Category Archives: bicycling biotically

Roundup

by

* New photos here and on the way. Wicker Park Critical Mass and my recent trip out west, for instance.

* I’ve spent far too much time lately rebutting right-wing arguments against transit funding on various blogs. Most of those responses have been crossposted (for my own reference, which is the primary reason why I have this blog) as comments under various earlier posts tagged “transit.” (Another good rebuttal: MPC’s in Friday’s Trib. However, one bus really = about 34 cars; 43 passengers per hour on CTA buses divided by 1.25 per car. An even better one: the Sun-Times’ editorial, pointing out that the tax increase amounts to $33 a year for Cook residents.)

You want to talk “backdoor fare increase”? The Economy League study of SEPTA that I’ve mentioned, examining substantial [but smaller!] cuts proposed, found that riders would pay $2.20 in higher fares, longer waits, and more driving for every $1 that government “saves” by cutting SEPTA. To pay that much via the “backdoor fare hike,” you’d have to charge up $880 in bills every day.

One common theme has been “privatize the damn thing,” as the public has little confidence in CTA’s ability to manage its current system, much less invest to renew it. However, words of caution from the libertarian-leaning City Journal‘s Nicole Gelinas:

While the private sector has a role to play in building, upgrading, and maintaining public infrastructure, it can never assume the public sector’s ultimate responsibility—financial and otherwise.

* I’ve also spent a lot of time on the phone with reporters lately. Published articles to date: Mark Lawton from the Booster on WPCM; Matthew Hendrickson from the Chicago Journal on WPCM; Nara Schoenberg from the Tribune on CCM. (Even though I didn’t get quoted in the last one, it was by far the best of the interviews: well over an hour on topics ranging from political theory to winter riding. She’d never heard so many people say “it changed my life.” One line: “the utopian eco-cyclists who pioneered the party/protest/prank in this city point to numerous achievements.”)

Forthcoming (with photos!): Chicago Tribune on car-free living, and Sierra Magazine on eco-jobs.

* Apparently, the whole Dutch-bike trend is really taking off among Manhattan models, a rather influential crowd I don’t pay much mind to. Gillian Reagan reporting in the NY Observer, quoting George Bliss of the Hub Station:

“[Lela Rose ha]s really inspired me, and now I’m focusing on the tricycle child carrier as a product for upscale women in SoHo. … That’s the niche, professionals and models because, you know, if you go to a cocktail party, you’ve got to have something to talk about. ‘Green? What’s green? Oh, bicycling!’

Ms. Rose’s paean to her bike: “it sounds ridiculous, but I don’t go anywhere anymore without bringing the bike, because to me it’s like my car. At a minimum, it’s the best way to get around. It’s for the environment. It’s great for health reasons. For me it’s just a great way to get a better peace of mind. I could go on and on about the benefits of bike riding.”

(Disclosure: I once rented a bike from George — a 50-lb. single-speed with a coaster brake — at his prior location at SoHo’s west edge.)

* MTC recently held a workshop on Smart Parking on “parking policies to support smart growth, focusing on providing strategies for interested local jurisdictions”; the presentations are online.

* A 2004 report on TDM strategies from FHWA has many interesting case studies focusing on special events and large employers.

* Socialized car insurance in B.C. (PDF from VTPI) offers the province a unique way to fine-tune the costs of driving — which might be why B.C. was among the first places to experiment with eco feebates. Another VTPI paper (page 10) demonstrates how increasing fuel economy standards could actually increase the social costs of driving by encouraging more of it.

* Dallas has a streetcar. How did I not know that?

* Here’s an interesting approach: Louisville, Colo. tested a proposed zoning designation by running six examples of ground-related multifamily housing around Denver past the code. Interestingly, all of them exhibit the kind of quasi-Dutch modernism that I saw a lot of around there: blocky massing, bright colors.

Pluto, car-free prizes…

by

– Leon Wieseltier at TNR offers today’s neologism: pluto-porn. No, not a Disney ripoff, but obsequious coverage of the fantastically wealthy.

