Swee Woo bikes with parasol in hand at Grand Park, following the press event kickoff of L.A. Bike Week

We kicked off Bike Week with a press conference in Grand Park on Monday morning (our Flickr pics from the event, and Daily News photos). Pam O’Connor, Mayor of Santa Monica and Chair of the Metro Board of Directors, challenged Angelenos to “make L.A. a world class city for cycling.” O’Connor also introduced two new Metro initiatives: a two-year/20-ride partnership with C.I.C.L.E. and a partnership with LACBC and BikeSGV to provide bicycle safety classes this summer.

Councilmember Ed Reyes addresses the media with the other guest speakers behind him

Several community leaders spoke at the Bike Week press conference, including Los Angeles Councilmember Ed Reyes, Metrolink Director of Public Affairs Jeff Lustgarten, President and CEO of Good Samaritan Hospital Andy Leeka, South Pasadena Councilmember Michael Cacciotti, Culver City Vice Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells, C.I.C.L.E. Executive Director Dan Dabek, LACBC Education Director Colin Bogart, and Grand Park Director Lucas Rivera. Our favorite quotes included the following:

•  “Bicycles are the common thread that connects us—to buses, to trains, and to this great city.” – Los Angeles Councilmember Ed Reyes
•  “We’re proud of the growth of cycling in Southern California, and we’re doing everything we can to support it.” — Metrolink Director of Public Affairs Jeff Lustgarten
•  “I love it when gas prices go up…It’s great for Mother Earth, it’s great for fitness, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun.” — President and CEO of Good Samaritan Hospital Andy Leeka
•  Challenging all elected officials to pledge to ride their bikes this week, South Pasadena Councilmember Michael Cacciotti said simply, “Ditch your car and get on your bike.”
•  “Commuting can be the best part of your day—if you’re on a bike.” — Culver City Vice Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells
• “You’ll see more and more improvements every year and more and more bicyclists… This is not a blip, this is a movement.” – Santa Monica Mayor Pam O’Connor

Yesterday, Good Samaritan Hospital honored Councilmember Bill Rosendahl with their annual Golden Spokes Award, in recognition of his tireless bicycle advocacy. The Councilmember is retiring from public service due to some health issues. Council District 11 staffer Paul Backstrom accepted the award on his behalf. Check out our pics from the event on our Flickr page. You’ll find lots of folks enjoying the refreshments and company provided by Good Samaritan Hospital. Its probably my favorite Bike Week event year in and year out.

Bill Rosendahl, Good Samaritan Hospital’s 2013 Golden Spoke Award winner, “hangs on” for his farewell roast, via his website.

The full list of Metro-sponsored Bike Week events, including a guide to today’s “Guided Rides” events, and a map of the pit stops for tomorrow’s Bike to Work Day, are on Metro’s bike website. Among others, Metro, LADOT, Metrolink, and Culver CityBus will be offering free transit service to bicyclists on Bike to Work Day. Let us know what you’ll be doing to celebrate Bike Week in the comments section.

Coming on the heels of a very successful Ciclavia, as part of National Bike Month, Los Angeles will be celebrating Bike Week May 13-19.

The Bike Week schedule this year is pretty packed!

Saturday, 5/11 – Dodgers’ Game Day Ride and Stadium Tour!

While Bike Week officially starts Monday, May 13th, C.I.C.L.E., the Eastside Bike Club, Metro, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are teaming up to sponsor a group bike ride for all ages from Union Station to Dodgers Stadium to catch a game with some bike-related perks. The ride meets in the Alameda entrance courtyard of Union Station at 2 PM. For more information, read this press release.

