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Voices of the Coalition Opposed to Kill Bike-Share Bill

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On June 22, 2022, CalBike Executive Director Dave Snyder testified in opposition to a bill that would add an insurance requirement to shared bikes and scooters that is out of proportion to the potential harm caused by these devices. The cost of this requirement, if AB 371 passes, would put most private and public shared micromobility systems out of business in California. The bill passed out of committee, with amendments, and still poses a threat to shared bikes and scooters.

Here’s what Snyder told the committee (written testimony follows video):

Written testimony:

My name is Dave Snyder of the California Bicycle Coalition.

Let me start by saying that for our mission — which is to advocate for equitable communities where bicycling helps people be prosperous, healthy, and joyful — nothing is more important than being able to walk safely. Nobody should have to worry about a bike or a scooter hitting them or getting in their way as they walk down the sidewalk.

It’s also important that people have affordable convenient transportation. You should not have to incur the expense of an automobile to accomplish that. Unfortunately, our transit systems aren’t good enough for most people for most trips. It’s rarely fast or frequent and buses don’t go door-to-door. That’s where shared bikes and scooters come in.

Let me be clear. We’re not talking about the current systems and the companies that operate them. This isn’t about them. It’s about the future of equitable transportation. A transit system that provides fast and frequent service on major routes, and a shared bike or scooter for that last mile to one’s door, can actually compete with the car for convenience and is much more affordable. If we care about equity, if we care about climate, if we care about safety, we want to expand these systems, as an integral part of public transit.

This is the future of micromobility. It’s not these companies providing their current expensive service.

Responsible cities get all of this. They support their shared micromobility systems, and they hold them responsible through their permits. They require their users to park their device to a meter out of the way, and take a picture of that before ending their trip. They are beginning to require sidewalk detection, a new technology that works, that can disable the device when it’s on the sidewalk. It solves the problem this bill is trying to address in the right way, by preventing the problem in the first place.

This bill will make expansion of shared micromobility prohibitively expensive for all but the richest cities. We know this because a half dozen cities and nonprofits have received $1 million grants from the ARB for “Clean Mobility Options” for disadvantaged communities and they plan to operate shared bike systems, but they can’t get started because they can’t find insurance. They estimate that to get that insurance, it will cost $750,000 for three years of service. That’s three-quarters of a million dollars for the insurance industry, and less than a quarter to support disadvantaged communities with clean mobility. That’s not the way to advance an equitable transportation system.

Some of those organizations are operating just bike share, and they are frustrated that bikes are included in this bill. Bikes are much safer. You can carry stuff with them. They are less likely to be ridden on the sidewalk. And they confer health benefits to their users. They have externalized benefits. Everything else, especially car driving, has externalized costs.

This bill will decrease public transit use, bicycling, and scooting. It will increase driving, and therefore make our communities, and those of us who walk in them, less safe, less prosperous, less healthy, and our climate more at risk.

With respect for the author, and with the important comment that we support the provisions for Braille and tactile markings, we respectfully request that you reject this bill this year. Allow the transportation committee to consider these issues, and come back next year with something that will better balance the goals of the bill so that its impact on equitable transportation is not so devastating.

Large coalition supports bike-share, opposes AB 371

On June 21, 2022, representatives from 20 organizations wrote a letter to the Senate Insurance Committee opposing the Kill Bike-Share Bill :

Dear Senator Rubio:

The California Bicycle Coalition, and our partners, oppose AB 371. The bill’s effects do not match its intentions to protect pedestrians. Instead, it will damage the potential of shared bikes and scooters to provide a safe, equitable, and accessible transportation option for California’s disadvantaged communities. It will increase driving and all of the harms associated with such an increase: increased injuries and fatalities from traffic crashes, reduced economic security for low-income people, and worse pollution in already burdened neighborhoods. 

The shared bike and scooter systems of today do not cause the problems that they caused when they were first deployed a few years ago. Their users too often left them abandoned in the pedestrian path of travel, posing a hazard to people walking, which is especially problematic for people with vision impairments. Sometimes their users, especially when on a scooter, operate them on the sidewalk where they could crash into a pedestrian. As central to our advocacy for equitable and inclusive communities, CalBike recognizes that sidewalks are the domain of pedestrians and that people deserve to walk (or push their wheelchair, etc.) without negotiating that space with others on fast, wheeled devices. 

The problem of bikes and scooters improperly operated on the sidewalk is mostly solved in modern shared micromobility systems. Thanks to state law allowing cities to regulate these devices, and to cities whose permits recognize these problems, operators can now require the user to park their device to a pole, safely and out of the way, before they may finish their trip. Scooters now come equipped with the sidewalk detection ability which can prevent operation on the sidewalk. 

State law could amplify these local initiatives by mandating such practices where appropriate, rather than leaving it up to the cities, and advance the cause of safer sidewalks. AB 371 does not do that. Instead, it burdens the entire industry of shared micromobilty with an insurance requirement that will drastically increase the cost and make it nearly impossible to expand the service to people who need it most. That burden will do more harm to Californians than the benefit of a few injury settlements. The harm is immense.

