On 8/9/2017 1:40 PM, jbeattie wrote:

On Wednesday, August 9, 2017 at 12:29:15 PM UTC-7, sms wrote:

On 8/9/2017 10:41 AM, jbeattie wrote:

On Wednesday, August 9, 2017 at 8:37:05 AM UTC-7, sms wrote:
Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition Bicycle Summit and the Failure of
Vehicular Cycling.

Attended the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition Bike Summit
https://bikesiliconvalley.org/summit/ yesterday. The keynote was
entertaining, but very strange, and had nothing to do with bicycling,
but the event improved from there.

The most interesting thing was to hear two different transportation
planners, in separate presentations, lambast the “vehicular cycling”
movement, as an impediment to increasing the number of transportational
cyclists. As we now know, the vehicular cycling movement was a dismal
failure in terms of increasing the bicycle mode-share, but for years
transportation planners bought into the idea of treating bikes like
cars, an idea which was promoted by people like John Forester. “Here’s
what happened when one city rejected vehicular cycling,”
http://shifter.info/heres-what-happened-when-one-city-rejected-vehicular-cycling/

The statistic that they both harped on was the 1%/7%/5%/60%/33%
breakdown, from a Portland study
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/158497. 1% of
people will cycle no matter what, whether or not there is good
infrastructure, bad infrastructure, or no infrastructure—these people,
like Jay, are referred to as “Strong and Fearless.” 7% are “Enthused and
confident, and will cycle with just a minimum of infrastructure such as
sharrows and “bike routes.” 33% of people will not cycle no matter what,
no matter how good the infrastructure might be. 60% are “interested but
concerned,” and would do transportational cycling if there was good
infrastructure, with the percentage increasing as the infrastructure
moved toward Class IV. As infrastructure improves, collision, injury,
and fatality rates fall dramatically, partly due to the infrastructure
and partly due to the increased number of cyclists.

The Class IV infrastructure had a lot of appeal to the “interested but
concerned” group for several reasons. They felt safer in protected
bicycle lanes, not only because of the physical barrier from vehicles,
but because there was no way for vehicles to block the bicycle lane for
parking or loading/unloading (which is also a big pet peeve of mine!).

The bottom line was that to get more “butts on bikes,” cities have to go
after the 60% of “interested but concerned.” We need to follow the
example of the Netherlands, where bicycle infrastructure is directly
responsible for the 38% trip share for bicycles. Silicon Valley, which
is flat, and has mild climate, is particularly well suited for this
transformation
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/amsterdam-bicycle-capital-world-transport-cycling-kindermoord.


The whole event seemed to be a lot of “preaching to the choir,” most of
the people there were already transportational cyclists and planners
that understood what was being talked about. I rode there with my city’s
Public Works director. In my city, we have a chance to move a lot of
projects forward since when I was elected I replaced a termed-out
council member who was not interested at all in increasing
transportational cycling. We’ve already pushed through several stalled
projects.

I know this is just bait for Frank, but the 60% number is fantasy. I've been talking to the supposed "interested but concerned" set for decades, and with each new piece of over-priced and fundamentally misguided bicycle infrastructure, they find some other reason not to ride. It's too hot. It's too cold. My tire is flat, etc., etc. My favorite is my work co-hort who is afraid of other cyclists.


Well in city after city, the increase in cycling mode share has occurred
due to rejecting the precepts of vehicular cycling and adding
infrastructure. The goal isn't to get people like you to ride, it's to
attract that 60%. The people you talked to were in the 33% but would not
admit it.

My wife said "I'm one of that 60%." She rides to work because of the
infrastructure of bicycle lanes and multi-use trails, and and would
otherwise not ride.

The evidence is overwhelming, and it's something that not even Frank
could deny. What happened in Montreal,
http://shifter.info/heres-what-happe...cular-cycling/,
is a very good example.


Read the comments he https://bikeportland.org/2015/06/12/...re-down-144330

Including: "Don’t forget 'efficient'. PBOT has really dropped the ball here with nonsense like Moody, SW Multnomah, and the new bit on SW Terwilliger and Capitol Hwy. I think people need to be able to *average* 12mph on bike trips for it to be a compelling option, which means flat and straight parts need to be easy and relaxing at 15-20mph. A separated facility littered with peds, curb cuts, and red lights won’t give you that."

Chutes are dangerous (cars/pedestrian obstructions) and frustrating because of bike traffic. Here is a classic example of new chute infrastructure in Portland that is demonstrably worse than riding on the road: https://bikeportland.org/2017/02/14/...lwaukie-217696

Scroll down to he https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2324/3...1aab9f0f_c.jpg It builds-in conflicts with turning cars -- both entering and leaving traffic. As a cyclist, you now have to stop every 50-100 yards to cross roadways and driveways that previously you just sped-by on the road. https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3726/3...afc2e7f7_c.jpg And the new path was totally unnecessary, at least for cyclists. There was a good shoulder for those who were afraid of the roadway, and not withstanding the breathless rhetoric in the story, I was never afraid riding down this road and neither were any of my riding companions. It was a total snooze of a ride that I had done for decades on my way to other places. This was a monumental step backwards in the name of progress. The perfect solution would have been to put in a nice sidewalk and an on-road bike lane that did not need stops at every bisecting road, driveway, ant trail, deer track, etc., etc. I am positive that there will be more injuries in this new facility than there ever were without it.


Portland has another big problem--relatively good public transportation
with a very high rate of public transit use, even though it's fallen
slightly, like many cities, due to Uber and Lyft. Good public transit
drives down bicycle usage because the same people willing to bicycle are
also willing to use public transit.