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Entries tagged: Kansas City

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.

Thanks to our supporters at Specialized, this holiday season will be particularly merry for more than two dozen community bike shops and Alliance members.

Community bike shops and earn-a-bike programs are on the rise across the country, taking in recycled rides that would otherwise be landfill fodder and wrenching them back into shape for residents who need them most. In many cases, youth and low-income adults get their bike for free if they learn the skills to refurbish and maintain their bicycle. With increased interest in affordable, healthy transportation, these shops are growing quickly — and need supplies to keep pace with demand.

Enter Specialized. In mid-November, they let us know that, in remodeling some of their concept stores, they were looking for a new home for a variety of shop equipment. Understanding the importance of advocacy, they wanted to put the high-end racks, benches and more in the hands of Alliance members. They even offered to ship the items for free.

We immediately put out the word to our members with community bike shops — and got a quick and positive response. Now, organizations like the Fort Collins Bike Co-op, Bici Libre Community Bike Space in Los Angeles and the Revolve Community Bike Shop in Kansas City will ring in the New Year with new equipment to advance their efforts.

“This donation by Specialized will no doubt prepare us for the promise we believe 2012 holds for the Revolve Community Bike Shop,” Elizabeth Bejan, executive director of Revolve, told us. “If the four full months we were in operation in 2011 is any indication, we will need to have handy as much of our Earn-a-Bike inventory and supplies as this former auto repair turned bike repair shop can hold.  As is their custom, Kansas Citians responded generously to news media about us with donations of bikes and accessories and with their time as volunteers. The Specialized shop equipment will allow us to showcase the donations and re-gift them to those who need them. Not only that, but our deserving volunteers get to work and learn in a fun and safe environment.”

Thank you, Specialized!

Winning Campaigns Trainings give you more than tips and tactics to plan a successful campaign. The Alliance’s three-day boot camp for advocates leaves participants energized, excited and prepared to take on new campaigns that reshape their communities.

Since 2009, the Alliance has worked with nearly 300 advocates from across the continent at our signature workshops. By working through the Winning Campaigns Training curriculum, those participants tweaked or launched hundreds of different campaigns to boost biking and walking in their communities.

Over the past few months, as we’ve held the first half of our 2011 series, we tried to give you a taste of this energy by sharing the rave reviews of participants. But, while we can give you a hundred testimonials, you have to experience the training yourself to understand its impact on how you plan and execute your campaigns.

In 2012, we’re giving you four opportunities to jumpstart your next winning campaign with the guidance of our expert facilitators and the assistance of your bike-ped peers. As you begin to plan out your 2012 budget, don’t forget to include space to attend this transformative training.

• January 13-15 in Tucson, AZ; Hosted by Living Streets Alliance
• April 27-29 in Boston, MA; Hosted by Livable Streets Alliance
• June 8-10 in Houston, TX; Hosted by Citizens’ Transportation Coalition
• October 19-21 in Kansas City, MO; Hosted by BikeWalkKC

Registration for each training is already open. Reserve your spot today.

And don’t forget about our final two training in 2011. The Alliance will be in Los Angeles, October 14-16, and in Columbia, SC, November 4-6.

For 15 years, Elizabeth Bejan has owned a house in the urban core of Kansas City. But now she’s got a second home just around the corner to serve her neighbors with affordable options for active transportation.

The new Community Bike Shop is an outgrowth of RevolveKC, a non-profit Bejan founded with bike-shop owner, Theresa Van Ackeren, in 2009. The organization was created to provide bicycle education for youth, adults and businesses and advance green transportation options throughout the region, but the women knew from the beginning that RevolveKC needed a dedicated space — and, more importantly, Kansas City needed a venue to recondition and recirculate used bikes back into the community.

“From the get go, the plan was to work toward a community bike shop to provide a setting for bicycle safety education and low-cost used bicycles as alternative transportation,” Bejan says. “We were already aware of the Community Cycling Center in Portland, Blackstone Bicycle Works in Chicago, and St Louis Bike Works. Kansas City did not have a fully operating shop of that nature, and we knew we could grow into that after executing some solid community events and a little fundraising.”

In two short years, RevolveKC built that solid foundation and, this week, the Community Bike Shop is celebrating its Grand Opening.

The goal of the shop is three-fold:

• Bicycle collection: Working with businesses and municipalities to collect bicycles that are destined for the landfill.
• Bicycle recycling: Engaging volunteers to refurbish bicycles for recirculation or resale.
• Bicycle classes: Providing education to make Kansas City residents more comfortable commuting by bike.

True to the mission of providing green transportation for all income levels, the Community Bike Shop is offering an earn-a-bike program that allows youth and adults to trade volunteer time or bicycle knowledge for a refurbished ride. “We’re using the Traffic Skills 101 online course and on-bike road test as one of two options that program participants can ‘earn’ their bikes,” Bejan explains. “To date, we’ve provided transportation to 13 commuters in this way.”