Shared bikes and scooters, when combined with public transit, are the future of equitable mobility. Where Californians must currently rely on a car for convenient door-to-door transportation, a shared bike can close the gap between a user’s destination and the nearest reasonably convenient transit station. Or it can take you directly to your destination for a fraction of the cost of an automobile. It is imperative for equity and climate and safety that we provide a public transit system for Californians that is competitive with the automobile. Shared bikes and scooters are by far the most cost-effective way to do that. AB 371 will drive up the costs of shared micromobility and make it much harder to provide the equitable transportation system that Californians deserve.  

It is important to note that it drives up the cost of bicycling to the same degree that it drives up the cost of using scooters, despite the vastly different risk and benefit profiles of scooters and bikes. Even if the committee decides that some insurance for some devices is good policy, bikes should not be included in this legislation. 

Bikes are superior to scooters in several ways. Their larger wheels make them much safer for the user. With greater carrying capacity, they are much more useful. Data from shared micromobility companies indicate that they are much less likely to be ridden on the sidewalk. They are much less likely to be badly parked, although, as noted, thanks to permit regulations, scooter users are adopting the long-standing custom of bicycle riders of parking their bikes next to parking meters or on a bike rack outside of the pedestrian path of travel. 

Crucially, bike riders incur health benefits from riding. This is just as true of shared e-bikes as it is for regular bikes, because shared e-bikes can be regulated to limit their top motor-assisted speed and to ensure that at least some effort is required to pedal the device. Increasing bicycling will improve public health by reducing incidence of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and depression, and reduce health care costs. It’s a consideration of extreme importance where the government has a greater responsibility for health care and therefore a greater concern about health care costs, and should be a vital concern to legislators with aspirations to improve California’s health care system and reduce health care insurance costs to taxpayers and businesses.

AB 371 has even more transportation and health policy questions. Why are mopeds not included? California law allows for shared mobility systems using mopeds to be offered to users without requiring motorcycle licenses that are otherwise required for personally used mopeds. By exempting mopeds from this insurance requirement but including bikes, AB 371 provides a perverse incentive to rely on mopeds for shared mobility, increasing the risk of severe injury to riders and pedestrians and decreasing opportunities to improve public health. 

Finally, AB 371 misses an opportunity to promote safe, equitable shared mobility by not imposing a cap on allowable insurance requirements by government agencies. If $10,000 is the right amount, it should be legislated as such and not treated merely as a floor. Government agencies should not be allowed to engage in “transportation redlining” by effectively prohibiting shared micromobility in their communities, which they can do by imposing prohibitively high insurance requirements. 

We are witnessing this impact right now with the Clean Mobility Options program approved by the legislature to improve transportation equity. The Air Resources Board gave a number of $1 million CMO grants to nonprofits and city agencies to operate shared bikes for their low-income residents. None of these programs are operational currently because they can’t find insurance to meet the ARB’s requirements. The Insurance Committee should free up the CMO money by treating an appropriate insurance limit, applied to the appropriate devices, as a cap as well as a floor. 

In sum, AB 371 has severe impacts on transportation equity. It will damage our ability to improve public health and provide alternatives to driving that are essential to our equity and climate goals. It will increase driving and all of the harms associated with increased traffic, including, tragically, pedestrian injuries and deaths. AB 371 does not strike the right balance between giving injured pedestrians the opportunity to recover damages from injuries and preventing those injuries in the first place. 

We urge the Committee to reject AB 371, and consider it next year after the Transportation committees have a chance to evaluate how to strike that balance in a way that preserves our opportunities to develop an equitable, healthy, and environmentally sustainable transportation system. 

If you have any questions please reach out to dave@calbike.org, in the case you need to better understand our opposition.  Thank you for your consideration. 

Sincerely,

Dave Snyder, Executive Director, CalBike

Sandhya Laddha, Policy Director, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition

Kara Vernor, Executive Director, Napa County Bicycle Coalition

Eli Akira Kaufman, Executive Director, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition

David Diaz, Executive Director, Active San Gabriel Valley

Debra Banks, Executive Director, Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates

Will Rhatigan, Advocacy Director, San Diego County Bicycle Coalition

Anne Thomas, Executive Director, Shasta Living Streets

Rick Ellison, Bike SLO County, Bike SLO County Central

Kevin Hamilton, Co-Director & Co-Founder, California Asthma Collaborative

Marven Norman, Executive Director, Inland Empire Biking Alliance

Colin Bogart, Steering Committee Member, Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition

Matthew Baker, Policy Director, Planning and Conservation League

Jonathan Matz, California Senior Policy Manager, Safe Routes Partnership

Tarrell Kullaway, Executive Director, Marin County Bike Coalition

Heather Deutsch, Executive Director, SBBIKE+COAST

Justin Hu-Nguyen, Director of Advocacy, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

Asha Chandy, Advocate, Bike Bakersfield

Amy Thompson, Transportation Policy, TransForm

Kris Fortin, Project Director, Santa Ana Active Streets

Jesse Rosenberg, General Manager, Santa Barbara BCycle

Andres Ramirez, Executive Director, People for Mobility Justice

Election Recap: June 2022 Primary

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Our June primary election Bike the Vote efforts proved vital to advancing our statewide bike agenda. Several of our endorsed bike champions will move on to the November general election. Despite the fact that we experienced perhaps California’s lowest ever turnout. 

