An electric bike can help us keep up with the pack as we age and ride with injuries or disabilities. CalBike is sponsoring a $10M e-bike affordability program to help more Californians get on e-bikes. E-bikes facilitate cycling for all ages and abilities.
Here are four stories of the ways that e-bikes have helped seniors and people with heath issues keep riding.
Tom Willging, Oakland
In December I turned 80 and for a present, I bought myself an e-bike. I don’t need its power assist to climb up the Oakland Hills. I’ve been climbing them once or twice a week since I moved to the Bay Area more than 10 years ago. I need the assist because in those last ten years my climbing pace has slowed to the point that I’m the last rider up the hills in my cycling club, the Oakland VeloRaptors.
Despite completing all five passes in the Sierra of the Death Ride in 2012, I’m no longer the 72-year-old spring chicken I was then. My riding group is mostly in their 60s and 70s and I find myself following their flashing red lights going up Oakland’s Old Tunnel Road on Sunday mornings.
For me, an e-bike is a great equalizer, extending my cycling in a way that I can continue to stop with my friends at the bakeries we frequent on the other side of the hills.
Shelley Reed
After my first knee replacements, no matter how I worked my quads, it was still painful to ride up even a gentle incline on my manual bike.
Before going on a month’s trip in an RV, planning to ride at many stops, I invested in [an e-bike] (24 gears and five battery settings, built for places like SF).
I make sure I’m always working, by setting the battery to the lowest setting and using most of the gears. The benefit is that the help the battery gives when I start up or go up a hill allows me to ride comfortably just about anywhere. I also maintain a speed at least a couple of miles faster than I could on my manual bike, and more than that when I’m riding into the wind.
I’ll never look back. Having had second replacements of my knees, plus other joints, I know I’d never be able to ride if I hadn’t bought the electric bike. With it, I’m still on the road at 75 and will be for years to come.
Jay Cobb, San Lorenzo
An e-bike is such a game-changer especially with someone like myself in their mid-60s that’s had a stroke and has multiple medical conditions and even eyesight issues. It’s so much fun to be on a bike that helps and just pushes you along when you need it. It keeps you engaged excited and energized like the battery on the bike since an e-bike and I have been riding together for almost 10 years it’s simple.
An e-bike is basically a Prius for your legs if you think about it. A Prius has an electric motor, it has a battery, and it has a regular motor. On an e-bike, you’re the motor, but like a Prius, the bike knows when to help you and when to save energy to get the longest ride possible. Most e-bikes made by major companies like Raleigh Trek specialized and so on can be found even locally where I live in the Bay Area for a little bit more than 1,000 to $1500. It gives you up to a 40-mile ride that is so nice and so natural that you need no training or experience to ride.
[The electric assist] helps you enjoy the ride even more and that’s what a bike is all about, no matter what your physical condition, no matter what your age. The e-bike helps you overcome anything you thought was an obstacle with ease.
The e-bike has helped me realize that I may be disabled but an e-bike re-ables me to think about life and my surroundings always in a positive way.
Always stay positive, always be moving forward, always make sure you’re having fun – that’s what an e-bike is all about. You’re always engaged and energized afterward; what a perfect machine even for the COVID…. still in the saddle.
Jane Raga, MD; Nevada City
The most important thing my e-bike has allowed me to do at 62 is to continue riding with my younger friends. Now I’m not a boat anchor–especially on the climbs–and I can hang with them for the distance and not be too painfully stiff to walk for three days after. I think this social benefit will become ever more important with age.
The benefits e-bikes can offer for mental health and staying connected with one’s community are every bit as important as the physical health benefits.
Do you have a story about how e-bikes allows cycling for all ages and abilities? Or commuting, running errands, or another tale of happy e-biking that you’d like to share? Fill out this form or tweet your e-bike love @CalBike using the hashtag #ebikestories – or both!
Do you believe everyone deserves to be able to purchase an e-bike? Support CalBike’s campaign to create a $10 million e-bike afforadbility program. Sign our petition.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG-0317-scaled-e1614912297738.jpg10681920Laura McCamyhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngLaura McCamy2021-03-04 18:55:342021-03-22 12:05:10#ebikestories Episode 2: Cycling for All Ages and Abilities
CalBike asked you to share your e-bike stories to support our campaign for a $10 million e-bike affordability program to enable more Californians to discover the joy and freedom that e-bikes bring. The stories you sent us were inspiring and delightful. Your e-bike experiences show the many ways that e-bikes can replace car trips and enhance people’s quality of life.
Here are three inspiring stories from parents who have found joy riding e-bikes with kids.
Emily Dondero, Murphys
I have always ridden a bike, a mountain bike, a road bike, and now a Pedego Cargo Baby Blue E-Bike. Like the children’s book, Pete the Cat and his Blue Shoes…I love my Blue Cargo E-Bike!
