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Entries tagged: Bike Share

In Fall 2010, Advocacy Advance awarded the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation a $30,000 grant to create a local advocacy organization in the Greater Kansas City MO/KS region. A year and a half later, BikeWalkKC has over 200 members, a $90,000 budget, 2.5 FT equivalent staff (including this year’s Alliance Advocacy Awards Advocate of the Year winner, Eric Rogers), a strong education program, and many campaign successes.

Kansas City is dedicating $500,000 per year for five years for its share of the regional Katy Trail, a corridor that is part of the Jackson County Commuter Rail-with-Trail plan. In 2011, Kansas City achieved Bronze status from the League of American Bicyclists’ Bicycle Friendly Communities program and its City Council adopted a Complete Streets Resolution, along with nine other communities covering 48% of the metro population. BikeWalkKC launched a Regional Funding Cooperation campaign and is working with a coalition of regional Parks and Recs directors on enabling state legislation to fund regional trails and bike routes. Additionally, a Blue Cross and Blue Shield-sponsored bike share program will start in Kansas City this summer and the organization’s CMAQ-funded Education program has served over 2,000 people in eight monthly classes with LCI instruction, school programs in low income and minority neighborhoods, and corporate lunch-and-learns.

BikeWalkKC certainly hit the ground running. Ongoing support from a statewide organization, working off of a clear, collaborative vision, addressing the technical steps for starting a new advocacy organization, and building local partnerships are the recipe for success in Kansas City – one that many Alliance member organizations have and can continue to learn from.

As Carolyn wrote earlier this week, bike share systems are all the buzz among big city transportation officials as an effective, economical and even attractive means to increase mobility in their bustling urban cores. Not to be outdone by the likes of New York City and San Francisco, advocates in Kansas City — recipients of a 2010 Advocacy Advance Grant — have added Missouri to that growing list.

Yesterday, the City of Kansas City passed a resolution permitting the establishment of BikeShareKC and committing to increase the number of bike lanes along BikeShareKC routes.

The new B-cycle system is a joint effort of BikeWalkKC and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City. According to the press release: “BikeWalkKC is partnering with Blue KC to bring bike share to Kansas City as a healthy low-cost transportation option. Blue KC will take the lead in driving development of BikeShareKC by enlisting other leaders in the business community to commit to sponsorships, advertising deals and/or augmenting their employee wellness offering by subsidizing memberships.”

BikeWalkKC and Blue KC aim to have 20 stations with 200 bikes up and running by summer 2012. Bikes will be available nine months of the year, with annual memberships that entitle users to unlimited 30-45 minutes trips around the city. The stations will even be equipped with a smartphone app that will allow riders to determine the availability of bikes anywhere in the system. Plus, using B-Cycle technology, riders will be able to track their miles traveled, calories burned and pounds of carbon dioxide saved.

“BikeShareKC will bridge the awkward distances that are too far to walk but too short to drive,” Eric Rogers, executive director of BikeWalkKC said. “It will also expand the reach of the transit system by providing new options for the ‘last mile.’ And it will help clear the air while giving Kansas Citians a new option for being healthy and active.”

“BikeShareKC offers a much needed alternative form of transportation around Kansas City, while also promoting physical activity to its residents,” added David Gentile, President and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City.

Read the full press release here.

This week, more than 11,000 researchers, engineers, advocates and government officials are gathered here in Washington, DC, for the annual Transportation Research Board meeting. Glancing through the 328-page program this weekend, I had to admit that much of the content looked like a foreign language: I can’t say I’m familiar with the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide or well-versed on Inland Waterway Infrastructure. But being at the conference, I’ve discovered there’s a lot of buzz around biking and walking — even in the sessions that don’t have active transportation in the title.

Yesterday, for instance, I elbowed my way into a packed session on “Mobility Strategies for the 21st Century.” The panel included transportation commissioners from Chicago, San Francisco and New York City and, despite their diverse cities and populations, each of their presentations focused largely on their efforts to boost biking and walking.

