SBAB meeting 2/3/10.
I took notes for another group so this is longer than normal but the topic of general bicycle parking involves everyone who commutes downtown or to other locations.
Tom Rassmussen (TM), City Council Member and Chair of Transportation was in attendance for the first part of the meeting and addressed the group about several issues. He thinks the input of boards like SBAB are important for proper implementation of facilities in the city. He does cycle, mostly for recreation and cycle trips and is fairly knowledgeable about cycling routes in the Seattle area. He wants to improve cycling for commuters especially through better implementation of infrastructure and wants feedback such as what infrastructure implementation makes sense - signage for instance, does it work? What about maintenance and the possibility of adding more routes for cyclists? In addition he presented several speaking points:
* Bike safety is a priority. How does the infrastructure work? TM believes that sometimes the new infrastructure actually creates confusion between drivers and cyclists. 2nd Ave bike lane is an example (even though it's not new) - is there such a thing as intuitively identifying something as bad? (Something we cyclists have long complained about, most recently the Sharrows). Why are we spending $ on stripes and lanes if it's not done well?
* Right of Way. TM recently took a trip in an 18-wheeler from Ballard to the Duwamish. He stated that cyclists were invisible from the cab, especially those approaching from the right. The driver specifically commented on cyclists using the "bus lane" on Elliott Ave as a bike route - why not use the trail? TM correctly identified a disconnect between what is a recreational cycle route vs a commuter route and how can these be identified in a more constructive way? How are cyclists made more visible to drivers? (And how do we educate drivers about driving safely on the road with cyclists?)
* Missing links in the bicycle network. TM thinks this is dangerous as one of the routes he uses disappears (in the south end of town) and dumps cyclists into a narrow, congested corridor with no good route through for riders with less than great skills. The bicycle map doesn't make sense either - why are some bicycle routes located on streets with large, steep hills and not routed around those hills instead? Who validates the route (i.e. I think he meant who actually goes out and rides the routes prior to identifying it as a bike route - a great question!)
* Bridging disagreements between different transportation modes. 1st Hill streetcar as an example. TM is a firm believer that this route is not good for cyclists and has big concerns (does he mean the 12th Ave routing or the Broadway routing? Is he award of the Jackson interchange - no one on SBAB brought this up - astonishing!). He also mentioned the lawsuit of the missing link of the Burke through Ballard and seemed to have some empathy toward the truck drivers here. He went back to the streetcar issue by explaining he's a supporter of an expanded bus system, especially trolley buses. And even if the streetcar is built anyway, it should serve the original purpose of routing through the major employment areas of the hospitals and down Broadway to Aloha. Even though the other neighborhoods want it too because of the economic draw, it loses it's original purposes of the planned proposal. Further meetings are planned w/Blake to go over the streetcar proposal. SBAB noted that the cycle track planned for Broadway is a good outcome and TM said that the community council (Broadway) has been very involved and supportive of the plans.
* Think of low-cost, easy implemented solutions. TM gave example of a helpful fix that may assist in completing missing link problem for cyclists. When stairways are replaced, simply add a "bike ramp" along side them so a bike can easily be rolled up the hill along the staircase. This could make a significant difference for people who don't want to ride up a steep hill and cannot carry their bike up a shorter route via a staircase.
TM seemed confused about why CBC came out against the SR520 plan as proposed as it would add a bike/pedestrian walkway. SBAB pointed out that the problem wasn't the bridge per se but the connectivity (plays into TM's description of what is "bad" implementation). The Montlake interchange will be a huge vehicle structure that will put vehicles first and peds/cyclists second. In addition adding more vehicles to the U District and changing the Arboretum is not a positive cycling change even though the bridge itself is good. SBAB and TM will request more info from CBC on their decision. TM mentioned that mitigation and investigation is on the table as far as WA State is concerned in spite of what has been in the media. The connectivity problems can be discussed with the State in his opinion.
Commute Seattle
A one-year grant was received to inventory bike parking facilities in the city of Seattle.
Commute Seattle is a group formed to make sure people can move through the city for transit, businesses and freight access. The group consists of city workers, metro and downtown association members and they work with property managers, employers and commuters directly. See attached handout for details of these notes. The goal (SDOT's I believe as well as "Commute Seattle's") is to reduce SOV use from it's current level of 50% of all trips to 44% by 2015. This consists most of commuters. They want to see bike/ped commuters at a level of 10K in the next 5 years. SBAB asked what the current level of bike/peds is - Commute Seattle did not have an answer. Amazingly they did not seem to know this answer! SBAB filled them in and said the estimate now is about 4K so they want 6K additional bike/ped commuters by 2015? Commute Seattle reps said that they would like to see bike trips tripled by 2015 and that the 6K figure was not an increase but a net total average over the calendar year. (I could not understand their reasoning, nor were there numbers presented of cyclists vs pedestrian commuters - all numbers were lumped together.)