An added benefit to riding with my babies is teaching my girls about bike safety and riding. We practice listening, watching, safe bike riding skills, and encouraging bike riding in my community.
Riding an e-bike means more to me than just good health or exercise. I’m doing my part to promote a green planet.
Darren Huckle, Santa Cruz
My e-bike has been an incredible experience. I initially bought and installed a kit on I bike I already owned so I could more quickly do a 5-mile commute with my preschooler to his school. Four days a week for two years I rode two 10-mile round trips, so roughly 80 miles a week. My son and I had so much fun and bonding on those bike rides. We would stop at parks on the way home. It was an incredible quality of life boost for my physical and mental health to be exercising so regularly. I would barely have ridden him without the help of an e-bike. I was able to do the drop-off and pick-up trips without being overly sweaty, and almost as fast as if I had driven.
Ashley Lorden, Alameda
We wanted to use a bike to replace all our car trips within the beautiful and flat island where we live, Alameda, CA. My partner and I used to bike alone to commute or run errands, but anytime we needed to bring the kids, dog, groceries, or lots of stuff, we had to get in the car. We knew we could do better for these short and flat trips, but the alternative had to accommodate as much and be as easy to use, as a car.
We had our eye on the Bunch Bike for a while but the $4k price tag is a commitment. Finally, 6 months ago, we purchased our family electric cargo bike (I call it “the minivan of bikes”!). It has been awesome! We bring our 2 kids to school, go to the park as a family, even pick up takeout or shopping. We still have our car but use it rarely, only for longer trips outside of our city. The Bunch is a joy to ride together, and the electric assist means we can better match car speeds on “shared-use” streets, where on a traditional bike it was scarier to frequently have cars speed around me when pulling the kids.
I’m so glad we took the leap to an electric cargo bike as our family vehicle. I hope we can create incentives and programs to help more people make the switch to low-footprint transportation.
Do you have a story about riding e-bikes with kids? Or commuting, running errands, or another tale of happy e-biking that you’d like to share? Fill out this form or tweet your e-bike love @CalBike using the hashtag #ebikestories – or both!
Do you believe everyone deserves to be able to purchase an e-bike? Support CalBike’s campaign to create a $10 million e-bike afforadbility program. Sign our petition.
Crossing the bay has always imposed an unfair burden on marginalized people. You have to have a car and pay the toll or take transit with a round trip cost even higher than the bridge toll. Today, the pandemic has made it even worse, with severe transit cuts stranding people on one side of the Bay if they have to travel late at night.
The pandemic has also shown us the importance of bicycling as transportation, and the ability of our officials to make fast changes when necessary.
Now is the time to bridge the Bay. A new proposal shows how a Bay Bridge bikeway can be built in just a few months for about $10 million. That’s less than two days of BART’s budget. The path connects downtown Oakland and the East Bay to downtown San Francisco with a safe, healthy, 100% reliable, and free transportation option. On an e-bike, it’s even faster. Sign the petition to demand a bike path across San Francisco Bay.
Please join CalBike and our allies in telling our local transportation authorities to design and build this long-overdue bike connection, today.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/bay_bridge_bike_path_rendering_eric_tuvel_1500x500.jpg5001500Kevin Claxtonhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngKevin Claxton2021-02-26 19:11:002021-03-08 12:00:11CalBike Demands Bay Bridge Bike Path
For the past two years, Forest Barnes has led CalBike’s work to bring better biking to the Central Valley. Funded by a Caltrans grant, the project team created a plan to make the planned High-Speed Rail (HSR) stations accessible to people walking and biking, drawing a three-mile radius around each station and proposing a network of great bike lanes and safe crossings to enable people to reach HSR. They also provided assistance to the City of Bakersfield to launch its first bike-share program. Forest has successfully wrapped up that project and is moving on from CalBike to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) as a regulated mobility planner.
Forest’s work while at CalBike will have a lasting impact. His team’s recommendations will vastly improve the safety and comfort of people in disadvantaged neighborhoods near the downtowns of Fresno, Bakersfield, and Merced.
Importantly, the Central Valley Bikeways Project recommendations relied on a novel tool to analyze how a specific improvement affects the connectivity of destinations throughout the whole city. The tool shows how fixing an intersection at a key chokepoint might be more important to connectivity than a new path at the edge of the city. CalBike plans to promote this type of analysis for future active transportation funding decisions. It’s important for officials to build truly connected, low-stress networks instead of attractive but disconnected paths that don’t help bike riders reach key destinations such as work, school, or shopping.
The project also evaluates bicycle parking options at each of the stations, and proposes an exciting long-distance bicycle route, in conjunction with the construction of the new High-Speed Rail (HSR) stations. Once implemented, these plans will create a connected, low-stress network for residents to get to key destinations in Central Valley communities.
The final element of CalBike’s Central Valley Project, a bike-share system for Bakersfield, was held up by COVID but is currently being finalized. CalBike will continue to work with regional agencies, governmental bodies, and our allies at Bike Bakersfield to bring more safe, active mobility options to Central Valley communities.