“We’ve made lots of significant changes to the streetscape in the past four years,” Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City’s visionary transportation commissioner said. “Prior to 2007, we looked at everything with the planning ethos of 1950. We looked at streets through the eyes of a car. But simply adapting cities to pick up more and more vehicles, more and more traffic, is not a great strategy… So we’re rethinking how we use our streets and realized they weren’t really designed to meet the demands of the population.”

So, since Sadik-Khan took the reins, NYC has started thinking about streets as places, where limited space needs to be allocated to the safety and benefit of all users. Perhaps the first and most visible evidence of this paradigm shift, Sadik-Khan said, was turning Times Square into a pedestrian plaza. In very short order, the city realized massive economic benefits. “Since we closed Broadway [to cars], major flagship stores have moved in,” she said. “Retail rents have doubled in two years and Times Square has turned into one of the top 10 retail locations on the planet.”

Sadik-Khan also highlighted the city’s success in building out its bicycle network and the imminent debut of the Big Apple’s bike share, which will be the largest in the United States. And she wasn’t alone in showcasing bike-ped improvements as the top mobility strategies in her nation-leading city. Edward Reiskin, director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, also touted the Bay City’s upcoming bike share system. He shared that, at any given time, s staggering 30 percent of the congestion in downtown San Francisco is motorists simply looking for parking, and the city’s effort to boost other modes of travel, including biking and walking. He highlighted his agency’s successful and growing use of parklets — re-appropriating parking spots and turning them into pedestrian parks and cafe patios — and raved about the power of people “taking back the streets” during the city’s recurring Sunday Streets ciclovia initiative.

And Gabe Klein, the new commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, added to the chorus of bike-ped enthusiasm. Known for his role in bringing bike share to Washington, DC, when he served as the transportation director in the nation’s capital, Klein shared a funny story that summed up the Windy City’s trajectory. Yes, Chicago is getting bike share, too, but that’s just the beginning of an ambitious plan to make the city more bicycle-friendly. On the day that Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced his new DOT director, Klein was reading through the Mayor’s remarks. When he saw that Emanuel’s speech promised 100 miles of protected bike lanes, Klein got a bit anxious. Was there really the political will and public support to add such significant lengths of cycletracks? Trying to hedge his bets, Klein crossed out the word “protected.” But when the Mayor read his speech he barely stumbled before reinstating that significant distinction. And guess what? The first protected bike lane on Kinzie Street has been phenomenally successful, boosting bicycle mode share on that stretch from 22 to more than 50 percent.

Listening to those inspired transportation officials, all fired up about biking and walking as critical and integral transportation solutions for the 21st Century, I couldn’t help but think of the incredible advocates in those cities who have made that shift possible. From the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to the Active Transportation Alliance in Chicago to Transportation Alternatives in NYC, advocates have laid the foundation for this groundswell by doing the tough, long-term work of elevating the voices and need of people who walk and bike in their communities.

Stay tuned for more from TRB…

PHOTO: Transportation officials in major U.S. cities are excited about bike share as a mobility solution.

This summer, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Oregon’s statewide advocacy organization, received a $3,000 Advocacy Advance Rapid Response grant to assist in its advocacy efforts to bring bike share to Portland.

Last month, the bike share program won its final stages of approval — a unanimous vote of the Metropolitan Planning Organization followed by a final allocation decision by the Metro Council — thanks, in large part, to the BTA.

The bike share program will have 740 bikes located at 74 bike stations throughout downtown Portland, encouraging thousands of new riders in the central business district and enhancing safety associated with increased ridership. The $2 million capital investment in bike share is on the list of regional transportation projects approved for federal “flexible funds” by the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT).

This decision reflects earlier campaign success, when the Portland City council voted in support of the $2 million in Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) money for a capital investment in bike sharing.

