san francisco bike messengers c1992

Valencia Street Shines

As San Francisco’s Bike Plan goes on hold, one thoroughfare shows how bike friendly engineering and a focus on community can lead the way for the rest of the city. History was made as a scrappy group of DIY activists reclaimed bike space from cars and four car lanes gave way to two and a generous bike lane.

We look at the history of Valencia, both past and future to get an idea about how simple changes can make a place people go to rather than drive through. A vibrant, flourishing neighborhood has risen and daily proves the critics of bike and ped based planning wrong.

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Mary Brown (scroll down) led the first efforts at change.

Here's the one year report (pdf) on the Valencia "road diet" that showed a 144% increase in cycle traffic and 10% less car traffic that only added 3% additional traffic to each of three other streets.

Latter day activists are working now for a Better Valencia.

Livable City is involved in the process.

The Ritual Coffee shop is the home of the Ritual Coffee Club Bike Posse.

The Therapy furniture and clothing stores and Aquarius Records have thrived with the bike lanes.

Andy from Aquarius recommended the Portland Bicycle Ensemble.

Ecotalk show on biking

While you're waiting for the next show, you might want to check out an episode of Ecotalk Radio. The National Resources Defence Council's Daniel Hinerfeld interviews two Los Angeles bikers: Slate's writer Andy Bauer and Scott Sing. There are longer interviews on the NRDC's two-part podcast On Earth. (scroll down a bit)

Other bike podcasts I like

The Bike Show
Cycling Insight
Bikelove
NBG Mountain Mover
Gear Noise (mountain biking)
KBOO Bike Show

Leave a comment if I've misssed one that you like!

Its not easy being green: Judge stops San Francisco bike plan on environmental grounds

Last week San Francisco’s cyclists woke up to find out that the city’s bicycle plan, a comprehensive road map to an integrated bike network had been put on hold by a judge’s temporary injunction in response to a lawsuit by Citizens for Adequate Review. (C.A.R.)

How could we arrive a time when a healthy, sustainable, and environmentally sound plan to provide transportation choice could run aground because of lack of environmental review? Could it be because the metrics we use to arrive at a conclusion are biased toward the convenience of drivers?

We go to three experts to get some insight –

• Andy Thornley, Program director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
• Rajiv Bhatia, Director of Occupational and Environmental Health, San Francisco Department of Public Health
  
• Josh Hart, former SFBC program director and member of Transportation Authority consulting team

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Rajiv wrote this article (PDF) about "level of service" standards.

He also mentioned Sally Cairns who wrote this article (also a pdf) about where traffic goes when capacity is reduced, sort of the inverse of "induced traffic", or the "build the roads and the cars will come" theory of traffic.

San Francisco's "transit first policy" is enshrined in the city charter.

Check out the sfbc's LOS page.

Cyclecide's Pedal Monster is coming... July 21-23

Mona's latest

No bike content here but if you want to follow the career of Market Street Railway and Duboce Bike Mural artist Mona Caron, here's an invite to the opening of her latest creation.

russian hill roulette auteur frank chan

In this episode we meet Frank Chan, the maker of the films I podcasted yesterday. Don't forget to stop by the Zeitgeist Film Fest on Monday, June 12 to meet Frank and see his and other great films.

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The film was followed by a brief clip from the tour Josh Hart led of the six steepest hills in San Francisco. Check out the photos and more film clips here.

Take a look at the Times Up! site to get details about the car-free Central Park situation inNew York.

russian hill roulette

Rather than avoid San Francisco’s famous hills, some cyclists embrace them. Here’s a movie by my pal Frank Chan where he depicts climbs of the six steepest streets in town. A bonus clip follows of Frank’s arduous tour that was inspired by the film.

You can see this film in glorious high rez under the stars at the Zeitgeist Film Festival in SF this Monday in the beer garden of the same name.

Stay tuned to the next post for an interview with the auteur and a buncha links.

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bike to work day, 2006

A year goes by and we celebrate another bike to work day. Bikescape follows the working masses to their jobs but takes the day off to make a podcast. We meet some friends and dignitaries and talk about the current state of urban cycling. Then, as usual, we take a look at upcoming events in the world of biking and go through the mailbag.

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Bike to Work Day breaks records in San Francisco

Mike Kasolis, Vice Chair of the San Francisco Metropolitain Trasportation Authority and Tim Colon, executive director of the Housing Action Coaltion and I met outside my home where we had a short conversation before heading out.

Andy Thornley from the Bike Coalition spoke about the SFBC's cycling report card (pdf) for San Francisco. You can also catch him on the excellent videoblog, Bike TV.

Mayor Newsom vetoed legislation to ban cars from JFK drive in Golden Gate Park but he showed up on the ride.

We talk to the author of that legislation and a lot of other transportation and land use initiatives, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi.

The Dittybops are touring country promoting their new album Moon over the Freeway. They will be leading a bike ride on Saturday, June 3, meeting on the Polk St. Steps of City Hall at noon. Then they play a date at Slim the following Sunday night.

Bogota Columbia Mayor Enrique Peñalosa will speak Monday, June 19 at the Commonwealth Club.

Someone wanted to know what I mean when i end the show by exhorting everyone to take the lane.

running on fumes

The price of gasoline is rising and an unprepared country confronts its addiction. As we hit bottom amid oil wars and looming petro-breakdown, Bikescape looks for signs that the denial is wearing thin. Come along for the ride as we talk with bikers getting ready for Critical Mass and drivers getting their fix at the local gas station.

Note: This podcast was finished moments before I handed my laptop to the repair shop for a week. It wasn’t till this morning that I noticed that the backround music in the last five minutes threatens to drown my voice. I’ll replace the file next week. Sorry about that…


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The Rainforest Action Network has a 12 step program to end oil addiction

Bike to Work Week is May 15-19 all around the country! In San Francisco, come and meet Bikescape (Me!) and geta snack and some schwag at the Caltrain Station energizer station during the evening commute.

Author Jim Kunstler has a blog about peak oil, suburban hell, and the coming breakdown. In this video we get treated to a far better interview than the amaturish one I conducted a few months back.

velodromes and bikestations

After a month of vacation Bikescape returns with a lot of odds and ends. First we take a few laps around the Encino Velodrome. Then Scott Mace reports from the San Francisco Caltrain Station where ground was broken for the new bike station. (scroll down) After that we get caught up on the effort to ban cars from JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park and check the calendar for upcoming events.

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Here's a video clip of the national team paracticing the move Henry taught me.

For a primer on track racing and velodromes take a look at this.

I edited Scott's Caltrain bike station report. To listen to the whole thing, go here.

The San Francisco Bay Guardian and the SF Weekly both ran articles about the politics behind car-free Saturdays in Golden Gate Park. Write to the supervisors and the Mayor to get this thing to happen!