

International

Cycling News lists the best Giro d’Italia inspired bicycling bargains in both the US and the UK.

Momentum says bicyclists will have an unprecedented opportunity to ride through the iconic streets of Paris to the giant Grand Picnic des Champs on the Champs-Elysées at the end of this month.

An ex-pro paracycling champ has made the unusual transition from the New Zealand national team to owning the leading fence painting firm in Waikato, a district of half a million people.

An Australian study shows replacing parking spaces with bike lanes could improve city accessibility and livability without affecting business revenue, calling it a Robin Hood planning tactic

 

Competitive Cycling

Twenty-two-year old New York native Magnus Sheffield is making his Grand Tour debut in the Giro, as the youngest rider on the Ineos Grenadiers, he’s already won the 2022 De Brabantse Pijl, as well as finishing second overall in the Tours of Norway and Denmark.

Italian sprinter Jonathan Milan claimed stage four of the Giro with a “monstrous” effort in the final 200 yards; there was no change among the top three riders in the general classification.

Jonas Vingegaard took his first ride in over a month following a horrific mass crash in the Tour of the Basque Country, and said he’s aiming to make the start line for this summers Tour de France to compete for a third straight yellow jersey.

This year’s edition of America’s top international bike race, the Maryland Cycling Classic, has been sunk by complications from the Baltimore bridge collapse, after the city’s Francis Scott Key Bridge fell when it was struck by a massive freighter.

 

Finally…

That feeling when a triple Tour de France stage winner stops to fix your flat. Or when a four-year old girl pedals the bike while her dad rides in the basket.

And we may have to worry about a near miss with LA drivers, but at least we don’t often brake for a “deer miss.”

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

LA Times declares overwhelming victory for Measure HLA, and yet another meeting for California ebike voucher program

March 7, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 299 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

As of this writing, we’re up to 1,007 signatures, so let’s keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until the mayor agrees to meet with us!

………

Okay, now we can celebrate.

Because yesterday afternoon, the Los Angeles Times joined KNBC-4 in declaring Measure HLA has passed.

Backers of a citizen-sponsored ballot initiative that forces Los Angeles to add hundreds of miles of bike and bus lanes — to make streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists — declared victory on Wednesday.

Measure HLA was leading by a wide margin, according to semifinal results released by the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk on Wednesday.

“This says people in Los Angeles want change, they want safer streets, and they want the city to follow through on their promises,” said Michael Schneider, who has led the HLA campaign and is executive director of the advocacy group Streets for All, which conceived the measure.

The measure, otherwise known as the Healthy Streets LA ballot proposal, requires the city to build out the Mobility Plan 2035, which was overwhelmingly approved by the city council in 2015 — then promptly put on the self and forgotten.

In fact, you could count the percentage of the plan that has been installed in the nearly decade since on your hands, and still have plenty of fingers left to tell the city how you feel about their decided inaction.

HLA, which goes into effect next month, will require the city to built out the mobility plan any time a one-eighth mile, or 660 feet, segment of street contained in the plan is improved or resurfaced.

The city will be required to track their progress online. And if they don’t fulfill their obligation, residents can sue to force compliance.

Backers overcame opposition from a handful of city council members, along with pro-motorist pressure group KeepLAMoving, and the city’s chief financial officer, who loaded the cost estimate with over $2 billion in barely related expenses that the city would have been required to spend anyway.

The measure was also opposed by the Los Angeles firefighters union, which took a bizarre stance against improving traffic safety while expressing fears it would somehow slow their response times — even though road diets, bus lanes and bike lanes have been shown to improve emergency responses by allowing vehicles to bypass traffic.

The Times applauded the passage of HLA, noting that it will finally spur action from City Hall to increase alternatives to driving.

People are frustrated with congestion but they don’t have great alternatives to driving. Buses get stuck in the same traffic. There aren’t enough protected bike lanes. And too many neighborhoods lack smooth sidewalks, crosswalks, shade trees, street lights and other basic amenities that make it easier for people to walk.