– Here’s a new approach to TDM: free beer, a free bicycle, and public adulation, just for handing over your car keys. Too bad this touring festival’s only out West this year. [New Belgium Brewing – Follow Your Folly]

– Oh, a man can dream. Paul Nussbaum’s report on Pennsylvania’s transit bailout, from the 19 July Inky:

Promising an end to the annual brinkmanship over SEPTA funding, Gov. Rendell yesterday signed a landmark transportation law to provide an average of almost $1 billion more a year for transit and highways over the next 10 years.

Surrounded by smiling legislators who a week earlier were at each others’ throats, Rendell signed the transportation bill in the warm confines of 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby as evening commuters rushed past…

The law will provide $300 million in new funding for mass transit and $450 million in new money for highways and bridges this fiscal year, with the total rising to $1.07 billion by 2016.

The money will come from future toll increases on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, anticipated new tolls on Interstate 80, and 4.4 percent of the revenue from the state sales tax…

State Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.), the House Appropriations Committee chairman who vowed to block the state budget until mass transit was provided for, said yesterday: “I don’t know why this had to be so hard.”

“I’ve been fighting for this for decades,” said Evans, who said the measure would provide many new jobs, both directly and indirectly.

Not sure if SEPTA’s elimination of transfers (now in litigation) is an attempt to sell more passes or what.

– Carbon trading in Illinois could raise $2B a year for state government. [Redefining Progress: Climate Action Plan for Illinois]

– Flooded subways and tornadoes shut down NYC: a taste of headlines to come? [Environmental Defense] Not quite as dire as the forecast for the West, though: less snow, less water, more flooding, more drought and fires: boats stranded at dry marinas, ski towns engulfed by flame, cracked and dusty lettuce fields, cities browned out during heat waves. [Clear the Air] Fake headlines from the future describing localized effects of global warming could be a useful way to teach people about the issue — even here in the country’s sea-proof yet water-rich inland metropolis. [Prairie Home Companion]

– Last week’s Crain’s included an interesting package on four retail-starved new neighborhoods downtown: West Loop, South Loop, Streeterville, and (interestingly) University Village. [ChicagoBusiness]

– Gregg Easterbrook in an LA Times op-ed about his horsepower argument:

Please don’t counter that “no one can tell me what I can drive.” The Constitution says you’ve got a right to own a gun and to read a newspaper. Firearms and [speech] are the only categories of possessions given protected status by the Constitution; courts consistently rule that vehicles on public roads can be regulated for public purposes such as safety.

And, two related legal cites that will doubtless come in handy in the future:

“All property is acquired and held under the tacit condition that it shall not be used so as to injure the equal rights of others, or to destroy or greatly impair the public rights and interests of the community; under the maxim of the common law, Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas.” (‘One must so use their property as not to injure that of another.’) – Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw, Commonwealth vs. Tewksbury, 1846

And one on regulation; I like the reference to population density.

“Upon [the police power] depends the security of the social order, the life and health of the citizen, the comfort of an existence in a thickly populated community, the enjoyment of private and social life, and the beneficial use of property. As says another eminent judge, ‘Persons and property are subjected to all kinds of restraints and burdens in order to secure the general comfort, health, and prosperity of the State.’ (Thorpe vs. Rutland & Burlington R.R. Co., 27 Vt. 139, 1854).” (Slaughter House Cases, 1872)

Announcing Wicker Park Critical Mass

by

Dear Chicago,

Many massers don’t realize that the first of the 118 Daley Plaza Critical Masses took place on 5 September 1997 — the FIRST Friday of that month.* After that first Daley Plaza mass, the ride quickly switched to the last Friday so as to coincide with other masses around the world.

To celebrate the actual 10th anniversary of the CCM ride, a group of massers will launch a Wicker Park Critical Mass ride, beginning on 7 September 2007 at 6pm. We’ll meet at the Polish Triangle (Division, Milwaukee, & Ashland), within blocks of where the first Daley Plaza ride ended up ten years ago.