Low turnout could have negatively affected some relative newcomers to the political scene, who unfortunately did not move past the primary. Rising stars like Jennifer Esteen in the East Bay and Andrea Rosenthal in the Los Angeles High Desert were not successful, but we’re certain their passion and steadfast commitment for active transportation will remain a priority for them in their other pursuits.

“We look forward to November and the opportunity to mobilize to elect bold bike champions”

However slim the voters, voters still picked some of our biggest bike champions. In Northern California, Dave Jones prevailed in his State Senate race. In Southern California, Laura Friedman, Tasha Boerner-Horvath, and Steve Bennett all were successful in their Assembly re-election campaigns. Along with Central Coast elected official Dawn Addis running for Assembly District 30, all five will be on the ballot for the November election.

We look forward to November and the opportunity to mobilize to elect bold bike champions who will stand up to special interests for cars and freeway building and fight for Californians. Stay tuned for our general election endorsements in the months ahead.

The Quietly Transformative OmniBike Bill, AB 1909

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Assemblymember Laura Friedman calls the Bicycle Omnibus Bill (AB 1909) she introduced the “OmniBike Bill.” It’s a bill that includes four different changes to the vehicle code (hence “omnibus”), and you could be forgiven if you find vehicle code updates wonky and boring. But each element of the OmniBike Bill will make life better for people who ride bikes and, taken together, the provisions represent a revolutionary change in the way California treats bicyclists.

Until now, the California vehicle code has generally treated bikes like skinny cars — unless that wasn’t convenient for the people in the fat cars. People on bikes need to cross with cars at intersections. But drivers can squeeze past bike riders without changing lanes. Like cars, bicycles are required to register (but with cities, not the state), and e-bikes, like cars, are banned from bikeways in some places.

But bikes aren’t cars, and when you force bike riders to behave like cars (a practice known as vehicular cycling), only the most aggressive riders (primarily men) will brave the streets on two wheels.

If we want bicycling to be accessible to people of all ages, abilities, and risk tolerances, we must change our laws to improve safety. 

The OmniBike Bill will change the rights and rights of way for people on bikes. The bill’s provisions will increase bike access and legalize safe bike riding. Here’s how it will change biking for the better. 

Creating a margin of safety: Change lanes to pass 

In 2013, California passed a 3-foot passing rule. CalBike advocated for the measure, which made it illegal to breeze past a bike rider with only a few inches to spare. But the 3-foot rule has proven difficult to enforce due to the challenge of measuring the distance between two moving objects. And someone on the driver’s side of a car may have difficulty estimating a 3-foot distance on the opposite side of their vehicle. So the OmniBike Bill tells people driving cars to pass a bike the same way they would a car, by going into the next lane, wherever possible.

Of course, not every driver will obey this law, especially at first. But it will be much easier to ticket offenders, and once this rule is added to driver’s education, new drivers will learn it as part of their training. Eventually, changing lanes to pass a bike could become the default, something drivers do because they see others doing it or because that’s how they get taught to drive. And that’s a world where many more people will feel comfortable on a bike.

Improving access for e-bikes

In 2021, more people bought electric bikes than electric cars in the U.S., and sales don’t appear to be slowing down. But some communities lump e-bikes in with motorbikes and ban them from certain bikeways.

To be clear: California defines what can be called an e-bike, and it’s not the same as a Vespa or moped. All e-bikes have a pedal-assist option. There are three classes of e-bikes:

  • Class 1: Pedal assist only (electric boost only works when the rider pedals), with a top speed of 20 mph
  • Class 2: Both pedal assist and throttle (to power the bike without pedaling), with a top speed of 20 mph
  • Class 3: Pedal assist only with a top speed of 28 mph

The OmniBike Bill clarifies where e-bikes can and can’t be prohibited. It will open more bikeways to e-bike riders while allowing them to be banned on hiking and horseback riding trails if desired.

Walk signals are for bikes, too

Many intersections have advance walk signals for pedestrians. That’s a safety measure that allows people on foot to start crossing the street before cars move, so they are more visible to turning vehicles. And there’s a bill working its way through the legislature this year that will require advance walk signals at more intersections, so this safety feature is likely to become more common.

The OmniBike Bill makes it legal for people on bikes to start crossing the street with the pedestrian signal rather than waiting for the light to turn green for cars. It’s a logical move that makes bikes more visible and gives them a head start to claim their space on the street. 

No more bicycle licensing ordinances

Many California cities have ordinances requiring people to register or get a license for their bikes. You might be riding illegally right now. 

Bike licensing laws are rarely enforced, and most people have no idea they exist. However, as long as these laws stay on the books, police can use them selectively to harass or chase away bike riders that a community considers undesirable. They can be an excuse to target people of color, who often receive much harsher attention from law enforcement than white bike riders.

If the OmniBike Bill passes, municipalities won’t be able to prohibit the operation of an unlicensed bike, though they can still offer voluntary licensing programs. That’s a critical step forward for racial justice.

The OmniBike Bill will make biking safer and more accessible throughout California. It received strong support in the Assembly and is now awaiting a hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee. Let your senator know that you support this vital piece of legislation. And stay tuned for a chance to email the governor to ensure that he signs it into law.

Legislative Update: Status of Active Transportation Bills at the Midpoint

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May 27 was the deadline for bills to move from one house of the California legislature to the other. Anything that didn’t move by that date is dead for this year, with the exception of two-year bills that made the move last year. At the midpoint, all but two of the bike- and climate-friendly bills CalBike supports have advanced. And one two-year bill we oppose remains stubbornly alive.