Now, as the project comes to a successful close, Forest is moving on. He will join the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) as a regulated mobility planner. Forest will bring his expertise in urban mobility to the management of bike and scooter share systems in San Francisco.
Bringing connected bikeways to Central Valley communities
“I really appreciated getting to serve Bakersfield in particular, as well as the Central Valley,” Forest said. As a Bakersfield native, he was excited to use his active transportation planning skills in service of his hometown. The Central Valley Project also developed bike plans for Fresno and Merced, as well as a long-distance bike route. Forest’s proudest accomplishment, however, was the low-stress bike network plan for Bakersfield. The plan hasn’t been adopted yet, but he hopes it will open the door for a sizable investment in biking and walking in the Central Valley.
“Forest has been an indispensable part of our team, further connecting CalBike to the richness of the Central Valley and leading the expansion of safe biking in the region,” said Jared Sanchez, CalBike Senior Policy Advocate and another member of the Central Valley Project Team. “Forest’s personal connections to Bakersfield helped provide needed nuance to proposing low-stress connected bike networks to the city.“
Asked what he liked best about his time at CalBike, Forest said, “I absolutely appreciated the team most of all. I appreciated being at an advocacy organization.” He plans to stay connected and attend the next California Bicycle Summit. He added, “I feel extremely blessed to have found this job that combined so many of my interests.”
CalBike is excited to continue to work with Forest in his role at SFMTA.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Forest-Barnes-e1557267278951.png10831439Jared Sanchezhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngJared Sanchez2021-02-10 20:31:462021-02-10 20:35:54Forest Barnes Moves from CalBike to SFMTA
As more people turn to bikes for transportation, e-bikes have gained in popularity. They give riders greater range and carrying capacity. For many, an e-bike is a workable alternative to car ownership. But e-bikes aren’t cheap. CalBike is making financial help to buy an e-bike a top priority in 2021.
Here are four ways we believe Californians should be able to get financial help to buy an e-bike.
Live in a county that gives residents financial help to buy an e-bike
A few California counties have e-bike rebate or purchase incentive programs. Unfortunately, most don’t and many of the rebates are too small to make e-bikes truly affordable. Here are the county programs we know about. Let us know if we missed one.
Sonoma County: The utility agency, Sonoma Clean Power, provides discounts of up to $1,000 for qualified customers.
Contra Costa County: $150 – $300 rebates on e-bike purchases, allocated to different cities in Contra Costa County.
San Diego County: Pedal Ahead is a loan-to-own program with up to 400 e-bikes available to residents of Supervisorial District 4. It appears that all the bikes in this program may have been spoken for already.
San Diego: This program is not technically a county rebate. It’s a purchase incentive through BikeSD and Electric Bike Central that gives e-bike purchasers rebates when they buy an e-bike and ride a certain number of miles.
Humboldt County: The funds allocated to Redwood Coast Energy’s e-bike rebate program have all been reserved. But check their website in case this e-bike rebate is renewed.
Trade in a polluting car for an e-bike rebate under SB 400
In 2019, CalBike sponsored SB 400, which added e-bike rebates to an existing state program. The program gives low-income residents vouchers in exchange for trading in a polluting vehicle. SB 400 expanded the program to include bike-share memberships and e-bike rebates.
The program is implemented by California’s regional air quality management districts. Low-income residents get a credit of up to $7,500 to put toward clean mobility options, including purchasing an e-bike, when they turn in a polluting car. Program participants can use the funds to buy multiple e-bikes for their family or split the funds between clean mobility transit modes.
Unfortunately, the pandemic delayed implementation in 2020. As of this writing, only one district, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, has implemented the program, as required by SB 400. CalBike has heard that one additional AQMD has plans to make the e-bike vouchers available in the near future. That will make two out of California’s 35 air control districts. Call your local air quality management district and ask them to implement this essential program right away.
Get financial help to buy an e-bike from the federal government – oh, wait
If you bought an electric car in 2020, you qualified for a federal tax credit of up to $7,500. Unfortunately, the feds don’t have a comparable program or any program to help Americans buy electric bikes.
We are hopeful that the new Congress will provide financial support for Americans seeking to buy e-bikes. CalBike, with our national allies, will push for federal e-bike rebates, so more people can afford this very green transportation option. At a minimum, Congress should reinstitute the monthly pre-tax subsidy that employers can provide to their (electric or regular) bike commuting employees. Join our list to get the latest news on federal financial help to buy an e-bike.
Join CalBike’s campaign to create a $10 million e-bike purchase incentive program in California
Assembly Member Tasha Boerner Horvath has introduced AB 117, a bill that will create a $10 million fund for e-bike purchase incentives.
Please join CalBike in supporting this vital legislation.
