Advocacy & Safety - the key to bike use is convenience........and lots of parking

this may be of interest, it is a blog from a member of a team from San Jose

http://thenewipo.com/2010/09/05/the-1-bike-challenge-in-holland-parking/

Quoted "The less convenient you make cycling, the less people will ride. We repeatedly heard that bike parking is the #1 challenge because if folks can’t park conveniently near their destination, they opt for something else. And, since most homes are “high density”, rolling a bike up a flight of stairs for secure bike storage acts as an impediment."

This was interesting because it is convenience, in this case places to park that is emphasized.

No mention of bike lanes/paths etc

Also of interest is that bikes and mass transportation seem to be cogs in the wheel.

Of course Holland in not the US, but the message, modified a little is: More people will cycle when it is more convenient than driving.

for those in san jose, the team will do a presentation on Dec 6

See the link below for information on a free public presentation discussing lessons learned by three south bay leaders who recently toured bike facilities in the Netherlands.

When: 7p-9p, Monday December 6, 2010
Where: San Jose City Hall
200 E. Santa Clara Street, Wing Room W120
San Jose, CA 95113

More Info: http://bikesiliconvalley.org/content/1728

I have to fully agree... when the world looks like it was designed for cars, then it seems to only make sense to use a car... but when the world gives options (especially parking), then it up to the user to figure out what suits the task best.

When everything looks like a nail; people use hammers.

the challenge is bike parking in HOLLAND.

the challenge is bike parking in HOLLAND.

Bek: true, and I would bet you would wish that was a problem here.

Byt other than it being of interest in general, by big point is:

Making it more convenient to ride than to drive is a big driver in increasing ridership

Which begs the question What makes biking more convenient? lots of things (feel free to add)

Lack of parking for cars
faster than driving
Lower cost than driving
easy safe DIRECT route to destination (streets, lanes, paths, whatever.... direct)
good weather
Bikes that encourages light utility use (lights, fenders, easy on/off, carrying capacity)
Other people riding (ok maybe not more convenient, but behavior reinforcing :) )
and????

Thinking about commuters, I'd think the #1 impediment would be showers.

Mikael at copenhagenize sums it up pretty good:


...

When the City of Copenhagen asks its cycling citizens what their main reason for cycling is - and they ask every two years - the majority reply that it is because a bicycle is the quickest and easiest way to get around town. 56% of them say that.

...

People on bicycles are no different than people on foot, on trains, planes and automobiles. They want to get there quick. **** sapiens are like rivers - we'll always take the quickest route.

...
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2010/05/cycling-isnt-fun-its-transport.html

Bek: true, and I would bet you would wish that was a problem here.

Byt other than it being of interest in general, by big point is:

Making it more convenient to ride than to drive is a big driver in increasing ridership

Which begs the question What makes biking more convenient? lots of things (feel free to add)

Lack of parking for cars
faster than driving
Lower cost than driving
easy safe DIRECT route to destination (streets, lanes, paths, whatever.... direct)
good weather
Bikes that encourages light utility use (lights, fenders, easy on/off, carrying capacity)
Other people riding (ok maybe not more convenient, but behavior reinforcing :) )
and????

What you say sounds so reasonable, and yet it does not jive with my experiences. In the late '70s and early '80s I was a student and then staff member at U.C. Davis. We had over 90% of all trips in town done by bike. Yet, if one needed to drive somewhere there was abundant parking for cars quite close to everything, either on campus or in town. Since there were very few cars on the road, it was slightly faster to drive than to ride. While I considered the weather to be great, I do hear people complain about the weather when it is 110F or 30F, both of which were fairly common occurrences. The bikes that most people rode were junky old ten-speeds with no fenders or lights (people held flashlights in their hands at night). Also, finding bike parking on campus was next to impossible and failure to park in a legit spot involved having your bike impounded. Additionally, both police departments aggressively wrote tickets for moving violations committed by cyclists. And yet, everyone rode.

I think the number one factor in getting the people who moved to that town out of their cars and onto bikes was the fact that everyone else was doing it that way. People are sheep; they will do what they think everyone expects them to do.

Anything that gets one more (net) rider is a good thing. However, I don't expect that there is any magic infrastructure mix that will, by itself, change the culture to create a bike-friendly region. A few more oil shocks would probably do a lot more than all the bike paths in the country.

In any city where the weather is nice there would be people who would love to ride a bike to work, if only they had good shower rooms and change areas and somewhere to put the bike. That is the usual issue when I suggest it to people.

I strongly encouraged Baltimore to set up a bike rack program, and they have been installing about 100 racks a year. I think that has been very helpful here. We've had a 200% increase in bike commuters sense 2000.

Thinking about commuters, I'd think the #1 impediment would be showers.


In any city where the weather is nice there would be people who would love to ride a bike to work, if only they had good shower rooms and change areas and somewhere to put the bike. That is the usual issue when I suggest it to people.

Check out commuting, there are many threads on showers...... there are many ways to deal with lack of showers the summary being
* shower before the ride,
* allow cool down time,
* user baby wipes for quick refresh,
* change clothes.

understand that sweat does not cause body odor, body odor is caused by bacteria so as long as the bacteri level is low, odor should not be a problem.

bike storage seems to be a bigger real problem.

There are quite a few places around Cleveland that would benefit from well lit bike racks. I wanted to ride my bike to the "science cafe" this month and ended up catching a ride at the last minute because "you can lock it up to the railing on the patio" didn't sound secure enough for my ride

Favorable, pleasant conditions and environment. (weather, surroundings,)
Education on proper selection, bike fit, maintenance.

1) Some sort of theft resistant parking.
2)Some way to clean up or change after arriving at work.
3)Even if you could drop bacteria levels so low that you couldn't smell their handiwork, you would still have sweaty clothing-not acceptable for work(unless you are the boss-