• Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
CalBike
  • About Us
  • Get Involved
    • Support the Bicycle Safety Stop
    • Email Your Representatives: $2 Billion for Bikes
    • Be the first to Know: E-Bike Purchase Incentives
    • Save Bike-Share!
    • Volunteer
    • Join/Renew
  • What We Do
    • $2 Billion for Bikes
    • $10M E-Bike Affordability Program
    • Bike the Vote 2022 Endorsements
    • 2022 Legislative Watch
    • California Bicycle Summit
    • More…
  • Scholarships
  • Resources
    • Free Quick-Build Bikeway Design Guide
    • COVID-19 & Bicycling
    • Learn to Bike at Any Age
    • Map & Routes
    • Crash Help
    • Register Your Bike
    • California Bicycle Laws
    • All Our E-Bike Work
  • News
    • Blog
    • CalBike In the News
    • Press Releases
    • CalBike Insider
  • Shop
  • Donate
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • What We Do
  • Summit
  • Resources
  • News
  • Shop
  • Donate
The Latest
CalBike Insider Header

CalBike Insider: Micromobility Fights for Its Life, Ending Parking Mandates, and MUTCD Update

June 1, 2021/in CalBike Insider, The Latest /by Dave Snyder

Some of the most significant work to further better biking, active transportation, and healthy communities in California happens out of the spotlight. CalBike Insider shines the light on some of these critical developments in Sacramento and beyond. 

Fending Off an Attack on Shared Bikes and Scooters

Shared bikes and scooters are under attack, again. Last year, CalBike defeated a bill that would have imposed an unprecedented insurance requirement on providers of shared mobility services. The cost of the insurance mandate was so steep it would have put them out of business. By marshaling a coalition of environmental organizations to oppose the bill, we got that provision removed at the last minute.

Assembly Bill 371 has revived this same bad idea. The bill requires providers to carry $1 million in insurance to cover the liability of a user who injures another party. It includes another provision that is a good idea: requiring providers to have identification Braille markings on scooters and shared bikes so that vision-impaired people can report dangerously parked devices. But there will be no shared bikes and scooters if the bill passes with the insurance provision intact.

The insurance requirement will apply to private providers like Lyft as well as public shared mobility operators like LA Metro and nonprofit services like many bicycle libraries around the state. It would put them all out of the shared micromobility business and kill this promising low-impact, low-cost transportation mode. This comes just when we need it the most and when bikeshare systems are reporting record ridership.

The Assembly Transportation Committee didn’t hear the bill, so AB 371 passed the Assembly without much education of the legislators about the bill’s impact. CalBike, along with the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, has met with Senator Lena A. Gonzalez, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, to urge her to call the bill to her committee hears this bill. That will be our best chance to remove the micromobility-killing insurance requirements.

Ending Car Parking Mandates in New Buildings

AB 1401 (Friedman) would end minimum car parking requirements for new buildings within a half-mile of transit. This legislation is an excellent example of the intersection of housing, biking, and walking issues. CalBike supports this excellent bill.

People who live near transit hubs can often commute without cars. In walkable, bikeable neighborhoods, like the 15-minute cities envisioned by AB 1147, residents can do all or most of their errands car-free as well. Yet many cities require new buildings to include at least a minimum number of parking spaces, often one per unit or more. Worse, some buildings link each housing unit to a parking space, so people without cars are forced to pay extra for an amenity they don’t need.

Parking minimums drive up the cost of construction, adding an average of $24,000 – $34,000 to the cost to build a unit, according to UCLA Urban Planning Professor Donald Shoup. Plus, they waste valuable space that could be used to add more units and create the kind of density that creates vibrant neighborhoods and reduces carbon footprints. 

By making residents face the actual costs of parking, reducing parking minimums incentivizes people to use other transit modes. That’s good for the climate, and fewer cars will make the roads safer for people biking and walking.

It’s hard to imagine anyone opposing legislation that will make housing cheaper and more plentiful in California, but forces are working against the Parking Minimum Reduction Bill. Livable California, a NIMBY group, is working against the bill because, well — we need more cars or something.

CalBike will be on the side of those working to pass this vital legislation, which will come up for a vote in the Assembly very soon.

Reform the MUTCD

Now we step deep into the weeds for a topic that is as important as it is obscure to all but the most loyal transportation nerds: the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The MUTCD, produced by the Federal Highway Administration, is the governing document for traffic engineers around the country. If a road striping scheme or intersection treatment is not in the MUTCD, it’s hard to convince public works departments to put it on the street.

Historically, this design manual has emphasized safety and convenience for motorists traveling at high speeds. It has been slow to include elements to make the streets safer for people who bike and walk. A draft of the 11th edition of the MUTCD is currently accepting public comment. Despite a climate crisis and a historic surge in biking and walking over the past year and despite NACTO providing a roadmap for how to do bike- and pedestrian-friendly street design, the MUTCD update is still far too car-centric. 

CalBike has signed onto a letter along with several other active transportation organizations. The text of our sign-on letter is below. If you’d like to advocate for a more bike-friendly road manual, People for Bikes has an action page that lets you easily send a comment letter. 

Here’s the letter that CalBike and our allies sent.

Tags: AB 1401, calbike insider, featured
Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share by Mail
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CalBike-Insider-Image4.png 720 1280 Dave Snyder https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.png Dave Snyder2021-06-01 12:54:352021-06-09 15:38:59CalBike Insider: Micromobility Fights for Its Life, Ending Parking Mandates, and MUTCD Update

Latest News

  • $2B for bikesGovernor’s May Budget Revise Provides New Funds but Still Shortchanges Active Transportation May 19, 2022 - 4:05 pm
  • California State CapitolActive Transportation Bills to Watch This Week May 18, 2022 - 11:02 am
  • CalBike Endorsement: Vote for Jennifer Esteen for Assembly District 20 on June 7th!May 11, 2022 - 9:19 pm

Join the movement for better biking in California

Be the first to hear about the latest news and actions you can take to help create bike-friendly communities.

DONATE

JOIN/RENEW

CONTACT US

ABOUT US

  • About Us
  • Financials & Governance
  • Staff
  • Board of Directors
  • Local Partners
  • State and National Allies
  • Careers
  • Volunteer
  • Contact Us

WHAT WE DO

  • Current Projects and Campaigns
  • Past Campaigns and Projects
  • California Bicycle Summit
  • Sign-On Letters
  • 2022 Legislative Watch

RESOURCES

  • Fact Sheets and FAQs
  • Design Best Practices
  • COVID-19 and Bicycling
  • Tips and Tricks for Happy Biking
  • Crash Help
  • Our Video Channel

EVENTS

  • California Bicycle Summit: April 2022
  • California Dream Ride
CalBike Logo

California Bicycle Coalition | 1017 L Street, #288, Sacramento, CA 95814 | 916-258-5189

Made by Zac Maybury

California Bicycle Coalition
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
Full Assembly to Vote on AB 1238, to Decriminalize Jaywalking eliminate jaywalking tickets California Capitol building in Sacramento Assessing CalBike’s Legislative Agenda at the Halfway Point: Many Wins, Few...
Scroll to top