As these measures move ahead, we’ll need many voices speaking out for creating more space for bikes on our streets, decriminalizing safe street crossings, forward-thinking transportation planning, and much more. Look for opportunities to take action and sign our list to be the first to know about upcoming votes.

First, the bad news

The Appropriations Committees of both houses wield outsize power over the fate of legislation. Bills over a certain fiscal threshold get placed in the suspense file. If someone doesn’t want to see a bill advance, then it never makes it out of suspense. Any bills left in suspense won’t get a floor vote and won’t advance to the other branch of the legislature. 

Unfortunately, two bills that CalBike supported got killed in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB 1975 would have put more bus shelters on the streets, a welcome change. We hope this is just a temporary setback for a worthy idea.

And AB 2336, which was another try at a speed camera pilot, also ended up stuck in suspense, with no reason given. Speed is what kills on our streets, and speed cameras, if implemented well, could truly enforce posted speed limits. However, most Californians drive, as do most members of the Assembly, and people who drive don’t like to get speeding tickets, so this one is a tough sell. And some progressive advocates worry that speed camera programs could reinforce bias if camera surveillance focused on disadvantaged neighborhoods, leading to increased fines, which would have a disproportionate impact on low-income populations. So this worthy project is dead for another year, but we hope that legislators and advocates will find a version that everyone can live with in the near future.

Bike-share still in danger

AB 371, the Kill Bike-Share Bill, sits where it stopped last June, in the Senate Committee on Insurance. The bill imposes heavy insurance requirements on shared bike and scooter systems, and the cost would end shared micromobility in California as those systems continue to grow in popularity and usefulness. CalBike is committed to promoting bike-share and making it better[link], and we are working hard to defeat this bill.

Although this harmful legislation hasn’t moved yet in 2022, we expect action soon. It’s critical that our elected representatives understand just how unpopular it is. Please tell your senator to oppose AB 371.

Tell Your Senator to Vote NO on AB 371 to Save Bike-Share

CalBike-sponsored bills move forward

CalBike is sponsoring a bill to decriminalize safe, mid-block street crossings (formerly known as jaywalking) and one that will get California communities to build safer, more equitable streets quickly. We’re also including the Bicycle Safety Stop Bill in this category even though we aren’t officially sponsoring it this year because we strongly support that measure and are working to help it through the legislative process.

Stop Ticketing Safe Street Crossings

AB 2147 (Ting) will direct police not to ticket for safe pedestrian mid-block crossings. Ending enforcement of this offense, which was invented by car companies to reserve civic space for car dominance, will reduce opportunities for police encounters that too often become violent for people of color. It passed the Assembly and will now move through committees in the Senate. 

Tell your senator to vote YES on AB 2147 to legalize walking

Plan for the Future Bill

SB 932 (Portantino) will require cities to revise the circulation element of their general plans to include bicycle and pedestrian facilities and start implementing the changes within two years. The bill has passed the Senate and is currently in the Assembly Local Government and Transportation Committee.

Tell your assembly member to support SB 932, the Plan for the Future

Bicycle Safety Stop Bill

AB 1713 (Boerner Horvath), is a revised version of last year’s campaign to pass the Bicycle Safety Stop that will allow people on bikes who are over 18 to treat stop signs as yields. CalBike is not an official sponsor this year, but we’re strongly supporting this measure. The bill passed the Assembly and will now move through the Senate.  

Tell your senator to vote YES on the Bicycle Safety Stop Bill

Other critical active transportation bills moved forward

This is a good year for human-powered transportation bills in California. Several other bills that CalBike strongly supports are advancing. Some have jetted ahead, and others will require a huge effort to overcome entrenched opposition from automotive, freeway building, oil, and other special interests.

OmniBike Bill

AB 1909 (Friedman) will change the state vehicle code to facilitate biking across our state. Elements of this legislation include requiring vehicles to switch lanes when passing people on bikes and expanding where it’s legal to ride e-bikes. It’s hard to overstate the significance of the OmniBike Bill. If it passes into law, it will signal that California recognizes that bikes belong on our streets. This measure is already in the Senate Transportation Committee, where it’s scheduled for a vote on June 14.

Tell your senator to vote YES on the OmniBike Bill

Ending Freeway Expansion

AB 1778 (C. Garcia) will prohibit any state money from funding or permitting freeway widening projects in areas with high rates of pollution and poverty. This bill is a long shot and it barely squeaked through the Assembly, but it’s a critical measure that recognizes the environmental and societal destruction wrought by building freeways. It would be a significant step toward reversing the state’s emphasis on choking our cities with highways instead of improving public transit and creating complete streets. We will be pushing hard to get this measure to the governor’s desk, and we hope you will too.

Many more active transportation bills have momentum

Several more bills that CalBike supports are moving through the legislature, demonstrating that California legislators recognize that support for active transportation and safer streets is the logical choice. 

