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Equity-First Transportation Funding: Reversing a History of Infrastructure Discrimination
/by Jared SanchezThe Equity-First Transportation Funding Act (AB 1525, Bonta) will require 60% of California’s transportation funds to benefit “priority populations.” The money must provide a direct, meaningful, and assured benefit to such populations and must address an important mobility need. State agencies will need to develop a definition of priority populations, but we will advocate for historically marginalized communities, many already identified by California’s Air Resources Board and UCLA through their development of the Transportation Disparity Mapping Tool.
Transportation planning and policies have historically discriminated against, segregated, and displaced immigrants, low-income people, and communities of color, bolstering racial and class inequalities. Current mobility planning processes and decisions often perpetuate these harms.
CalBike is committed to working to undo the structural racism and inequity built into California’s transportation infrastructure and policymaking.
Low-income communities of color often suffer most from inadequate and unsafe transportation infrastructure, whether it’s a larger concentration of dangerous high-speed streets, more concentrated air pollution coming from cars and trucks, or simply terrible road conditions, as reported by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a report analyzing the correlation between poor road conditions and underserved communities. Remedying infrastructure inequality is long overdue and continues to be exacerbated by state policy.
Infrastructure as an instrument of inequity
Historically, policies on where and how to build roads and freeways have increased inequity, sometimes deliberately harming communities. For example, it’s no coincidence that roads and infrastructure up and down the state were built through Chinatowns (a freeway in Oakland, Union Station in Los Angeles, among others). Historically Black neighborhoods were isolated or decimated by freeway construction. A 2020 LA Times op-ed stated that “[The Los Angeles] freeway system is one of the most noxious monuments to racism and segregation in the country.”
Racist freeway projects aren’t an artifact of the distant past. In recent years, City Heights CDC fought the construction of a freeway designed to serve suburban communities through an area of San Diego already overburdened with pollution.
And transportation inequity at the neighborhood level is rampant. Across California, you’re likely to find poorly maintained or missing sidewalks, curb cuts, bus stops, traffic signals, bike lanes, and roads in disadvantaged areas.
A movement to fix our unequal roads
The Equity-First Transportation Funding Act will prioritize transportation funding for projects in disadvantaged neighborhoods, giving communities an incentive to begin to fix the inequities built into our public infrastructure. It’s part of a growing recognition of the connection between road building and racism and the beginnings of a movement to repair these harms.
The most recent federal transportation bill included $1 billion to take down freeways built through communities of color. The Congress for New Urbanism issues a Freeways Without Futures report every two years, highlighting freeways that can and should be removed to rebuild communities. The 2023 report included one in California (980 in Oakland).
A 2022 bill to ban freeway widening projects that negatively impact disadvantaged communities failed to pass the legislature, but AB 1525 is a fresh approach to providing equitable infrastructure for all Californians. CalBike strongly supports this bill, and we hope you will too.
Coalition Requests $50M E-Bike Funding
/by Laura McCamyFor Immediate Release: 4/27/23
Contact: Laura McCamy, CalBike | 510-214-6156, laura@calbike.org
Clean Air and Active Transportation Groups Seek $50M for CA E-Bike Program
Sacramento, CA – Today, a coalition of environmental, public health, and active transportation organizations have sent a letter to California state budget leadership requesting an additional $50M for the California Air Resources Board’s Electric Bicycle Incentive Project. The coalition argues this funding will “…help the state transition to clean transportation in order to meet its ambitious climate goals.”
The coalition submitting this request includes: Active San Gabriel Valley, California Bicycle Coalition, Coalition for Clean Air, Environment California, Safe Routes Partnership, and the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR).
E-Bikes: A Great Climate Investment for California
Callifornians are eager to begin replacing car trips with e-bike trips. The conversion of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) from auto to active transportation can dramatically improve air quality for children and the elderly in our polluted cities. It’s also a climate-transportation win-win.
“The Coalition for Clean Air is proud to be a part of a coalition advocating to increase funding for the Electric Bicycle Incentive Project. We believe this program will reduce greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions, lower VMT, promote equity, and improve quality of life for Californians if properly administered and funded,” said Sofia Rafikova, Policy Advocate at the Coalition for Clean Air.
The Electric Bicycle Incentive Project, run by CARB, the letter explains, “…is modeled after similar programs across the country, this program will award at-point-of-purchase vouchers to low-income Californians to reduce the costs of purchasing an electric bicycle.…This program ensures that these benefits only apply to those who need them the most and that the vouchers successfully incentivize the switch from driving to using electric bicycles, thus, reducing the amount of greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions coming from the transportation sector.”
