The New York Times reports on the trend of fashion companies marketing bicycles and bike gear. Bikes are showing up on runways and in high-end shop window displays. Designers are incorporating bikes and bike style into their looks. According to the article, “purists worry that their beloved rides are becoming showy status symbols.” One bicycling journalist was quoted as saying, “If you unleash a herd of teetering, wobbly fashionistas into city streets without any real knowledge of how to ride a bike in traffic, accidents can (and likely will) happen.”

If there are enough of these high-end cyclists wobbling around city streets for the average cyclists to notice, then the retailers truly have been doing their job well. Just like any other new cyclists, these high-fashion riders will take a few laps around the block before they’re totally comfortable. In the meantime, the League’s bike education courses are available to everyone.

But given the trepidation many still feel about riding on city streets, it says a lot about people’s perceptions about bicycling safety that this conversation about flooding the streets with fashionistas is even taking place. The article credits New York City’s installation of 120 miles of bike lanes with making the city’s riders feel more comfortable. As the Times article puts it, “’LVMH [the company that owns Louis Vuitton, Fendi and DKNY]wouldn’t make a $9,000 bike if you couldn’t actually ride down Eighth Avenue in your Zegna suit or Chanel dress and make it to work in one piece,’ Philippe von Borries, a founder of Refinery29, the fashion Web site, wrote by e-mail.”

The more cyclists, the better. Building an inclusive movement means sharing the spotlight, and the road, with all types of riders. If someone wants to turn what we love to do into a status symbol, they should feel free.

~Darren Flusche, League Policy Analyst

If you thought getting Federal funding for your bike project or program was difficult…wait til you see how complicated it is to give Washington back money that hasn’t been spent! Yes, the Federal government has issued another call for rescissions – the mechanism by which unspent or unobligated transportation funds are sent back to Washington to help fund future rounds of transportation expenditures. This time, the Feds are asking for $8.7 billion, and at first blush it looks as if State Departments of Transportation have relatively little flexibility as to which funds they have to send back to Washington. The memo is an incredible testament to the ways in which a relatively simple concept can be made convoluted and impenetrable, so it was a huge relief to see that there’s a handy table in the memo from the Federal Highway Administration to the states that says how much money they should be sending back from each particular program.

However, as we were discussing the details and implications of the rescission with our colleagues at America Bikes and the Alliance for Biking and Walking, we eventually found the catch and the reason why we needed the Alliance to get the word out to their member groups ASAP. It turns out that the amounts shown in the table are shown irrespective of whether or not those funds have already been spent on a particular program. If a state has indeed obligated or spent all its funds in one program area, it has to make up the amount that needs to be rescinded from other programs where they still have a balance of unspent funds. Lo and behold, even after years of exhorting states to spend their transportation enhancement and congestion mitigation funds up to the maximum allowed, many have dragged their feet and it those funds – the funds most likely to ever be used for bike projects – that are now potentially going to make up the shortfall in funds that have to be sent back to the US Treasury!

Check the League’s advocacy page, and stay in touch through the America Bikes and Alliance websites. This is an issue that won’t go away, and isn’t going to get any simpler as time goes by.

~Andy Clarke, League President

Coming on the heels of the national Safe Routes to Schools Conference, the Safe Routes to Schools National Partnership is collecting letters to Congress from supporters expressing in personal terms why it is important for children to be able to walk and bicycle to school. They will bundle the letters and send them to Congress.

To show your support for Safe Routes to Schools, follow the instructions below and go to the National Partnership’s Dear Congress Campaign page for more information.