Sign the petition. Tell legislators that it’s time for the state to help Californians join the e-bike revolution.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/e-bike-slider-v2.jpg4301500Kevin Claxtonhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngKevin Claxton2021-02-05 16:12:482021-03-22 12:09:124 Ways to Get Financial Help to Buy an E-Bike
At CalBike, we have long been fans of quick-build projects. Early in the pandemic, we realized that quick-build projects are more crucial than ever. The pandemic temporarily reduced traffic, creating a demonstration of the way people-centered streets can look and feel. This created an opportunity for change. But we have to move fast.
The urgency of the situation spurred CalBike to action. We secured grants from the SEED Fund and the SRAM Cycling Foundation and collaborated with Alta Planning + Design to create a Quick-Build Guide that planners can use to develop quick-build projects.
If you feel resistant to quick-build, we’d like to change your mind — quickly.
What is quick-build design?
Quick-build is a method for reconfiguring streets without costly changes to the existing hardscape. Planners make intersection improvements and buffered bikeways using low-cost materials like paint, moveable planters, and bollards. The pre-implementation planning process is shorter. But, unlike traditional infrastructure projects, planning doesn’t stop once the design is on the ground. Because the elements of quick-build projects can be moved or altered without much effort or expense, the designs can easily evolve in response to community input.
Here are just six of the many reasons we love quick-build design.
Quick-build helps communities respond to the climate crisis with appropriate speed
In 2018, the IPCC warned that we have just 12 years to turn around our carbon consumption or face a planetwide catastrophe. To meet that deadline, we have to take bold action now, not in 2030.
Unfortunately, the planning process for a new bike lane or enhanced intersection in California can take years or even decades. A county-sponsored project to redesign a central transportation corridor in the East Bay for more active transit chose two initial projects to build quickly. The quick timeline: five years. The rest of the project will probably take ten years or more. With quick-build, these projects can be on the ground in five months at a fraction of the budget.
The climate crisis is already here. California has suffered through droughts and fires with increasing frequency as the Earth has warmed by 1℃. We can’t afford to double that
It’s more equitable to vet a design on the ground than on paper
With quick-build, we aren’t asking the public to spend their precious time studying drawings and imagining what their street could be like. Instead, we change the streets temporarily in real-time, so community members can get a feel for how the new designs work on the ground.
People with lots of time still get to see what it will look like and can still give input. Quick-build leads to more accessible and equitable outreach. Because commenters aren’t limited to people who are used to and comfortable with the “normal” outreach process, people who don’t usually get to weigh in on bike infrastructure have a voice.
Lower costs allow communities to build more for less
California cities don’t need one shiny, new bike project or a few protected intersections. We need safe, connected networks that allow riders of all ages to choose active transportation. Communities can put quick-build projects on the ground for a fraction of the price of traditional infrastructure. Not only are the materials less expensive, but communities can also save on staff time because the planning process is shorter and more practical. If we are to have any hope of making the transportation shift we need in time to mitigate climate change, quick-build is our best and perhaps our only hope.
Quick-build overcomes NIMBY resistance
If you’ve ever been to a public meeting about a bike project, you’ve probably heard statements like these:
“Why build a bike lane when so few people ride bikes here?”
“We need those parking spaces.”
“What about elderly people or parents with kids? They NEED to drive.”
Proposals to add infrastructure that will make biking safer strike terror in the hearts of motorists. They have visions of a helmeted mob dragging them out of their car and forcing them into the fresh air (or something equally horrific).
Quick-build bypasses the irrational fear stage of the public planning process. Car owners find that they can still drive, often more easily than before. People ride bikes and walk more, eliminating the “no one will use it” argument. Then streets become safer for kids to use, and the argument is won.
It’s easy to change flexible designs in response to changing conditions
When you pour concrete, you’re stuck with the street design, at least for a few years. But quick-build lends itself to iteration. Many quick-build features end up becoming permanent, but they can easily be altered in response to community feedback or changing community needs.
Quick-build projects save lives
With quick-build, there’s no excuse not to build protected bike lanes. Quick-build makes it cheap and easy to safe bike facilities that are protected from traffic. Buffers can be made from bollards, planters, or rubber car stoppers.
Separated bikeways benefit everyone. A recent study found that streets with protected bike lanes saw fewer traffic fatalities for all users – bike riders, pedestrians, and car drivers.
CalBike is working on getting our Quick-Build Guide into the hands of every California planner, administrator, and elected official who has input on street design. Your donation will help us make safe biking an option for more Californians. Do you want your planners to see the guide? Let us send them the executive summary. Give us the contact info and we’ll do the rest.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/People-Using-Streets-13.jpg10801920Kevin Claxtonhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngKevin Claxton2021-01-26 16:21:072021-01-26 17:48:266 Reasons Why We Love Quick-Build Projects
The change of administration in Washington D.C. is providing some specific reasons for joy for active transportation advocates. Pete Buttigieg promises to bring a fresh perspective to USDOT. Also, some of the initial appointees who will run USDOT from day one are friends of biking. And that group includes some high-profile Californians.
