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Year in Review: CalBike’s 2020 Accomplishments

November 17, 2020/by Kevin Claxton

The pandemic that has upended all of our lives also transformed CalBike’s 2020 agenda. The bills we sponsored in the legislature were postponed, but the broad bike boom led to many other opportunities. In 2020, the bicycling movement is stronger than ever. Diverse groups of people have discovered or rediscovered the value of biking as safe and desperately needed recreation, as well as essential, independent, transportation. Our 2020 accomplishments include providing resources for new riders and for cities to create safer spaces to bike and walk.

CalBike was able to pivot quickly, thanks to strong support from our donors. Working from our separate homes, with surprisingly effective collaboration, your CalBike team had a busy and effective year. Here is a (partial) list of what CalBike has been able to accomplish.

Four fast and effective actions to support the opening of California’s streets to biking and walking

When California went into shelter-in-place, we took steps to support people staying healthy by keeping active.

We worked with the California Department of Public Health to clarify the initial stay-at-home orders to declare that bike shops are an essential business, necessary for people who rely on them to get to their essential jobs.
CalBike quickly created a set of resources for people to bike safely during COVID. For many, we were the go-to group for questions like, “Is it safe to ride in groups? Can I still use bike-share? I haven’t ridden in ages; what do I need to know to be safe?”
When communities began creating Slow Streets to expand space for socially-distanced exercise, CalBike created a guide to best practices.
In collaboration with Alta Planning + Design, we created a Quick-Build Guide to enable communities to create more room for biking and walking.

Victories in a curtailed legislative session

Most of the bills CalBike was sponsoring had to be postponed until 2021, as the legislature cut short their session due to the coronavirus. But we remained vigilant and engaged. And we were able to chalk up two important wins with help from our allies and from our supporters, whose calls and emails made a huge difference.

With help from our allies, we defeated a provision in a bill that would have made it impossible for shared bike and scooter companies to operate in California.
We passed a commonsense bike planning reform bill, SB 288. The bill provides a CEQA exemption for bike plans, as well as transit expansions. This is a welcome reform that will make it much easier, cheaper, and quicker, to design and build people-first infrastructure.

Supporting a local funding measure

CalBike engaged heavily with local partners in the Bay Area to support a transportation-oriented sales tax that would have raised billions for biking. We supported the calls for enough funding to build complete networks to connect disadvantaged, car-free, and transit-dependent communities to transit and other destinations, as well as comprehensive, equitable, and affordable shared mobility. This measure was shelved once the pandemic hit.

Building support for community bike shops

Every neighborhood needs a bike shop, but many lack the economic clout to attract a typical for-profit business. Community bike shops fill the gap, providing free or low-cost services in underserved neighborhoods. During the pandemic, many essential workers turned to biking as a safer way to get to work than taking the bus. But volunteer-run, nonprofit bike shops were hit hard by coronavirus restrictions at just the moment they were needed most. CalBike stepped up to help.

We reached out to community bike shops to find out what kinds of support they needed and we held a webinar to provide information, share resources, and cross-pollinate ideas. CalBike continues to look for new ways to lift up community bike shops.

A major victory for Complete Streets at Caltrans

In 2020, we turned the governor’s disappointing veto of our 2019 Complete Streets Bill into genuine progress at Caltrans. Their new chief directed an extra $100 million toward Complete Streets so that, when Caltrans does routine road repair, it has funds set aside to make streets safer for biking and walking.

The new Caltrans chief Toks Omishakin directed his staff to pull $100 million from its proposed budget for roadway repairs. The order, made after the draft budget had already been presented to the Transportation Commission for approval, affected a small amount of money but represented a huge admission by Caltrans that previously planned projects had missed opportunities to make the roads safer for walking and biking.
CalBike reached out to its local partners to ensure they were aware of the last-minute opportunity to improve Caltrans projects, in response to the agency’s request of its district offices to review all projects to find good candidates for biking and walking improvements.
CalBike is working closely with Caltrans leadership so that in the next roadway repair budget in 2022, the agency will include biking and walking infrastructure from the beginning. We’ll keep advocating so that instead of climate-destroying freeways, Caltrans will build the climate-friendly infrastructure California needs!

Projects to improve biking in California’s interior

CalBike and its member groups have exciting projects in the works for better biking in the heart of our state.