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Today, on NPR’s Morning Addition, Ari Shapiro’s bike was among the first to roll into the new bike shelter located at Union Station.  Not only will the shelter provide a safe facility for commuters to store their bikes, it will serve as a very visible symbol of the changing approach to transportation planning in Washington, D.C.  For commuters arriving at Union Station via MARC, VRE or AMTRAK, the final leg of their commute is usually on the Metro or bus.  Soon commuters will be able to purchase a yearly $100 membership or pay a daily fee of $1 to keep their bicycle in a safe, reliable bike shelter, adding some much needed connectivity to D.C.’s transportation system. (photo credit: The City Fix)

On a personal note, the opening of the bike station will greatly improve my daily venture into D.C. as I am a regular commuter on the MARC train and have found the lack of bike transportation options for commuters arriving in Union Station to be quite frustrating. Because commuters are not permitted to bring their bikes on the train, leaving your bike locked at the bike racks out front is the only other option.  However, this is hardly a viable option, as is evidenced by the teams of wheeless and seatless bikes that stand embarrassed and dejected.  The opening of the Union Station bike shelter provides a safe place for commuters to store their bikes, thus diversifying commuting options, relieving stress on the Metro and ultimately creating a healthier place to live and work.

Also, today’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has an article on a bike parking ordinance that was approved by the planning commission last night.

~Anna Kelso, League Policy Analyst

Google is asking for suggestions to improve their Maps feature. One of the things you can suggest with the click of  a button  is “bike trail information and biking directions.” It is very easy.

Go to http://maps.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=suggestions.cs, scroll down to Route Information and click “Suggest it” next to “Add bike trail information and biking directions.”

Oregon, California, and Colorado often come to mind when people dream of bicycling through scenic vistas or experiencing the best mountain biking in the world, but Delaware is a state that rarely comes up. While their tourism board isn’t out selling themselves as a cycling hotbed, the state government is quietly making Delaware a great place to ride.

Having hosted the first annual Delaware Bike Summit and passed statewide Complete Streets legislation this year, the League has taken notice. Not only did Delaware jump to 9th in our annual state rankings, but the state earned an Honorable Mention in our Bicycle Friendly State awards. With all that is going on there, the League staff has acknowledged their accomplishments. However, we were still surprised to see this:

On Wednesday, Kusner’s typically uneventful ride took a VIP turn as she was joined by Gov. Jack Markell; Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del.; and about a dozen AstraZeneca and state workers. The politicians and colleagues turned out to encourage more Delawareans to give bicycle commuting a try.

Credit: The News Journal/FRED COMEGYS

We have to admit, the dog days of August seem an unusual time to encourage folks to get out their air-conditioned cars and try bike commuting for the first time, but we are excited by Governor Markell’s enthusiasm! The DelawareOnline.com article went on to add:

“Getting more people on two wheels would be a good way to eat away at some of our biggest problems, according to Markell, an avid cyclist. “It’s part of a bigger solution to two issues,” he said. “One is transportation — traffic, reducing congestion, reducing pollution. But it’s also part of the solution in terms of becoming a more fit society.”

Kudos to Governor Markell and the progress his state has been making. The League will continue to work with advocates, cyclists, Delaware DOT and legislators through our Bicycle Friendly State program to make Delaware a more bike-friendly place.

Creating Safer Streets

As rates of bicycling continue to rise across the country and advocates cross-country work for larger investments in cycling-specific programming and infrastructure, opposition is often united under the rallying cry of scofflaw cyclists. While it is true that not all cyclists obey the rules of the road as they should, are those on two wheels really more reckless and lawless than those travelling on four? Local D.C. blog WashCycle theorized on the ‘Myth of the Scofflaw Cyclist’ last year that perhaps the issue isn’t that cyclist break more laws than motorist, but that they break different ones.

There are few places where the effects of traffic are more notable than New York City. While a recent Hunter College study suggests that many Big Apple cyclists are guilty of poor riding behavior, unsafe behavior of motorists was not examined. Local active transportation advocates Transportation Alternatives offered their own study in response, as noted in today’s NY Post:

Motorists commit about three potentially life-threatening traffic violations every minute at city intersections, clocking in at a stunning 157 each hour, according to the Transportation Alternatives report: From Chaos to Compliance.

And drivers don’t give way to pedestrians, cyclists, and other vehicles 24 times every hour — even though that same crime caused the second-most crashes in the city two years ago, the transit advocacy group’s study found.

Those are scary numbers, especially given that more than 200 people die in traffic crashes every year in New York City alone. While traffic fatalities are down more than 35 percent over the past seven years, Transportation Alternatives is calling for increased enforcement that targets dangerous violations.

