October
2005

Coalition develops its position on Measure D renewal

• With the countywide "Measure D" half-cent transportation tax up for renewal soon, the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition is working to ensure that bicycling projects receive a share of an estimated $1 billion over the probable 30-year life of the tax.
• At our September 6th general meeting, and at our Board of Directors meeting on the 12th, we considered what we could do. It was agreed that we should coordinate our efforts with the Coalition for Sustainable Transportation (COAST) to craft a common platform. While we came to no consensus, four main areas rose to the top:
• Complete Streets. Also called "routine accommodation," this means serving all users in street design and construction, including all bicyclists, motorists and pedestrians.
• Safe Routes to School. Although some funding currently comes from the state, and more will come from the federal government, the demand for safety near our schools outstrips funding. Out of 24 project categories considered by county voters on the Measure D assessment survey, a Safe Routes to School program ranked fourth highest.
• Bikes and Commuter Rail. We can copy what is successful in Japan and Europe where thousands bike to train stations, then take the train to work or school. Bike parking costs a fraction what car parking does, and takes a tenth the space. Closer to home, the San Francisco Bay Area commuter CalTrain service has a popular bicycle car on each train for 16 or 32 bicycles, giving commuters the point-to-point convenience of driving.
• Biking Trails. Multipurpose paths that provide travel separate from motorists are very popular. A great example is the proposed bikepath along the Union Pacific Railroad in the South Coast.
• How these might play out to the voters is suggested by the Measure D assessment survey (now online at www.sbbike.org/docs/Measure-D.pdf). Voters in different parts of our county (graph above) favor different bicycling projects to different extents. Those differences are not great, with favoring ranging from 65% to 87% of likely voters, suggesting that, as part of a Measure D renewal package, the 67% needed to pass will be achieved.
• Carefully watch what's happening these few upcoming months. And keep in mind that most trips congesting our streets and highways are short ones that lend themselves to conversion to bicycling with proper facilities and marketing.

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Kids get bike lights in Carpinteria



These youngsters arrived with their parents by bike to get their free lights. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Kids on bicycles in Carpinteria are now safer thanks to several community organizations. The city's second Kids Safety Awareness Day on September 3rd was sponsored by the Carpinteria Education Foundation, the Sheriff's Carpinteria substation, and local community groups.
• Last year, 500 young riders got bike helmets, and this year they had front and rear lights installed on their bikes. Bicycle Coalition president Ralph Fertig went there and was pleased to see whole families arriving by bike, kids wearing last year's helmets, and ready to have their bikes outfitted with safety lights.
• According to Senior Deputy Mike McCoy, about 250 light sets were installed on bicycles. We heard about it fairly late this year, but perhaps in 2006 we can be active participants.

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Site visits increase

• Our web site, home to 68 megabytes of information for bicyclists, is experiencing a surge of visitors. It started in February when our Sideways film bike tours of Santa Ynez Valley were promoted. Since then, it has continued at a higher level. The upshot is that people are finding us, hopefully biking more, and enjoying it more than ever.

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September Coalition meeting topics

• Our September 6th Bicycle Coalition meeting attracted 19 people to Cody's Restaurant in Goleta. We discussed these topics:
• Diana Estorga and Charlie Ebeling described the County's study report on widening Purisima Road near Lompoc, with a projected a cost of $1.1-1.7 million. The Bicycle Coalition will write a supporting letter.
• Matt Dobberteen brought up bikelane striping on Calle Real near the SBCAG office. A small group was set up to agree on a safe and satisfactory design.
• Ralph Fertig reported on UCSB's "restora-tive justice" process over impounded bikes.
• Erika Lindemann reported that for September we will defer to the Ventura Bike I course instead of conducting a Street Skills class here.
• Nancy Mulholland reported on her leadership of a cross-country bike ride.
• Ralph Fertig and others discussed the importance of Measure D renewal language this fall. We will likely be coordinating our efforts with COAST.
• Don Lubach described crazed bikers having fun at the Mercury Lounge Bike Show in Goleta.
• Matt Dobberteen said that the County is applying for CREF funds for replanking the Obern Trail bridge near Puente. The Bicycle Coalition will write a letter in support of his application.
• Ralph Fertig reported that kids and families on bikes turned out for free bike lights at the Carpinteria Safety Day. We will consider participating next year.