Construction is underway on the Shasta Bike Depot, a project of Shasta Living Streets. When it’s finished next year, it will cap a program that connects more than 200 miles of bike trails with downtown Redding.
CalBike is working with Tuolumne, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Alpine counties to promote bicycle tourism as an engine for economic growth and an incentive to create safer streets for visitors and residents alike.
Our Central Valley Bikeways Project team is creating a blueprint for bike access to High-Speed Rail stations in Merced, Fresno, and Bakersfield. Once the plan is implemented, it will mean better bike connections for all residents of the region, plus an influx of bicycle tourism dollars.

A proposal for traffic enforcement reform

Social justice is central to CalBike’s mission. We can’t have safe streets unless they are safe for everyone. Like you, we were moved by the outpouring of support for Black Lives Matter and the movement for police reform. We drafted a six-point proposal for reforming the way California enforces traffic laws on state roads. We believe these policies will make streets more equitable and safer for all users. In 2021, CalBike will begin lobbying, alongside our allies, to implement traffic policing reforms.

Bike the Vote

CalBike endorsed 11 bike-friendly candidates who were in tough races in the November election. We are happy to report that six of our allies at the federal, state, and local levels will be representing us next year. Thank you all for biking the vote!

Looking forward to 2021

At CalBike, we are proud of what we were able to accomplish in 2020 and we are looking forward to an even better year in 2021. We will be holding an online event for CalBike members to unveil our ambitious plans for 2021 on December 3. 2020. Join or renew to become a member and support CalBike’s important work to build healthy California communities through biking.

California Voters Elect Bike-Friendly Legislators in 2020

November 5, 2020/by Kevin Claxton

Californians biked the vote, and the California Bicycle Coalition helped with several strategic endorsements. CalBike chose 11 races where the bike-friendly candidate was in a tight contest. In each of those races, the other candidate was a likely opponent of the kinds of policy changes necessary to make our communities more bike-friendly. Those close elections can hinge on a few hundred or a few dozen votes. We sent emails, promoted candidates on social media, and sent text messages. In 8 of 11 tight races, our choice is leading or practically tied, with thousands of votes yet to count. We will update our Bike the Vote page as results from the Secretary of State roll in.

In nine other races, we supported champions who deserved recognition for being an exemplary supporter of bicycling. These candidates, who won easily, make up an informal bike caucus of legislators for whom biking for transportation is already routine. With these bike-friendly legislators, and with your support, we have the potential to do some amazing things for our movement.

Here is a full report on the election results.

Updated November 5, 10:00 a.m.

U.S. Presidency

Democrat Joe Biden appears to be poised to win the presidency. Barring unprecedented interference in these unstable times, he will soon have control of the executive branch, including the Department of Transportation. He and his Vice President, Californian Kamala Harris, both take climate change seriously. That’s a victory for bicycling. It smooths the way for our national allies to implement a bold active transportation agenda.

U.S. Congress

Katie Porter

Republicans will probably maintain control of the Senate while Democrats maintain control of the House of Representatives. The next national transportation bill that shapes transportation spending for at least five years is overdue. Increasing funding for bike infrastructure is the most important priority in that bill. It will be challenging to get a strong provision inserted into the House version and to defend that provision as the House negotiates with the Senate.

Here in California, CalBike engaged in four races that affect control of the House of Representatives.

Katie Porter has become famous in her first term in Congress for calling out corporate executives and administration officials with her whiteboard and marker. She flipped a Republican seat in Orange County in 2018 and her seat was not considered safe. She looks poised to win reelection, with more than 54% of the vote so far.

Phil Arballo, once a member of the Fresno Bike Advisory Committee, would make an excellent replacement for the Republican incumbent, Devin Nunes. Unfortunately, he trails Nunes 46.5% to 53.5% and it appears Nunes will get another term.

Christy Smith is challenging the incumbent Republican Mike Garcia and looks poised to flip this seat centered on Santa Clarita to the Democrats, although it is too close to call.

Harley Rouda, the incumbent Democrat representing Orange County coastal cities, is trailing challenger Michelle Steel by less than a percentage point.

California State Senate and Assembly

CalBike endorsed three strong bike champions for the State Senate who have easily won their races: Scott Wiener, Josh Becker, and John Laird. In the State Assembly, we are happy to see active transportation champions Phil Ting, David Chiu, Tasha Boerner Horvath, Richard Bloom, Laura Friedman, and Chris Holden win re-election. We are also thrilled that Steve Bennett, a member of the Channel Islands Cycling Club, won his race to join the Assembly. We look forward to working with them next year.

