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Diverse Coalition of Advocacy Groups Urges California to Speed Up Emissions Reductions

January 23, 2025/by Jared Sanchez

A coalition of 61 local, statewide, and national organizations, including CalBike, has sent a letter to Caltrans and the California Transportation Commission (CTC), asking them to move with greater urgency to meet California’s transportation-related climate goals. Under SB 375, which became law in 2008, state and regional planning agencies must pursue sustainable communities strategies, which coordinate land use and transportation planning, and include infill housing and access to public transit and active transportation. With the start of a new federal administration that’s actively hostile to climate change mitigation measures and green transportation, it’s incumbent on California to pick up the slack and move more aggressively toward our climate goals.

After the letter was written, the new administration stripped California of its ability to mandate a transition to EVs. Without that, the urgency to give Californians alternatives to driving is greater than ever.

California continues to invest in freeways instead of bikeways

California’s transportation budget continues to invest heavily in projects that increase traffic and congestion and drive us deeper into a climate hole that’s decimating our state. The Active Transportation Program (ATP), the only dedicated fund for biking, walking, and transit infrastructure, receives a small fraction of the funding dedicated to highway expansion.

The ATP has been the target of repeated attempts to claw back funds while money to build new freeways remained untouched. The program has to turn away more projects than it funds in each two-year cycle.

The ATP isn’t the only source for active transportation funding, but as CalBike’s Incomplete Streets investigation showed, Caltrans has often shortchanged bikeways and sidewalks, claiming there wasn’t enough funding to build them into maintenance projects on state-controlled streets.

With the passage of the Complete Streets Law in 2024, we hope to see more robust investment in making California’s state routes welcoming and safe for people using all modes of transportation. Planners and engineers assume that because most people drive, most people want to get around by car, but the truth is that there is pent-up demand for active transportation. Research shows that building safe bikeways leads to more bicycle traffic, and cities like Copenhagen and Paris show what’s possible.

California must act now

It’s hard to know how big a disaster must be to convince Americans, even Californians, that climate change is an imminent threat requiring immediate action. Perhaps the horror and devastation of the LA fires will be a tipping point. But our human inclination is to return to life as usual. Humans distrust change and often instinctively oppose it.

So we need our elected officials to lead the way. We need serious, major investments in active transportation and public transit. We need climate-conscious planning from statewide and regional agencies.

The signers of the letter include environmental, health, and housing advocacy groups, as well as biking and walking coalitions, and more. This intersectional group is a strong coalition to stand up for reducing driving, removing freeways, and giving urban and rural residents safe, clean, convenient transportation options.

Read the letter.

Accelerate Transpo Emissions Reduction 20250121 Download

CAPTI Falls Short of Climate Promise

November 6, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

The Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI) is meant to help decarbonize California’s transportation systems, which are responsible for half the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. But bills from Assemblymember Laura Friedman meant to give teeth to CAPTI have failed, and California continues to devote the bulk of its transportation budget to projects that encourage car travel. As we evaluate the second draft of the CAPTI Annual Progress Report, it’s time to take a hard look at the effectiveness of California’s climate initiatives around transportation and what more is needed.

Transportation funding doesn’t match climate goals

Governor Gavin Newsom sought to address climate-killing transportation emissions in 2019 with Executive Order N-19-19 and the successive development of CAPTI in 2021. This year’s draft report was just released for public comment, and it depicts California quickly making progress toward aligning state transportation funding with our ambitious climate goals.

However, the scale of progress the report documents, while better than nothing, doesn’t match the urgency of our climate crisis. We need a wholesale pivot to clean transportation centered on making biking, walking, and public transit appealing and accessible, yet the bulk of California’s green transportation spending is directed at EVs and charging infrastructure.

California invests far too little in active transportation and is missing a key opportunity to transform our state highways into Complete Streets. State transportation leaders continue to ignore the substantial investments in new types of infrastructure needed if we’re serious about a multimodal transportation system with mobility choices that reverse our climate impact. Complete Streets everywhere are a prerequisite for Californians to move away from our automobile dependency.