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Purisima Road update



Looking west on Purisima Road, with scant room for cycling on the roadway. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Purisima Road is a narrow, two-lane road that connects Highway 246 with Highway 1 north of Lompoc. It would be a fine connecting road for cyclists if it were not for speeding motorists and new housing that is generating more traffic. The Lompoc Valley Cycling Club and our Bicycle Coalition have been asking for bikelanes there for years.
• Recently, the County finished a PSR (Project Study Report) that looked at conditions and determined project costs. At our September 6th meeting, County planners Diane Estorga and Charlie Ebeling presented the PSR results to us. Two alternatives were offered in the study:
• Widen all of Purisima Road between Highways 246 and 1.
• Widen Purisima Road between Highway 1 and Mission Gate Road, then widen Mission Gate itself south to Highway 246.
• Project costs will range between $1.1-$1.7 million. The Bicycle Coalition will write a letter of support for the project. Although funding is a few years off, the PSR is a vital step forward.

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We thank our active members

• Please thank and support the following Bicycle Coalition business members:
• Bicycle Bob's, Santa Barbara & Goleta
• Commuter Bicycles, Santa Barbara
• Jeffrey Stoutenborough, Architect, Santa Barbara
• King Cycle Group, Portland OR
• Nett & Champion Insurance Services, Santa Barbara
• Open Air Bicycles, Santa Barbara
• Pedal Power Bicycles, Santa Maria
• We welcome our newest Bicycle Coalition members Jon Lewis, Linos Kogevinas, and Tony Boughman. We additionally thank those who renewed their memberships: James Elliott, Matt Dobberteen, Susan Beatty, Tony Johansen, Nancy Mulholland, and Mark Sapp.

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Mission Street bikelanes get OK



Bicyclists on Mission Street have to share space with motorists as they travel sun to shadow. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• On September 20, the Santa Barbara City Council unanimously directed the staff to proceed with design of the Mission Street undercrossing of Highway 101 and the UP railroad. With the $1.3 million project funding in hand, a contract with MNS Engineers to design it can move forward.
• What it entails is narrowing the sidewalks to six feet, installing five-foot bikelanes, and narrowing the traffic lanes as needed. Traffic signals will be moved, and new drain grates will be installed. The timetable is for design to start immediately, go to bid in November 2006, and construction to take place during 2007. Have patience.

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Federal funds for Safe Routes to School

• Out of the $284 billion in the federal SAFETEA-LU transportation act, legislators added a new program: $612 million for Safe Routes to School. Details about the program are still being worked out by the US Department of Transportation. However, we do know that funding for this fiscal year will be $1 million per state, and after that the funding will be proportional to the number of elementary and middle school kids in each state, to be apportioned from a pot that will increase from $100 million in 2006 to $183 million in 2009.
• How the new program will be administered, presumably by Caltrans here, is also undetermined. While most goes to physical projects (sidewalks, bikelanes, bike racks, trails, traffic calming, etc.), between 10%-30% must be spent on education, promotion, training, or program management. Government agencies and nonprofits are both eligible for funding. Read more at http://bikesbelong.org/site/page.cfm?PageID=251.

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Walk/Bike conference a success in Ventura



Assemblyman Pedro Nava addresses the Walk/Bike California conference participants on September 16th, saying good things about sustainable transportation like biking and walking. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• The second Walk/Bike California conference attracted about 200 participants to Ventura on September 14-16th. Five members of our Bicycle Coalition attended, two of whom made presentations there about our activities:
• Ralph Fertig talked about marketing bicycling to visitors through our web site and participation in the Santa Barbara Car Free program.
• Erika Lindemann talked about our CycleSmart bicyclist education program.
• In addition, there were sessions on UCSB's upcoming Broida bikepath, the doubled fine for speeding in school zones in Santa Barbara County, and the South Coast's safe routes to school program.
• Dru van Hengel seemed to be the only staff person from any Santa Barbara County jurisdiction to take advantage of all the transportation expertise and state-of-the-art practices that were offered.
• Out of all the officials who addressed the participants during breakfast and lunch, the most inspirational was Ventura City Manager Rick Cole. As this goes to press, the Bicycle Coalition is considering bringing him to speak in Santa Barbara this fall.

