It’s a wrap! #BikeWeekLA 2015 Recap

It’s a wrap! Bike Week 2015 is officially over… animated bicycling creatures, a spinning wheel of trivia, 25 foot fish skeletons, shamans, BIKE SOCKS and so much more! Thanks Metro and all the LA County partners who worked so hard to put this all together! It was truly unforgettable because Bike Weeks come and go, but the memories stay with us forever. In case your memory’s not as great as ours, or you weren’t able to attend all the events, here’s a quick recap…

This year’s program for Bike Week was jam-packed with fun. Over at the LADOT Bike Program, we made sure not to miss any of the wonderful opportunities to get up and out with Metro and our bicycle partners, propagating bike love across LA throughout the week.

Seleta Reynolds, LADOT General Manager, knocks our socks off at Grand Park’s Bike Week 2015 Press Conference on Monday, May 11. Image: Jose Tchopourian.

MONDAY

LADOT General Manager, Seleta Reynolds, kicked off Bike Week 2015 with a group ride into work. She led a group ride of LADOT employees from Echo Park to LADOT headquarters in Downtown. Next stop: the Bike Week kick off press conference at Grand Park!  The press conference was star-studded with #bikeLA VIPs including Councilmember Paul Krekorian,  Councilmember Jose Huizar, Metro’s day 1 on the job new CEO Phil Washington, Metro boardmember and L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis, Caltrans’ District 7 Director Carrie Bowen, LACBC’s Executive Director Tamika Butler, CICLE’s Executive Director Vanessa Gray, Good Samaritan Hospital’s Andy Leeka, and CicLAvia’s Aaron Paley. Also, lots and lots of cameras and media from local news channels.

Later that day, Metro hosted the “Is Bicycling In Your Future?” panel moderated by Frances Anderton, host of KCRW Design and Architecture and daily bicycle commuter.  The panel featured Laura Cornejo, Deputy Executive Officer at Metro; Maria Sipin, Advisory Board Member of Multicultural Communities for Mobility; Tamika Butler, Executive Director of Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition; and Sergeant Mike Flynn, LAPD Central Traffic Division Bicycle Liaison. Panelists explored whether bicycle ridership will increase as viewed through the lens of engineering, enforcement, and encouragement. We did some math on this and… short answer: YES, bicycling is in YOUR future!

Monday night panel at Caltrans Building

TUESDAY

Tuesday opened with the 12th annual Blessing of the Bicycles! As usual the Blessing was at the Downtown adjacent Good Samaritan Hospital, accompanied by a delicious breakfast. During the morning, fallen bicyclists and advocates were recognized. Then religious figures literally bless bicyclists as they ride by, ensuring them a safe passage throughout the year.

The 12th annual Blessing of the Bicycles hosted by the Good Samaritan Hospital saw a large number of participants and a new recipient of the Golden Spoke Award. Image: Joe Linton/Streetblog LA.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday’s Bike-In Movies defied inclement weather (by LA standards) by attracting a park full of people on two wheels and their fascinating chair-and-blanket contraptions. Danny Gamboa of Ghost Bikes and Metro’s Jack Moreau MC-ed the night. The shorts ranged from animated critters dealing with aggressive cartoon cars to the very solemn stories of families who have lost loved ones and found peace through the Ghost Bikes movement.

Bike-In Movie Night at Marsh Park had a full house, with over 100 people showing up on bikes. Image: East Side Riders BC.

THURSDAY

Thursday was Bike to Work Day! This event featured hundreds of pit stops across LA County. Our very own LADOT Bike Program’s pit stop hung out with the Caltrans pit stop in front of our headquarters at Main and 1st Street. Commuters came for the freebies and stayed for fun! We offered snacks, information, and other cool bike swag. We had many special pit stop visits including Tamika Butler and Eric Bruins from LACBC, First 5 LA, former LADOT Bike Program superstar Jon Overman, and a news crew from Biola University.

Assistant Bicycle Coordinator Elizabeth Gallardo chillin with LACBC Executive Director Tamika Butler

Later that night, creatives from across the region shared their bicycle-themed artwork with LA Metro for the Color Wheels Art Show. The reception was held at the Caltrans Building, coinciding with DTLA Art Walk. Food, music, and prizes, as well as the really cool bicycle art, helped fill the room. If you haven’t yet visited the exhibition, don’t worry, the show will be open all month! One of our favorite pieces was the fish skeleton stuffed with trash found in the LA River (Bicycle Coordinator Rubina Ghazarian not included in the art piece). The piece shows not only that our bike lanes are large enough to accommodate a giant fish towed via bike trailer from Burbank, but that we need to take better care of our streets, rivers, and oceans!