These bills have moved from the Assembly to the Senate:

  • Signals for Pedestrian Crossings AB 2264  (Bloom)
  • Sustainable Regional Planning AB 2237 (Friedman) 
  • Aligning Transportation Funding with Climate Goals AB 2438 (Friedman) 
  • No Auto Parking Minimums Near Transit AB 2097 (Friedman + Lee, Skinner, Wiener)
  • Free Student Transit Passes AB 1919 (Holden)
  • E-Bike Safety Training Program AB 1946 (Boerner Horvath)
  • Bike and Scooter Safety Instruction AB 2028 (Davies)
  • Advance Pedestrian Crossing Signals AB 2264 (Bloom)
  • Bike and Scooter Towing AB 2174 (Chen)
  • Driving Privilege Suspension AB 2746 (Friedman)
  • Bike Parking Guidelines AB 2863 (Wilson)

These bills have moved from the Senate to the Assembly:

  • CEQA Exemptions SB 922 (Wiener)
  • Sound-Activated Enforcement Devices SB 1079 (Portantino)
  • Speeding and Reckless Driving SB 1472 (Stern)
  • E-Bike Incentives SB 1230 (Limon)
  • Protect California Drivers Act of 2022 SB 1107 (Dodd)

Some of the bills CalBike supports will have a tougher route to passage in their second house. And, even if the legislature does the right thing, Governor Newsom has often vetoed bike-friendly legislation. See the status of all the legislation we’re watching on our 2022 Legislative Watch page and look for opportunities to take action to help grow support for a more bike-friendly California.

Shared Micromobility: the Future of Equitable Transportation  

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The only convenient choice for most trips in most California communities is the automobile. For door-to-door access, public buses and trains can’t compete. This car-dependent system forces Californians to incur extremely high expenses and miserable traffic as drivers. It leads to severe pollution, bad health outcomes, and dangerous streets.

People in disadvantaged communities, disproportionately Black and brown people, endure the worst consequences. They live on the most dangerous streets, with the worst pollution, and suffer the most severe economic burden of automobile dependence, sacrificing a better quality of life to fill their gas tank and maintain their automobile.

California’s shared micromobility isn’t perfect, but it’s headed in the right direction

Shared micromobility can transform this. High-quality electric bikes can connect people to their destinations quickly and conveniently. Combined with public transit, they can make even long trips fast and easy. If priced like public transit, they will provide affordable and accessible public transportation that is a realistic alternative to the car for most people.

The shared bikes and scooters we see today are just the beginning. These lightweight, affordable devices, combined with public transit, are the future of equitable mobility. 

However, there is much that is not right about our shared bike and scooter systems:

  • They’re too expensive.
  • They are not safe enough.
  • They are too often improperly parked, causing a hazard to pedestrians.
  • All too often, they don’t serve the neighborhoods most in need of additional transportation options.

California must address these problems to expand shared micromobility and provide Californians with convenient mobility to replace their car trips with bike and transit trips. CalBike is committed to this expansion of shared micromobility as essential to our mission of creating equitable communities where bicycling enables people to live a healthy and joyful life. 

Unfortunately, California is poised to kill this vision.

Bike-share is under threat

A bill in the Assembly, AB 371, attempts to support pedestrians injured by users of shared bikes and scooters by requiring the system operators — transit agencies, nonprofits, and private corporations alike — to carry an insurance policy to cover damages caused by their users regardless of the fault of the operator. It is unprecedented insurance that will make shared micromobility prohibitively expensive and penalize the very transportation option that can help reduce automobile use and the severe injuries and health damage caused by our over-reliance on cars. It does nothing to address the real problems of shared micromobility and, worse, makes it impossible to address the issue of affordability. 

CalBike’s vision for equitable bike sharing systems

California can implement equitable shared micromobility, and at CalBike, we’re working toward that goal. Here are steps to create bike and scooter sharing systems that work for everyone.

1. Subsidize shared micromobility like public transit.

Incorporating shared bikes and scooters into the transit fare can help people access rapid and frequent bus and train lines or serve independently as affordable door-to-door transportation that is more convenient than public transit. Equitable shared micromobility systems will increase transit ridership, reduce automobile use, and reduce the economic burden imposed on low-income Californians with poor public transit. Whether the shared micromobility system is owned and operated by the transit agency or through a public-private partnership, subsidizing shared bike and scooter trips is one of the most cost-effective ways to help people reduce the expense and environmental impact of car use. 

2. Make it safer. 

Too many streets are still designed for fast motor vehicle traffic at the expense of safety. In California, injuries and fatalities to bicyclists and pedestrians are higher than in most industrialized nations. Cities and counties must expedite the creation of protected bikeways so that people can choose to bike or work for their short trips without fear of getting hit by a distracted or reckless driver. 

The problem is not the inherent safety of bicycling or even shared bikes. Data from shared bike systems in the United States show that shared bike users have fewer crashes per trip than riders on privately-owned bikes. 

3. Give preference to bikes, including e-bikes. 

In a typical work week, an easy ten-minute trip to a transit station and back will generate most of the physical activity that the CDC recommends for health. This intervention, worthwhile for its economic and transportation benefits, will also save Californians millions of dollars in health care costs. The intervention is effective even with the use of electric-assist bikes. Studies show their users also get exercise, and, if the motor-assisted top speed is limited to the speed of a regular bicycle (approximately 17 mph), e-bikes are no more dangerous than traditional bikes. 

