Bicycle Commuting Data on Bike to Work Day

Today is the National Bike to Work Day and with this holiday, the League of American Bicyclists released some great data that shows the progress of bicycle commuting in the US. The number of bicyclists is growing rapidly from coast to coast. The National Household Travel Survey showed that the number of trips made by bicycle in the U.S. more than doubled from 1.7 billion in 2001 to 4 billion in 2009. Thanks, in part, to encouragement efforts like Bike to Work Day, the number of bike commuters is on the rise, as well -- especially in Bicycle Friendly Communities.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, from 2000 to 2011, the 39 Bicycle Friendly Communities among the 70 largest U.S. cities saw a 80% increase in bicycle commuting. In contrast, the bike commuter rate in the 31 largest non-Bicycle Friendly Communities grew only 32%, while the national average grew 47%.

Click here to download the PDF of the infographic.

In some Bicycle Friendly Communities, bicycle commuting rates have skyrocketed by more than 400% since 1990, including cities as diverse as Portland, Ore., and Lexington, Ky. Meanwhile, cities like Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and Denver have more than doubled their bike commuter share since 2000.

Click here to download the PDF of the infographic.

Find Commuter Data for your Area

Click here to download 2010 bicycle commuting data for all 375 cities included in the American Community Survey

Click here to download bicycle commute data from 1990 to 2011 for the 70 largest U.S. cities, including percentage of bicycle commuters and percent change

Click here for 2011 state commute rates, including bicycle commuting by gender

Idaho Stop Debate Rolls On

Rolling Stops for Cyclists May Be Coming to Utah  is one of my favorite posts that touched on a state law that passed in Idaho, and is brought up every year or so by others. I admittedly have rolled through empty stop signs and hate sitting at a stale red light, but try to keep safety and setting a good example in mind when riding, so that drivers and others that may see me riding will respect me. My thoughts are that stop signs exist primarily as a form of speed control for cars rather than a right-of-way system; that's why they have converted most of them to four way stops that don't actually work as well for right-of-way as the old two way stops. Idaho is still the only state to legalize this action, but others are still mulling it.

Now Ruben Anderson joins the fray with Three Cheers for the Idaho Stop!! (or, the Insanity of Over-regulating Parakeets.)

The Idaho Stop is defined by Jonathan Maus of Bike Portland:

This law would make it legal for bicyclists to treat stop signs like yield signs. A cyclist approaching an intersection controlled by a stop sign, would be permitted to roll through the stop sign after yielding the right of way if there are other vehicles at the intersection.

It makes sense; a different kind of vehicle needs a different kind of regulation and control. Ruben writes:

Road laws are solely designed to reduce the carnage caused by 2,000 lb. bullets hurtling around at high speeds. And that is all the laws should be applied to.
We have laws for pig farmers. Should tomato farmers have to build giant manure management systems?

We have laws for dog licensing. Should parakeets have to wear a little collar with a tiny tag?

We have laws for new drivers. Should experienced drivers be forbidden from carrying passengers or driving on the highway?

My favorite bit of hilarity though: Imagine if we applied road laws to everyone who was commuting. Should pedestrians walking down the sidewalk shoulder check twice, extend their arm to signal the direction they intend to walk, then sharply turn?

Ruben concludes:

So, calls for cyclists to obey car laws are as misguided as suggesting cars should obey bike laws, or that parakeets should obey dog laws.

Read it all in A small and delicious life

Wireless Bike Brake Light

I've reviewed a lot of bike lights and this new one is a little different. Inventor and tinkerer John Craig has created an easily removable, battery-powered brake light that senses a cyclist's decelerations in order to strongly flash when a bike is coming to a stop.

Calling his new Kickstarter campaign invention the LucidBrake, Craig says the light will help save lives by preventing some of the accidents caused by drivers that say they just don't 'see' cyclists. The LucidBrake has a patent-pending algorithm that is supposed to ignore normal wheel rotations and road bumpiness, yet sense the deceleration that indicates slowing down or stopping. The brake's eight LED lights are placed in an octagon shape so that they resemble a stop sign.

For regular cruising the LED-based LucidBrake shows a weaker flashing light, then flashes intensely when the cyclist is braking or decelerating to a stop. The light stays steady for a few seconds and then returns to weaker flashing. There are no wires or installation, and no plastic parts or covers. LucidBrake weighs in at just 23 grams and the company says it is easily mounted and dismounted from a bike (though a flat surface is needed), or a helmet, or a backpack. The LucidBrake team consulted 3-M to find a 'dual-lock' fastener, a bit like sticky velcro, to make it easy to put the brake light on and off. Craig says a tough sunlight and waterproof coating means you can dunk a Lucidbrake in a lake and it keeps on flashing.