Bicycle Coordinator Rubina Ghazarian salutes Bike Week from the Color Wheels ghost fish

FRIDAY

Bike Night at Union Station was the BEST! The event was hosted in the Old Ticket Room in Los Angeles’s most historic train station. We don’t want to gloat, but our LADOT Spin-the-Bike-Wheel was pretty cool! The trivia contest was all the rage, with people lining up again and again for an opportunity to prove their #bikeLA cred and win special prizes.

We were extra proud to see how many young people were winning at the Wheel, exhibiting some serious street knowledge… You go, #bikeLA! Image: Jose Tchopourian.

Most exciting for us though was our opportunity to debut our brand new Bikeways Guides, hot off the presses from the print shop!  We distributed hundreds of our new maps, updating people with the first new guide since 2011!  Bike Night was also full of music, food trucks, a photobooth and sweet prizes for everyone courtesy of Metro and sponsors. Free bike valet and tune-ups services were offered by Fleet Streets. Once again, Bike Night has proven to be the champion of all Bike Week wrap-ups.

Karina and Ben holding down the fort and thrilling crowds with Spin-the-Bike-Wheel! Image: Jose Tchopourian.

Talking the talk and walking the walk, we want to share what some Angelenos did during the week. A bike ride held by UCLA Urban Planning students and alumni (and former familiar faces from the Bike Program) visited NoHo Arts Districts, Chandler Bike Path, Griffith Park, LA River Bike Path, North Atwater Park, and Golden Road Brewing on Saturday, May 16. Across the City and beyond, many other rides took place during the week. Please share with us what you did during Bike Week in the comment section!

This group of UCLA students and alumni got together and rode from NoHo to Golden Road Brewing. Image: Jose Tchopourian.

Bike Week hooks you up with the events and people to begin or continue your bike journey! And probably most importantly, it provides you the tools to navigate the streets of Los Angeles by bicycle safely.  Sadly, Bike Week 2015 has ended, but the fun continues because May is Bike Month!

Ride safely and we hope to see you on the road whether it’s Bike Week or not because at LADOT every week is Bike Week!

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Hot off the presses! Get your new Bikeways Guide! (updated)

Bike Week is over, but we’re still celebrating! After over a year of design and development, we have completely redesigned our Bikeways map for a new and vastly improved 2015 edition! Last week we picked up our maps from the print shop and will begin distribution to libraries, bike shops, co-ops, and Council District Offices.

A Brief History of the Los Angeles Bikeway Guide
Legend has it that before the LADOT Bike Program was established, over 25 years ago, LADOT engineers would mail hand-drawn maps of the City’s then sparse bikeway network to people that requested bikeway maps.

When Senior Bicycle Coordinator Michelle Mowery arrived at LADOT in 1994, she quickly realized the dearth of bicycle resources for the public. Bike maps were a constant request and Mowery advocated for the LADOT Bike Program to produce a guide to the City’s bikeway network with maps, tips, and community resources.

From oldest to newest: 15 years of our Los Angeles bikeways maps

Since 2000, the City of Los Angeles has provided sophisticated public bikeway maps by producing and distributing the Los Angeles Bikeway Guide, an educational resource that encourages people of all ages to ride bicycles safely and with confidence in Los Angeles. The City prints three versions of the Bikeway Guide–Central City/Westside, Valley, and Harbor–to make sure maps are available, in print, at a legible scale for the entire city’s bikeway network.

The NEW and Improved 2015 Bikeway Guide
2011 marks the last significant design or informational revision to the Los Angeles Bikeways Guide. If you have attended any of our outreach events in recent years, you probably have this outdated copy in your pannier or stuffed inside your kitchen drawer.  Perhaps it rests as a historic relic on your wall.

Behold! After an entire year of design, collaboration, and a brief stint of working with our LADOT People St Program, our in-house graphic designer and urban planner, Karina Macias, has completed a brand new Los Angeles Bikeway Guide! The Guide includes useful information on bicycle safety, riding etiquette, bicycle-related laws, local organizations and resources, and of course an up-to-date map of the City’s current bikeway network to help you plan your trips.

Delivering final print proofs to City Publishing Printing Press Supervisor Ron Gallegos

With the help of City of Los Angeles Publishing Printing Press Supervisor Ron Gallegos, this third edition of the Bikeway Guide is brighter and more colorful than ever before. Along with a new look and feel, this 2015 update includes new content informed by our entire team’s experience and background, including pointers on bicycle maintenance, tips for bicycle commuting, and updated local information.

We hope you are as happy with this new edition as we are! Collect all three Bikeway Guides and combine them to create one giant citywide map!

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UPDATE: Oops! Our bad. Looks like our new protected bike lane on Reseda Blvd. is mistakenly shown on Winnetka Ave. in the printed map for the Valley region. What a great time to introduce #UpdateYourMapLA! Edit your map to show a correction or a new facility with a thick marker. Draw over the map in the color coded system shown on the map’s legend. LADOT will periodically post #UpdateYourMapLA alerts. If you miss the alerts or want to take matters (markers?) into your own hands, as always, for the most recent version of our map, check our website. Thanks for all the support #BikeLA.