4. Enforce regulations to ensure safe sidewalks.

Riders need to operate scooters and bikes on sidewalks in most areas in California, and they should park them out of the pathway of pedestrian travel. Carelessly parked scooters and bikes are especially hazardous for people with vision impairments. That was a severe problem when these devices were first dropped on city streets, often without permission from the local authorities. Today, many shared mobility operating permits require users to park their devices on a pole or at a station where they are out of the way and document such safe parking with a photo to end the rental. These regulations are allowed by existing California law (AB 1286, 2020) and should be standard across the state. Most crucially, they must be enforced.

AB 371 includes a provision to require scooters and bike-share companies to identify each vehicle with a unique number in Braille so that vision-impaired pedestrians can report improperly parked devices. That is a simple provision that CalBike supports. However, a better solution is to prevent the hazard in the first place. Sidewalks must always be free of obstacles, including illegally parked cars. 

Support equitable shared micromobility because our future depends on it

Everyone deserves to walk wherever they want on safe sidewalks free of hazards and obstacles. They deserve to be able to cross the street without fear of getting hit. Critically, they deserve a future that is not ravaged by climate change. This security is dependent upon a reduction in automobile use. We must reduce traffic to slow speeds, build protected bikeways and better transit, wider sidewalks, and better crosswalks. 

Without shared micromobility, we will not reduce Californians’ debilitating dependence upon automobiles. We support the intent of AB 371 to protect pedestrians. As currently drafted, however, it will destroy the potential that shared micromobility has to transform our transportation system to improve the health and safety of everyone who uses our streets. 

Governor’s May Budget Revise Provides New Funds but Still Shortchanges Active Transportation 

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Governor Gavin Newsom’s revised proposal for the state’s July 2022-June 2023 budget includes $1.1 billion in new money for active transportation. This would be a historic increase, more than four times the typical annual allocation to biking and walking safety. 

CalBike applauds the governor for allocating increased funding for active transportation. Thanks to pressure from bike advocates like you, we are more than halfway to our goal of $2 Billion for Bikes in California’s 2022-23 budget. That extra money can fund projects that make biking and walking safe and convenient for Californians, and it is a welcome investment in building healthier communities.

However, $1.1 billion isn’t enough to transform California’s communities into places where the average person will consider biking a safe and convenient transportation option for their short trips. In fact, the total allocation for biking and walking safety combined represents only about 5% of California’s transportation budget. As a state ravaged by climate change, we must do better. 

CalBike’s priorities for the California budget

Now the budget will move through the legislature to be approved by June 15. The time is now to tell your legislators to make this budget even better for people biking and walking. Here’s what we’re pushing for. We’ll need your voice to make this happen

  • More bike/walk funding. Increase the total budget allocation for active transportation to $2 billion. The level of funding currently stands at $1 billion for new active transportation projects and $100 million for bike and ped safety through the Highway Safety Improvement Program. (Newsom also counts $150 million in support for freeway removal as active transportation, an allocation we support but do not count toward our goal of $2 billion for targeted safety improvements.) 
  • Connected bikeway networks. Ensure that active transportation funding goes to projects that build complete bikeway networks—no more bike lanes to nowhere or bikeways made unsafe by impassable intersections. This should include funding for a program that rewards cities whose leaders build protected networks that create true active transportation grids. It’s particularly crucial that these bike networks connect bike infrastructure to local destinations including offices, schools, and shopping areas. 
  • Prioritize disadvantaged communities in all transportation spending. In our racialized economy, Black and brown Californians are disproportionately affected by inflation and need better, more affordable active transportation options. In addition, many communities of color suffer from decades of disinvestment and should be the first to get new active transportation investments. 

Our climate can’t wait

The governor’s May budget is a missed opportunity to allocate the funding California needs to build an equitable transportation system and achieve our state’s climate goals. We must make it convenient and comfortable for many more Californians to take short trips by walking and biking, not driving. To do that, California needs to move quickly to make biking easier—and Newsom’s proposed budget just isn’t enough to build more bike infrastructure fast. 

The proposed budget for active transportation is small compared to the investment in automobiles in many ways. For example, it includes a $10 billion investment in electric cars over 6 years, which is a valuable contribution to climate change mitigation. But EVs still have significant carbon footprints and mining for the lithium needed to build electric car batteries brings its own environmental havoc. Walkable, bikeable communities are a better solution to the climate crisis.

California’s priorities, as shown in the governor’s proposed budget, must change. 

The U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics found that more than half of all trips (by all modes) in 2021 were 3 miles or less, an easily bikeable distance. Most trips (79%) were 10 miles or less, a distance that many people could easily bike with electric assist. And e-bikes are more popular than EVs: Americans bought almost 45% more e-bikes than electric cars in 2021. Yet most Californians still drive for most trips because we have built infrastructure that’s hostile to and often dangerous for people outside cars.

We can’t drive ourselves out of the climate crisis. California’s budget must prioritize the infrastructure we need to avert climate catastrophe. Think about what you need in your community to close the gaps and create safe bike networks and even bicycle highways to get you where you need to go. Neighborhoods where all the services residents need are within a 15-minute bike ride would improve safety, air quality, and quality of life. Those are the types of projects that this budget should pay for, in every community throughout California. With our historic surplus and in the face of a looming climate crisis, now is the time to transform our state.