Nuria Fernandez, who will be the deputy administrator for the Federal Transit Administration, was the GM and CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Ann E. Carlson is a professor of environmental law at UCLA and an expert on climate change law. She becomes the chief counsel of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
A friend of bikes heads to DC
At CalBike, the USDOT appointment we are most excited about is Steve Cliff, who will be the NHTSA deputy administrator. Cliff comes from the California Air Resources Board (CARB). He is a strong advocate for biking who understands the importance of reducing transportation emissions to address climate change. Streetsblog did a thorough analysis of Cliff’s record (including a photo of him with CalBike alum Jeannie Ward Waller).
The California choices aren’t the only promising picks for the incoming team. Author and planner Angie Schmidt summed it up on Twitter: “People were disappointed Pete isn’t a big enough nerd. These are the big nerds with a lot of experience as well.” Check out this thread for a rundown of all the planning nerds joining USDOT and the official press release announcing the appointments.
As mayor of South Bend, IN, Buttigieg embraced Complete Streets. He oversaw the transformation of wide, downtown streets from car deserts to multimodal transportation corridors. Under his leadership, with a strong team to support him, we hope to see USDOT finally address the lack of transportation choice that plagues so many US communities and the transportation policies that are killing our planet. That could translate into more federal funding to support active transportation in California. When that happens, your CalBike will be pushing hard for projects that support safer streets, healthier communities, and cleaner air.
What can you say about 2020? It has been the most challenging, excruciating, frustrating, endless year that most of us have experienced. Along the way, there have been some ridiculous fails as well as some significant steps forward toward reclaiming streets for people in 2020.
Here are CalBike’s best and worst of 2020.
Best emergency repurposing of street space for safety: Slow Streets
Note: the couple in the photo are sheltering in place together. Don’t freak out! Photo courtesy of Dave Campbell
The best antidote to sitting at home worrying about the pandemic is to get outside and get some exercise. Slow Streets turned neighborhood streets into safe zones for kids and adults to play while keeping safely socially distanced. They also served as crucial connections for essential workers to commute safely by bike. Californians rediscovered how joyful their neighborhoods could be once speeding cars were taken out of the equation, and we suspect they will not want to go back to normal.
Best emergency repurposing of street space for commerce: Parklets for outdoor dining
Why didn’t we think of this years ago? Oh yeah, we did, but business owners screamed about losing a couple of parking spaces. Outdoor dining brings life to our shared spaces, making them safer and more fun. It creates jobs and generates local tax revenue. We hope everyone gets it now: street space is far too valuable to be used for car storage next to every sidewalk.
Worst official grievance about pandemic street changes: San Francisco CEQA appeals of Slow Streets
SF Slow Streets photo by SFMTA.
San Francisco’s pro-automobile advocates, the Coalition for Adequate Review, played the role of the Grinch and Ebenezer Scrooge rolled into one. They filed to stop San Francisco’s Slow Streets until it received a thorough environmental review. Their challenges were ultimately rejected by the SF Board of Supervisors, but they tied up staff time and held up the implementation of San Francisco’s wildly successful program. Bah humbug! Fortunately, this kind of challenge won’t be possible in 2021, thanks to the next award winner.
Best emergency legislative response to avoid unnecessary delays in good transportation projects: SB 288
For the next two years, officials who want to build a bikeway, convert a traffic lane to transit-only, or construct other specific types of bike, ped, and transit infrastructure, can do so without unnecessary delays like the one that held up San Francisco’s Slow Streets. Introduced by Senator Scott Wiener, Senate Bill 288 eliminated CEQA requirements for bike plans and other transit projects, including bus lanes, and added some easy but important requirements for engagement with disadvantaged communities. This forward-thinking law will make it faster and easier to build bikeways. Yay!
Worst unofficial grievance about pandemic street changes: a grave marker for a parking space
Someone isn't happy about traffic calming accommodations for bike & ped safety. pic.twitter.com/1a0tuSipOQ
In a year when hundreds of thousands of people have died from a deadly virus, this grave marker for a San Diego parking space, removed to make the intersection safer for bikes and pedestrians, is beyond bad taste. ‘Nuff said.
Best policy initiative to address the need to rapidly change our streets: Quick-Build
Photo courtesy of Street Plans Collective.
Quick-build design wasn’t invented in 2020, but it came into its own this year. From Paris and Milan to New York and San Francisco, cities used the quick-build ethos to reallocate public space for biking and walking. The Quick-Build method brings safety to our streets quickly and affordably, while also making for more effective and equitable outreach.
Best video featuring a bike ride (musical): I Went on a Date with a Polar Bear
CalBike’s multi-talented Development Director, Jenn Guitart, spent some of her free time during the pandemic making videos of her original songs. Her music video, “I Went on a Date with a Polar Bear and this Is What Happened” is a delightful expression of Jenn’s (and CalBike’s) deepest desires for officials and the public to understand that reducing car use (and increasing bike use!) is the best response to the existential challenge of climate change.