LucidBrake isn't the first wireless brake light, but with the eight LEDs it does seem one of the brightest. At the current Kickstarter, getting one of the first-production lights entails a $50.00 pledge.

Stoopidtall Bike Is a Hit at L.A.'s Ciclavia

Here, in a fabulous aerial view, is proof that the people of Los Angeles are ready and willing to bike, especially when the streets are free of car traffic. This year's most recent Ciclavia (L.A.'s car-free streets rides), packed the pavements with riders. The LA Times reported that over 100,000 cyclists took part in the ride. And amongst them was Richie Trimbles, a young guy riding what must be one of the tallest of the tall bikes seen on city streets. From the ground to the handlebars is 14.5 feet.

No, this bike Trimbles is riding isn't street legal, as the law specifies the rider should be able to put a foot on the ground. And no, Trimbles didn't wear a helmet as he trekked on the car-free streets. And from the video evidence, he didn't have an easy way to come to a stop and balance.
Maybe that's why he calls the bike Stoopidtall.

But the crowd at Ciclavia loved it. Here's how Trimble described the most harrowing portion of his ride to Streetsblog LA, when he was under an underpass that was getting progressively lower as he rode:

As I go under, I drag my hand along the top and I’m thinking, ‘Wow, I’m probably the only person to have touched this besides the workers that built the overpass.’ And that was pretty chilling, but then I realize that the street I was on was at an incline and the bridge above me was banking, the gap was closing in on me. And all I could think was, ‘Holy shit! What am I going to do if I can’t make it out? How do I wedge myself up against this and still make it out? What do I do?’ I could feel the crowd below me, they all knew what was coming. All eyes on me and this bridge closing down on me. It got to the point where my body, my back was parallel to the ground and I looked at my hand and I had about two inches clearance above my knuckles and then I came out from under the bridge and the whole crowd ROARED! A deafening scream of ‘Holy shit, you made it!’ And I swear, those smiles must have lasted the whole ride. That was the moment for everyone.

Trimble hopes to break a world record for tall biking, and answered those who chided him for not wearing a helmet by saying that the ride was a performance, not meant to be imitated for your daily bike ride.

Via: Huffington Post

Cool New City Bike Design

At first glance, you might think "pretty bike". But check out the photos below; This sleek new city bike called the Kinn Cascade Flyer is loaded with city-friendly and family-friendly standard features.
The Cascade Flyer has the possibility to please a lot of different bike culture sub-groups - it's pared-down enough for minimalist city cyclists, eye-catching enough to spark interest amongst mainstream cyclists like me, and imbued with some nifty features that make it a great family bike-mobile.

Kinn designer Alistair Williamson was a novice at bike design when he started putting together prototypes of the Kinn Cascade Flyer back in 2010. He had a very specific need he wanted met when crafting the bike: a longtail bike that would be short enough to fit on the bus and make the curve when carried up stairs. He calls that a 'midtail' - a tern coined by cycle truck designer Joseph Ahearne.

Through the long design process, Williamson managed to make a bike that has a handful of really nifty features for family riders.
The first thing you'll notice about the Kinn Flyer is that it feels like a normal-length bike. Actually, the frame has been extended by just six inches, with the back wheel pulled back and an extra-long (21 inch) back rack above that back wheel. Many cargo and/or longtail bikes are 12 to 18 inches longer than standard bikes.

Williamson wanted the extra length so that he could safely and easily put his grandkids on the back of the bike, either in a Yepp child seat, or sitting on the back rack's smooth wooden plank seat (which easily and quickly detaches to accommodate the Yepp). The short handlebars for the back rider are a sweet addition, but Williamson assured me that the back of the bike can easily also carry an adult.
(Also note the secret toolkit storage area underneath the back rack wooden panel...accessible by key)

Other standout features of the Kinn are its nifty back panels and foot rests. The lightweight panels function both as great skirt guards and as a wonderful way to keep little feet from drifting in between the spokes. Williamson said he did research watching biking families get on and off their bikes in front of local Portland grocery stores, and he realized that a great family bike would have a fantastically rugged and steady kick-stand and a way for larger kids to easily climb onto the bike, as well as protection for children's feet from getting caught in spokes on take-off. And in spite of the foot rests, the bike can still easily manage standard panniers.
One of the Cascade Flyer's really great secret features is the ability to turn the front wheel all the way inward. That might not seem important at first glance, but it allows the Flyer to be positioned on bus bike racks, a big plus for weary bike moms and really anyone pushing to have their bikes do part of the duty of lengthier cross-city trips.