Active transportation funding increases equity

As inflation hits Californians hard, safe biking is a lifeline to millions of Californians who can’t afford to fill their gas tanks without sacrificing other priorities, like healthy food and secure housing. With a budget surplus that has now swelled to more than $97 billion, $2 billion for bikes is a minimal investment in equitable infrastructure. With enough funding and quick-build installation, Californians could benefit from safer roadways and less polluted neighborhoods in under a year.

Newsom’s proposal in the budget to give $400 per registered car owner to offset high gas prices is an insane subsidy for automobility at a time when all Californians are struggling with higher prices on a wide range of products. And providing a subsidy only to car owners represents a perverse incentive that penalizes Californians who don’t own a vehicle, whether by choice or because they can’t afford one.

Rather than giving residents money to buy gas for a week, give them safe streets and frequent transit so they can get around by biking, walking, and taking the bus every day. 

There’s still time to influence the final budget

The legislature will now revise the governor’s proposal and negotiate with him on a final budget for approval by June 15. There are many fantastic bills in the legislature this year that will make our streets safer. The budget needs to include enough active transportation funding to pay for the many excellent pilot projects and new programs.

In the next few weeks, CalBike will work with the legislature and the governor’s office to improve this budget and increase the total amount for bicycling to at least $2 billion. Once the budget passes, we will work on ensuring that the active transportation funding goes to worthy projects that will truly make our neighborhoods safer and healthier. 

We will fight for every dollar for biking and walking. And we need your help.

Active Transportation Bills to Watch This Week 

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For Immediate Release: 5/18/22

Contact:
Jared Sanchez, CalBike (714) 262-0921, Jared@CalBike.org

CalBike: Active Transportation Bills to Watch This Week

Update: SACRAMENTO, May 21: All the active transportation bills advanced out of the Appropriations Committee except AB 2336 (speed cameras) and AB 1975 (bus shelters).

SACRAMENTO – The California Bicycle Coalition (CalBike) is following multiple bills in Sacramento this year that address issues of concern for Californians who walk, bike, and use our streets for active transportation. 

Eight bills essential to preserving California’s climate, increasing equity, and making our communities safer for residents of all ages will be heard by the California Assembly Appropriations Committee this week.

“Bills are often killed in the Appropriations Committee,” said CalBike Senior Policy Advocate Jared Sanchez. “That’s why this week’s hearings are so critical. These bills represent a major step forward to make it safer to bike and walk, improve air quality, reduce climate-killing pollution, and advance transportation justice.”

Bills being considered on 5/18 at the Assembly Appropriations Committee

AB 2438 (Friedman) – Transportation Funding and Climate Goals: The Bike to the Future Bill

This bill requires all transportation projects funded at the local or state level to align with the California Transportation Plan and the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure adopted by the Transportation Agency. This effort will codify California’s efforts to align transportation funding with our climate goals.

AB 1778 (C. Garcia) – Ending Freeway Expansion: The Restoring Healthy Communities Bill

This bill will prohibit any state money from funding or permitting freeway widening projects in areas with high rates of pollution and poverty. As decades of research have shown, low-income communities of color are most burdened by highway pollution that causes unnecessary cases of asthma and other major health issues. 

AB 1975 (Nazarian) – California Bus Shelter Bill: The Safe Bus Stops Bill

The bill would ensure that bus and pedestrian shelter and street furniture is treated as a critical and funded infrastructure asset to prioritize shade as an essential need for all Californians.

Bills being considered on 5/19 at the Assembly Appropriations Committee

AB 2147 (Ting) – Safe Street Crossings: The Freedom to Walk Bill

This bill is the sequel to the Freedom to Walk legislation that passed the assembly and senate last year. After Governor Newsom’s veto, Assemblymember Phil Ting revamped the bill to address the governor’s concerns. The revised version will direct police not to ticket for safe pedestrian mid-block crossings while keeping jaywalking laws on the books. Ending enforcement of safe midblock crossings will reduce opportunities for police encounters that too often become violent for people of color.

AB 2237 (Friedman) – Sustainable Regional Planning: The Plan for a Better Tomorrow Bill

This bill would bring local transportation planning and funding into alignment with sustainable community strategies (SCS) and the state’s climate and air quality standards. California has struggled to align land use with the need to reduce vehicle miles traveled and the corresponding emissions that cause air pollution and climate change. AB 2237 would require regional or county transportation agencies to rank their transportation projects and prioritize them according to adherence to sustainable communities strategies and state climate and air quality standards. Most importantly, funding would follow that prioritization, so that the projects that most support clean mobility (many bike projects) would be the first implemented. Projects that undermine climate and air quality standards would not be funded.

AB 2336 (Friedman) – Automated Speed Enforcement Pilot Program: The Speed Kills Bill

This bill establishes an automated speed enforcement pilot program in a few cities.

AB 1919 (Holden) – Free Student Transit Passes: The Transit Access Bill

This bill requires each transit agency to offer free transit passes to every person under the age of 26 years. This lack of a statewide program leaves millions of low-income and diverse youth without affordable or accessible transportation options. It also forces many to be dependent on greenhouse gas-emitting personal vehicles to the detriment of their communities’ environmental health. 

AB 2264 (Bloom) – Pedestrian crossing signals – advance signals: The Step Ahead Bill

Requires Caltrans and cities to update all pedestrian control signals to operate giving a pedestrian a head start between 3 to 7 seconds to enter an intersection with a corresponding circular green signal.