More Funding Needed
The California Bicycle Coalition has been curating an e-bike incentive interest list that currently has over 16,000 members. Based on the $7.5M currently available through the EBIP program after administration, education, and outreach costs, the pilot program to be between 3,000 and 7,000 vouchers. Because the program only has a fraction of the funding it needs to meet the demand, the coalition letter warns, “…the funding for the program could run out just a few days after its launch.”
“The California Electric Bicycle Incentive Project offers a huge bang-for-the-buck being spent to reduce the state’s climate pollution. Expanding this program will provide more equitable access to clean transportation and help the state meet our climate goals. It’s a double win,” said Jared Sanchez, Policy Director, CalBike.
“The Electric Bike Incentive Program (EBIP) will enable low-income Californians to travel more conveniently and sustainably, in addition to drastically reducing emissions from gas-powered cars. The state should expand this program and make it recurring to meet the overwhelming demand for electric bike incentives,” said Jack Barber, Campaign Associate, Environment California
More Info:
Why E-Bikes Could Change Everything: Cities take on transportation’s whopping carbon footprint – Sierra Magazine, October 2022
E-Bike Purchase Incentives FAQs – CalBike, April 2023
CalBike’s 2023 Budget Agenda: Fully Fund Active Transportation and Complete Streets
/by Jared SanchezGovernor Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget for 2023 cuts some of the funds added to the Active Transportation Program last year. CalBike and our allies recently sent a letter to the California Senate and Assembly leaders and the budget committees of each branch, urging them to not only restore those funds but to fully fund the ATP and create an additional fund to help communities build Complete Streets.
Read CalBike’s budget letter: 3/16/2023 Budget Request for Active Transportation Sign On
Invest in active transportation, divest from freeway building
Our budget advocacy is a critical element of our Invest/Divest Campaign. Despite a predicted budget shortfall this year, we believe California can fully fund active transportation projects if it adjusts its transportation budget to align with its climate and equity goals.
However, even without shifting money from climate-killing freeway projects, California has additional transportation funding from the federal Infrastructure and Jobs Act that should be directed to projects that support safe biking and walking.
More money for the ATP
Last year, thanks to advocacy by CalBike and our allies, the ATP got a one-time funding boost, so Cycle 6 had $1.6 billion to dole out to projects across the state rather than the usual amount of $400 to $600 million. But it’s still not enough.
Every year, more and better projects vie for ATP funding as municipalities across the state recognize the value of Complete Streets and seek help to upgrade their infrastructure. That demand will only grow as communities begin to update the circulation elements in their general plans and look for resources to implement those plans pursuant to SB 932.
Yet, even with significant additional funding, Streetsblog reported that there was funding only for projects with a score of 89 (out of 100) or higher. That’s better than in Cycle 5, when projects needed a score of 92 to get funded, but it means that many worthy biking and walking projects won’t get built because our state isn’t providing enough support to tackle these much-needed improvements.
California needs Complete Streets
A Complete Street is a roadway that serves the needs of all users: people biking, walking, driving, and taking public transit. Complete Streets connect to popular local destinations via protected intersections. Bike lanes and sidewalks don’t abruptly disappear. Bus riders have shelter and seating, and bus-only lanes ensure that transit is a fast and appealing alternative to driving a private vehicle.
Complete Streets are safe for everyone. People from 8 to 80 can feel safe enough to bike on protected bikeways. And people of all races, ethnicities, genders, and other identifications feel safe to move freely in their community without fear of biased and often brutal police action against them.
State policies prioritize Complete Streets, but there’s no money to support that priority. That’s why we need dedicated funding to help communities build Complete Streets, and CalBike is advocating for just that.
California’s transportation transformation can’t wait
For years, bike and pedestrian advocates have been fed budget crumbs. We’ve been told to be patient, that we have to wait. At the same time, our state has pumped billions into the status quo: freeways that lead to more congestion and pollution, which leads to more freeway construction, in an endless loop of doom.
California can’t afford not to fund the safe streets we need to mitigate the climate crisis and create livable communities for all residents, and CalBike is bringing this agenda to the forefront in this year’s budget negotiations. But we’re up against vested interests from various private industries as well as years of entrenched policy at state agencies such as Caltrans.
How you can help: We’ll be calling on CalBike members and supporters to reach out to your representatives to tell them to fund active transportation NOW. If you’re not on our list, please join us to get the latest updates and opportunities to speak up for safe streets.
Announcing Invest/Divest Campaign
/by Jared SanchezFor Immediate Release: 3/2/23
Contact: Jared Sanchez, CalBike, (714) 262-0921, Jared@CalBike.org
CalBike Announces 2023 Campaign: INVEST/DIVEST
Sacramento, CA – Despite California’s reputation as an environmental leader, our transportation sector remains the main source of toxic emissions, climate pollution, and fatalities on our streets. To address this reality, the California Bicycle Coalition today launched its 2023 campaign Invest/Divest: Invest in Our Transportation Future/Divest from Regressive Road-Building.