Best video featuring a bike ride (non-musical): Joe Biden on a bike
President-elect Joe Biden enjoying a bike ride with his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, is just one of many reasons to hope that 2021 will be better than 2020.
Best new protected bikeway: Walnut Avenue in Fremont
A lot of non-COVID-related projects got put on hold in 2020. But Fremont was able to finish the Walnut Avenue Bikeway, which features a raised cycle track, a properly protected intersection, and connections to major destinations, including BART.
Honorable mention: Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. Santa Monica stepped up in response to the pandemic and added protected bike lanes on Ocean Avenue to bridge a gap in the city’s low-stress network. Bonus points for fast action!
Worst award-winning bikeway: North Fremont protected bike lanes, Monterey
Remember the last time you were driving in your car, and the street just ended because the city didn’t have money to build a fully connected street grid? And then the public works department asked you to be patient and told you to be grateful for incremental progress, even though the road has no useful function?
Oh, wait – that NEVER happens. Yet, the City of Monterey celebrated the completion of a 4-block protected bike lane on North Fremont Street that doesn’t connect to anything. And Caltrans thought this “bike lane to nowhere” merited an Excellence in Transportation Award. Well done, everyone. Thank you for reminding us how not to build bike infrastructure.
Best new organizational mascot: Cal the Cat
Talented artist (and former CalBike Development Associate) Minnie Phan created an illustrated mascot for CalBike that has a message for every season. Say ‘hi’ to Cal the Cat. They love you!
Best local election result: Nithya Raman unseats an incumbent on the Los Angeles City Council
CalBike made an exception to its focus on statewide races to help swing a seat on L.A.’s powerful City Council. Unlike the incumbent she ousted, Nithya Raman brings a powerful progressive voice to represent her district. With her background as an urban planner and her bike-friendly bona fides, we and the many Los Angeles social justice and bike advocates that helped get her elected have high hopes that we’ll be seeing more bikeable infrastructure in L.A. soon.
Of course, Raman is only one of several bike supporters elected this November. We’re excited to work with all the new members of the California Senate and Assembly next year.
Best new transportation funding source in California: Clean Mobility Options Grants
It’s a small sum — just $20 million — but this California program is a great use of California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. It supports underserved communities with transportation options that do not rely on the inherently inequitable strategy of support for the private automobile. The program offered its first round of grants and will be followed soon by implementation grants to support electric shuttles, bike share and scooter sharing systems.
Looking ahead: Bike share and scooter share, as currently provided, do not serve Californians who need it most. The Clean Mobility Options for Disadvantaged Communities program is a model that can lead to the provision of shared micromobility on the same terms as public transit: ubiquitous and affordable.
Worst 1950s transportation project in 2020: Bakersfield’s new highway through a razed residential neighborhood
If you thought neighborhood-killing freeway projects were a thing of the past, think again. The project directly displaced 300 homes and 120 businesses and is set to devalue and endanger thousands of residents of the currently quiet but soon-to-be imperiled neighborhood of Westpark.
Looking ahead: Caltrans officials are not unaware of the racist and inequitable impact of their highway projects. Earlier this year Director Toks Omishakin directed the entire staff to watch the documentary Divided Highways about this country’s history of using freeway projects to destroy and divide (usually Black and poor) urban communities. That gives us hope for 2021 and beyond.
Worst Caltrans project with a happy ending: rumble strips on Highways 120, 108, and 49
It’s an old story when Caltrans completes a project with no consideration for users who aren’t in vehicles. But it’s news when the agency recognizes the problem, reverses course, and corrects the problem. In 2020, Caltrans did this not once, but twice.
The first instance was a project on Highways 120, 108, and 49 in Tuolomne and Mariposa counties. The shoulders of these state routes provided safe space to ride for the area’s many bicyclists. That is, until Caltrans installed rumble strips, obliterating the bike space. In a welcome turnaround, Caltrans took riders’ complaints to heart and removed the rumble strips so that bikes can ride free again.
Honorable Mention: Highway 67 in San Diego County suffered a similar fate with rumble strips. And again, after bicycle safety advocates brought this grave error it to the agency’s attention, they fixed it.
Looking ahead: As part of our (Caltrans-funded) project to promote bike tourism in five counties in the northern San Joaquin County and Sierra foothills, we plan to develop a process for statewide adoption that will prevent these mistakes in the first place.
Best Caltrans pivot: 2020 SHOPP funding
Caltrans’ second course-correction deserves its own award.
