Revolutions at 90 RPM Part 2: Bike Commuting Around the U.S. and the World

This is the third of a 4-part series on bike commuting in Los Angeles and around the world. The intro is here, Part 1 here.

While recently attending Blogher '08 in the public transportation mecca that is San Francisco, I noticed bikes are also banned from Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trains during commute hours. (It was an issue for Los Angeles bike commuters who are barred from the city's commuter rail during those times as well, see part 1 of this series.)

This doesn't mean the rest of BART is bicycle-unfriendly--far from it. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition summarizes several of the initiatives to enabling bike-train ease of use: experimental Bike Stair Ramps so cyclists don't have to hoist their bikes over a shoulder in a narrow stairwell. Bike parking plus sales and repairs at a city Caltrain station. Caltrans (the state transportation agency) runs a transbay San Francisco-Oakland Bicycle Shuttle for $1 during peak commute hours.

Just for kicks, I looked around to see what other American cities do to combine bike-city train/bus use. And then I looked at a few cities around the world, for comparison.

American Bike Commuting

San Diego: you can take your bike on a trolley, people.

Minneapolis/St. Paul: free bike racks at all bus and trains stops; many bike lockers are also available. Plus emergency cab fare for commuters who use a combination of bike/rail/bus/carpool/vanpool and suddenly need a ride home. Genius.

Birmingham, AL: 2 bikes per bus rack. Not initially encouraging, but there's something very positive in the offing if moves to implement a Birmingham Regional Transit Authority succeed, and a twelve-county grassroots effort called Region2020 has some promising plans it's currently advocating that include mass transit options and bike-friendly policies.

Houston: only two bikes are allowed on light rail and only during off-peak hours, and there's a push afoot (so to speak) to get more bike racks at stops and on light rails when the city builds out its system 2008-2012. Go get 'em, BikeHouston!

Chicago (a certain presidential candidate's stomping grounds): has an awesome City Department of Transportation Bicycling Program that oversees bike lanes, bike paths, bike commuting, over 83 station sheltered bike racks, and special parking spots on trains for bikes (limited to off-peak commute hours: 3 bikes per diesel, 2 per electric rail). (Looks like foldies are allowed in a protective cover at all times.)

St. Louis: St. Louis Regional Bicycling Federation reports that MoDOT (Missouri Department of Transportation) has a new head of Non-Motorized Transportation Engineer, Melissa Anderson, P.E. Bikes allowed on buses and trains can be locked at station racks.

Tucson, AZ (home state of another presidential candidate): the usual bus & bike combo, with a small fee for bike locker storage.

Portland, OR: another bike commuting mecca, where bikes are welcome at all hours on buses, light rail, commuter rail, and street cars. Abundant bike lockers make it easy for multi-mode riding. And "bike boxes" painted on the street make it easy for cars to know exactly where and when bicyclists will be when stopped at a traffic signal.

The  "bike box" (above and below) designating spots for cyclists at traffic lights. Photo credits for both: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland.org.

PDOT bike coordinator Roger Geller tests it out. --caption courtesy Jonathan Maus/BikePortland.org.

Now, Portland is also where Democratic candidate and Senator Barack Obama praised Portland's leadership in integrating bicycle commuters in lanes with car traffic. He had plenty of opportunity to see bikes on the road--it was bikes everywhere at the 75,000-person strong historic rally in Portland back in May. But Obama went further than that.

First, he went on a family bike ride in Chicago.

Look--it's "Urkel" on a bike! (Obama's joke, not mine.) Photo credit: LA Times/AP.

Then, later in June 2008, Obama met with 160 prominent bicycle manufacturers, advocates, and public transit activists who favor bicycle commuting, among them Greg Lemond, three-time winner of the Tour de France. While in their midst, Obama said "he had no idea at the time he was riding with his children that he would soon meet with so many members from the industry."

...if [Obama] were elected president he would increase funding for cycling and pedestrian projects. And the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee also said he would support Safe Routes to Schools programs.

He also told them he seldom makes promises on what he would do if elected president, but that this was a promise he would keep.

As I've mentioned before, by looking in a previous post at efforts to make car-loving Los Angeles more friendly to bicycle commuters, there are numerous efforts at the city, regional, state and federal government levels to take proactive steps. And these steps would address rising gas prices/sustainable mass transit, obesity, and urban sprawl.

At the federal level, the 2005-2009 Transportation Bill (SAFETEA-LU) will be our chief means to achieve this when it's debated and then inally signed by our next president.

But we're still a long way--and it'll take decades of infrastructure investment and education--to achieve true incorporation of bicycle commuting into mass transit in the way that it's done in Europe. Or even as it once was done in China.