Josh Newman

In the California Senate, Democrat Josh Newman is leading in his bid to reclaim his seat after being ousted by the Republican Party and the road builders. Newman was targetted for his support of SB1, the gas tax increase that has been so important for maintaining and improving our infrastructure. Defeating the oil-industry funded opponents of SB1 in the bid for this Senate seat is sweet for bike advocates who have endured years of vicious opposition to our Complete Streets efforts from that very contingent of stakeholders.

Three other Senate races are too close to call. Democrats Abigail Medina, Kipp Mueller, and Dave Min are each trying to win a seat from Republican incumbents. All three races were practically tied at press time.

In the Assembly, two candidates we endorsed are trailing in their bids to flip seats. Melissa Fox is behind by 4.6% and Dawn Addis is behind by 4%. Still, thousands of votes are yet to be counted and these races have not been called.

Nithya Raman for LA City Council District 4

Nithya Raman

The City of Los Angeles, with a population of almost 4 million, is more populous than 22 US states. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the LA City Council wields enormous power and council races are often hotly contested.

City council members in Los Angeles have a great deal of influence over whether streets in their districts get bike lanes or not. The incumbent in District 4, David Ryu, has been an obstacle to safe streets advocates in Los Angeles. His challenger, Nithya Raman, is an urban planner who will be an ally to bike advocates. CalBike endorsed Raman and helped get out the vote for her campaign.

The race hasn’t been called yet, but Raman is leading by about 5,000 votes as of this writing and is likely to come out on top. We expect her to be a strong progressive leader on the LA City Council.

The Dream Ride Challenge 2020 Was a Huge Success!

October 23, 2020/by Kevin Claxton

Among many silver linings during a difficult year, the first-ever Dream Ride Challenge stands as a success. We had a great “turnout” and we raised over $25,000 to support CalBike’s work in the coming year!

9 days, 4,500 miles, $25,000 raised for CalBike

When CalBike made the decision to cancel 2020’s annual California Dream Ride, the in-person 5-day bicycle experience along some of California’s most beautiful and memorable bicycle routes, we knew there would be a few things we would miss. Not only is the California Dream Ride a huge fundraiser for CalBike every year, but it provides the experience of sharing bicycling alongside a fun and supportive community.

When CalBike launched the Dream Ride Challenge this October, our goal was to deliver the spirit and joy of the in-person Dream Ride right to the front door of bicyclists across California. We wanted to create a virtual experience to motivate and inspire you to get out on your bike and engage with your bicycle community. We had some experience with this: we had already made our Dream Ride Experiences into self-directed rides. But the Dream Ride Challenge was a bigger lift. Happily, it was an outstanding success.

Dream Riders took on the Challenge

From October 3rd to October 11th we were joined by over 50 passionate bicyclists and advocates for sustainable transportation. Over 9 days of bicycle and fundraising challenges, these Dream Riders cumulatively rode over 4,500 miles and raised over $25,000 through their own fundraising pages, all to support CalBike’s vital work to bring better biking to all California communities.

Dream Riders also went the extra mile as part of “the challenge.” They wrote to their local elected officials, submitted shining reviews to uplift their local bike shops, picked up trash along bikeways, and took on a number of extra bonus activities throughout the event. Our daily pop-up challenge in honor of World Post Day, for example, saw a number of Dream Riders placing their election ballots in the mail.

An Opportunity to Connect

In the evenings, we took part in engaging Zoom sessions. We heard updates from our Ride Director Debbie Brubaker and Dream Ride veteran Jon Riddle. Riders had the opportunity to share photos and stories. We were also lucky to be joined by competitive cyclists, grassroots advocates, bicycle industry pioneers, and one world-record holder. The discussions were inspiring and lively.

During our first session of the week, we were joined by Johanna Iraheta, an educator and bike touring pro who brings bicycle touring to young people in Los Angeles. CalBike Board member and founder of SoCal Cross, Dorothy Wong, joined the session to speak about establishing the cyclocross scene in Southern California. World-record holder Denise Mueller-Korenek closed the session, and spoke about her record-breaking performance at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2018, where she trailed a pace car on a custom bicycle at 184 miles per hour!

