Just rode back from the public unveiling of Seattle's Bike Master Plan, where the mayor pledged increasing the liveability of Seattle via pedestrian, transit and bicycle improvements funded by a citizen approved initiative.
Very nice all around; goals of increasing bicycling trips, increasing driver awareness of bicyclists, increasing on street bike infrastructure including bike lanes and sharrows. signed bike routes, road diets, etc; the usual gambits utilized in progressive cities to increase bicycling thru the use of bicycle specific infrastructure.
Acouple of observations: one of the local forsterite "vehicle driver" crowd was seen cavorting with the radio shock jockeys after the event, spewing his anti-facilities rant to the talk radio critics; and even more ironic, he showed up RIDING THE BIKE PATH :eek: to get there, despite a roadway 30 feet away!
nice one, anti facilities guy. seems the forsterite crewe are both anti-bicycling AND hypocritical. the gall, to show up riding a bike path, then jaw the anti-facilites message to the radio shock jockeys.
well, just some observations, got to ride to work, I'll post a link to the plan when I get home unless someone else does first.
kf5nd
04-04-07, 01:34 PM
Me glad me live in a place were we isn't so advanced yet
John E
04-04-07, 01:48 PM
Ask the anti-facilities guy whether he feels traffic signals should respond to the presence of bicyclists.
Mos6502
04-04-07, 03:06 PM
You know Seattle is the only city I've ridden in where somebody has told me to get off the road. It was also the only city where I've been hit by a car...
closetbiker
04-04-07, 03:31 PM
Just rode back from the public unveiling of Seattle's Bike Master Plan... Very nice all around;...
You'd follow a plan?:eek:
Bekologist
04-04-07, 10:54 PM
I do expect municipalities that want to encourage bicycling to have a plan, yes, closetbiker. Vancouver has a forward reaching plan too, ya know.
I got a chuckle from the irony, seeing one of the vocal, local foresterite bicycle 'drivers' riding up on the bike path. A showcasing of hypocracy, then he spoke out against the plan to the radio shock jockeys.
closetbiker
04-05-07, 12:26 AM
but would you follow a plan, laid out by others????? be in order with others?????
Bekologist
04-05-07, 06:55 AM
more importantly, even the high-n-mighty bicycle drivers will benefit from the plan.
will I follow it? I'm not the seattle DOT and don't own a lane striping machine, me 'following' the bicycle master plan is kind of skewed.
Implementation of the master plan is going to increase bicycling in Seattle, increase the use of the roads by bicycles, increase bike lanes and sharrows, increase visibility of bicycles as road users, increase bicyclists' safety.
the goal is to increase bicycling as transportation to over 5 percent, a goal encouraged and acheived in Vancouver by use of a bike master plan and bike infrastructure. Seattle's following your cities' lead, closetbiker. Do you bike in your city, closet?
closetbiker
04-05-07, 08:14 AM
I do, and the city is different than the region. I was around when the last big plan was laid out over 17 years ago and even contributed to it. There was a similar goal that was never realized, unfortunately.
The good news is that some areas have done quite well, while others have not. The downtown core has the best rates, add in the rest of the city and it lowers, add in the suburbs and it lowers still more.
If you stand at Burrard and Helmken, you'd get a different count than if you stood at Beach and Hornby, just as being at Granville and 72nd is going to be different than Scott and 108th or 3rd and Westminster.
The overall regional rate has stayed the same, but when I'm asking about order, I'm wondering how riders (or you) use these facilities. The thing I'll be seeing very soon, when the fair weather riders come out, is riders using them in any which way they will, so wrong way riding, and movng into others paths will soon be the norm.
I guess as long as you expect it, you can keep an eye out for it, and it's not like the cars haven't been doing that all winter anyway. At least with cars, when they hit you, you can get some cash because liability insurance is mandatory here. When I've been hit by bozozs on bikes, I get nothing. :(
Bekologist
04-05-07, 08:28 AM
blah blah blah. well said, closetbiker, i guess?
sbhikes
04-05-07, 08:32 AM
What's in the master plan, Bek? I imagine it's money for road improvements, parking improvements, education, etc.
I learned the other night that Santa Barbara has an annual bike count. I had seen those guys before, but didn't know what they were doing. Turns out getting good numbers isn't so common, but Santa Barbara has been getting good numbers for a while. They count not just cyclists per hour but they also mark down information like wrong-way riding or helmets.
I wonder if the heckler who rode the bike path and complained later was Helmet Head. He hasn't been around for a couple of days.
Anyway, cities are starting to recognize that if you build cities around the automobile you get choked by them. They are learning they have to do something to change this otherwise economic growth will be stunted. Who wants to go visit a city with fabulous sights that you can barely see due to the smog? How wants to visit a city whose buildings and sculptures are crumbling to ruins in the acid rain? Who wants to go visit a city where it's nearly impossible to get anywhere because of traffic? Who wants to live where you can't find any parking or where parking costs more than renting an apartment?
closetbiker
04-05-07, 08:40 AM
at least bikes are getting attention and drivers are getting an extra lane they can use if they have to.
I've got to admit, I like that legally, bikes can pass on the right if they're in a bike lane
(unfortunately, it seems cars can still make a right while the cyclist is trying to make that pass. There was a collision when this happened and the court held up the drivers right to make a right turn even though it was in the path of a passing in a bike lane cyclist on the right).
in '93, 2% of all trips in the morning rush hour in the region are made by bicycle, and in '03, 2% of all trips in the morning rush hour in the region are made by bicycle.
I wish all the cash they put into the lanes would have gone into traffic law enforement instead.
*just re-checked with the BCCC and saw 1.9% average for Greater Vancouver, ranging from 0.6% in Surrey to 3.3% in Vancouver, according to the census.*