What a truly climate-friendly transportation budget would look like

CAPTI is a planning document that, according to the cabinet-level California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), attempts to “identify near-term actions, and investment strategies, to improve clean transportation, sustainable freight and transit options, while continuing a ‘fix-it-first’ approach to our transportation system.” In even more limited scope, “under CAPTI, where feasible and within existing funding program structures, the state will invest discretionary transportation funds in sustainable infrastructure projects that align with its climate, health and social equity goals.”

What CAPTI does not do but should if we’re serious about reducing climate impacts, is analyze the $22 billion state transportation budget. Far too many of those dollars are spent on projects and programs that increase vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

Two recent reports from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and NextGen Policy make it clear that California continues to prioritize outmoded transportation investments such as freeway expansion projects. According to NRDC’s calculations, “California only allocates 18.6% of transportation funds to low-carbon mobility choices.”

Just last week, leaders from the California Transportation Commission, the Air Resources Board, and the Department of Housing and Community Development met to discuss the ongoing implementation of CAPTI but didn’t offer a substantive critique of California’s continuing policies that clearly exacerbate the climate crisis. Despite the dozens of public comments asking for an immediate freeway expansion moratorium, our state leaders were silent.

$10 Billion for Complete Streets

CAPTI is not robust or comprehensive enough to align our transportation investments with our climate goals. We are well past the time when “better than nothing” is sufficient to tackle global warming. In fact, narrow planning documents like CAPTI are harmful because they narrow our decision-makers’ focus while allowing them the illusion of taking transformative action.

Last year, CalBike asked lawmakers to devote half of the state’s transportation dollars, about $10 billion, to active transportation. That money could fund not just more connected bikeways, but safer intersections, sidewalk improvements, and more frequent and reliable transit—all the things we need to change direction and keep from driving over a climate cliff.

The projects are out there, and communities want to build Complete Streets. The Active Transportation Program has a growing backlog of excellent projects for which there isn’t enough funding. We will advocate, once again, for $10 Billion for Complete Streets in the 2024 budget and programs to incentivize and fund the infrastructure we need to move in a warming world.

Announcing Invest/Divest Campaign

March 3, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

For Immediate Release: 3/2/23

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

CalBike Announces 2023 Campaign: INVEST/DIVEST

Sacramento, CA – Despite California’s reputation as an environmental leader, our transportation sector remains the main source of toxic emissions, climate pollution, and fatalities on our streets. To address this reality, the California Bicycle Coalition today launched its 2023 campaign Invest/Divest: Invest in Our Transportation Future/Divest from Regressive Road-Building.

Invest/Divest is an ambitious campaign to shift California’s transportation spending from traffic-inducing, climate-killing, over-policed, and community-destroying motor vehicle road expansions, to Complete Streets and other projects that make it easier and safer for more people to get around by biking, walking, or using public transportation.

CalBike’s agenda for 2023 continues momentum from last year, lifting up multi-year campaigns like the Bicycle Safety Stop and Complete Streets.

“California prides itself on being a climate leader. But our state doesn’t deserve that title as long as it keeps spending billions on transportation projects that increase greenhouse gases while underfunding or completely ignoring much cheaper projects that could bring about the green transportation revolution we desperately need. The Invest/Divest campaign is the logical path forward to create a green, sustainable transportation future for our state.”
– Jared Sanchez, CalBike Policy Director

The Invest/Divest campaign aims to build communities where all Californians have equitable access to safe streets, improving health and increasing joy along the way.

Priorities of the INVEST/DIVEST Campaign

Invest in Complete Streets: Prioritize new safe, accessible, and equitable infrastructure that makes biking, walking, and micromobility convenient and appealing. Invest in safe roadways for all transportation modes, bringing us closer to Vision Zero and our ambitious climate goals.
Invest in Just Streets: We’re expanding the definition of a Complete Street to mean one where people of all identities and bodies are safe from police harassment. To accomplish this, we must decriminalize biking and walking, including bikes treating stop signs as yields—often used in biased, pretextual policing—to make our complete streets safe for all identities and bodies. Remove discriminatory barriers based on class, race, gender, age, ability, and other identities and invest in communities where the safety of all residents is paramount.
Invest in Complete Communities: No more bike lanes to nowhere. Invest in connected bikeways and pedestrian paths that provide safe, integrated access to essential destinations, making active transportation a viable option for more Californians.
Invest in Thriving Communities. Invest in long-term neighborhood safety, security, and wealth that connects sustainable transportation options with affordable housing that is integrated with healthy destinations. We must empower the communities most impacted by harmful transportation investments to choose their own goals, strategies, and projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, local toxic air, and lethal streets.