Bike Commuting in Other Countries

Amsterdam, the holy grail of bike commuting.

Look closely. Everybody's riding, not walking their bikes. Date unknown.

Above and below, the People's Republic of China, "The Kingdom of Bicycles," photographer: Weng Wenlan.

To this, China, 2006:

Paris, France and Velib:

Beginning on July 15, [2007] thousands of bicycles became available in Paris at hundreds of self-service docking stations installed around the city by J. C. Decaux, an outdoor advertising company. Anyone, even fresh-off-the-plane Americans, can stroll over, swipe a credit card and ride away on a sturdy, well-maintained three-speed bike, a “vélo” in French. Access to the bikes is available all of the time; it's liberating, as in “liberté,” so the “Vélib” was born.

Bogota, Colombia and Ciclovia:

IS THAT GENIUS OR WHAT???? Okay, so it's not bike commuting proper, but it's just so delightful, I had to include this. They close off the major corridors in the city one day every weekend between 7 am- 2 pm, and everyone turns out to take group outdoor rumba lessons or bikes or skates or jogs along completely auto-free roads. And they make it a party! That's free! For everyone! Awesome. Whatever they're doing, it seems to be working, because the people of Bogota are beautiful and happy to a person.

So maybe Obama's on to something. There are many ways to bring a little sustainability, a little transport, and some exercise back into our lives. And maybe even a little FUN.

People around the world are experimenting. So can we.

And because their economies are not falsely propped up by oil, they have a competitive advantage over us the more creative and committed they can be and the more fearful and backward we are. While we're sweating the cost of gas, other nations are figuring out the sustainability of their natural resources and using them.

Just look at Brazil. In 2006, it achieved energy equilibrium by making oil exports almost equal to imports.

The production of sugar cane-based ethanol is expected to reach an all-time high. And just three years after the introduction here of flex-fuel vehicles -- cars that run on either ethanol or gasoline -- several major automakers predict that such vehicles will represent 100 percent of their production by the end of the year, eliminating gas-only models.

Brazil is no longer wholly oil-dependent, but they sell it to willing buyers. Kind of a great business model, isn't it, where you sell the crack but don't smoke it yourself? Unless, of course, you happen to be the addict.

Cynematic blogs at P i l l o w b o o k.

 

Comments

[Julie Pippert]

Boston's commuter rail had specific commuter time trains dedicated to bikes. So if you needed to take in your bike, you had to catch the 8 a.m. train, for example. Otherwise, it was a little restrictive but okay, depending on your expectations.

However, Boston was such a small, walkable town, and had such a comprehensive system that mostly people either biked the whole way with no T or just walked or took the T. IMAE

Please don't even credit Houston with any rail system. I think the pitifully short and limited system they have is a nice start, but with too much credit they'll think it's enough, which I think they already do. ARGH And on the docket now is a proposal for a commuter rail system with supporting buses from Galveston to Houston. I cannot tell you the quality of life improvement this would make for me, or the potential improvement it would make overall if PEOPLE WOULD LET LOOSE OF THEIR VEHICLES AND USE IT. I'm afraid, though, that you'll have to prise their SUV keys from the cold dead fingers of Texans.

I love my bike and down here they've done a nice job of creating biking lanes, which two or three people in the Bay Area actually use!

Also there are some nice biking trails, but I'm OT now.

[cynematic]

Jules, give that BikeHouston guy some link love, I get the feeling he needs some allies from TPA for what he's trying to accomplish.

What I'm finding is that the bike + rail thing is key where there's a lot of sprawl--the bus + bike thing just doesn't cut it. Rail can zip over a lot of ground efficiently. Otherwise here in LA, if you took the bus + bike your commute would last 4 hours.

What sounds like it could work nicely in Boston (the small, dense city) is the Paris Velib program--rent, ride, return at a kiosk near you, just outside the subway station. That way you don't need to worry about taking the bike on the train. I know there are a bunch of pilot programs that are starting up in cities here and there in the U.S. I'd have written about it but it darn near killed me to write this post and I have one more to go in this series. So, another time.

[PunditMom]

I wish it was safe in the D.C. area to ride bikes as a commuter, but it just isn't. Robert Novak notwithstanding, people in their cars (and bus drivers), just don't pay attention. I've written about a few of these communities for Rails to Trails, which is a great resource!

[cynematic]

PunditMom,
Absolutely, that's the next/last piece of my series--how the biggest hurdle to serious bike commuting is not physical barriers, but motorists' mindset and as a result, bicyclists' safety.