Mid-week, we heard from advocates working to advance cycling across the state. Speakers included Damian Kevitt of Streets Are For Everyone and Zachary Rynew of Gravel Bike California. We were also joined by Levi Leipheimer, former pro cyclist and founder of Levi’s GranFondo, a cycling event that draws thousands annually and has raised over $3 million for Sonoma County charities since its inception in 2009.

At our last Zoom session and final Dream Ride celebration, we were joined by mountain biking pioneer Gary Fisher. Gary shared stories of competitive cycling in California during the 60s, and the early days of clunker bike rides on dirt trails that laid the foundations for modern mountain biking. Gary shared a passionate message with Dream Riders, stating that “this is the time for change” as we continue the fight for more sustainable transportation, more livable cities, and more space for bicycles.

With the 2020 Dream Ride Challenge, we managed to overcome a difficult situation and pull together as a cycling community. Thanks to all of our Dream Ride Challenge 2020 participants, sponsors, and panelists for making this event a success.

CalBike Releases Quick-Build Guide to Create Safer Streets

October 13, 2020/by Kevin Claxton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 13, 2020

Contact: Dave Snyder, California Bicycle Coalition, dave@calbike.org | 916-251-9433‬

CalBike Releases How-to Guide for Building Safer Streets Quickly and Cheaply

The California Bicycle Coalition and Alta Planning + Design today released a Quick-Build Guide for planners, officials, and community leaders to encourage the construction of safe bikeways quickly and affordably.

The guide promotes the “quick-build” method for safety improvements. Quick-build projects use materials that can be installed quickly and at a low cost. Quick-build design allows active transportation projects to be completed in months rather than years. Because quick-build projects rely on inexpensive materials, they are a good fit for California’s COVID-strapped municipal budgets.

The 77-page Quick-Build Guide, created by Alta Planning + Design, is available for free. This resource will help planners, city staffers, and advocates understand the tools and processes that lead to successful quick-build projects.

In addition to the guide, the project includes a 4-page introductory brochure. Both are available online at calbike.org/quickbuild.

“We hope this guide will help California capitalize on the huge increase in biking and walking we’ve seen during the pandemic,” said CalBike Executive Director Dave Snyder. “Quick-build allows communities to build on that momentum to create the kinds of safe, separated spaces that people of all ages need to feel comfortable biking and walking in their neighborhoods. There’s no good reason to wait years for safer streets and plenty of reasons to act quickly.”

“Rapid implementation of bike and pedestrian networks through Quick-Build is one of Alta’s core priorities for transformative investment in transportation,” said Brett Hondorp, President of Alta Planning + Design. “This guidebook gives communities the resources to quickly, inexpensively, and equitably create safe spaces for people on our streets, turning the pandemic walking and biking boom into sustained active transportation mode shift.”

The partnership to create this guide matches Alta Planning’s design expertise and experience with CalBike’s network of planning and advocacy communities throughout California. It will give cities a tool they can use to build safe biking infrastructure when and where it’s needed.

The Quick-Build Guide was made possible by funding from the Seed Fund and the SRAM Cycling Fund.

Download the Quick-Build Guide 2020.

From the Quick-Build Guide:

“Quick-build works to meet mobility needs by helping people to choose active modes more often. Those mobility needs will vary depending on the community and may include safer crossings, slower streets, an extended bikeway network, or safer routes to transit, schools, and essential workplaces. In every case, people require a safe, connected, and comfortable network for active transportation.”

“We as transportation experts need to be thinking strategically about whether or not we need to spend three years talking about doing something important, or three weeks to just try something.”

― Warren Logan, Transportation Policy Director of Mobility and Interagency Relations at Oakland Mayor’s Office

CalBike Endorses Candidates in Four Key Congressional Races

October 12, 2020/by Jared Sanchez

A Preview of the CalBike 2021 Agenda

October 1, 2020/by Laura McCamy

Update: Attend our Agenda Announcement and Campaign Kickoff Party on December 10.

Oh, 2020. It’s been a hard year for too many. We extend our sympathies to everyone who is suffering from loss.

Looking ahead to 2021, we here at CalBike have reasons to be optimistic. Among the silver linings of this tough year is that many people have turned to bicycling during the pandemic. Our demands for safer streets will be buoyed by a larger constituency.

Another silver lining is that our light legislative agenda this year gives us more time to plan for an ambitious 2021. We’re excited about the opportunity to make meaningful change for health, safety, community, equity, prosperity, and climate.

Here’s a preview of what we’re thinking.