Divest from Freeway Expansion: Don’t build one more mile of dead-end infrastructure that increases traffic, damages communities, increases fossil fuel dependence, and creates new maintenance bills that California can’t afford to pay. Divest from failed traffic mitigation policies that lead to gridlock, and invest those funds in infrastructure to move California into the future.
Divest from Climate Collapse: Transportation is the biggest contributor to GHG emissions, so we must divest from projects that increase VMT and invest those funds in low- or no-carbon transportation alternatives.
Divest from Environmental Racism: Low-income communities of color are harmed the most by toxic air, freight distribution, displacement, and gentrification pressures. It’s time to divest from projects that bring environmental degradation and invest those funds in historically marginalized communities.
Divest from Enforcement and Criminalization: Californians need safety from the violence of cars, freight trucks, and other forms of publicly-subsidized harm that especially burden and criminalize Black and brown bodies/communities. Divest from racist, militarized traffic enforcement and invest in community resources to support and protect vulnerable residents.
Divest from Policing as a Street Safety Solution: Law enforcement is often positioned as the prevailing authority on street safety, ignoring other forms of community protection. We cannot trust the police to enforce traffic laws equitably without the removal of white supremacy from law enforcement. Therefore, we must remove police enforcement from Vision Zero and other safe streets strategies.

View Cal Bike’s Legislative Priorities list for 2023

E-Bikes Deserve the Same Rebates as Electric Cars

January 28, 2020/by Kevin Claxton

When you buy an electric car in California, you get help from the state. Purchases of all-electric automobiles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids are eligible for a rebate of up to $7,000. If instead, you’d like to buy what is arguably the most climate friendly practical form of transit – an electric bike – you are on your own. In 2020, we hope to change that. One of CalBike’s top agenda items is to push for a rebate program for people who purchase electric bikes, because people deserve support for biking.

The case against electric cars

Are EVs better for the environment than cars that run on gasoline? Absolutely. They don’t spew carbon dioxide or harmful toxins in their exhaust. They use energy from the electrical grid which gets about a third of its power from renewable sources and a little more than half from sources that don’t emit carbon. That’s definitely an improvement, but it’s clear that even if every Californian traded in their gas guzzler for a zero emissions car today, it would not be enough to solve our climate crisis. Besides, EVs still cause dangerous pollution, from tire and brake particulate; they create congestion, cause traffic deaths, and take up precious space in our crowded cities.

And crucially, most of the fleet is a fantasy in the short term. Sales of electric cars in California rose by more than 60% between 2017 and 2018, but they still accounted for less than 8% of all new cars sold in the state. An even smaller fraction of existing cars are electric. Californians drive approximately 35,700,000 cars; about 35,300,000 of them are not zero-emission electric vehicles. It will be a long time before a substantial number of them are electric.

Experts agree, the only way to really tackle the environmental crisis caused by cars is to reduce the use of cars. We drove ourselves into this crisis; we can’t drive ourselves out of it.

Time is running out to address the climate crisis

There are several good ways to reduce the number of miles that people travel in solo vehicles. Near the top of the list is improved public transit, transit-oriented development in walkable neighborhoods, and, of course, bicycling. While new transit services and housing construction will take years to complete, the fastest and best way to get people out of their cars is the bicycle. It’s important to move fast: as the most recent IPCC report showed, we don’t have that long.

The case for electric bikes

Bicycles are a near-perfect form of transportation. They give riders physical exercise, take up little space on the street or for parking, and they are always zero emissions. But not everyone is willing or able to get around town by bike. Barriers include physical ability, feeling too vulnerable on the road, limited range, not wanting to arrive at work sweaty, and the need to transport kids/groceries/stuff.