Invest/Divest is an ambitious campaign to shift California’s transportation spending from traffic-inducing, climate-killing, over-policed, and community-destroying motor vehicle road expansions, to Complete Streets and other projects that make it easier and safer for more people to get around by biking, walking, or using public transportation.
CalBike’s agenda for 2023 continues momentum from last year, lifting up multi-year campaigns like the Bicycle Safety Stop and Complete Streets.
“California prides itself on being a climate leader. But our state doesn’t deserve that title as long as it keeps spending billions on transportation projects that increase greenhouse gases while underfunding or completely ignoring much cheaper projects that could bring about the green transportation revolution we desperately need. The Invest/Divest campaign is the logical path forward to create a green, sustainable transportation future for our state.”
– Jared Sanchez, CalBike Policy Director
The Invest/Divest campaign aims to build communities where all Californians have equitable access to safe streets, improving health and increasing joy along the way.
Priorities of the INVEST/DIVEST Campaign
- Invest in Complete Streets: Prioritize new safe, accessible, and equitable infrastructure that makes biking, walking, and micromobility convenient and appealing. Invest in safe roadways for all transportation modes, bringing us closer to Vision Zero and our ambitious climate goals.
- Invest in Just Streets: We’re expanding the definition of a Complete Street to mean one where people of all identities and bodies are safe from police harassment. To accomplish this, we must decriminalize biking and walking, including bikes treating stop signs as yields—often used in biased, pretextual policing—to make our complete streets safe for all identities and bodies. Remove discriminatory barriers based on class, race, gender, age, ability, and other identities and invest in communities where the safety of all residents is paramount.
- Invest in Complete Communities: No more bike lanes to nowhere. Invest in connected bikeways and pedestrian paths that provide safe, integrated access to essential destinations, making active transportation a viable option for more Californians.
- Invest in Thriving Communities. Invest in long-term neighborhood safety, security, and wealth that connects sustainable transportation options with affordable housing that is integrated with healthy destinations. We must empower the communities most impacted by harmful transportation investments to choose their own goals, strategies, and projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, local toxic air, and lethal streets.
- Divest from Freeway Expansion: Don’t build one more mile of dead-end infrastructure that increases traffic, damages communities, increases fossil fuel dependence, and creates new maintenance bills that California can’t afford to pay. Divest from failed traffic mitigation policies that lead to gridlock, and invest those funds in infrastructure to move California into the future.
- Divest from Climate Collapse: Transportation is the biggest contributor to GHG emissions, so we must divest from projects that increase VMT and invest those funds in low- or no-carbon transportation alternatives.
- Divest from Environmental Racism: Low-income communities of color are harmed the most by toxic air, freight distribution, displacement, and gentrification pressures. It’s time to divest from projects that bring environmental degradation and invest those funds in historically marginalized communities.
- Divest from Enforcement and Criminalization: Californians need safety from the violence of cars, freight trucks, and other forms of publicly-subsidized harm that especially burden and criminalize Black and brown bodies/communities. Divest from racist, militarized traffic enforcement and invest in community resources to support and protect vulnerable residents.
- Divest from Policing as a Street Safety Solution: Law enforcement is often positioned as the prevailing authority on street safety, ignoring other forms of community protection. We cannot trust the police to enforce traffic laws equitably without the removal of white supremacy from law enforcement. Therefore, we must remove police enforcement from Vision Zero and other safe streets strategies.
Blockbuster LA Times Investigation Shows Police Bias in Bike Stops
/by Jared SanchezAn LA Times investigation of bicycle traffic stops since 2017 has put a spotlight, once again, on the need to remove armed officers from traffic enforcement. The two bills CalBike sponsored in 2021 to decriminalize common and safe walking and biking would have represented a step in that direction. However, although the Bicycle Safety Stop Bill and the Freedom to Walk Act got support from both houses of the legislature, the governor vetoed both bills, citing inaccurate safety statistics.
Disproportionate stops of Latino riders highlights the need to remove police from traffic enforcement
In addition to racism, the Times reporting uncovered bias against people who use bikes for transportation. Officers in Los Angeles perform searches four times more often during bike stops than when they stop someone driving a car or walking, even though bike stops are half as likely to end in an arrest.
The LA Times story makes clear that police officers were using bike stops as a pretext for a stop-and-frisk type of enforcement. Some key takeaways from the article:
The data paint a clear picture of a police force acting on prejudice against Latino and Black residents who ride bikes, particularly in areas where most residents are people of color. As the article highlights, these communities have little safe bicycle infrastructure, so decades of systemic racism and neglect become a weapon to doubly punish people in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Discrimination against Latinos and people who bike for transportation or work
Although more than two-thirds of the bike traffic stops were of Latinos, that group had the lowest rate of illegal items—just 7.1%, compared to 10.5% among white bike riders. And these traffic stops have the potential to turn deadly, like the stop of Dijon Kizzee in 2020, a Black bike rider shot and killed by the police.