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UCSB bike impound contention healed

• Bike to Work Day at UCSB attracted new bicycle commuters to campus. It also attracted the student's Community Service Organization (CSO) workers who impounded bicycles parked near the main entrance to the Biological Sciences II building. Hasty emails raised the level of contention and rebuttal, compounded by a shortage of details, conflicting campus bike parking regulations, inconsistent enforcement, and loss of personal transportation.
• It resulted in the campus "Restorative Justice" process that is invoked to resolve issues that have not been satisfactorily settled by existing procedures. So on July 19th, a group gathered for two hours and came up with these recommendations:
• A permanent "no bicycle parking" sign will be installed at Bio II, giving directions to the closest bike racks.
• Campus administration will be asked to reevaluate the bicycle parking in regard to safety, rack sufficiency and parking convenience; and to review campus bicycle regulations for consistency.
• The results of the meeting will be sent via Bio News email newsletter, including a request for more civility.

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Thomas Matthias chooses bicycling
by Tony Johansen



Thomas Matthias with his curent loyal steed. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• For Thomas Matthias, bicycling has been about transitions. Growing away from the main road, the first transition was from the seclusion of a rural home to the world of school and community.
• First, Thomas had a daily ride down the orchard road to the bus, ditching his Schwinn Stingray in the bushes. Then as he got older, it was the five mile ride to town and the lure of its stores. Ed's Enterprises was the source in that small Connecticut town for all kid things including, of course, bicycles. He still remembers that smell of new rubber as he walked the rows of new bikes.
• His second transition involved selling his car and motorcycle and riding his bike while he worked for a year to save money for a return to college in Bar Harbor Maine. Dodging the RV's and wood pulp semi's on those narrow roads ultimately lead him to sell his bicycle as well.
• His third and most recent transition brought him to Santa Barbara where he enrolled in the Pacifica Graduate Institute to work toward a masters in counseling psychology. Being a student and employed as a counselor at Phoenix of Santa Barbara, he was faced with the choice of affording an apartment or a car. He chose housing and bought a bike to commute from San Roque to Pacifica up Ladera Lane at the far end of East Valley Road, sometimes seven days a week.
• That twelve-mile commute ending in the climb up Ladera taught him a lot about attitude and the confidence that can be built by repetition and perseverance. This has held him in good stead as he works with clients and staff as manager of Mainstream, a program of support for the mentally ill living independently. Another cycling benefit is having the opportunity on the ride home from work to discharge the emotions that inevitably come from attempting to help people to meet often tough challenges.
• After getting his license as a Marriage and Family Therapist here in California, his next transition will be to study at the Jung Institute in Switzerland. You can count on it including a bicycle.

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CycleSmart bicyclist education news

• Our November Class is taking shape! LCI Nancy Mulholland will offer a class on Thursday November 3 and Saturday November 5th. Please contact us at CycleSmart@sbbike.org to sign up or for more information on our program.

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North Jameson is finished



Supervisor Salud Carbajal addressed the ribbon-cutting crowd that included many cyclists. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Ten years after first started, North Jameson Road widening for bikelanes is finished. It now has three new bridges and continuous bikelanes between Sheffield Road and Olive Mill Road in Montecito. Attending the September 22 ribbon-cutting were Bicycle Coalition members Ralph Fertig, Wilson Hubbell, Drew Hunter, Richard Lambert, Jim Marshall, and Mark Mittermiller.

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Bicycle Coalition Board vacancy

• Mike Hecker has served on our Bicycle Coalition Board of Directors for three years, bringing energy, ideas, and promotion of bicycling. We are grateful for all his contributions to our organization, and plan to follow his active production of exciting bike races of all kinds within our county.
• Mike's recent resignation means that we have a vacancy on our Board of Directors, and we are seeking somebody to fill that position. If you want to help make our community a safer and more livable place for bicycling, and if you're concerned about bicyclists having an level playing field in terms of transportation, please consider nominating yourself. Or you can suggest another person.
• If you are interested, please send us a brief email to info@sbbike.org describing your background in bicycling and what skills or special interests you might bring to our nonprofit Bicycle Coalition. Please submit it to us very soon.
• If you have questions, please contact any member of our Board.

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Aeolian bike ride?



Aeolian riders in NYC. Photo by Ben Stuart.