As you know, it makes eminent sense that Caltrans includes funding for safety upgrades for bike riders and pedestrians in every repair and repavement project. At the beginning of 2020, Director Omishakin recognized the shortfalls in its proposals for 2020 SHOPP funding and in an unprecedented request, asked the California Transportation Commission to delay funding until Caltrans could identify specific improvements and reallocate $100 million for bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
Looking ahead: CalBike is working with Caltrans to be more proactive about the next SHOPP and include bike and pedestrian projects from the beginning. We hope to have more Caltrans success stories to celebrate in 2021.
Luckiest timing of a bike event around the pandemic: California Bicycle Summit
CalBike hosts the California Bicycle Summit every two years. Our last Summit was held in Los Angeles, in person (remember what that was like?), in October 2019. We are hopeful that the restrictions on gathering will be lifted by this October, and we’ll hold our 2021 Summit, as scheduled, in October, in Oakland. Mark your calendars and we’ll see you there!
Best decision by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon
It was well known in the California Legislature that progressive transportation reform — complete streets, lower speed limits, equitable funding priorities — faced a prohibitive roadblock in the Assembly Transportation Committee. Its Chair, who enjoys inordinate power thanks to the rules of the legislature, deferred to the oil lobby and the California Highway Patrol instead of environmental groups and safety advocates. After years of complaining, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon finally did something to remove the roadblock, replacing the Chair with sustainable transportation advocate Laura Friedman. Thank you Speaker Rendon.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Cal-the-Cat-in-a-mask.png25186647Kevin Claxtonhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngKevin Claxton2020-12-28 11:37:112020-12-28 13:41:28CalBike’s Best and Worst of 2020
If you missed CalBike’s 2021 Agenda Reveal Party, you can still get in on the fun! We recorded our December 3, 2020 event. Click below to join us virtually to review our 2020 accomplishments and unveil our 2021 agenda.
Agenda Reveal highlights (with timestamps):
1:15 Welcome from Dave
3:04 Introduction of special guests
3:22 Comments from State Senator Scott Weiner
5:53 Comments from Assembly Member Elect Steve Bennett
8:38 CalBike Board Chair Cynthia Rose
9:25 Introduction of CalBike staff
11:27 Recap of CalBike’s 2020 accomplishments
11:33 CalBike’s COVID response – Jenn Guitart, CalBike Development Director
13:28 CalBike’s proposals for removing the police from traffic enforcement – Dave Snyder
15:21 Quick-Build Guide – Jenn Guitart
17:23 Community bike shops – Jared Sanchez, CalBike Senior Policy Advocate
20:23 Shasta Bike Depot – Anne Thomas, Shasta Living Streets (a sponsored project of CalBike Education Fund)
21:40 Central Valley Bikeways Project and Bakersfield Bike Share – Forest Barnes, Lead Active Transportation Planner, Central Valley, and Asha Chandy, Active Transportation Planner (Bike Bakersfield)
24:34 Bicycle Tourism in the Central Valley, the Foothills, and the Sierras – Rob Williams, CalBike & Motherlode Bike Coalition
26:55 Motherlode Bike Coalition – Carl Baker
28:51 CalBike 2021 Agenda Reveal – Dave Snyder
Get state to incentivize whole network bike improvements
Affordable bikeshare and other last-mile transport as part of public transit systems
Complete Streets work with Caltrans
Improve design guidelines in Caltrans Design Manual to create safer facilities for bikes
34:38 Decriminalizing biking and walking – Jared Sanchez
Eliminate “jaywalking” as a crime
“Idaho stop” – bikes treating stop signs as yields
39:04 E-bike rebates – Assembly Member Tasha Boerner Horvath
[42:10 – 56:30 Breakout rooms (not recorded)]
56:37 Closing
Help CalBike make its 2021 agenda a reality: Donate today!
CalBike recently spoke with two researchers who compared trends in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities among the US, the UK, Germany, and Denmark. We outlined their findings in a post about the alarming trend in US fatalities.
Our far-ranging discussion didn’t stop with the data in their new study. The researchers had lessons to share based on their cross-cultural studies in urban affairs. They also had advice on the best way to reduce fatalities in the US (reduce speeds) and where the energy to make the change needs to come from (the grassroots).
John Pucher is a professor emeritus at Rutgers University. Ralph Buehler is a professor and the chair of Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech. Both specialize in urban transportation, and much of their research focuses on international comparisons, like their latest study. Buehler is a native of Germany, and Pucher has lived in Europe.
Citizens demand safer streets
European cities weren’t always the bicycling havens that many of them are now. “I would emphasize that many of the cities were completely destroyed during WWII,” Pucher said. “It was an explicit decision to build them back in the old pattern.”
Many European cities initially emulated the US model, building wider roads where cars could drive faster and littering their cities with parking lots. Air quality suffered, traffic fatalities rose, and parking lots ate up land in short supply in dense and compact cities. “Following the American model was a disaster,” Pucher said. “They were ruining their cities.”
Beginning around 1975, a mostly grassroots movement took back streets in big cities and small towns across Europe as “one neighborhood after another demanded traffic calming,” according to Pucher.
