Press Release Archives - Page 10 of 10

CalBike’s 2016 Legislation

March 1, 2016/by Zac

Your California Bicycle Coalition has a packed legislative portfolio for 2016!

We are excited to be working with bicycling champion Assemblymember Richard Bloom on two important bills: (1) to preserve funding in the Active Transportation Program for planning grants and education and encouragement programs in disadvantaged communities, in response to declining funding for these types of grants in the first two cycles of the program; and (2) to make “green wave” traffic signal timing, where traffic lights are timed to vehicles moving at bicycle speed, eligible for Cap-and-Trade funds.

We’re also thrilled that Assemblymember Phil Ting is authoring another bill for us this year, to clarify cyclists’ right to ride side-by-side safely in the roadway. (Use #legalizehandholding to show your support!)

Our main legislative priority remains the budget, where pronouncements of support for active transportation are not currently reflected in how the state spends its money. Working closely with our statewide coalition partners, we are pushing a transportation equity package of bills that together will improve sustainable, affordable transportation options across the state, especially for low-income Californians. Our proposals will double the size of the Active Transportation Program and take initial steps to set-aside funding for significant investments in connected bicycle networks. Check our legislative tracker for more details…

2016 E-Bike Expo Celebrates Exciting Legislative Win in California

January 8, 2016/by Zac

Inspired by impressive sales growth across the U.S., and a key legislative win in California led by the California Bicycle Coalition (AB 1096 clarifying and legalizing E-Bikes effective January 1st 2016), the North American E-Bike industry is celebrating with the traveling 2016 E-Bike Expo beginning in January and touring to six different bike-friendly cities over the next five months.

From: Melissa Balmer – Media Director California Bicycle Coalition

Melissa@Calbike.org Cell 562.221.9672

Re: 2016 E-Bike Expo Celebrates Exciting Legislative Win in California and Growing Array of E-Bike Choices for U.S. Consumer

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Sacramento CA – Inspired by impressive sales growth across the U.S., and a key legislative win in California led by the California Bicycle Coalition (AB 1096 clarifying and legalizing E-Bikes effective January 1st 2016), the North American E-Bike industry is celebrating with the traveling 2016 E-Bike Expo beginning in January and touring to six different bike-friendly cities over the next five months:

January 15-17, 2016 – Tempe, AZ – Diablo Stadium

February 26-28, 2016 – San Diego, CA – Liberty Station, Point Loma

March 11-13, 2016 – Houston, TX – Rice University

April 22-24, 2016 – Palo Alto, California – The Stanford Mall

May 20-22, 2016 – Portland, Oregon (location to be determined)

June 2016 – Denver, Colorado (date and location to be determined)

Hosted by Extra Energy Services North America, Inc., this fun, free to the public, “hands on” series will give members of the public, the media, and bike shop retailers the opportunity to test ride over 80 different bikes from the top 17 North American e-Bike lines. This eye opening experiential opportunity is made possible with technology courtesy of global leader Bosch (which demonstrated its belief in the U.S. e-Bike market by opening a location in Newport Beach CA last year), and a special enclosed outdoor track courtesy of Trek. Find out more and register in advance for your special VIP attendance at: electricbike-expo.com.

“The best way for people to truly understand what an electric bike is all about is to provide them with the ride experience. That’s why we are taking electric bikes to the people.” Ray Verhelst, President of ExtraEnergy.

E-Bikes are one of the fastest growing segments of the $6.1 billion annual U.S. bike industry sales (total from 2014 reported by the National Bicycle Dealers Association), with industry experts predicting unit sales to reach 300,000 in 2016.

“We chose assisted bikes for all of the reasons suggested: hills, heavy loads, time savings, sweat reduction (with our loads, sweat prevention is a pipe dream), and to ride at speeds closer to those of solo bike commuters. We rode unassisted bikes for a while but as the kids got heavier, the steep San Francisco hill we lived on grew increasingly daunting, to the point that the choice eventually became either get assisted bikes or drive everywhere. Having these bikes has dramatically increased our biking range; there are places we ride now that we never would have attempted before.” Dorie Apollonio San Francisco.

Two key U.S. generations offer exponential growth opportunities for e-Bikes: Millennials and Baby Boomers. According to the October 2014 PIRG report, Millennials are driving less for a myriad of reasons, often because the bike is simply a better mobility fit for their preference of living in urban environments. Further, a November 2015 article by Laura Johannes in the Wall Street Journal reported some 20{850a63fa8a72bae4d6bfa3f1eda9f619cddace10f9053ede128e2914f9ca5a15} of people age 50+ say they’ve ridden a bike in the past year, up from 16{850a63fa8a72bae4d6bfa3f1eda9f619cddace10f9053ede128e2914f9ca5a15} in 2011, according to AARP. As Baby Boomers retire they have more time to spend on their health and leisure activities and e-Bikes offer an attractive solution for both.

More About the 2016 E-Bike Expo

At each city the public is invited to enjoy a 25,000 square foot self contained venue which includes the specially designed outdoor test track. This track will allow thousands of locals, from avid daily commuters and recreational riders, to those who may not have ridden a bike in years, to test ride the very latest e-bikes from top North American brands including city bikes, commuting bikes, hybrid bikes, mountain bikes, fat tire bikes, compact bikes and yes even cargo bikes and more!

Because of the emerging growth of the market in North America, these events will also serve as market research test beds where through the use of advanced RFID technology, riders and the bikes they try will be tracked. Everything from the order of choice, to the number of laps will be recorded and paired with their original registration data. The participating manufacturers will get to follow along on a secured live dashboard, as well as see detailed reports and layered demographic mapping technology provided by Google. Matched with census data, these extensive results will tell participating companies what attracted the most interest and where the potential customer base is concentrated.