To stock the shop with old bicycles, Revolve has already cultivated strong relationships with area municipalities. In fact, next month, the nonprofit is partnering with local cities for two events that include bike collection. And those bikes won’t just go to area residents, either. “We hope to recirculate reconditioned bicycles to any businesses in these municipalities who want to initiate a bikeshare program for their business and pursue Bicycle Friendly Business designation,” Bejan says.

Click the video above for a great interview with Bejan and preview of the space. Or click here to keep track of the Community Bike Shop’s progress on Facebook.

This month we celebrated with the National Complete Streets Coalition, as they marked the passage of more than 200 complete streets policies across the U.S.

Well, add Kansas City, Missouri, to that quickly growing list.

This week, the Kansas City City Council passed a “Livable Streets” resolution that recognizes “streets and sidewalks are an important part of our community that serve transportation needs and are also a part of the public realm where people live, shop, interact, and travel” and resolves that “Kansas City supports the concept of Livable Streets as a means to promote great neighborhoods, healthy and active people, and a thriving community.” The Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation lauded the passage of the complete streets policy as a “a giant step forward.”

According to federation: “Kansas City is moving to the forefront of transportation parity in Missouri following the adoption of similar Complete Streets policies in Columbia, De Soto, Ferguson, Crystal City, Festus, Herculaneum, St. Louis, and Lee’s Summit.”

“The Livable Streets resolution is a sort of capstone to several different polices and plans that are already moving the city forward towards becoming safer and easier to navigate by whatever mode of transportation people choose,” Eric Rogers, the vice president of the MoBikeFed writes on KCBike.info. It builds on recent progress, including a Bike KC Master plan, a walkability plan and the reform of the development code and parking regulations.

“It’s great to see more Complete Streets policies being adopted in Missouri,” says Sarah Shipley, a KC resident and staffer at the MoBikeFed. “It means our roads and streets will be designed for everyone and safer for everyone — the old, the young, people with a disability, people who walk, bicycle, take the bus, or drive.”

Click here to read the full resolution.

For Kansas City civic leaders, the Missouri River is an exciting, barely tapped resource that brings human and natural history to the doorstep of downtown. But, for many years, area cyclists have seen the Big Muddy as a big barrier.

With no safe means to cross the bridges over the Missouri River, bicycle commuters and recreational riders had difficulty moving between the urban core and the city’s growing northern neighborhoods and commercial districts.

Not anymore.

Last week, the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation joined a number of other groups and government agencies to cut the ribbon on a separated bicycle path on the Heart of America Bridge. According to Brent Hugh, the bike fed’s executive director, the new facility is a longtime dream finally made reality.

“Advocates have been working for this day for more than two decades,” Hugh says. “The Missouri River cuts the Kansas City metro area in half, and a safe crossing point for bicyclists and pedestrians has been the biggest missing piece of the area’s bike-ped network.”

A broad coalition of advocates and officials made it happen. In 2006, the Missouri Department of Transportation started planning for the reconstruction of the Paseo Bridge, the landmark structure that carries Interstate 35 over the Missouri River. A feasibility studied frowned on the addition of bike-ped facilities to the Paseo, but suggested the nearby Heart of America Bridge could provide safe passage for cyclists. Hundreds of residents showed up at public meetings and thousands expressed their support for a safe bridge crossing in e-mails and phone calls.

The result: MoDOT retrofitted the 25-year-old bridge with a $2.88 million separated path. When it opened last week, ahead of schedule, cyclists pedaled across with smiles and video cameras. Adding to the excitement, Hugh says, the push for bridge access spawned more than a single victory.

“We came out of this with a regional bike-ped River Crossings Policy and now MoDOT District 4 is working on its first ever District-wide Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan — one that will be a model for the other nine MoDOT districts across the state,” Hugh adds.

Even better, officials at MoDOT are now working on a second bike-ped crossing on the Chouteau Bridge, just two miles to the east. According to Hugh: “Having these two river crossings in place is going to be tremendously important in energizing the rest of Kansas City’s bike/ped network to finally come together.”

According to the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation, “Ciclovia—the street festival where cities close down miles of streets and residents come out to enjoy walking, bicycling, scootering, skating, and all other manner of fun physical activity—is coming to Missouri in a big way this summer.

Kansas City’s Car Free Weekends on Cliff Drive are entering their third year and have been a very successful program.  By removing cars from the drive on weekends, more citizens are able to enjoy bicycling and walking and crime has been reduced significantly. Now Kansas City is expanded on this successful program by creating the city’s first full-blown Sunday Parkways festival.” St. Louis is also expanding it’s ciclovia programming this summer. 

The Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation is working to bring ciclovia festivals to cities around Missouri.  The state has gone from no Missouri ciclovia festivals in 2007, to one in 2008, and now seven planned for 2010.

Learn more at MoBikePedFed.