Ramping up, July 10

From the department of mixed messages

The Los Angeles City Council's transportation committee met Wednesday and most of the meeting was devoted to -- get this -- bikes. How timely! One eagle-eyed Bottlenecker read the meeting agenda and found a wee bit of irony.

Item 7: Discuss the city's emerging plan to improve getting around by bicycles.

Item 8: Close bicycle access gate to Ballona Creek bike path.

There is, of course, a back story. There's always a back story.

First, the bike plan. The city started working on it in 2006 and a draft is scheduled to be released later this year. In addition to discussing the plan, the committee also approved Council President Eric Garcetti's proposal for a pilot program for sharrows (putting them on Vermont was somewhat controversial -- the street is very busy) and Councilwoman Wendy Greuel's motion asking Metro to expand bike racks at rail stations. Both motions now go to the full council.

As for the gate closure, this has been a contentious issue. It involves a gate to the trail from Culver Avenue between Purdue and Sawtelle. Some residents and the police say criminals have used it to access the trail and do no good. Bike activists have said cutting access to bike trails is a good way to discourage people from riding their bikes. The committee recommended that the full council enact the closure, with Councilman Richard Alarcon dissenting.

Speaking of improving bike conditions

So, I go home last night and decide to go for a spin through Pasadena and neighboring villages. Eastbound on San Pasqual I stop at a red light at Sierra Madre Boulevard (at this point I was in unincorporated county land). I'm in the middle lane and there's no cross traffic. I wait a minute for a green light but there's no green light to be had. I roll backward. I roll forward. I hop up and down on my bike. The bike and I together weigh over 200 pounds (it's an extremely heavy bike, fyi). Nada. The signal loops don't respond. Finally, a car that's westbound on San Pasqual rolls up to the light. And then, finally, it turns green. By which time my face is red. Question for avid cyclists out there: Is this a common problem in which traffic signals refuse to recognize your existence?

Olympic-Pico update

The L.A. City Council yesterday also approved spending $500,000 for an environmental review of the plan to make the two streets behave as if they were one-way thoroughfares. Streetsblog Los Angeles has a nice summation of the meeting.

Let's help Cyrus plan a trip

I received an interesting e-mail from Cyrus Farviar, who is in town visiting from the Bay Area. He wants to travel from Santa Monica to Pomona by mass transit on Friday afternoon and needs to be in Pomona by 7 p.m. at a place near the train station. He used the Metro trip planner and it gave him this option: catch the 704 Rapid Bus line at 3:57 p.m., take it to Union Station and hop on the Metrolink, which arrives in Pomona at 6:09 p.m. The two-hour, 12-minute journey struck Mr. Farviar as a bit excessive. I think so, too, although at that hour and coming from the Westside, it may beat driving. Any Bottleneckers out there with a better idea? Remember, it's nice to help visitors. 

My mug shot, part two

The raves keep pouring in for that new mug shot of me on the right side of the screen. From my email inbox Thursday:

"You clean up OK."

"Now I don't feel like someone might follow me home when I write an e-mail to the road sage."

"Looks like my law professor."

"It looks kinda airbrushed."

Links to a couple of yesterday's items

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky talks about his commute, the sales tax proposal and the mayor

Are Metro rail and bus schedules and routes coming to Google Transit?

Later today on the Bottleneck Blog

The latest on Expo Line phase two, Thursday time wasters and another round of shorty items. At least that's the plan.

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[Claremonster]

Sorry to be a day late on this one, but as a near-daily Claremont to Santa Monica commuter (sorry about that, too) 2:12 using public transportation through Friday p.m. traffice seems like a pipe dream. I leave SM at 6:00 p.m. and it often takes me 2 hours to get home without bus stops or waiting for trains, and that's with the carpool lane along the 10 b/w the 710 and 605

[Claremonster]

Sorry to be a day late on this one, but as a near-daily Claremont to Santa Monica commuter (sorry about that, too) 2:12 using public transportation through Friday p.m. traffice seems like a pipe dream. I leave SM at 6:00 p.m. and it often takes me 2 hours to get home without bus stops or waiting for trains, and that's with the carpool lane along the 10 b/w the 710 and 605

[Michael]

Oh please. Cyrus is from Santa Monica. He can figure it out! :D

[Damien Newton]

At intersections along my regular bike routes I've come to learn which signals need to detect a car, which are on timers, and which ones I can just hop off the road for a second and hit the ped crossing button. You should see the looks some drivers give me when I pull next to the curb and gesture at them to pull up to signal that they need to move up to trip the signal. Most of the time they think I'm being sarcastic. Occasionally, they make time for a rude gesture or word.