Jim Redd, one of the founders of the Daley Plaza ride and now operator of an inn in Ecuador, has agreed to return to Chicago to help launch the Wicker Park CM and celebrate the actual 10th Anniversary of the Daley Plaza rides.

The Wicker Park mass, like other rides worldwide, will celebrate my neighborhood’s diverse and unique character. Jim will propose a “Taking Art to the Streets” route, with the final destination set for a big celebration at a local art gallery. Other local masses that ride on the first Friday (Evanston & Oak Park) are invited to join us as we bring another Critical Mass ride into the world.

As Sunday’s Sun-Times article asserts, it may never be possible to completely end the big downtown masses. However, just as the Taste of Chicago cannot capture the bonhomie of a simple block party, the elephantine Daley Plaza mass has become more crowd than community. Our increasing size now faces down the law of diminishing returns. Bicyclists citywide deserve better choices.

Over the years, neighborhoods throughout the city have welcomed and embraced Critical Mass — none more than Wicker Park — and I think Chicago’s ready to take this show on the road. Let’s show our own neighbors some Happy Friday love, while reclaiming the streets we know best. Ten years in the making, a renaissance — rebirth — of Chicago Critical Mass will create a citywide network of local, autonomous cycling communities. Humboldt Park residents have already started a local ride, and other neighborhoods will be joining Pilsen/Little Village, Oak Park, Evanston, and Wicker Park by launching their own rides.

This September, let a thousand points of bicycle light brighten the entire city! Join us at the real 10th Anniversary party: Friday, 7 September, at Division, Milwaukee, and Ashland.

Sincerely,

Payton

Hey, and while you’re waiting, Northwest Siders (and everyone else) can learn how to prepare for the decline and fall of summer (while savoring summer’s glorious fruits) at a free Bike Winter preview class:

Stay the Course: All-Season Cycling Made Simple
Sunday, August 19th, 12noon. FREE!
Logan Square Farmers Market, SE corner of Logan Blvd & Milwaukee Ave

Don’t banish your bike to the basement this fall. During this free workshop, winter cycling veterans will share Chicago’s best kept secret: with the proper equipment and a little determination, all-season cycling is no sweat!

More info at www.BikeWinter.org.

Bike share not news to City Hall

by

I discovered the old bids for the city’s 2002 street furniture RFP at the city’s website and skimmed over some of the info. On page 100 of Adshel (Clear Channel)’s proposal [giant scanned PDF] there’s this proposal. Note that this proposal was rejected (primarily, it would seem, because their bid provided the least cash revenue to the city), and that JCDecaux’s winning proposal included, among other things, a $500K annual contribution to those tourist trolleys. Again, Adshel did not win Chicago’s contract, but they did win D.C.’s, and so Smart Bikes will launch there this year. (I’ve written about European bike share schemes more generally before.) Retyped:

CYCLE CHICAGO… Adshel’s proven public bicycle fleet program, another value added amenity offering to the City…

This forward-looking Adshel innovation is known as “Plan Vélo” in the company’s programs across France, Norway and Sweden, but in now way should it be construed as a uniquely European phenomenon… Adshel’s Coordinated Street Furniture Program will supplement the [Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory] Council’s accomplishments… with an expandable system designed to minimize Loop grid crawl, called Cycle Chicago.

Cycle Chicago in Operation
Cycle Chicago will reduce traffic congestion and improve Loop air quality by introducing a vital new component to intermodal transit that provides an enjoyable alternative to short single occupancy vehicle trips. Cycle Chicago consists of 50 fully automated, attendant-free docking stations. 20 will be positions adjacent to subway, El, and Metra stations in the CBD, 20 located among office building concentrations in the Loop, and 10 distributed for more recreational use across the Museum Campus and lakeshore, a total of 750 bicycles.

