Memorial Day was a huge weekend for bikesharing in America, and not just because New York’s Citibike eclipsed Capital Bikeshare to become the largest network in the country.

That was the biggest news, naturally, but lost in the shuffle was that Chicago is getting close to its own launch. They held a test-ride on Sunday, and will begin to sell memberships this week. The system will be called Divvy, and is expected to launch in June with 75 docking stations. By this time next year, DC-vet Gabe Klein is hoping to have 400 Chicago stations online.

Chicago Divvy bike. Photo by Steven Vance on flickr.

New York Citibikes. Photo by Shinya Suzuki on flickr.

The ICC.

Maryland may eliminate 3 of the 5 bus routes on the Intercounty Connector. The move is a classic bait and switch from highway builders: Get political buy-in with the promise of a multimodal road, then cut the multimodal aspects at the first opportunity.

The Maryland Transit Administration operates 5 bus routes on the ICC. They’re proposing to eliminate routes 202, 203, and 205. Only the 201 and 204 would remain, running from Gaithersburg to BWI and Frederick to College Park.

When planning the ICC, Maryland promised it would include good transit service and a high quality bike trail. They cut much of the trail in 2004. The bus service was never very good either, so it never got many riders. Now the state is citing that as a reason to cut it significantly.

Of course, cars aren’t held to the same standard.

There also aren’t many drivers on the ICC. Around 21,000 cars per day use the road. The state says that meets projections, but the projections seem to change. At one point they were as high as 71,000.

But is anyone proposing the state shut the road? Nope. Instead, the strategy is to try and boost car use.

Lawmakers hoped to induce more traffic with lower tolls last year, although that proposal was never accepted. This year the state raised the speed limit to make driving more attractive.

When it comes to bikes and transit, it’s cut and run at the first hint of a problem. For cars, it’s roll out the red carpet and hope for more traffic.

This isn’t the first time this has happened. When Virginia’s I-95 HOT lanes were first proposed, the firm hoping to expand the highway called its proposal “BRT/HOT lanes,” but of course nothing resembling actual BRT was ever built.

Transportation advocates should remember this the next time someone proposes a “multimodal” highway. Odds are they won’t deliver.

 Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.
 
 
 

DC’s next cycle track is slated to open this August, along M Street in downtown DC. The M Street lane will serve people riding westbound, complementing the eastbound-only cycle track a block away on L Street.

Lots of people use the L Street lane, but cars and trucks frequently block it, and the mixing zones where cars cross the bike lane to turn can be confusing. Planners are learning from how L Street works, and will try some different designs on M.

Proposed M Street cycle track at 17th Street, NW. Image by DDOT.

The bike lane itself will be slightly narrower, and a row of parking will separate the bike lane from the general travel lanes in some places. Mike Goodno, bike planner for the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), expressed hope these elements will dissuade people from driving or parking in the lane.

Both lanes are on the north side of their respective streets, which means that while L Street’s is on the left, the M Street bike lane will be on the right. In addition to full-time parking along most of the lane, blocks where M Street is wider will also have part-time parking on the south side.

Because there’s an extra lane in between, the mixing zones on M Street will be totally different. Instead of the gradual merge of L Street, drivers will turn toward the bike lane at a sharper angle, and are supposed to yield to bikes before crossing into the right turn lane. New York uses a similar arrangement for its Grand Street cycle track.

  
Mixing zones on L (left) and New York’s Grand Street (right). Photos from Streetsblog.

One trade-off is there’s no more green paint in the mixing zone. However, the spaces in front of driveways will be green, to make it clear to drivers they’re not supposed to stop in the bike lane.

At some corners, like 22nd Street, there won’t be a mixing zone. Instead, drivers cross the cycle track during an exclusive signal phase, like on 15th Street.

According to Goodno, many of the changes come simply because M Street is wider than L, offering more room to try different options for the lane. If they work well, some could make their way back to L Street.

DDOT will present its plans and accept public comments at a public meeting on Wednesday, May 15, 6:30-8:30 pm at the West End Library.

 Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.
 
 
 

On April 13, Trolley Pub Arlington will begin operating a bicycle bar. In case anyone wonders how much one of these 17-seat bikes costs, or wants to buy one for their own use, here’s the manufacturer.

It’s $40,000, by the way.

WashCycle reports today that the proposed 9th Street cycle track isn’t going to happen, because it is being removed from the regional long term plan. Fortunately, that’s incorrect.

I’ve spoken with DDOT about this, and they explain that the cycle track is still planned, and is simply being removed from the regional document because it doesn’t have to be listed there. The purpose of the regional plan is to model air pollution, and DDOT’s concept for the cycle track won’t impact the pollution computer model enough to bother with the added bureaucracy of keeping it in the plan.

Ironically, taking the cycle track out of the regional plan will actually make it easier to deliver, because it will reduce the number of bureaucratic hoops DDOT has to jump through in order to make the project happen.

Welcome to the confusing world of federal transportation reporting requirements!

Biking down I-395 in 2009.

During the 2009 inauguration, crowd control went horribly wrong and hundreds of people were stuck in the purple tunnel of doom for hours. To avoid a repeat, inauguration planners have decided to close the Third Street Tunnel to everyone this year, instead of just cars.

Obviously avoiding another doom tunnel fiasco is good news, but closing the tunnel for bikes and peds also makes me a little sad.