CalBike 2021 Agenda

CalBike’s plans for 2021 are still developing, but we have five initiatives already in the works.

E-bike purchase incentives. Our e-bike rebate bill, which would allow people to get a voucher to buy an e-bike, was one of the casualties of the pandemic in 2020. We’ll bring it back better than ever in 2021. Electric bikes have been proven to be the best option for replacing car trips. They have surged in popularity this year. However, the price tag for an e-bike puts one out of reach for many Californians. We believe an e-bike purchase incentive program is the most effective way to make energy-efficient transportation available to everyone.

Micromobility. Shared bikes and scooters should be integrated with public transit and accessible to all. We want cities to take ownership of their shared mobility systems so users aren’t subject to the whims and price increases of a private company. This will also ensure that micromobility options are available in neighborhoods that have been historically underserved by transit.

Complete Streets at Caltrans. Despite the pandemic, CalBike was able to work with Caltrans to greatly improve its Complete Streets policies in 2020. The agency increased funding for biking and walking improvements and made positive changes to bring the needs of people who aren’t in cars into their planning processes. However, there is still more work to be done to change decades of car-centric planning at Caltrans. In 2021, CalBike will redouble our efforts to transform Caltrans-controlled local streets into Complete Streets.

Rewriting the street design rulebook. Two manuals hold sway over local planning decisions about street design in California: the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and the Highway Design Manual (HDM). If you’ve ever been at a planning meeting in your city and watched an innovative bike facility get rejected, the MUTCD and HDM may have been to blame. Planners are often reluctant to approve roadway designs that aren’t in them. CalBike is working with state administrators to revise these manuals to include designs for safer streets for people on bikes. These changes could turn a no into a yes the next time your local bicycle coalition lobbies for a new protected bike lane or protected intersection.

Equitable traffic enforcement. CalBike is committed to doing our part to change state laws about traffic enforcement to reduce the risk of police violence for Black and Brown people. The measures we are considering include:

- Automated speed monitoring and ticketing.
- Changing the Vision Zero grant process to money doesn’t go pay for more police traffic stops and instead goes to measures that will be more effective at reducing traffic injuries and fatalities.
- Decriminalizing walking and biking. This includes legalizing mid-block crossings (jaywalking) and the Idaho stop (which would allow bikes to treat stop signs as yields).
- Reforming Office of Traffic Safety grants so they don’t support police stings of bike riders running stop signs on quiet, low-traffic residential streets.

Finishing 2020 strong.

CalBike has two important initiatives that we’re still working on that we believe will make a big difference for bikeable communities.

Quick-build

CalBike has partnered with Alta Planning to produce the Quick-Build Toolkit. Quick-build is a revolutionary philosophy that streamlines the roadway design process. This puts the bike lanes and other safety features we need on our streets in months rather than years. Our design manual (coming very soon) will give planners across California the tools they need to quickly implement bike projects as we emerge from the pandemic and confront the climate crisis.

Election 2020

Many of us are, understandably, laser-focused on the presidential election this year. However, as we know from firsthand experience fighting for bills in unfriendly committees in the State legislature, the people we choose to represent us in our state and local government play a bigger role in shaping how bike-friendly our communities are.

We have endorsed candidates in several races that we believe will be crucial to achieving our ambitious goals for 2021. Please check out our endorsements and support bike-friendly candidates.

Ride your bike + Raise money for CalBike = Fun!

The California Dream Ride is one of CalBike’s biggest annual fundraisers. This year, the Dream Ride Challenge is a self-guided 300-mile ride to wherever you choose. Ride all 300 miles in the saddle, or earn miles and get rewards for taking on fun, bike-related activities and daily pop-up challenges along the way.

As a Dream Rider, you’ll join a fabulous bicycling community online to share the joy of riding in a brand new way. We’ve got perks and prizes, tips and tricks, an awesome support team, Happy Hours with special guests like mountain biking pioneer Gary Fisher, and so much more.

Best of all, the Dream Ride Challenge is a great way to raise money to support CalBike’s work in 2021 and beyond. You can register for as little as $25 and raise money as you ride. We hope you’ll join us from October 3-11 for this fun event.

We hope that 2021 is better than 2020!

No one can argue with the fact that 2020 has been crazy. For a lot of people, it has been a simply terrible year. Our heart goes out to anyone who’s dealing with COVID-19 or who lost a loved one, everyone who lost a job or had to risk their health to keep a job, everyone on the West Coast dealing with fires and smoke. In addition, while racist violence and oppression started long before 2020, the burdens of our inequitable society have supersized this year’s many tragedies for Californians of color.

