Bicycle Parking Ordinance Has Passed!

Expect to see more of this!

The LADOT Bike Program is happy to report that the Los Angeles City Council has passed the long awaited Bicycle Parking Ordinance. This will mean improved bicycle parking standards citywide at commercial, industrial and residential-type locations. The ordinance includes a number of forward-thinking changes  including:

• Formal definitions for different types of bike parking 
• New standards for different types of bike racks including long-term and short-term bicycle parking
• Improved standards for where bike racks are located on a property
• Clearer  requirements for short-term and long-term bike parking.
• New provisions allowing bike parking to be substituted for car parking for up to 20 percent of  the total automobile parking required for non-residential uses or up to 30% of the auto parking required near Transit Oriented Developments (TODs). Residential buildings will be able to swap up to 10% of their car parking, and if located within 1,500 feet of a transit facility, up to 15%. This exchange would occur at a rate of four bike parking spaces, per automobile space.
• New standards requiring properties with  20 or more long-term bicycle parking spaces to also include 100 square feet of bicycle repair and maintenance space for residents and employees.
• A Permitting process for allowing bike corrals to be installed in the public right of way.

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Ride Lankershim tours existing and proposed NoHo bicycle infrastructure Dec. 8th

A campaign of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. Click the image to go their project site.

Ride Lankershim is a community campaign that aims to inform, educate, and celebrate as plans progress for bicycle improvements in the neighboring communities of North Hollywood, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Valley Village and others. The group is kicking things off Saturday, December 8^th with a community bike ride. The ride will be a 3.5 mile mini-tour of existing and proposed bicycle infrastructure in the North Hollywood area, focusing especially on Lankershim Blvd. and Cahuenga Blvd., where LADOT plans to install bicycle lanes in the near future.

Ride Lankershim will be meeting at Metropolis Bikes in North Hollywood and departing at 10:00 a.m. From there, the bicycle ride will transverse Lankershim Blvd., Colfax Ave. and the Chandler Bikeway. The ride will end at the NoHo farmers’ market. You can find more details of the route here. Riders will have the opportunity to sign a petition supporting the bike lanes and get on a mailing list for updates on the projects. You can r.s.v.p. or invite friends via the facebook event.

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Notes from the October 2nd Bicycle Plan Implementation Team Meeting

BPIT participants discussing Neighborhood Council communication.

This past October 2nd, the Los Angeles Departments of City Planning (LADCP) and Transportation (LADOT) held their quarterly Bicycle Plan Implementation Team (BPIT) meeting. Over 20 people were in attendance, ranging from city employees from various departments, representatives from city council offices and several bicycling organizations, to many bicyclists and residents intrigued to see where bike infrastructure in Los Angeles is heading.

(Check out the meeting’s agenda to better follow along with these notes.)

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League of American Bicyclists Awards Los Angeles as Bicycle Friendly Community at the Bronze Level

Andy Clarke, of the League of American Bicyclists, announces the City of Los Angeles’ bronze level award as a Bicycle Friendly Community.

This morning, LADOT Bikeways staff, Councilmember Reyes, and representatives from the Mayor’s Office, gathered with bicycle advocates including members from the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition at Mac Arthur Park to witness the League of American Bicyclists President, Andy Clarke recognize the City as a Bicycle Friendly Community at the bronze level. While Los Angeles was only one of several dozen new bicycle friendly communities to receive an award, the League recognized the City’s distinct challenges, affirming that,  ”Leaders like Los Angeles serve as a great example that even cities known for Carmageddon can take cost-effective steps to start making cycling an integrated part of the transportation system.”

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USC Bike Summit and Bike Expo TOMORROW

The corner of Hoover and Jefferson - a busy intersection just outside of USC

On Wednesday, January 18th, USC will hold a Bike Summit open to the Trojan community and surrounding neighbors. The Bike Summit will take place from 3-5 pm in the Tutor Campus Center Ballroom (lower level, located adjacent to the campus bookstore) and provide the public with an opportunity to voice their opinions about bike riding on the USC campus. The LADOT Bike Blog has chimed in on USC’s attitude towards bikes in a previous post here. We are encouraged to see USC taking steps towards effectively planning for bicycles. More on tomorrow’s Bike Summit below the fold.

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L.A. County Bike Summit

Tomorrow, the City of Long Beach will play host to the 2011 L.A. County Bike Summit. The event is co-organized by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s RENEW LA County Initiative. This conference will bring together local elected leaders, city managers and staff from a number of the 88 cities that make up LA County, to have a conversation about how to create a more bicycle friendly community. You can view the program for the conference here. Topics slated for discussion include: engineering guidelines and standards, education programs, grant competitiveness, bikes benefiting businesses, bike parking, utilizing collision data, and a whole host of other topics. There will also be bicycle tours of Long Beach’s facilities scattered throughout the day.

We will be tweeting throughout the day and snapping pictures to share with everyone during the event. Be sure to follow us @ladotbikeprog and stay tuned to the LADOT Bike Blog for a complete rap up of the 2011 L.A. County Bike Summit sometime early next week.

A past LADOT visit to check out Long Beach facilities

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ThinkBike Los Angeles: an eye opening experience

This past Thursday and Friday, city staff, advocates and local stakeholders got the opportunity to learn from Dutch bicycle experts on how to design streets for bicyclists and pedestrians the Dutch way. Late Friday afternoon, at a well attended Closing Session at LAPD Headquarters, the public got a chance to see what the working groups came up with. The workshops focused on maintaining an open mind towards facility design, which was exemplified by our Dutch guest Hillie Talens’ admonition to say to each other “okay, and” instead of “okay, but”. The teams did a wonderful job with their presentations and designs. You can view them for yourself under our “Resources” tab or by clicking here. (And this evening, ThinkBikeLA will be on Channel 35, at 7pm and midnight.)

ThinkBikeLA - discussing options for Van Nuys Blvd.

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