The quote from the police spokesperson reveals the underlying prejudice: people, primarily Latino or BIPOC people, riding without spandex or fancy kits, are probably criminals.
A 2019 study of attitudes about bicyclists among the general public found that 49% of people who drive view people on bikes as non-human and that dehumanization led them to act more aggressively toward cyclists. In other words, stereotyping and “othering” people on bikes make riders less safe. The LA Times reporting puts that in stark relief. For people of color, and their long history of “otherness,” riding a bike can be even more dangerous.
Barriers to changing traffic enforcement in California
The bike stops in LA did nothing to improve traffic safety, but they did target people of color for harassment. This latest information has added momentum to the movement to transfer traffic enforcement from the police to unarmed DOT personnel or automated cameras.
While CalBike supports these initiatives (with caveats), it’s worth noting that these reformist strategies are certainly not without concern and complexity. For instance, these de-policing approaches have the potential to simply relocate or exacerbate policing and surveillance by other means, whether by deputizing ordinary bureaucrats or through technological devices.
In response to the LA Times investigation, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has made a welcome move to decriminalize biking on the sidewalk in areas with no bike lanes. Riding on the sidewalk was the pretext for 25% of the stops in East LA, which has few bike lanes. The supervisors have also asked the Sheriff’s Department to create a diversion program for people biking and walking to avoid fines and jail time. But state laws limit how far LA County can go to decriminalize safe biking and protect residents from racially-biased policing.
Berkeley was one of the first to reimagine traffic enforcement, voting in 2020 to create a new Department of Transportation to take over from the police. However, that change is illegal under current California law, as is speed detection by cameras. Advocates tried and failed to legalize camera speed detection in California this year. Still, there is growing momentum behind a potential 2022 bill to allow cities to take police out of traffic stops.
It’s clear that biased policing is a fact and that traffic stops are hazardous, especially for Black and Latino Californians. CalBike is asking Governor Newsom and CalSTA to listen to advocates and support concrete measures to de-police and decriminalize biking and walking in California.
The California Bicycle Coalition Seeks to Demystify Building Protected Bike Lanes for Californian Cities
/by CalBike StaffIn 2016, CalBike rolled out a campaign to demystify and promote a type of bike lane that was, at the time, still relatively new to the United States but rapidly gaining favor across the country: the protected bike lane, officially called a “Separated Bikeway.” Cities around California and across the world are building these new, safer bike lanes that protect bicycle traffic from car traffic with physical barriers such as planter boxes or parked cars.
These “Separated Bikeways” have been standard procedure in European countries for decades but are still rare here. While California actually leads in the number of protected bike lanes built (tracked in reporting by People for Bikes), the state is far from having enough of these protected bikeways as networked systems. The California Bicycle Coalition wants to rectify that by making it clear that this infrastructure is not only vetted and approved by Caltrans, but is also compliant with both CA HDM (CA Highway Design Manual) and MUTCD (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices).
“Protected bike lanes are a key reason why it’s so safe, comfortable and convenient to ride a bike in cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen,” said Dave Snyder, the Executive Director of CalBike. “We can have that here too, but first we need to build them.”
The following California cities from North to South had already built separated bikeways by 2016: Davis, Emeryville, Oakland, San Francisco, Alameda, Modesto, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Carpenteria, Oxnard, Temple City, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, San Jacinto, Murrieta, and Carlsbad. Since then, many more cities have adopted this safe infrastructure.
To call attention to the tremendous opportunity to create safer streets for everyone across the Golden State, CalBike contacted elected officials and Public Works Directors in the 50 largest cities across the state and distributed a concise 4-page brochure developed in collaboration with Alta Planning & Design.
The brochure demystifies the process of creating a protected bike lane, showing that Caltrans has approved the design and that it can be inexpensive to build. Any city can build them. Santa Ana partnered with youth at a local KidWorks nonprofit to successfully apply for grant funding for their first separated lane in an area where it’s very dangerous for kids to bike to school. The city was so inspired it went on to successfully apply for further separated bikeway funding.
“In our work planning, designing, and implementing Separated Bikeways across the country, we have seen the many positive benefits including economic, health, and safety firsthand,” said Bryan Jones, Principal of Alta Planning + Design, who helped develop the brochure. “Implementation of separated bikeways in cities throughout California will be key to the success of achieving Caltrans’ vision of tripling ridership on bicycles.”