City of Bicyclists?
Sep 27, 2009
No Comments
Los Angeles and bicycling sound odd when mentioned in the same sentence. Despite the region's warm and arid climate, reputation having a healthy lifestyle, and sunshine year round, bicycling is a trend that really hasn't caught on here. You'll find more yoga fiends than bike fanatics. The love of yoga and health gyms reflects the attitude of most residents: we'll drive our car to exercise, but we won't move around the streets to burn calories. Spend much time exploring in LA, and you'll see why: old, narrow streets can turn into bicyclists' graveyards than become bike friendly; drivers who don't understand what a stop sign means; a lack of trees shading sidewalks, and few safe places to lock one's bicycle. The paucity of bicycle lanes in LA is appalling considering that we have 7,200 miles of streets in LA proper. Currently Los Angeles has 143 miles of bicycle lanes--Portland, Oregon, which has 15% of LA's population, boasts 200. Considering LA's pathetic transportation system, it's understandable why bike lanes are almost as rare as snow removal machines. Clogged freeways lead to drivers commuting to work on sidestreets. Stressed out commuters are even less likely to share the road--riding down streets such as Beverly, Wilshire, and Sepulveda gives you exercise--in playing Russian Roulette!
The consulting firm advising the city of LA wants to transform this megopolis of 3.8 million in the most bike-friendly city in the US by 2020. It's a tall order: depending on what surveys you read, Portland is just behind Amsterdam in the quest for the crown as the globe's #1 bicycle town. San Francisco is not far behind (they do seem thinner up there, must be biking up all those hills!), and college towns such as Davis, CA, and Boulder, CO are not far behind. Copenhagen, the host of this year's climate change summit, is on a push to pass up Amsterdam, and oil producing Norway has a few towns in the mix, too.
This proposed plan for LA is impressive: by 2020, if all goes according to plan, 5% of local commuters will bicycle to work, and 5% of all trips will occur on two wheels. That's puny compared to Amsterdam's 40% rate, but well, right now my guess is that the number of bicyclists numbers about .005%, so that's an impressive jump. Bicycle lanes (where wide strips are actually painted on the streets) and "bicycle-friendly streets" (on less crowded roads, marked with green sites admonishing drivers to share the road), will increase almost 4-fold. Business owners and other community stakeholders can request the city's Department of Transportation to install bike racks, which can even take on a certain "look," offering more of a community feel to LA's diverse neighborhoods.
This has got to succeed. I know several people who would love to bike to Beverly Hills, Westwood, Downtown, or Pasadena from Silver Lake, but are reticent due to safety issues. I commend the city for taking on a project that is not a popular pastime in LA. More should be done, however. Why not a sales tax rebate from the city when a bicycle is purchased? Stiffer fines for cars who do not give bicyclists the right-of-way? Finally, bicyclists need to wear helmets--I'm always amazed when walking around USC or UCLA and not a single helmet is in sight. Oh, and definitely . . . no texting while biking . . .
Are there any Angelinos out there who bike to work? If so, what's your experience?