• Crazy? Why no, it's inspired fun. It's the "Aeolian Ride," an event created by NY artist Jessica Findley for 50 bicyclists. Discovered by Bicycle Coalition Board member Don Lubach during his web searches for anything bicycling, the ride has taken place in New York, San Francisco, Cape Town, and Los Angeles. So why not here too?
• The ride consists of 50 bicyclists wearing different styles of white, wind-inflating suits that puff up as you pedal along. Findley considers it a "mass participatory event with a sense of humor. It excites those riding as well as delights those watching, all the while transforming the landscape into a playground of windfilled shapes."
• Lubach envisions it as a Bike Week event next May, and he's already working on making it happen. Get ready to puff, and check out http://uji-making.com/J/aeolian.

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Bicycle Show at Mercury Lounge



Bicycle Coalition members Chris Orr and Don Lubach having a youthful time on kids' bikes. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Thanks to Dawn O'Brien at the Mercury Lounge in Goleta for organizing a day of two-wheeled fun. There was a mass ride to Goleta Beach, a lineup of all kinds of bikes, a Huffy toss, a kids' tricycle race, tiny biking, and bike jousting. Plus a BBQ and a keg of Fat Tire Ale (first one was on the house if you biked there). About 30 people showed up, representing a broad swath of our local bike culture.

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"Conserve By Bike"

• The new Energy Bill that the president recently signed into law includes a Conserve by Bike provision for $6.25 million to go to 10 communities. Those communities, not yet selected, will use the funds to promote bicycling to save energy. Thanks to Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Illinois Senator Richard Durbin for getting this important provision into the bill. The Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta will develop details in the coming months.

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Caltrans uses our bollard report



Large bollards are positioned at both ends of the Obern Trail bridge near Patterson Avenue. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• A week before the Walk/Bike California conference, Maggie O'Mara from Caltrans contacted Bicycle Coalition president Ralph Fertig about using our 2002 report Posts on Bikepaths. "Your document is excellent and a handy reference," she wrote. "It could go a long way towards reducing the necessary and improper use of bollards." [A bollard is a post.] And further, "I'd like to use some of your photos in my work at Caltrans, to educate our engineers and to advocate for better guidance in the Highway Design Manual that discusses all the methods of preventing unwanted vehicle entry and proper use of bollards."
• So Fertig quickly updated the study, and sent it to O'Mara. She printed copies that were handed out to 40 participants in her class on Caltrans' standards for bike facility design that was held September 13th.
• At the conference, O'Mara later commented that bollards should only be a last resort on bikepaths, and all our South Coast ones described in our report have a shortcoming one way or another.
• What we will do now is to print copies and deliver them to all public works divisions throughout our county, so they can be more aware of safer use of bollards on bikepaths. Read it yourself online at www.sbbike.org/commute/posts/bikepath-posts.pdf.

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MTD reports more bikes on buses



Multi-modal transportation is increasing in the MTD system as more people combine biking and transit, here at the Santa Barbara MTD terminal. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Statistics recently released by the Metropolitan Transit District (MTD) show that ridership by those who use the bus bike racks is increasing at six times the rate of general ridership.
• Comparing the 12-month period 7/04-6/05 with that of the prior period, the MTD buses carried 9702 additional bicycles, representing a 13% increase. During the same time period, general ridership increased 2%, as illustrated in this graph.
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• While bicyclists are only 1.2% of all current riders, that's twice the proportion that it was in 2002. Plus, the bicyclists comprise 6% of the recent year-to-year ridership increase.
• A recent study titled A Return on Investment Analysis of Bikes-on-Bus Programs by the National Center for Transit Research tells us about bike/bus users:
• 25% are new bus riders
• 80% of new riders chose the bus because of bike racks
• 72% use the service to commute to work
• Travel distance home-to-bus is greater than bus-to-job
• Traditional bus users take more bus trips after racks are installed
• 26% had problems with full racks
• 22% would lock their bikes at the stop if racks were there and the bus rack was full.
• Locally, the dramatic increase of bicyclists using MTD buses raises questions of capacity. While the MTD buses have 2-bike Sportworks racks, a recent search for other solutions revealed that our neighbor county is already doing what we might copy. The San Luis Obispo Regional buses have two 3-bike Sportworks racks on their buses, one on the front, another on the rear. That's six bicyclists per bus!
• Joe Gilpin from the SLO County Bicycle Coalition comments that their transit director is uneasy about the rear racks because drivers cannot see riders loading bikes. However, it seems that if the MTD mounts rear racks, they can copy buses in Wales that have rear racks, a TV system, and a solenoid locking device that the driver operates for security. So how about it, MTD?