Commute Seattle wants to increase the number of bicycle racks, provide maps and route suggestions. A bike parking inventory is the first step. They mentioned that Portland did this for the first time 15 years ago. Then they will move to infrastructure concerns and marketing. The big question is can downtown accommodate 6K more cyclists? Are there enough racks (when they talk about bike parking, they mean covered, secure, long term bike parking, not short term on street racks), showers, lockers, routes to accommodate commuters? If not, then build it, then outreach to commuters. In the short time the group has been together they have discovered that no one is looking at cyclists once they are downtown. Downtown cyclists are mostly commuters with their own particular set of needs. So they will train volunteers, interns and their own group members to go out and physically inventory the bike parking facilities, including lockers and showers, of every downtown building. This is a huge task that will not be done via survey. The people doing the inventory will be trained to spot good/bad bike parking, and be able to access whether it is safe, accessible, convenient, whether it involves interacting with ramps, automobiles, pedestrians, etc. Portland now has a pamphlet that is given out to building owners about how to provide good bike parking and this group would very much like to see this as an eventual outcome.
Outreach and encouragement for future commuters is in their plan - but does the group have teeth or is it just another advisory committee? Once the grant ends, then what? Does this group overlap or can they work in coalition with SBAB? None of the reps at the SBAB meeting were cyclists. The can make recommendations but have no role in implementation. SBAB asked if the group has reviewed the current bike counts - they have reviewed them. And a follow up question was that if they will be concentrating on downtown cyclists do they plan on counting them themselves? No, they do not. They will be conducting their own surveys to get an estimate of the count of cyclists. One idea is to leave flyers on bicycle bars so cyclists can fill them out. (My concern is if you are looking at secured bike parking - you should not be able to do this. In my building it would be impossible. So they could miss lots of commuters this way.)
Short Term Parking (SDOT)
The SDOT program started in the early 1980s and lots of experimentation has taken place. SDOT currently uses several different rack types: stainless rail racks (inverted U), small inverted U racks, converted parking meter posts, and core racks. SDOT's support facilities provide racks to make cycling more convenient (according to Bike Master Plan) and re-establish proactive installations in 2010 that are mindful of ROW, load zones, etc. In 2007 there were an estimated 3000 racks in the city. The new target is 6000 racks in 10 years, so that's installation of about 300 new racks per year. They are close to target now with 1600 installed (this is bike spaces, not racks, so estimate approx 2 bikes per rack, so that's 800 new racks since 2007) - they would have liked to reach 1800.
The latest inventory was done November 2009 using GPS. Each rack location in the ROW was logged and a photo taken. The total measured was 2517 racks. SBAB pointed out this is less than the 3000 racks BEFORE the new installations so did SDOT only have ~1700 racks to begin with, not 3000? SDOT did not have an answer. Racks are concentrated in core areas (downtown, California Ave SW, Greenlake, etc). Where are the underserved areas (well, that's easy to see on the map - Delridge, Columbia City, Beacon Hill, Rainier Ave, SODO...basically south). SDOT is also installing new racks in public schools - but these were not counted as they are not ROW installations.
The 2010 plan is to continue to fill installation requests, install racks pro-actively and work with the street division to streamline installation process for private purchase installations of on street racks, and to identify locations when old parking meters are taken out.
On-street bicycle parking on 12th Ave should be replaced soon - it's the only location so far that has proved successful. They are looking at several new locations; the Admiral Junction in West Seattle (yay! this would be excellent!), Greenlake, and the newest one should be in Ballard on Ballard Ave NW near 20th. The business group has approved installation for one year as a test case. They are looking for more locations to look at: contact Doug Cox with your ideas.
SBAB asked whether they should be installed according to demand (as SDOT is doing) or whether the racks create the demand by making it easier to park a bicycle. And is a one year test period enough in rainy Seattle. Can it be extended to a two year period? Doug said that the on street racks that were used (12th Ave only it seems) were immediately popular - the unused ones were obviously not popular so there wasn't a need for a longer test period.
Other info: The Pioneer Square Bike Station has been renamed the Bike Port. It's newly remodeled with lockers, and a bathroom/changing area (not sure if they have showers). Their official opening was Thursday the 4th. The web site has not been updated yet.
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