Measure HLA will ensure those alternatives finally get built, after too many delays by City Hall…

Opponents tried to argue that L.A. is a city of cars and nobody wants to use bike lanes or bus lanes or pedestrian amenities. But they missed the point of Measure HLA — which is that the streets today are bad for everyone, motorists included. If the Mobility Plan isn’t implemented and people don’t have safe alternatives to driving, then traffic congestion and, most likely, the number of traffic fatalities will only get worse.

Fortunately, the passage of Measure HLA means the Mobility Plan is no longer a choice for city leaders. It’s a mandate.

But not everyone was in agreement.

The conservative Southern California New Group somehow considered HLA “controversial,” despite the support of nearly two-thirds of voters in the primary election.

And cited a notorious pro-driving activist to back up that contention.

Jay Beeber, executive director for policy for the National Motorists Association and executive director for Safer Streets L.A., said the measure sounded good but would lead to “a whole host of problems for the city.”

Beeber said voters just created “a massive congestion problem in the city, and they are going to live with that decision for a long time. Most people who read the measure are expecting that it’s just simply roadway improvements and not that it’s going to be taking away car lanes, not that it’s going to be creating congestion, not that it’s going to push traffic into their neighborhoods, not that it’s going to increase (emergency) response times.”

The question now is whether opposition groups will file suit in an attempt to block the measure. And whether city leaders will seek ways to slow walk its implementation, or attempt to bypass it completely.

Which seems likely, given the city’s extensive track record of broken promises.

It seems a very long time ago that the corgi and I met Streets For All founder Michael Schneider in Pan Pacific Park to sign the Healthy Streets LA ballot petition.

………

It’s now 78 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 33 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

Despite a promised launch this spring, the California Air Resources Board will hold yet another online work group next Thursday to gather input for implementing the ebike incentive program.

Because evidently, nearly three years just wasn’t enough time to work it all out.

………

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

London police apologized after dropping the charges against a bike rider who filmed a distracted driver using a handheld phone, just one day before he was set to go on trial for allegedly riding “without due care and attention.”

No bias here. A Dublin, Ireland city councillor strongly denies being anti-bicyclist, despite calling for mandatory registration and insurance for bike riders, which is currently required only by the North Korean dictatorship.

………

Local 

The Pacific Palisades Community Council will discuss plans for a pedestrian and bike bridge crossing PCH at tonight’s public meeting; the bridge will connect Will Rogers State Beach to George Wolfberg Park, named for the longtime community and bicycle advocate.

Santa Monica police will conduct more bike and pedestrian safety operations today and tomorrow, ticketing any violation that endangers anyone in the two groups, regardless of who commits it. So as usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit line, so you’re not the one who gets written up and fined. 

 

State

State Senator Scott Wiener explained his latest bill in the state legislature in an online preview of the upcoming Calbike summit; SB 960 would require Caltrans to fully implement its own Complete Streets policies, similar to Measure HLA.

Bicyclists question a Caltrans Complete Streets plan for El Camino Real in Palo Alto, arguing that the bike lanes planned for the street are intended for roadways with speeds up to 35 mph, while speeding drivers often exceed that.

Heartbreaking news from Dublin, California, where a 10-year old boy suffered “significant injuries” when he was struck by a driver while riding his bike. But at least the driver stuck around after the crash.

The Director of Mobility for the Oakland mayor’s office says he dreams of a day when he can just stick to bicycling, and not have to worry about being stopped for Biking While Black. Read it on AOL if Bicycling blocks you.

 

National

A travel website lists 12 beautiful rail trails across the US, along with the upcoming 3,700-mile Great American Rail Trail that’s currently under construction.

Seattle-based ebike maker Rad Power has introduced four new models featuring a heat-absorbing resin coating the battery to prevent corrosion and “thermal events,” like unexpectedly exploding or bursting into flames.