CalBike Endorsement: Vote for Jennifer Esteen for Assembly District 20 on June 7th!

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With an open seat, we hope you vote for Jennifer Esteen on June 7th. Jennifer brings a lot of new energy to the East Bay area, and for the greater residents of the state. On issues from biking, to affordable housing, and transportation justice, Esteen gave excellent responses to our questionnaire and holds great promise for AD 20.

Assembly District 20 centers around Hayward, going as far north as San Leandro and Dublin in the east. The area is served by regional transit (Bay Area Rapid Transit). However, this route is heavily dependent on cars, so much so that Interstate 880 is constantly bogged down with congestion and toxic air. We are very pleased that Jennifer understands this and it is reflected in her transportation platform, which centers working families and mobility options that can help meet our state’s environmental sustainability, public health, and social equity goals. Jennifer is clearly making it a priority to serve all residents of her district, with a focus on low-income populations that are often marginalized, especially in suburban areas. In her questionnaire responses, she said she wants to “tackle business-related transportation emissions such as emissions from shipping and trucking”, while at the same time “investing in low-income communities and communities of color to improve access and lower the cost of public transportation, and to increase the safety and accessibility of active transportation”. She further adds: “ Low-income families are some of the most active users of public transit.  Creating cheaper and better options for these families is not only an issue of equity, but of economic justice.” That is the type of change we can get behind for AD 20, which is why we are endorsing Jennifer Esteen.

The rest of her questionnaire responses are equally as impressive for their breadth and depth of knowledge. For these reasons, we are excited to see Jennifer Esteen emerge as the prominent candidate in the Assembly District 20 race. We look forward to seeing her provide the leadership needed to work toward safer and more sustainable transportation alternatives for all California residents.

CalBike is pleased to endorse Jennifer Esteen for District 20 Assembly Member. Please vote for Jennifer Esteen on June 7, 2022.

Click here to see Jennifer Esteen’s full questionnaire responses.

CalBike Endorsement: Vote for Andrea Rosenthal for Assembly District 39 on June 7th!

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As a longtime educator and community organizer, Andrea Rosenthal has experience addressing the longtime neglect of the Antelope Valley and delivering the resources the LA High Desert needs to level the playing field. When she is elected to represent the newly-created Assembly District 39, Rosenthal will focus on underserved and underinvested communities that bear the brunt of the worst health conditions as a direct result from relative environmental pollution. Rosenthal’s priority on our most disproportionately impacted communities, alongside a strong vision for safe streets, is long-needed in the Antelope Valley. Her leadership will be a critical change of pace from the former assembly representative in this area who ignored both equity and bicycling.

The newly-formed Assembly District 39 represents the eastern side of the Antelope Valley, also known as Los Angeles’ High Desert, spanning from Palmdale to Victorville. The area is a patchwork of sprawling desert communities, definitely some of the most difficult biking and walking terrain in California. But that doesn’t stop Andrea from supporting policies that make streets more walk-able and bike-able vs. car-oriented infrastructure updates. She supports the expansion of shared mobility that can help limit fuel emissions from cars on the road and aid communities in their commute where a car or reasonable public transportation is unavailable to them. This type of forward-thinking is why CalBike enthusiastically supports Andrea Rosenthal for AD 39.

The rest of her questionnaire responses are equally as impressive for their breadth and depth of knowledge. For these reasons, we are excited to see Andrea Rosenthal emerge as the prominent candidate in the AD 39 race. We look forward to seeing her provide the leadership needed to work toward safer and more sustainable transportation alternatives for all Californians.

CalBike is pleased to endorse Andrea Rosenthal for Assembly District 39. Please vote for Andrea Rosenthal on June 7, 2022.

Click here to see Andrea Rosenthal’s full questionnaire responses.

CalBike Endorsement: Vote for Dave Jones for Senate District 8 on June 7th!

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As a former member of the state assembly, Dave Jones already has experience championing what a fossil-free economy can look like in the Capitol. Despite that such a stance will inevitably create friction among a variety of special interests, he is up for the absolutely necessary fight, simply because he knows we have no time to waste. Jones understands that our carbon-based economy absolutely needs to change, especially in our transportation sector, which is responsible for a large part of emissions.

Senate District 8 represents the City of Sacramento, stretching as far south to Elk Grove and north to North Highlands. Centered on the main transportation corridor of Interstate 5, and its surrounding arterials, it is almost exclusively designed for fast car movement. As a result, the district (outside the city center of Sacramento) is yet another area dominated by unfriendly infrastructure for cyclists. But that won’t stop Jones from supporting policies that make streets more walk-able and bike-able. In response to our questionnaire Jones said he’s committed to “more investments in regional rail and public transportation generally, and make it easier to accomplish infill residential development, to reduce dependence on vehicles by locating housing near where people work and near public transit”. He also supports investment in bike trails, lanes and other features to make biking safer and more accessible in and outside cities.

The rest of his questionnaire responses are equally as impressive for their breadth and depth of knowledge. For these reasons, we are excited to see Dave Jones emerge as the leading candidate in the Senate District 8 race. We look forward to seeing him provide the leadership needed to work toward safer and more sustainable transportation alternatives for all Californians.

CalBike is pleased to endorse Dave Jones for Senate District 8. Please vote for Dave Jones on June 7, 2022. Click here to see Dave Jones’ full questionnaire responses.

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