The Opportunity of E-Bikes for California and Beyond

In the US market, riding a bike is typically considered a pure recreational sport and only recently have a dozen or so major cities embraced them as an alternative inner city commuter option. In October of 2015 in California, the California Bicycle Coalition led the passing of AB 1096 to allow low-speed E-Bikes to ride on the same traditional bike lanes and paths. This gives E-Bike riders access to thousands of miles of routes to ride throughout the state and went into effect on January 1, 2016.

AB 1096 clarifies the definition of electric motor-assisted bicycles further for California by defining three specific classes of e-bikes: bikes with a top assisted speed of 20 mph that must be pedaled to operate; those with a top assisted speed of 20 mph that can be operated without pedaling; and bikes with a top assisted speed of 28 mph. By regulating these bikes differently than mopeds, AB 1096 enables a reexamination of the access restrictions imposed on users of these bikes in order to permit more access to bicycle paths, where appropriate and safe.

“E-bikes are an important part of our transportation solution. Like all bikes, they make our communities healthier, safer, and more prosperous. But outdated regulations treated them like mopeds. We’re proud to have convinced the Legislature that these devices deserve to be treated like regular bikes for most purposes, and grateful that the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association supported the classification of electric bikes so that government agencies can easily continue to update the regulations in the future. This is truly model legislation that other states should follow.” Dave Snyder, Executive Director California Bicycle Coalition.

Media interested in speaking with Extra Energy about the tour series should contact Pete Prebus/Chief Marketing Officer Pete.Prebus@ExtraEnergy.org Tel 702. 688. 5573 ext 700. Media interested in speaking to Dave Snyder and the California Bicycle Coalition about the passing of the new e-Bike law, or about the upcoming events in California should contact Melissa Balmer Melissa@CalBike.org or Cell 562.221.9672.

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E-Bike Lines Featured on the Tour A2B

A2B, Besv, Bulls, Easy Motion, Felt Electric, Focus, Gazelle, HaiBike, iZip, Kalkhoff, Polaris, Raleigh, Stromer, Tempo, Trek, Xtracycle and Yuba.

About Extra Energy

ExtraEnergy Services North America is comprised of a talented and experienced group of electric bike industry and event experts. The U.S. based organization is a subsidiary of ExtraEnergy of Tanna, Germany, which has been providing electric bike test and review services since 1992 and providing electric bike test ride experiences in Europe since 1997 with their mobile Test IT Tracks. Prior to the E-Bike Expo, ExtraEnergy hosted the “The Circuit presented by Shimano” at Interbike in 2015. Interbike is the largest bicycle tradeshow in the U.S. and is held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas Nevada. Find out more at electricbike-expo.com.

Governor’s Transportation Budget Stalls on Climate Change

January 7, 2016/by Zac

Last month, the Governor attended key climate talks in Paris where he touted California’s success to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the world stage. Unfortunately, the Governor’s transportation budget, released today, moves the state in the wrong direction.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — January 7, 2016

Contact:

Chanell Fletcher, Senior California Policy Manager, Safe Routes to School National Partnership
chanell@saferoutespartnership.org, 510-695-1009

Jeanie Ward-Waller, Policy Director, California Bicycle Coalition
jeanie@calbike.org, 401-241-8559

POST-PARIS, GOVERNOR’S TRANSPORTATION BUDGET STALLS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Last month, the Governor attended key climate talks in Paris where he touted California’s success to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the world stage. Unfortunately, the Governor’s transportation budget, released today, moves the state in the wrong direction.

“The proposed budget would invest $16.2 billion in transportation dollars for programs that focus primarily on repaving and expanding roads versus moving people and advancing equity – even proposing to use money designated to fight climate change to do so,” said Jeanie Ward-Waller, Policy Director for the California Bicycle Coalition.

“If we want to tackle climate change and address the safety and mobility need for all Californians, including low-income disadvantaged residents who lack access to a personal vehicle, we must invest in clean, and affordable transportation choices–such as bicycle paths, continuous sidewalks, safe crossings, and robust transit service –that reduce driving, congestion, and air pollution; improve public health; and advance social equity.” said Chanell Fletcher, Senior California Policy Manager for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership.

However, the 2016-17 proposed transportation budget does not shift traditional transportation funding to address climate change.

We need to make smart investments that ensure people have real choices in how they travel to where they work, live, learn, play, and go to school. This includes investing in programs such as the Active Transportation Program (ATP)–which prioritizes disadvantaged communities and provides $120 million annually for transportation projects that enable people to travel by bicycle or on foot to access work, schools, and other key destinations. In the last round, more local communities applied for the program than could be funded, which left over $800 million worth of ready-to-go projects from across California on the table.

The Governor’s budget also proposes a new program: the Low Carbon Roads Program, which provides another $100 million of climate funds for complete streets, traffic synchronization, and other streets improvements. However, the Administration’s own research demonstrates that traffic light synchronization and road repaving do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions and are an illegal use of climate funds. Yet, this budget establishes a new, duplicative program of the ATP that undermines efforts to improve Caltrans efficiency and opens the door for more cap- and-trade funding to go towards roads.

The Administration has an opportunity to addressing climate change while also addressing safety and mobility needs of all Californians. It’s vital the budget focus on meeting the serious transportation challenges facing California’s families and communities in the here and now–such as investing in complete streets and providing multi-modal choices that will ensure all communities can thrive.

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American Heart Association, California Bicycle Coalition, California Walks, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, Public Advocates, TransForm, and Trust for Public Land are non-profit organizations committed to advancing walking and bicycling in all communities by engaging in policy analysis, advocacy, and education with the goal of improving active transportation policies for all Californians.

Final statement on Gov proposed budget 1-7-16