 

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My Bicycle Route: NoHo to UCLA

My bicycle route is mainly on neighborhood streets, providing a lower-stress and more pleasant experience.

Jose Tchopourian, LADOT Bike Program.

The Los Angeles region is vast and challenging to navigate by any transportation mode. Some residents, like myself, find it more enjoyable and oftentimes faster to commute using a bicycle alone or in combination with public transit.

Before guiding you through my “hybrid commute”, which combines bicycling and transit, I would like to point you to some helpful resources for making trips by bicycle: bike maps and infrastructure, transit maps and timetables, bike rules of the road, and fun bike rides and education.

Since September, I have been commuting from my home in the NoHo Arts District to class at UCLA’s Urban Planning Department. My trip combines a bike and Metro’s underground Red Line subway. The total commute is 14 miles long and takes about 1 hour door to door.

I start my trip on the Metro Red Line at the North Hollywood station in the direction of Union Station. I ride the train two stops, departing at the Hollywood/Highland station. The train ride takes about 9 minutes. If you are riding Metro Rail with your bike, keep the following in mind: 1) use elevators or stairs to enter and exit stations 2) if the train is full, wait for the next one 3) give priority to passengers in wheelchairs, and 4) stand with your bike in the designated area for bikes, which are clearly identified with a yellow decal adjacent to the car doors.

Holding my bike while riding the Red Line Subway into Hollywood.

The second part of my commute, an 8-mile bicycle ride, takes about 45 minutes and allows me to experience the sights and sounds of multiple neighborhoods.It is important to follow the rules of the road while operating a bicycle. Obey all traffic signals and stop signs, yield to pedestrians, and use lights to be visible at night. I find that riding predictably and communicating with other road users makes my ride safer.

The route I have selected avoids steep mountainous terrain. Instead, I experience slight inclines during my trip. In addition to elevation, I also consider the type of streets I will be using to get to my destination. Eight years of using a bicycle for moving through Los Angeles have taught me that safety comes first. Even if riding on arterial streets might bring me to my destination a few minutes earlier, I prefer to trade time saving for the lower-stress experience of riding on residential and neighborhood streets. When I do ride on arterial streets, I pick those that have bike facilities on them.

Here is my route. If you see me on the road, say hello!

If you would like to share your favorite route, send it to bike.program@lacity.org.

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Meet our updated online Bicycle Map and Bikeway Projects page!

The Bicycle Program has been working on an update to our Bikeways Map on BicycleLA.org. In addition to our regular updates that keep the Bikeways Map accurate as new bikeways are installed, we’ve recently added new features to make the map more user-friendly and informative than ever.

We’re using new colors to show the different bikeway types.

New Legend and Map Colors: Traditionally, the map has displayed all bikeways in Los Angeles, using different colors to distinguish between paths, lanes, routes, and sharrowed routes. Now, we’ve adjusted the old color scheme to make it easier for readers to distinguish between the different types of bikeways. Bicycle paths are shown in green, bicycle lanes in red, bicycle routes appear blue, sharrowed bicycle routes are a pink-magenta, and bicycle friendly streets are a light blue.

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What is Your Favorite Ride in Los Angeles?

Bicyclists ride the extension of the Orange Line bike path shortly after it opened last summer.

Coming a bit belatedly on the heels of LAist’s The 10 Best Bike Rides in Los Angeles, the LADOT Bike Blog wants to know what your favorite ride is. What bike route do you like best?

It can be for work or for utility or just for fun.

After everyone has responded, we’d like to create a map of the responses to share on our blog. Personal information will not be shared.

Please fill out the form below, and let us know your favorite ride in LA!

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LA River Bike Path Closure

Fit in as much bicycling along the LA River Bike Path as you can soon; the most northern portion will soon be closed for about four months.

The Bike Program was recently notified by Caltrans that a northern portion of the Los Angeles River Bike Path will be closed for approximately four months. This closure is occurring due to the Interstate 5 High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lane widening project.  The detour will cover the Bike Path from just north of the Autry National Center to where Riverside Dr crosses over Hwy 134. There may also be additional closures in other portions of the bike path as needed for construction.

As the start date for construction has yet to be determined, the bike path closure date has not been set. Official closure dates, as well as updates to construction and other possible closures, will be updated here. The first update will occur one week prior to the initial closure.

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City of L.A. Bike Parking Map Now Online!

Now featuring bike rack locations!

The next time you’re looking for a place to park your bicycle, look no further than LADOT’s online Bicycle Services Bikeway Map. The map now shows the location of LADOT’s classic inverted U racks throughout the city, in addition to our existing and planned bikeway networks.

With over 5,000 bicycle parking spaces available in the city, chances are there is one close to your destination. To access the bike rack layer, select the box next to “Bike Parking” with a mouse click.

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