In 2009 I made my way down to the inauguration before the crowds got really intense. To get there, I biked down the middle of I-395. For a transportation nerd, biking down an empty interstate was one of the most fun experiences of the season.

So I can understand the decision to close the tunnel completely this year, but I’ll still miss the experience.

Bike Chattanooga, the largest new US bikesharing system in the US in 2012. Image by Elly Blue on flickr.

2012 turned out to be an unexpectedly quiet year for bikesharing. New York and Chicago were expected to launch systems larger than Capital Bikeshare, but delays have pushed them to 2013. Washington, Minneapolis, and others did expand, but it wasn’t the banner year that was anticipated.

As a result, for the third straight year Capital Bikeshare is the largest bikesharing network in America.

At the end of 2011 there were 18 bikesharing systems in the US, with a total of 559 stations. Now there are 27 systems, with 834 stations.

• 10 new systems opened, but none of them are very large. The biggest is Chattanooga, TN, with 30 stations.
• One system closed. In 2011 Chicago operated a small 7 station pilot program that has since shut down. They plan to open a new and much larger system in 2013.
• Of the 18 networks open in 2011, 9 expanded in 2012. The most significant expansions were in Washington, Minneapolis, and Boston. Boston’s expansion was enough to pass Miami Beach.

Here’s the complete list of bikesharing networks in the US, ranked by number of stations. New systems in 2012 are in bold:

Notes: For the purposes of this list, systems covering multiple jurisdictions are counted together if they are close enough for significant cross-border ridership, and separately if they are too far apart. Thus, Washington/Arlington/Alexandria and Miami Beach/Surfside are counted together, but Denver/Boulder are counted separately.

Oh sure, in 2012 we’ve got cycle tracks and bikesharing and all sorts of cool stuff, but in 1895 it was all the rage to race your pennyfarthing down the steps of the US Capitol.

And by “all the rage,” I mean I found one picture of that on the internet.

Original source unknown. Image sourced from imgur.

San Francisco’s new bike bay. Photo by San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

As American cities become more cycling friendly, bike lanes themselves are becoming more diverse. The toolbox of street design options available to planners is broadening to include new tricks and layouts. One such new bike facility is the “bike bay,” which make left turns across traffic safer.

Bike bays, also sometimes called Copenhagen Lefts, combine the functions of a bike box, which provides a waiting zone for turning bikes, and a bike sneak, which directs cyclists onto a particular riding angle. The idea is to have cyclists who want to turn left exit off the main bike lane and onto a separate slip lane on their right, which then curves around 90 degrees and allows them to cross perpendicular to the original lane.

The idea should be familiar to anyone who has driven much in New Jersey, where the “New Jersey left” or “jughandle” essentially performs the same function for cars on state highways.

San Francisco recently opened a bike bay at the corner of Market Street and Valencia Street, where about 1/3 of cyclists going south on Market turn left, crossing over multiple lanes of traffic. Complicating matters, Market Street has streetcar tracks, which cyclists turning left have to cross over. Without the streetcar tracks a normal bike box might do the trick, but with them the bike bay is better.

San Francisco’s new bike bay. Photo by San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

Another example of a bike bay can be found in Cambridge, Massachusetts, right outside Harvard University at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Church Street. There a median separates the northbound lanes from southbound, preventing cars from turning left. Rather than forcing left-turning cyclists to cross over 2 lanes of cars and rush to make a sharp turn at the curb cut, it’s better to have them cross perpendicularly, with the crosswalk.

But since the crosswalk is at a major entry gate to Harvard, there’s a lot of pedestrian traffic, making it desirable to separate bikes from both cars and pedestrians. Thus a bike bay, which gives cyclists their own space right next to the crosswalk.

Cambridge bike bay. Photo by the author.

So far there are no bike bays in the DC area, at least as far as I know. But it’s one more potential tool to use at complicated intersections. With more bike lanes and more streetcars on the way, it’s possible this may someday be a useful concept for our region.

Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.

The L Street cycle track is open, but the pavement markings continue to be confusing for some people. Car drivers planning to turn left off of L Street often don’t understand how to cross the cycle track into the turn lane, and instead stay in the travel lane only to cross in front of the bike lane at the intersection.

In response, twitter user @whiteknuckled proposes this modified painting scheme:

I am always in favor of more green paint on bike lanes, and this idea is no exception. However, the real key to solving this problem is the arrows on each car lane, especially the “left turn enter” one, which indicates to drivers where to cross over the bike lane. That’s the awkward movement, so that’s what needs to be clarified.

In a twitter response, DDOT notes that bikes turning left are also supposed to use the left turn lane, which is why they used sharrow markings in that area. But DDOT’s twitter rep also promised to pass along this idea to the bike team for their thoughts.

Cycle tracks are still a pretty new thing in the United States, so it’s natural that designers need to experiment a little with different options. DDOT deserves enormous praise for being on the very cutting edge of this field.

Other DOTs might have waited years until all these design questions are answered and there’s an adopted nationwide standard for every conceivable layout, but DC needs better bikeways now, and DDOT is doing its best to deliver. That’s great.

But it also means they may have to adjust the lanes as we learn how cyclists and drivers interact with it in the real world.

Ideally DDOT could apply both the turn markings and green paint section, as whiteknuckled suggests, but at a minimum, “left turn enter” markings for cars could make a big difference.

Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.