BikinginLA

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.