Bike use is administered via credit card, debit card and smart card technology, smart cards vended in coordination with the CTA and RTA and through Adshel’s I+ Interactive Information Kiosks. A nominal fee is charged, typically $10/month for unlimited use, and an hourly rate of $1.50. We anticipate the program will be in full use from April 1 through October 31 each year. All costs associated with Adshel’s Cycle Chicago Program are borne by the company…

[operational details similar to existing systems]

Docking station capacity of 15 bicycles is maintained via perpetually circulating… redistribution trucks… In three years of operation… a total of two thefts have occurred. The bicycles are maintained in rotation in the Adshel repair shop and the entire fleet is warehoused by Adshel from November 1 through March 31… As further commitments to the success of biking in Chicago, Adshel will provide additional Cycle Chicago docking stations as requested by the City, up to six docking stations (90 bicycles) per year, contingent on thresholds of measured use and demand.

The total value quoted by the city’s auditor (Deloitte) is a suspiciously low $254,000 for all 50 — $338.67 per bicycle, including fixtures and installation? Nah.

Interestingly, page 228 shows a siting plan for bus shelters at Polish Triangle that also places… a vending kiosk along the Ashland side.

For Athletes, an Invisible Traffic Hazard – New York Times

by

Gretchen Reynolds in the Times reports on new research showing fine particulate matter (PM) to be a significant cardiac hazard to athletes.

“Be sensible and try to cut back” on your exposure to particles, Dr. Rundell advised, but don’t use pollution as an excuse to cut back on exercise… “The bottom line is that running and cycling are healthy and, over all, good for the heart,” Dr. Newby said. With proper care, he said, outdoor exercise does not have to be harmful — and, done en masse, could even ease pollution.

The best part, though? One doc, taking the long view and putting this “Your Health” article back into the realm of policy:

“I ride my bike back and forth to work every day,” [David Newby, a cardiology professor at the University of Edinburgh] said. “If everyone else did that, too, we wouldn’t be having this problem at all, would we?”

Mid-May miscellany

by

Quick links! The new site isn’t ready, and CNU XV is next week. Wow!

1. “Everyone should bike to work for a week, if for no other reason than the people who complain about bikers breaking the law would shut the hell up…. Bicyclists disobey traffic regulations is very predictable and self preserving ways.” — BrodyV at DCist

2. A new bike’s on its way! Looks like this — a Surly Long Haul Trucker, 52cm, which I test rode at Hub Bike Co-op in Minneapolis recently but have ordered from Boulevard.* The thought process behind that particular frame was similar to this guy’s: a solid road bike, eminently practical and comfy on short or long rides. Although everyone says I should go for a faster, lighter cross bike — like, say, the Cross Check. On my test rides the Cross-Check wasn’t any more responsive or sprightly (a tad squirrelier, maybe), although it did corner ever so slightly better. Oh, and touring bikes are trendy in a retro-’70s way, unlike, say:

“In the last few years, however, track bikes have won over a decidedly nontough, unathletic batch of acolytes: hipsters. Grab a latte on any random corner in the Haight, Castro, Mission, etc., and you’ll be treated to a veritable parade of carefully coiffed thin mints trucking along on bikes like me. Zut alors!” — Ephraim the Track Bike (SF Weekly)

However, I’m still leery of touring, if only because I find American countryside to be supremely boring. French countryside, though — Paris-Brest wouldn’t be my first choice, but it *is* awfully famous.

Update, 4 July: Photos of the bike. After the little Wisconsin journey, I’m looking into Amtrak supported tours along the Allegheny Passage from Pittsburgh, Lake Champlain from Burlington, and the Niagara region from Buffalo. Hmm — funny how a different perspective changes everything.

* Update, 9 May 2008: Boulevard now has a few Surly models built-up and in stock, so future purchasers can stay on this side of the Mississippi. North Central Cyclery in DeKalb always keeps some in stock, but (as with much else in exurban Illinois) it’s honestly easier for me to go to Minnesota.

3. Design your own street.

4. Unlike here in Illinois, state legislators in Pennsylvania are paying attention to transit funding solutions. An editorial in the Morning Call by Rep. Douglas Reichley (R-Emmaus) calls for integrated regional transit funding:

[W]e should look seriously at the model for mass transit in New York City, where bridge and tunnel tolls subsidize fares for buses and subways. We should determine if the same kind of system could be implemented in individual cities, such as Philadelphia, or even on a regional basis.