Monday, 5/13 – Fix Your Bike Day

9:45 AM Bike tour of Grand Park with elected officials

10 AM Bike Week kick-off media event at Grand Park

All day Bicycle repair workshops at various locations, including Westlake, Baldwin Park, South Gate

Tuesday, 5/14 – Blessing of the Bicycles

8 AM 10th Annual Blessing of the Bicycles at Good Samaritan Hospital, honoring Los Angeles City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl

Wednesday, 5/15 – Guided Rides Day

All day Group bicycle rides at various locations, including Culver City, Pasadena, San Fernando Valley, and South LA

Thursday, 5/16 – Bike to Work Day

All day Bike to Work “pit stops” with refreshments and giveaways at over 60 worksites and transit stops

All day Free transit rides for bicyclists at 11 transit agencies: Metro, Metrolink, LADOT, Culver City Bus, Glendale Beeline, Long Beach Transit, Montebello Bus Lines, Norwalk Transit, Pasadena ARTS, Santa Clarita Transit, and Torrance Transit

Pledge to ride your bike on Bike to Work Day and you could win a new bicycle from REI and other great prizes!

Friday, 5/17 – Sunday, 5/19 – Bike Local Weekend

All day Discounts for bicyclists who mention “Bike Week” at over 60 retailers

Specifics about events on these days can be found on the Metro Bike Week website.

The Bicycle Plan Implementation Team convened at City Hall for the second quarterly meeting of 2013.

Twenty-seven advocates, stakeholders, and City staff were present at the last BPIT meeting on April the 2^nd. Discussion topics included the update to the General Plan’s Mobility Element, recently implemented bikeways, prioritizing plan programs, and Bicycle Friendly Streets.

Mobility Element Update

Claire Bowin of the Department of City Planning opened the meeting by presenting on the Mobility Element update. Currently in the Environmental Impact Report scoping phase, the update includes plans for a Bicycle Enhanced Network (BEN) in which a 180-mile subset of the City-wide bikeway system is identified for enhancements. The intensity of the enhancements will vary, with features such as right-of-way infrastructure improvements, signal timing improvements, and end of trip facilities. The bikeway inclusion criteria emphasize 1) connectivity between regional centers and major destinations; 2) locations with a higher presence of bicyclists and 3) bicyclist-involved collisions; and 4) designation within the backbone or Neighborhood Networks.

It was suggested that the Mobility update be used to mitigate the lack of connectivity to South Bay cities, and that feasibility for inclusion be determined for Devonshire Street, Sherman Way, Reseda Boulevard, and Cahuenga Boulevard. Central Avenue (Little Tokyo), the 6^th Street Bridge (Arts District), and 7^th Street (feeding into Figueroa) were suggested for cycle track treatment.

The Department of City Planning recently circulated a Notice of Preparation for the EIR and is currently seeking feedback on the scope of the EIR. Please contact My La at my.la@lacity.org with your input.

Implementation Update

LADOT’s Tim Fremaux provided a rundown of the numerous bikeways implemented since the last meeting. It was suggested that LADOT coordinate to have new additions to the bikeway network promptly updated on Google maps (they are currently update to the bicyclela.org maps page fairly quickly after implementation). Riverside Drive was suggested as a candidate for bikeway implementation in the near term.

LADOT’s Nate Baird tallies input during the plan program prioritization exercise.

Plan Program Prioritization

The Bicycle Plan contains 138 programs, most of which require substantial coordination with other City entities. In an effort to begin opening lines of communication and strategizing program implementation, an exercise was conducted to prioritize among the numerous programs.

Of those identified for prioritization, the strongest consensus was around prioritizing the Bicycle Friendly Streets program (#1.1.4A; DOT, Dept. of Public Works). Other programs that drew support were a violator training program for motorists (#2.1.5F; City Attorney), bicycle counts (#3.2.4C; DOT), and an assessment of the economic benefits of bikeway improvements (#3.2.6A; DCP). Please refer to the Bicycle Plan for more details on each program, as well as a complete list of all the programs.

Prioritization of general focuses was also tallied during the exercise, with Data Collection and Safety & Education receiving the most support.

Bicycle Friendly Streets (BFS): Potential Locations and Treatments

It was suggested that time be set aside at the next meeting to break into sub groups by geography and propose treatments on a micro scale.

Meeting participants provide feedback on specific bikeway segments.

Wrapping Up

David Somers will email BFS maps to those wishing to participate in the breakout group activity planned for the next meeting. Thank you to all of those who attended the meeting, and we look forward to seeing you next quarter!