Concerns raised at the JPACT meeting will bolster BTA’s equity commitment in the region and emphasized the importance of ensuring that the program will meet the needs of all users equitably and affordably.

Advocacy Advance is a partnership of the Alliance and League of American Bicyclists aimed at boosting federal funding for biking and walking projects and programs on the state and local level. Thanks to the support of the SRAM Cycling Fund, Advocacy Advance has $13,000 remaining to fund organizations met with urgent and unexpected opportunities to win, increase, or preserve funding for biking and walking. Visit the Advocacy Advance Grants page or e-mail Brighid O’Keane for more information on our grant program.

Advocacy Advance is a dynamic partnership of the Alliance and League of American Bicyclists to dramatically increase funding for biking and walking projects and programs.

Last week, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance won the first phase of its campaign to bring a bike share system to Portland, when the Portland City Council voted in support of $2 million in Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) money for a capital investment in bike sharing.

The BTA also received a $3,000 Advocacy Advance Rapid Response Grant to build on this success and prepare for the next phase of the campaign: Secure full funding at the regional Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the City of Portland to build and operate a new $11.5 million bike sharing program.

Thanks to the support of SRAM Cycling Fund, Advocacy Advance has $16,000 remaining to fund organizations met with urgent and unexpected opportunities to win, increase, or preserve funding for biking and walking.

Read more about the BTA grant on the Advocacy Advance blog. Visit the Advocacy Advance Grants page or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for more information on our grant program.

In an effort to boost bicycling in U.S. cities, two bike industry leaders are giving a handful of Latino elected officials a free trip to Seville, Spain. And your organization could play a key role in determining who gets the ticket.

Next March, Seville will play host to Velo-City 2011, the premiere international conference on bicycling. Given the unique opportunities for Spanish speakers, SRAM and Bikes Belong are offering as many as 12 scholarships to Latino officials from the U.S. to take advantage of the conference and the common language to fully immerse themselves in Seville’s impressive cycling transformation.

To be eligible, officials must have a demonstrated interest in or connection to bicycling and sustainable transportation. Now, here’s where you come in: Applicants who are nominated or recommended by a local bicycling business or advocacy organization will get a significant leg up. Is there a Latino official on your city council or in your state legislature who supports bicycling and would benefit from a one-of-a-kind, educational and inspirational trip to Spain’s biking capital? If so, make sure you download the nomination form.

Adolfo Hernandez, advocacy director for the Active Transportation Alliance in Chicago, is working with SRAM and Bikes Belong to promote the opportunity and review the applications. He says the example set by Seville could make a huge difference back home in your community.

“Seville’s transformation into a bicycling city is nothing short of amazing,” Adolfo says. “In less than four years, 120 kilometers of separated bike lanes and a robust bike share program have multiplied the number of trips by bicycle from 0.6 percent to 6.6 percent of all trips. In large part these changes came about because of great advocates and elected officials who support bicycling. Removing lanes of traffic and parking for automobiles is not easy to do anywhere, but elected officials and city leaders in Seville have pushed forward with great success and have transformed Seville into a cycling city.”

“We will introduce our Latin American elected officials to Seville’s elected officials in meetings, tours and workshops designed to highlight the benefits that the city has experienced,” he adds. “Our elected officials will have an opportunity to hear firsthand from their Seville peers about the challenges, successes and political impact of the city’s commitment to increase the levels of bicycling. Our hope is that elected officials return with a sense of how quickly change can come about and ideas about how to transform our American cities in cycling cities.”

The deadline for applications is January 14th, 5 p.m., EST. But don’t wait. There’s a benefit to being first in line — some of the scholarships will be awarded early.

Click here for the full scholarship packet. Questions? Get in touch with .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Montreal’s Bixi bike rental program, modeled on the Vélib network in Paris, with 3000 gps enbled bikes and 300 stations was launched on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/05/12/montreal-bixi.html