As a result, the majority of streets in Vienna are traffic-calmed. About 75% of all Dutch streets are calmed, and that country voted to enact a nationwide 30 kph (18.5 mph) speed limit. (The prior limit was 50 kph or about 30 mph.) Cities will have to petition for permission for higher speed limits.
The case for creating European-style infrastructure in the US
But can it work here? Is it possible to overcome resistance from NIMBYs predicting carmaggedon if communities remove even one lane of traffic to make room for safe biking? Buehler and Pucher think so. (Plus, the concept of America’s “love affair with cars” was created by an ad agency and may be a myth, according to a recent episode of The War on Cars podcast.)
Buehler recounted a presentation he gave about US bikeways to a European audience. The group thought it should be much easier to put in bikeways in the US because our roads are very wide. It’s more of a challenge on the narrow roadways in European communities. He pointed out that 40% of US trips are 2 miles or less, so biking is a reasonable choice for everyday transport.
“What it comes down to is a political willingness at all levels of government to make pedestrian and cyclist safety a priority,” Buehler said, instead of a “second thought.”
“There’s a lot more focus on moving cars,” he said. “The measures [to create bike- and walk-friendly streets] are there. They are known.” The missing ingredient is the political will to implement them.
Finding the political will to make a change
One way to help build that political will is to reframe the discussion. Decisions about the allocation of street space in the US are often treated as a zero-sum game where someone has to lose, and the “windshield” contingent sees sharing as a threat to freedom. The truth, according to Buehler and Pucher, is that Americans suffer from a lack of choice.
“In many places, you have to drive – otherwise, you are kind of an outlaw,” Buehler said. “What we have to build is a safe system but also a system that gives you choices.”
In European cities, some people drive cars, but it is not their only option. With enough grassroots pressure, we can bring transportation choices to California and the US as a whole. Imagine communities where taking transit, biking, walking, or driving a car were all safe and viable options for people to get where they needed to go.
CalBike believes in this vision. We’re working with Caltrans to reorient the car-centric agency to focus on slower, more livable streets that are safe and comfortable for all users. In 2020, we helped pass a law that will make it cheaper and easier for California communities to build bike lanes. We created a Quick-Build Guide to provide tools for making streets safer with minimal cost and time. Next year, we’ll work to get subsidies for e-bikes, which are a great way to replace car trips, as part of an ambitious agenda to make it easier and safer to bike and walk and to mitigate climate change by transitioning California from its car-dependence.
Putting the “zero” in Vision Zero: a recipe for safer streets
Pucher noted that the built environment is not the biggest obstacle to safe streets. He likes to highlight the fact that kids are the primary victims of fast traffic in our neighborhoods. By letting motor vehicles zoom through residential areas, we are “stealing space from kids.” We have a choice to make: our kids or our cars. “You have to put it in those dramatic terms,” he said.
“There are so many policy levers at the local level that ultimately determine how attractive a cycling environment you have,” Buehler said. “There are many decisions that local planners and policymakers make that determine the attractiveness of walking and bicycling.” However, he said, “If you reduce the speed, you can avoid many crashes.”
“Push for real change. Just because the governor or somebody announces Vision Zero doesn’t mean we are heading for Vision Zero,” Buehler said. “Just getting something into a policy document isn’t enough.”
Pucher noted that studies show that traffic calming more than anything else reduces traffic injuries and fatalities. Reduced speed limits have to be enforced through widespread speed cameras and red light cameras.
CalBike’s work to make safer streets a reality
California law needs to change to make these critical changes possible. Right now, a regressive law prohibits communities from setting a speed limit lower than the “85th percentile speed.” This method sets speed limits according to the (often irresponsible) behavior of drivers, not the needs of the community.
The Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force, of which CalBike was a member, focused on reducing vehicle speeds. It found that the 85th percentile method of setting speed limits is problematic. It doesn’t allow enough flexibility to set lower limits to protect vulnerable road users. This method can also lead to speed creep, forcing jurisdictions to raise speed limits based solely on driver behavior, not road safety. In its final report, the task force recommended making it easier to set lower speed limits in areas with vulnerable road users or high rates of injuries. It recommended studying a change in California’s speed setting methodology. However, the task force didn’t take up CalBike’s recommendation to create 20 mph zones on neighborhood Slow Streets. There is still much more work to be done. CalBike will continue to look for ways to change California’s retrograde speed laws.
Speed cameras are another innovation that would save lives while reducing the role of police in traffic enforcement. Currently, California prohibits the use of speed cameras for traffic enforcement. CalBike supports speed cameras as a more effective and also more equitable way to keep our streets safe.
https://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/bike-rider-in-Europe-cropped-scaled.jpg22612560Laura McCamyhttps://www.calbike.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/calbike-logo.pngLaura McCamy2020-11-30 18:51:552021-01-13 19:03:02What Can California Learn about Traffic Safety from Europe?