You now have to be at least 18 years old to ride an ebike in Phoenix, which means that ebike-riding school students are breaking the law.

A bill in the Illinois legislature would require cities specify the safety features and degree of separations between motorists and bicyclists in any maps showing bike lanes.

 

International

London has quadrupled the city’s bike lane mileage since the current mayor took office eight years ago.

A website for the “world’s urban leaders” examines how the Parisian e-scooter ban has affected the city’s mobility, as well as the booming bike use in the French capital.

After a Brisbane, Australia ghost bike was removed by city officials and reinstalled by bicyclists a half-dozen times, advocates put it on a trailer legally parked in a bike lane, instead.

The Australian Bicycle Network examines the safety in numbers effect, noting studies that show more bikes on the streets improves safety for everyone.

 

Competitive Cycling

Tragic news from Iran, where rising track and road cyclist Ariana Valinejad died a week after she was injured when a gas leak in her home exploded; she was just 20 years old.

Colombian pro Santiago Buitrago soloed to a mountaintop win on stage 4 of Paris-Nice, passing Australia’s Luke Plapp to take the leader’s jersey. And no, I never heard of them, either. 

CNN says Team Visma-Lease a Bike’s “outlandish” new Giro bike helmets are under review by pro cycling’s governing body. The helmets include a full face shield, apparently to hide the embarrassment of the people wearing them. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when new bike racks nearly kill your business by preventing drivers from illegally parking in front of it. Who needs a marching band when you can pedal, instead?

And let’s hope they at least read the poor bike its rights. Thanks to Steven Hallett for the photo. 

Photo by Steven Hallett

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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

CA ebike voucher program sets next failure to launch deadline, and Times calls out fear-mongering over Measure HLA

February 23, 2024 / / One comment
Just 312 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
So stop what you’re doing and sign this petition to demand Mayor Bass hold a public meeting to listen to the dangers we face walking and biking on the mean streets of LA.

Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. Only 19 signatures to go to reach 1,000! 

………

Good news, maybe.

But don’t hold your breath.

San Diego’s inewsource reports that the next soon-to-be-missed deadline for California’s moribund ebike rebate program is now scheduled for sometime this spring.

That comes after self-imposed deadlines of January 1st, 2023, and the significantly more vague deadlines of second quarter, 2023, then last fall, which is the most recently missed deadline.

Not that we weren’t all expecting it to launch in 2022, after it passed the state legislature and was signed into law all the way back in those heady pandemic days of 2021.

So if anyone feels like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football, you’re in good company.

The story begins with a focus on San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, which has been tasked with operating the program for the California Air Resources Board.

The nonprofit plans to operate a similar program statewide under a $10 million grant it received from the California Air Resources Board, or CARB. But roughly a year after its originally planned launch date, the program has yet to officially start.

CARB spokesperson Lys Mendez told inewsource that the state’s E-Bike Incentive Project is now expected to begin in the spring, as officials need more time for “infrastructure building” — essentially, making sure Pedal Ahead runs smoothly statewide. That includes organizing with e-bike retailers and community groups that can help get the word out and educate the public about the program, she said.

In other words, the same bullshit they’ve been feeding us for the last year.

The only real news in the story is that the soft launch that was supposed to take place last year actually did happen, despite the complete and total news blackout up to this point.

But as inewsource previously reported, Pedal Ahead suffered from low participation when it launched its San Diego program in 2020, with just a fraction of local participants logging enough miles to keep their bikes — and some reporting far fewer miles than what’s required, or none at all. The program also didn’t use an income requirement, allowing people who didn’t qualify as low income to receive a bike.

Despite that, Pedal Ahead beat two other applicants to administer the state program, with CARB citing the nonprofit’s “proven, on-the-ground experience” in San Diego.

Some money has been spent ahead of the program officially opening statewide. A preliminary “soft launch” is already happening in San Diego, the East Bay in Northern California, Fresno and in tribal communities, Mendez said. In those locations, she said the state is “currently testing key aspects” of the program.