It also isn't cheap: entry level Flyers start at around $2,000. But Williamson has worked hard to make the bike as locally produced as possible (frames will be fabricated in Portland) as well as to make it meet the needs of family cyclists. Kinn plans to run a Kickstarter campaign soon to help finance a production run of the Flyers.

NYC Citibike Bike-Share Selling Annual Memberships for $95

It took a while, but New York City's bike-sharing program is finally getting close to launching. Annual memberships for Citibike are now available, and the first 5,000 members will be considered "founding members" and get some perks (though what exactly is still not clear). There are also discounted yearly memberships available for those who qualify (criteria here), and daily and weekly memberships for those who suffer from commitment anxiety.

6,000 bikes are expected to be deployed at 300 stations.

The station map still shows all stations as "planned", but once we reach the launch date in May that should show which are active and become a useful tool. Citibike writes: "The stations are solar-powered and modular to allow for easy installation. Each station consists of a variable number of docking ports for the bikes, plus a touchscreen kiosk for the purchase of Access Passes."

As for the bikes, you can see a photo above: "They feature a step-thru frame that provides a lower center of gravity and ease of access to a wide range of heights. Every bike has three speeds, a bell, front and rear-flashing LED lights and a handy front rack. Plus, the internal hub gears, chain guard and fenders keep you riding clean, confidently and in style." More details about the bikes can be found here.

Because this is the 21st century, Citibike also has a smartphone app that makes finding stations and planning routes easier.

Via Citibike, Bloomberg

Can Bike Share Change LA?

Los Angeles is a sprawling and car-centric city of 3.7 million people (without the metro area). The last American Community Survey (from 2011, compiled by Darren Flusche of the League of American Bicyclists) showed that just 16,101 Angelenos are commuter cyclists. That number is almost what the city of Portland, six times smaller than L.A., has in bike commuters.

The reasons its hard to bike in L.A. are numerous: distances between city segments are great, main arterials streets are fast-moving, and traffic is incredibly dense and relentless.


Recently, however, Los Angeles has made some fairly big efforts to be kinder to cyclists. In 2010 the city passed a bike plan that called for 1,684 miles of planned bicycle lanes. Putting them down was going to require 40 years in total, and millions of dollars. In the two years since the plan was adopted, the LA Department of Transportation has installed 123 miles of new 'bikeways', and is working on adding 200 miles of additional bikeways every five years. LADOT also plans to add 'sharrow' bike icon markings to 22 miles of streets this year. It's fairly easy to put a bike on L.A. Metro buses, though the crankiness of the bus driver varies wildly from route to route.

In addition, the Department of Recreation and Parks hasn't been slouching on adding to L.A.'s off-road paths. One of the most famous starts in the Pacific Palisades and runs along the Pacific Ocean all the way through Santa Monica and Venice, continuing for more than a dozen miles south to Redondo Beach. The San Gabriel River Trail also runs for nearly 40 miles between L.A.'s Azusa foothills and Seal Beach.


And this month Los Angeles should also see the start of a very ambitious bike sharing program. Bike Nation's plan is to eventually have 4,000 bicycles at 400 different stations - if the plan comes to fruition L.A.'s bike share will be even larger than New York City's.

While the flurry of bike works is encouraging, there's no indication yet that it has significantly increased the city's bike commuters. In spite of a very successful series of car-free city street Ciclavia events - the next one happens next weekend on April 21 - , LA just doesn't seem to have a critical mass of riders willing to brave the streets on regular days. Though there is plenty of bike traffic on the beach-front path, the new bike lanes seem sparsely used by cyclists when I visited at the end of March.

It also didn't feel like there's much of a community of cyclists quite yet. When you ride around the streets, other cyclists seem less like friendly allies than like other survivalists just trying to scurry quickly and safely from point A to B. And just as in New York City, in Los Angeles there are so many cars and so much traffic that the bike lanes that do exist end up being frequently used by drivers waiting to pick people up or waiting for parking.

While these downsides are discouraging, Los Angeles has some key features that make it possibly primed for a big time bike revolution. For one, the weather is pretty fantastic - nothing like the cold rain of the Pacific Northwest or the long winter slog cyclists in Minneapolis and other midwestern and East Coast cities face. For another, with traffic so relentless, biking can be a pretty cheap way for Angelenos to reduce their stress and save some money by getting out of their cars, even if only occasionally. The effect on air quality would be pretty welcome, too.

Perhaps bike sharing can really help create that critical mass of cyclists the city really seems to need, and fast, to use the bike lanes instead of letting them become extra idling space for parking-seeking vehicles.