Much like the Share the Road message, targeted enforcement is a two way street. In our Bicycle Friendly Community application we ask how your community’s law enforcement targets dangerous behavior for all road users – including cyclists. However enforcement can’t do it alone. Our Smart Cycling program is on target to certify more than 400 League Cycling Instructors this year. These LCI’s will offer our Traffic Skills training courses, assist with law enforcement training and serve as safe cycling ambassadors in their clubs and community. By working through all of the Five E’s, we are striving to create safer streets for everyone.

Author of Traffic and transportation blogger, Tom Vanderbilt has an article in the new issue of Slate Magazine talking about the need for bike parking: 

If car parking is often overshadowed in traffic talk, bicycle parking is even more obscure. For many people in the United States it might be hard to imagine what there is to talk about. Why don’t you just stick it in the garage? Or, Isn’t that what street signs and trees are for? But as the share of trips made by bicycle has grown in recent years—in Portland, Ore., for example, bicycle use has grown nearly 150 percent since 1990, and an estimated 5 percent of people bike to work—new attention is being paid to what happens to those bicycles when they are not in motion.

Vanderbilt does a good job spelling out the need for quality end-of-trip facilities, pointing to Portland, Ore. and the high demand for on-street bike parking corrals, the groundbreaking Bikes in Buildings legislation recently passed in New York City, and even gets in a plug for the Bike Station opening at Union Station here in D.C. in the coming weeks.

Parking has been on the minds of the Bicycle Friendly America staff a lot recently. We’re in the process of updating the Bicycle Friendly Community application to include more questions about the various policies and physical accommodations like the ones mentioned in Vanderbilt’s article. The new application will be released in September.

In 1984 the Muppets took Manhattan; in 2009 the League of American Bicyclists took Portland. That Muppet reference is partly just an excuse to link to this bicycling scene from the Great Muppet Caper. But we really did take Portland.

The League sent seven staff members to last week’s Safe Routes to School National Conference in the Pacific Northwest’s BFC Platinum paradise. We met with city staff and toured around to see how Portland carefully considers bicyclists when they design roads to enhance access, awareness and on street accommodation. Portland’s Bicycle Coordinator, Roger Geller, took some staff and other conference attendees on a tour of the city’s bicycle facilities and discussed the soon to be released Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030.

Port of Portland sign at the airport. Photo by Jeff Peel

Scott Bricker of Portland’s Bicycle Transportation Alliance was the MC for Wednesday night’s opening plenary. He introduced the leaders of the two national Safe Routes organizations, Lauren Marchetti of the National Center for Safe Routes to School and Deb Hubsmith of Safe Routes to School National Partnership. Both women applauded the efforts of the planners and advocates in attendance to make their communities safer and more pleasant for children to get physical activity on their way to school.

Much of the conference talk focused on children’s health and the need for a built environment that encourages active transportation. Robert Ping of the National Partnership reported that an alarming number of school principals do not allow children to bike to school because of liability concerns.

Another hot topic this year was school siting. New schools are often built on cheaper land located further from central residential areas, making it more difficult to walk and bike to school. During one “mobile workshop” – a conference session on bikes – attendees saw where a freeway was built, splitting a neighborhood in two and forcing students to bus or drive to school. The tour then went to a location where a highway was actually removed by the city.

The trip gave the League staff a chance to experience what it’s like to ride around a Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community. It also gave some of us a chance to ride around town in a group from the League that consisted of a tandem bicycle, a mountain bike with 29-inch wheels, and a Brompton folding bike. See some photographs below from the conference photographer Greg Conyers.

Riders on the “Dead Freeways” mobile workshop. Photo: Greg Conyers

Jeff Mapes, author of Pedaling Revolution, speaks to Safe Routes to School conference attendees. Photo: Greg Conyers

Portland. Photo: Greg Conyers

We have posted a report on the economic impacts of investing in bicycling to the new policy/reports section of our site. The report summarizes available research on the contribution of bicycling, bicycle tourism and the bicycle industry to the national and local economies, neighborhoods and businesses. The purpose is to provide advocates with an additional tool to show policy makers the benefits of investing in bicycling. Thanks to Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, Streetsblog, and EcoVelo for spreading the word about the report.

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