Here’s to a better year in 2021.

Governor Signs Bills for Bikes, Wrapping Up California’s 2020 Legislative Session

September 30, 2020/by Kevin Claxton

Originally published September 3, 2020. Updated September 30, 2020.

The pandemic took a big bite out of CalBike’s 2020 legislative agenda, but we were still able to win two important legislative victories in this session. This was due in no small part to the thousands of CalBike members and supporters who emailed your representatives to urge them to support bike-friendly laws and amendments.

Big win for bike plans

California’s environmental review law, CEQA, is vital to ensuring that construction projects mitigate any damage they cause to the natural environment. However, it makes no sense to force projects that are inherently environmentally beneficial to go through the lengthy and expensive CEQA review process.

SB 288 exempts certain public transit and active transportation projects from CEQA for two years. Even better, it requires large projects to conduct a racial equity analysis that would not be required under CEQA. This will help California expand its public transit offerings as we emerge from the pandemic. And it will allow our state to build the bike network we need much faster.

This bill passed the legislature and Governor Newsom has signed it into law. Now it’s up to California communities to take advantage of this new law and move quickly to implement much-needed bike projects.

Bike share survives

AB 1286 would have effectively ended bike and scooter sharing systems in California. It included several onerous provisions. The worst would have ended liability waivers. That would have made bike-share system operators liable for every injury, no matter who was at fault.

Thanks to lobbying by CalBike and our allies and pressure from constituents, the bill’s author removed this provision, so that CalBike withdrew our opposition.

CalBike Statement on Governor’s Executive Order to Promote Clean Transportation

September 23, 2020/by Kevin Claxton

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Contact: Dave Snyder, 916-251-9433, dave@calbike.org

Governor’s Executive Order to Promote Clean Transportation Is Weak and Vague on the Most Important Strategies to Address the Climate Crisis

Sacramento, CA—Governor Gavin Newsom today released Executive Order N-79-20, calling for reduced carbon pollution from the transportation sector. Cars and trucks account for nearly 40% of all greenhouse gases emitted in California. The order gives strong support to electric cars but fails to set goals for reducing dependence on automobiles. California needs much more if we are to have any hope of forestalling a severe climate crisis and worsening poverty.

The first five of the order’s 12 clauses relate to converting gas-powered vehicles to electric. They set the goal of prohibiting the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035 and call for various other measures necessary to meet that goal. Other clauses refer to gradual reductions in oil extraction in California.

Only one clause calls for giving Californians better ways to get around than private electric cars. It requires the state’s transportation agencies to “identify near term actions and investment strategies to improve clean transportation.” The order specifies that those strategies should include “supporting bicycle, pedestrian, and micro-mobility options, particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities in the State, by incorporating safe and accessible infrastructure into projects where appropriate.” This is too vague and weak at a time when bold action is called for.

Statement from CalBike

“We’ll never solve the climate crisis unless we also address the economic crisis, and we can’t do either without reducing our dependence on cars and trucks. California needs to replace gas-powered cars with electric ones, very quickly, but doing that alone is a recipe for total failure. We need to make it dramatically easier for people to walk, bike, and take transit to reduce greenhouse gases from the transportation sector and still provide affordable mobility, improve health, and create good jobs.” — Dave Snyder, Executive Director, CalBike

This executive order is an important first step for California toward finally taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, where we have made next to no progress toward California’s climate goals.

Governor Newsom’s order provides specific direction to six state agencies to achieve the important and necessary goal of eliminating sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035. It calls for a just transition to a carbon-free transportation sector by emphasizing the creation of good jobs and the improvement of infrastructure in disadvantaged communities.

However, the order is vague when it comes to the transition away from automobiles to public transit, walking, and biking. This transition is critical, especially for the state’s disadvantaged communities. Public investment in charging stations in disadvantaged communities will not serve the majority of households in these neighborhoods who cannot afford an electric car, even with a subsidy. Nor will such investment in electric cars serve the one-in-three households in low-income communities in the Bay Area, for example, who don’t even have a car.

Reducing the need for cars and trucks is paramount to the successful mitigation of climate change. Reducing car dependence reduces costs for the lowest-income Californians, improves health and safety for everyone, and creates more jobs than other transportation investments.