[SoapBoxLA]

Adjusting the sensitivity of the signal loops is simple science administered by traffic engineers who sometimes struggle to comprehend the need to accommodate cyclists.

The Cyclists' Bill of Rights ( www.bikewriterscollective.com ) which was presented to the Transportation Committee yesterday, articulates, in #7, "Cyclists have the right to traffic signals, signage and maintenance standards that enable and support safe cycling."

Something so simple is very important and a simple phone call to the DOT for your city should yield a result. If not, email me. I'll get on it.

Stephen @ bwc@bikewriterscollective.com

[Tony Fernandez]

And I forgot about Pico-Olympic in the other post. Those two roads, if anything, should be traffic calmed. Put some bike/bus lanes and build a median. This will slow down traffic (actually making driving more efficient) but the roads will be just as efficient in moving traffic volumes (if not better because of the bike/bus lanes). This will make the roads look nicer (pleasing the businesses along the routes) and increase capacity (which SHOULD BE what the politicians want) via non-auto modes of transportation.

Of course, politicians only see travel times as "how fast is my car going," constantly ignoring that there are other ways to get around besides driving.

[Tony Fernandez]

I guess the 720 isn't an option or is too clogged at that hour?

Either way, I used to make that commute from UCLA. Driving took me 3 hours (mostly on the 405 or on one of the SGV freeways), but taking the bus (which is what I usually did) to Hollywood/Highland or Wilshire/Western (depending on whether I took the 2 or the 720) Red Line Station and then Metrolink the rest of the way took me a nice 2 hours. It's faster and so much less stressful than that drive.

[Jim Thomson]

I have not seen a pressure sensitive traffic detect in years. They have largely been replaced with electromagnetic loops. The trick is to get on the edge of the loop where they are most sensitive. If they do not trip for you, contact your city’s public works department. The sensitivity can be adjusted. More information here. http://www.bikeplan.com/signal.html

Some communities are replacing the loops with image cameras located above the traffic signal. Since they just compare image changes, bicyclists have no trouble activating those.

[fezco]

Righto Steve. I think the intersection sensors work off of some type of electro magnetic field rather than pressure. (I could be wrong). They never work for me and I've been riding bikes a long dang time. It is epecially troublesome when pulling my kid in a trailer. I can't jog over and push the pedestrian crossing button.

[bike commuter]

Santa Monica to Pomona: Try the #10 Big Blue Bus from Santa Monica , which goes on the freeway, to Union Station and transfer to the Metrolink.

Signals seem to never recognize bikes. As neither vehicles nor pedestrians, bikes seem to be invisible sometimes.

It would be great if you would address the issue of why people are allowed to store some of their personal property for free on public land: in other words, why are we allowed to park our cars for free (mostly) on the streets? We can't leave any other personal possession and yet we are allowed to clog our streets with huge privately-owned machines. Imagine what we could do to fund public transportation if car owners and drivers had to always pay to park on the streets everywhere. Imagine the extra lanes and space that would be available if we did not assume that we had the right to put our cars on all streets. What if some streets never had parking and instead had bus-only lanes? What if there were more parking lots (like in Santa Monica and Pasadena) and less street parking? It would be great to hear what you and others think about these issues.

[lm]

My boyfriend and I ride our bikes all over Pasadena and LA and always have to push the pedestrian button to get a green light. It is especially annoying in Pasadena, where streetlights are completely dysfunctional. On getting to Pomona, the 490 bus leaves Union Station to Pomona more often than Metrolink does. Although I'm not really sure this option would save him time or money. The 490 charges a freeway surcharge. I guess the freeway is only free if you have a car.

[Bart Reed]

"The two-hour, 12-minute journey struck Mr. Farviar as a bit excessive."

NOT REALLY! The bus leg might be slow, but he could try Big Blue Bus #10, which is mostly freeway versus the surface #704. The Union Station to Pomona leg is 79 mph Metrolink, average speed 34 mph, which certainly is faster than the freeway trip at that hour. Mr. Farviar, just think of the distance between San Francisco and Watsonville during the rush. Close to the same mileage and the time becomes reasonable.

[Divalicious]

Traffic signals never acknowledge the existence of cyclists, even when you are traveling in a pack. I often ride over to the curb and press the pedestrian button (if I'm lucky enough to be at an intersection that has one). When I lived in San Francisco, I would do rides in Marin County, which had special buttons for cyclists to push on frequently traveled roads/bridges/etc. that were placed so cyclists could get to them. Very nifty. For now, I would be content with (i) "Share the Road" signs and (ii) more education of drivers that cyclists have the right to be on the road.