The e-bike is a solution to all or most of these problems. The extra power extends the range of bike trips while making riders safer. Electric cargo bikes are ideal for family transportation. In fact, studies have shown that people with access to e-bikes use them to replace car trips about 50% of the time.

However, price is a significant barrier to e-bike adoption. Electric bikes often cost over $2,000 and cargo bikes can cost even more. While the price is a fraction of the cost of buying a car, it is still a barrier for many Californians.

A rebate program for e-bike purchases would cost a fraction of the EV program. And, unlike the car-centric program, an e-bike rebate would be a significant step toward climate progress for California.

The budget process

Any e-bike rebate program will be funded through the California budget process, which runs from January through June. Here’s a rundown on this year’s budget and the prospects for e-bike rebates.

On January 10, Governor Newsom released a $222B proposed budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. The budget plan includes the allocation from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which includes incentives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As the budget takes shape, CalBike will lobby hard to get a bicycle purchase incentive program included in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund expenditures. We don’t expect this to be easy. We’ll need your support to get e-bike rebates into the 2020 budget. You can start by signing our e-bike rebate petition, to send a message to legislators that e-bikes deserve rebates, too.

The rest of the budget is critical, too. Transportation gets $18B including almost $9B for the California Department of Transportation. There is also $220M in funding for the Active Transportation Program (ATP). The ATP is the state’s only pot of funds dedicated to biking and walking. The ATP funding level is about the same as last year.

The next step is for the legislature to hold hearings on the budget before passing a budget bill. State agencies and departments will submit recommendations for adjustments to the Department of Finance. Newsom will consider these recommendations along with the latest data from the Department of Finance and produce a revised budget in May. The legislature must approve a budget for the governor’s signature by midnight on June 15.

During the budget process, CalBike will advocate for maximum public engagement and a minimum expansion of road capacity. California’s priorities must be to maintain what we have, make the streets safer, and, above all, reduce vehicle miles traveled.

CALPIRG Report Identifies California Highway Boondoggles

July 3, 2019/by Laura McCamy

Last week, CALPIRG released its annual Highway Boondoggles report. The report details the way our nation’s policymakers continue to prioritize major highway expansion projects, while failing to spend the money needed to repair our crumbling infrastructure.

“[Y]ear after year, state and local governments propose billions of dollars’ worth of new and expanded highways that often do little to reduce congestion or address real transportation challenges, while diverting scarce funding from infrastructure repairs and key transportation priorities.”

– CALPIRG Highway Boondoggles 5, 2019

The biggest California boondoggle highlighted in this report is the High Desert Freeway in Los Angeles County. The High Desert Freeway will connect Lancaster in eastern LA County with Apple Valley in San Bernardino County, encouraging more suburban sprawl and more car-dependent communities. It is slated to cost $8 billion.

Imagine how much could be achieved by putting that $8 billion toward expanding and upgrading transit options for Los Angeles. Or repairing crumbling city streets while adding protected bike lanes.

At a time when California needs to put all its resources and ingenuity into creating a carbon-free future, new highway construction puts this progress in reverse. There is no environmental argument for freeway construction. CalBike will be keeping a close eye on this ill-advised freeway project as it moves forward. We plan to fight hard to make California’s top priority equitable and environmentally sound transportation options.

CalBike continues to hold state leaders accountable to the priorities of reduced greenhouse gases and clean air, so we can build truly healthy communities. We believe that our state’s highway expansions are expensive, increase the state’s debt, don’t solve congestion, and of course damage our environment and the communities where we all live. Historically, big freeway projects cause the most damage in low-income communities of color, which are also disproportionately impacted by increased driving.

CalBike will lead a new campaign in the coming months that analyzes where the State of California is misusing our transportation funds on new highway expansion. This misdirection of funds keeps California from meeting state goals that have been recently identified, and which we’re far behind in achieving. Your voice will be instrumental to this work, so please stay tuned for more information.