An Abandoned, Locked Bicycle by Artist in Nothing

You bike to your favorite coffee shop a few times a week, and the last few times you’ve been there, a bike frame has been locked up. It doesn’t have wheels. It doesn’t have a seat. It’s just taking up space where you could lock your bike.

What do you do to get rid of it so people can park there again?

In the City of Los Angeles, the Bureau of Street Services is in charge of maintaining bicycle parking. There is an online form you can use to request service.

To report an abandoned bicycle that needs to be removed:

1) Go to http://bss.lacity.org/request.htm

2) Input your name, address, phone number, and email address.

3) Scroll down to “Others” and click the circle button to its left.

4) In the “Enter Problem Description” box below “Others”, write that there is an abandoned bicycle you would like removed.

5) Below that in the next box, write the location of the rack or pole the abandoned bike is on. Be as specific as possible.

6) Enter any additional comments you have below that, and press the “Submit” button

7) You should receive a confirmation email from the Bureau of Street Services letting you know they have received your request.

It’s as easy as that. Removing abandoned bikes increases the supply of bicycle parking available to all of us. If you see one, take a moment to report it. You can also used the same procedure to report bikeways that need to be cleaned.

Sunset Blvd. Bicycle Lane

Construction on 0.9 miles of bicycle and bicycle-transit only lanes could begin on Sunset Boulevard as early as next month. The bike facilities, consisting of .76 miles of peak period bicycle-transit only lanes and .14 miles of standard bicycle lanes, will reach from Figueroa Street to Douglas Street in Echo Park.

Linking up with existing bikeways to the west, the project, the first of the First Year Bike Lanes to move forward, will greatly increase the safety of bicycling between Echo Park and Downtown. Additionally, the peak hour bicycle-transit lanes will increase the speed of transit operating in the corridor, particularly the Dodger Stadium Express. In line with the 2010 Bicycle Plan, future planned bikeway improvements on this corridor include bike lanes along Cesar Chavez Avenue going east from Figueroa Street.

A public hearing for the Sunset Boulevard bicycle facilities occurred on February 14th, and the LADOT General Manager gave the project the go-ahead on April 22nd.  The Traffic and Safety Assessment for the project is available here, and the City Planning staff report is available here.

The Three Foot Passing Bill introduced by Assembly Member Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) in February received eleven “aye” votes and two “no” votes today in the Committee on Transportation. The bill now moves on to a hearing in the Committee on Appropriations at a date to be determined.

The members of the Committee on Appropriations you should contact to voice your support can be found here.

The bill would require the driver of a motor vehicle passing a bicyclist to allow three feet of space “between any part of the motor vehicle and any part of the bicycle or its operator.” The bill mandates a fine of $35 per infraction, with the driver paying an additional $220 if there is a car-bicycle collision that injures the bicyclist because the driver did not provide three feet of passing space.

Mayor Villaraigosa supports this bill, and it will be important for the next mayor to maintain that support to ensure this important bill becomes law.

Parklet Studies has released a bike count for Spring Street between 6th and 7th Streets that it carried out last month. The report for the LACBC and LADOT follows up on a similar study last year on the same part of downtown.

The data show a marked increase in ridership on Spring Street, with forty percent more cyclists using it than in 2012.

Other interesting findings of the study include:

While in 2012, there was not much differentiation between the amount of weekday and weekend riding, in 2013, significantly more riders biked on Spring Street on the weekend. Of any time period studied, 11-12 pm on the weekend was the busiest, followed by 1-2 pm.

8 am and 9 am on weekdays saw 122 and 100 percent increases in bike volume respectively.

More bikes are being parked between 6th and 7th on Spring Street in 2013 than in 2012. Additionally, a greater percentage of bicycles are being parked at LADOT-installed facilities than in 2012, 53 percent in 2013 versus 50 percent in 2012.

Only 14 percent of total riders were women, but during the 11 am weekend peak that percentage rose to 36 percent. 

The percentage of cyclists traveling against the direction of traffic (salmoning) is significantly higher than in other areas of the city. On a weekday, 15 percent of riders were going against traffic, while on the weekend, this balloons to 44 percent. The city average is 4 percent.

The full report is attached here.