A Lehigh Valley transit authority consisting of the parking bureaus from the three major Valley cities, the Lehigh Valley International Airport, and the Lehigh and Northampton Transit Authority (LANTA) could set up a system of fees and excise taxes to help LANTA stand on its own feet financially.

Such a transition would help to end the annual plea from mass transit systems for taxpayer bailouts, and relieve the financial drain of mass transit systems on the state budget.

Ravinia rides (late)

by

This year, John from the CCC is leading a trio of Ravinia rides, including one on Sunday 23 July. I may also go on Friday 11 August; the CBF is also doing a ride on Saturday 19 August.

(I’ve been twice this year, and for some reason have been upgraded from lawn to pavilion both times. I doubt that’ll happen if I go with a big group, though.)

Why CCM has maps

by

[posted to CCM list]

Me to this list, 24 April 2003:

Hear, hear! I don’t think “anarchy routes” are ANY fun. There’s always
dilly-dallying about where the ride’s going to go, the ride ends up going
in circles and ends up in the same old parts of town that pretty much
replicate my daily commute. (We live surrounded by architectural splendor!
Let’s go and see it!) We end up being really antagonistic, inertia keeps us
on streets for really long and boring (and bus-schedule-wreaking)
stretches. The ride loses its energy fast as people who don’t have anything
to look forward to make other plans and ditch the ride — not that there
was much energy to start with, since the ride has no common (or consensus)
vision to begin with. “Anarchy” is capricious, frustrating, and boring.

This is not to say that a lot of planning has to go into a ride to make it
great. Gareth’s totally impromptu, sketched-on-a-paper-napkin map the time
the French Cycling Sisters showed up a few summers back totally rocked.

Okay, so maybe I’m a stickler for order and responsibility and planning.
But hey, in my experience, those sure beat the alternative.

Also, the “anarchy map” privileges the individuals up front; no one else gets any say in where the mass goes. With pre-printed maps, the entire group gets a chance to read, vet, and vote on the maps.

Take action for safer streets: ride

by

“It’s wonderful to live in the city and ride but isn’t always possible for all.”

Okay, so what can we do about this? In many other cities, I see plenty of old folks on old cruisers, mothers and fathers with children, and regular middle-aged folks riding bicycles. Why not here?

To a certain extent, I’d say that Critical Mass has already accomplished one broadening of the bicycling demographic in Chicago: cycling here isn’t just for college students and Lycra clad racers. On the streets of Wicker Park, I regularly pass bars or parties with bicycles crowded outside — in the past, I’d usually know what or who was going on or at least recognize some of the bikes, but no longer, as our “scene” has grown far too vast. Ongoing education efforts like Bike Winter and “Cycling Sisters, and CBF’s new diversity initiatives, can further help.

Maybe people don’t ride because traffic is dangerous. “Studies have shown [“full text] that pedestrian and bicycle accident rates decrease where there are more bicyclists — because drivers, the hazard to peds and bikes, start looking out for peds and bikes, and indeed are more likely to walk or bike themselves. So, what can you do to help make our streets safer *today*? Get out there and ride! In the long term, let’s think about political changes that will reclaim our streets from speeding, menacing traffic. Our streets belong to the people who live here, not to the people who drive through — but effecting that change will take a lot of work and a lot of talking. Well, we seem to have plenty of people who can talk, but what about people who will work?

Let’s think constructively about how we can improve our city and our bicycling experiences, instead of pointing loudly at the shortcomings.

[also adapted from post to CCM today]

Food tours

by

One idle idea of mine has been a bike tour of food factories — a throwback to those kindergarten tours, but this time much cooler because adults ask better questions. We all know that Vienna Beef doesn’t do factory tours (I wonder why), but Eli’s Cheesecake certainly does. In particular, four great specialty food manufacturers operate on the near west side: Goose Island Brewery, Intelligentsia Coffee, Red Hen Bread, and Vosges Haut-Chocolat. Intelligentsia does public tours, but the rest?