Some, as in a quarter of the original $10 million in state funding has already gone to overhead, leaving just $7.5 million available for rebates.

Of that, $5 million is reserved for the lowest income applicants, with just $2.5 million for everyone else who qualifies with an income less than 300% of the federal poverty level.

Never mind that I would have qualified if the program had launched on time a year ago, and won’t now.

So I hope someone enjoys riding my ebike.

Maybe I can get Tern to sponsor me with one of these, instead. It could happen.

The other news in the story is that even after the moribund program finally crawls its way through the earth to launch, like Dracula after dark, it could take a full three months to be approved for a voucher once you apply.

Residents must also be at least 18 years old to apply for a voucher to get a free e-bike from a program-selected retailer, such as a local bike shop. Participants will need to own the e-bike for at least a year and complete surveys about the experience.

The approval process may take up to three months.

Yes, three months.

And if that’s not a sign of the sheer incompetency behind this program, I don’t know what is.

Frankly, I’m ready to give up on the whole damn thing and ask my state legislators to fire both CARB and Pedal Ahead, and start over from scratch.

Because the thing that other cities and states have seemed to find so easy to do — get ebike rebate programs up and running through multiple rounds of funding — seems to be impossible here.

Meanwhile, if Tasha Boerner’s AB 2234 passes, even adults will be required to pass an online test in order to be able to legally buy one, let alone actually ride it, if they don’t already have a driver’s license.

Because living in poverty isn’t humbling enough, evidently.

Thanks to Ellectrek for the heads-up.

………

They get it.

The Los Angeles Times writes that all the fear-mongering over Measure HLA — the Healthy Streets LA ballot measure — ignores that what’s really scary is LA’s deadly streets.

According to the paper, some of the city’s most powerful officials have been trying to sabotage the measure, rather than actually doing something to reduce deaths and injuries resulting from traffic violence.

Never mind actually eliminating them, which was supposed to happen by next year. But won’t.

But even though the projects have been on the books for years, last week the city’s top budget official released a questionable new $3.1-billion estimate for the plan, while the union that represents city firefighters claimed that making the streets safer will slow emergency response times.

It’s fear-mongering designed to scare Angelenos into voting against the measure. But what’s really frightening is that L.A. leaders could have started building a more walkable, bikeable, transit-friendly sustainable city years ago and perhaps averted some of the recent deaths. They had the blueprint to make streets safer but didn’t make it a priority. That’s why Measure HLA is necessary.

It’s worth reading the whole thing to see just how much your life is — or more accurately, isn’t — worth to many of those leading this city.

Let alone the people responsible for saving it.

………

Bike Long Beach will host a murals and coffee ride tomorrow, to avoid conflicting with Sunday’s CicLAvia, along with a virtual monthly meeting on Monday.

Bike Long Beach Feb Meeting

………

Don’t forget Saturday’s 46th Annual LA Chinatown bike ride tomorrow, and Sunday’s Melrose Ave CicLAvia.

………

It’s now 64 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And 31 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

………

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

No bias here. Streetsblog says Oakland complains about a lack of resources to build bike lanes, but they somehow had the resources to rip one out along the city’s Embarcadero.

Britain’s CyclingMikey, scorned among the motoring crowd for recording scofflaw drivers with his bike cam, says bicyclists “are seen as the cockroaches of the road.” Well, tell us something we don’t know.

Berlin’s rightwing mayor is fulfilling a campaign promise to make more room for cars by ripping out bike lanes. Which is more proof that we’re never more than one election from losing all the gains we make.

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

Apparently, someone has our back, but not in a good way. After a 19-year old driver hit a bike rider in San Antonio, Texas, someone opened fire, riddling the car with bullets.

………

Local 

The Beverly Press says Measure HLA could pave the future for mobility in Los Angeles.

 

State

Calbike calls on California to divest from wasteful, induced demand-inducing highway projects, and invest in Complete Streets and the state’s transportation future.