The Governor’s order specifically calls out the need to support micro-mobility in disadvantaged communities. Expanding access to public transit by including shared bikes and scooters as part of public transit systems is the key to equitable mobility. CalBike’s work to create the Clean Mobility Options for Disadvantaged Communities program supports this expansion, but much more investment is needed.

The Governor specifically called on three agencies to improve clean transportation: the California State Transportation Agency, the Department of Transportation, and the Transportation Commission. CalBike will work with all three to help define a future where Californians have clean transportation options beyond gridlocked freeways and expensive EVs. As the agencies ‘identify the near term actions” necessary to implement Governor’s order, CalBike will work to ensure they focus on making the improvements needed by those who would bike, walk, or take public transit if given the opportunity.

CalBike Endorsement: Vote for Josh Newman for Senate District 29 in the November Election!

September 18, 2020/by Jared Sanchez

CalBike is pleased to endorse Josh Newman for Senate District 29.

As a former member of the state senate, Josh Newman already has experience championing what a fossil-free economy can look like in the capitol. He is up for the necessary fight to achieve this important goal because he knows we have no time to waste. Newman understands that our carbon-based economy absolutely needs to change, especially in our transportation sector, which is responsible for a large part of California’s emissions.

Josh Newman is no stranger to making this change, he was an early and strong supporter of SB 127, our Complete Streets bill that passed both houses of the legislature in 2019 before being vetoed by Governor Newsom.

Senate District 29 straddles the intersection of three counties: Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino. Centered on the Chino Hills and the northern Santa Ana Valley, it includes Walnut in the north and Cypress in the west. The main transportation corridor, Highway 57, is almost exclusively designed for fast car movement. As a result, the district is yet another area dominated by unfriendly infrastructure for cyclists. But that won’t stop Newman from supporting policies that make streets more walkable and bike-able. In 2017, Newman voted for SB 1, which directed funds to active transportation programs, fighting climate change, and improving livability and public health in at-risk communities. Although Newman was subsequently targeted for that vote, he says he has “no regrets about the actual vote,” which he would make again today, “especially given the obvious need for investment in California’s aging infrastructure and the inclusion of the active transportation provisions.”

The rest of Newman’s questionnaire responses are equally impressive for their breadth and depth of knowledge. For these reasons, CalBike is excited to see Josh Newman emerge as the leading candidate in the SD 29 race. We look forward to seeing him provide the leadership needed to work toward safer and more sustainable transportation alternatives for all Californians.

CalBike endorses Josh Newman for Senate District 29. Please visit his website to see how you can pitch in and vote for Josh Newman by November 3, 2020.

Click here to see Josh Newman’s full questionnaire responses.

View all of CalBike’s endorsements and Bike the Vote!

CalBike Endorsement: Vote for Steve Bennett for Assembly District 37 in the November Election!

September 18, 2020/by Jared Sanchez

CalBike is pleased to endorse Steve Bennett for District 37 Assembly Member.

Steve Bennett’s platform reads like a bicycle advocates’ dream. He understands the importance of bicycling as a component of sustainable transportation and a socially just society. He has an excellent record on bike issues as a Ventura County Supervisor. With Steve Bennett as Assembly Member, we’ll have an ally who will have our back no matter how bold our demands.

Assembly District 37 stretches along the coast from Ventura to Lompoc, with Santa Barbara right in the middle. Bennett has always been a strong supporter of active transportation a region that has and will continue to see drastic changes due to our climate crisis and the transportation systems that fuel it. As a sitting member on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, Bennett has the knowledge to put forth new bold ideas, including expanding safe and equitable bike options. For example, in a recent Ventura County Star article citing Bennett’s leadership in developing a 30-mile ‘Rails to Trails’ network across the county, he is quoted saying “The world is changing…we have to reduce carbon emissions with different approaches to our lifestyle.” We couldn’t agree more.

Bennett’s responses to CalBike’s questionnaire are equally impressive for their breadth and depth of knowledge. For these reasons, we are excited to see Steve Bennett emerge as the leading candidate in the AD 37 race. We look forward to seeing him provide the leadership needed to work toward safer and more sustainable transportation alternatives for all California residents.

CalBike endorses Steve Bennett for District 37 Assembly Member. Please visit his website to see how you can pitch in and vote for Steve Bennett by November 3, 2020.

Click here to see Steve Bennett’s full questionnaire responses.

View all of CalBike’s endorsements and Bike the Vote!