Calbike also introduced a slate of 16 bills they’re backing for the current legislative session, including bills that would mandate Complete Streets following Caltrans resurfacing projects, similar to Measure HLA, as well as mandating motor vehicle speed limiters and truck sideguards.

An Orange County mother has made it her mission to preach ebike safety in the face of rising ebike injury rates. Although I’ve yet to see a study that shows ebike injury rates in relation to ebike ridership, without which claims of rising or worsening injuries are merely anecdotal.

San Diego will pay nearly $3 million to the family of Hossein Samadi, who was killed in a 2020 collision with a city truck parked in a bike lane Carmel Valley Road without warning cones or flashers.

San Francisco Streetsblog attempts to cut through the latest misinformation regarding the city’s Valencia Street centerline bike lane.

Bike Magazine examines how Davis became “Bike City, USA.”

 

National

Vehicle-to-everything technology, aka V2X, rears its ugly head once again, as a writer for Streetsblog says we could improve safety for bicyclists by allowing cars and bikes to talk to one another. As long as you’re willing to wear a transponder every time you ride, or be held accountable anytime you don’t.

Velo marks Black History Month with a look at eight groups making bicycling more inclusive across the US.

NPR reports bike helmet use declined almost 6% each year for the last five years, while ebike head injuries saw a 49-fold increase, with just 44% of injured ebike riders wearing helmets. Although as noted above, those numbers are virtually meaningless without a comparison to increasing ebike ridership rates, and comparing helmet use by ebike riders who suffered head trauma with similarly injured riders of regular bikes.

An Oʻahu bike club uses two wheels to explore Honolulu’s Kalihi Valley, one of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods.

This is why you let the police handle it. A Portland woman was nearly killed when she went with friends to a homeless camp to help recover a stolen bicycle, and was shot by a man with a high-powered air rifle.

Denver opened a new $14 million, 1.5-mile protected bike lane that bike riders have been waiting on for more than eight years.

Cleveland’s Vision Zero program is called into question after 550 people were struck by drivers while walking or biking in the city.

The husband of fallen US diplomat and bicyclist Sarah Debbink Langenkamp says littering can get you up to five years behind bars in Maryland, but the driver who right hooked his wife with a 50,000 pound truck walked with a traffic ticket that carried a lousy $2,000 and 150 hours of community service.

 

International

More on the “clever policing” that London cops used to bust a $165,000 bike theft ring by using a bait bike. Something that remains off-limits for the LAPD, over misplaced fears of entrapment, thanks to a singularly uninformed opinion from former City Attorney Mike Feuer, who wants to be my next Congress Person; yeah, good luck with that. Thanks to Steven Hallett for the link. 

Meanwhile, bikejacking victims call for more cops around London’s Regent’s Park, where gangs of moped-riding thieves are reportedly targeting a list of high-end bicycles, including Pinarello, Bianchi, S-Works and Brompton, which are then shipped to Russia to evade sanctions.

A British letter writer says excuse me, but 1 million bicyclists a year, 2,739 cyclists every day and 114 an hour does not a low number using a bike lane make.

Paris is now officially the most bike-friendly city in France.

Over a quarter of Belgians rode an ebike last year, as electric bicycles continue to gain in popularity. That’s a figure we may never see here, as long as officials continue to drag their feet on an underfunded rebate program, and fight against safer, more livable streets.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling site looks forward to this year’s trends in bicycle fashions. Which are pretty much the same as last year, and every other year.

 

Competitive Cycling

British cyclist Adam Yates was forced to retire from the UAE Tour following a concussion protocol fail, when he continued riding after a crash, until he radioed the crew to ask what happened since he didn’t remember anything.

A writer for Cycling Weekly knows just how it feels when Phil Gaimon steals your hard-won KOM.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you get hit with a bicycle during a pro wrestling street fight. Or when even an Aggie understands we’re second-class road users.

And presenting the driver psychology course for bicycling safety.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Entries  
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee