Tempe Bicycle Action Group

This is somewhat late notice for tonight’s meeting, but better late than never, right?

There are two important upcoming public meetings for transportation projects in Tempe. The more people who attend these meetings and provide public comment, the more clear it becomes that the City should keep supporting bicycling projects. The one tonight is a big one, for a road for which many people have asked over the years, “Why doesn’t it have a bike lane?” Well, it’s getting one, that’s right, it’s BROADWAY, from Rural all the way to Priest. That’s right, you will soon be able to ride your bike down a bike lane on Broadway to get to Boulders on Broadway.

Main info page here: http://www.tempe.gov/tim/Traffic/broadwayroad.htm (LOTS of info, plus a public comment form, too!)
Meeting: TONIGHT (June 7), 6 pm, Don Cassano Community Room, Tempe Transportation Center, 200 E. Fifth Street

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Also, there will be public meetings for another huge project, called the “Tempe South” project. This is part of the general regional project that brought us the light rail. It doesn’t stop there, oh no it doesn’t! That’s right, there will be some sort of link down to the south, to bring mass transit to even more of the masses. A lot of Tempe residents should be getting postcards and door hangers from the City to encourage participation.

Valley Metro has the scoop on their website: http://www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/future_extensions/tempe/

The Tempe public meeting will be Wednesday, June 16, 2010
6:00–8:00 p.m
Pyle Adult Recreation Center (that’s by the library)
655 E. Southern Ave., Tempe

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The Bicycle Cellar is staying open until 2 a.m. on New Years Eve, Dec. 31 to offer special valet bike parking for $5 per bike. The fee includes access to secure, indoor bicycle parking, restrooms and a changing area to freshen up. The Bicycle Cellar is located at the Tempe Transportation Center, Fifth Street and College Avenue in downtown Tempe.

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Just a reminder that BikeTown USA visits Phoenix tomorrow. The event, which is coordinated by Valley Metro and Bicycling Magazine’s BikeTownUSA, is being held at the Tempe Transportation Center at 5th and Forrest at Tempe’s main light rail stop just west of Sun Devil Stadium. The event begins at 9am and runs til 11am. In addition to announcing the 30 bike giveaways, a Bike Rodeo will be held at a nearby park. Families with children are encouraged to attend the bike rodeo. Arrive by bike, or bring your bikes (parents, too) and you can learn how to ride safely. The Bike Rodeo is an obstacle course set up to mimic real world situations. Children and parents navigate the course (under instruction) to learn rules of the road and road safety. While you’re at the Transportation Center, take a tour of the new Bicycle Cellar.

Attendees are encouraged to use alternative transportation to get to the event. The light rail stops right at Tempe Transportation Center. Many free Orbit Circulator buses and Valley Metro buses also stop at the TTC. Bikes are allowed on the light rail and all buses have bike racks on the front. Parking is available across the street in the new 5th Street Garage. Visit ValleyMetro.org for bus & light rail information including automatic route planning.

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I had the opportunity to stop by The Bicycle Cellar and talk with John Romero about how things have been going the first week. 17 folks have signed up for a membership in the first 7 days. John’s been doing some improvements to the facility including installation of a lockable retail display, two large work tables, a dual bike workstand, air compressor and a self serve beverage cooler that will work on the honor system. I mentioned to him that it would be a good idea to talk with the City of Tempe about installing an air hose to the outside of the facility so there’s air available for free, 24 hours a day. You can learn more about The Bicycle Cellar at their website or read a recent AZ Central article here.

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What is The Bicycle Cellar you ask? You may know it as the indoor bike parking & locker/shower facility that’s been built and sitting dormant at the Tempe Transportation Center. It’s opening August 24th as “The Bicycle Cellar” and you can learn more about the facility here: http://www.thebicyclecellar.com.

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Much of the meeting this month was spent attempting to reorganize the committee so that committee rules, membership, and process for reporting to the City of Tempe Transportation Commission are clarified. Some progress was made in defining the committee’s mission and certain operating rules. TBAG, among other groups, has a “seat” on the committee and we’ll try and make sure this remains the case after membership is defined. This discussion will be continued next month.

We heard reports about bikes on Light Rail (LRT), which seems to be going ok. Apparently, there is updated language regarding how to use LRT with bikes. For more info, see:
www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/how_to_ride/light_rail_and_bicycles/

We heard an update on the South Tempe Corridor Study. Some options, such as LRT on Mill and Rural were eliminated because of technical constraints. The most promising options which still stand are bus rapid transit (buses in exclusive lanes which act like LRT) on Rural and/or Mill, a “modern streetcar” (lighter-weight LRT) on Mill, and LRT on Rural but in a shared lane with traffic. Obviously, my description here leaves a lot to the imagination. Please check out www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/future_extensions/tempe/ for more accurate information and to make comments online. More community meetings will take place as more analysis is being performed.

We heard an update on the Broadway Road Streetscape improvement project. Several lane/landscaping configuration options exist, and they will be subject to more discussion and analysis in the coming months. To see options and make comments online, go to: http://www.tempe.gov/TIM/Traffic/broadwayroad.htm

As always, please send TBAG anything you want us to bring up at the committee meeting.

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If you live along Apache bordering the light rail line, you may wish to take extra measures in locking up or otherwise securing your bicycle as well as other valuables. I was recently offered a fairly nice bicycle for $100 on one of the light rail platforms as well as some other questionably priced items from questionable looking individuals. I’ve heard of several bike thefts along Apache recently. My thoughts are that criminals are using the light rail route to move stolen goods to other parts of the valley. I’ve emailed these concerns to several Tempe Police officers within the Crime Prevention Unit for beats bordering the light rail. Hopefully they’ll take note of it, but in the meantime here are some entertaining video shorts from NYC Bicycle Habitat’s Hal Ruzal on proper locking technique from streetfilms.org

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AZCentral’s City Life publication for the week of Feb 18th – 24th has an interesting article titled “Bus, Bike or Rail: Which is best from Central Phoenix”. The article details the author’s experiment to commute a 4 mile round trip to and from 2nd St/Van Buren and 15th Ave/McDowell. The results were interesting, light rail was the slowest at 35 minutes, followed by bus and bicycle, both at 20 minutes, and 12 minutes via car. Here’s what the author had to say about Bicycle:

Bicycle: This is my favorite option, at least November through April. Pedaling through Margaret T. Hance Park gives you a whole new perspective on the green space. And you get some exercise. Not such a good option when it’s 100 degrees at 9am, though. Commute time: 20 minutes.

A 4 mile bike ride resulting in 20 minutes of travel time for the round trip puts the average speed at 12mph, this is quite leisurely and probably necessary if one doesn’t want to perspire on the ride. I question whether it’s worth it to save 8 minutes by driving. On driving the author states:

… driving for a 4 mile round trip commute seems like an indulgence. Still, it’s good to have a car on days when there are errands to run.

A somewhat valid point, I’d be curious to know exactly how many days the author actually bikes to work and if she makes any attempt to lump errands into one day to limit driving. Interestingly, she does state, quite contradictory to the bicycle being her favorite option that:

But for daily commuting, I’ll be on Route 15 (a bus route).

Unfortunately I could not locate the City Life publication online so if you’d like to read the entire article you’ll have to pick it up at a free newsstand near you or you can try to the read the cameraphone picture posted to TwitPic, it’s mostly readable.

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Just a reminder that Valley Metro is seeking public comments on proposed fare increases. The fare increases are significant and range from 22% to 170% depending on type of fare purchased. Comments are due by 1/22. To submit comments please visit this page.

A quick overview of proposed fare structures. There are 3 that VM is considering, all have increases for fares across the board including regular, reduced and student fares as well as ADA Dial a Ride pricing. The scenarios are illustrated in the two graphics below which come from a recorded webinar that can be viewed here. The first graphic indicates the 3 scenarios and how they will affect one ride and all-day passes. Note that only the 3rd and most expensive scenario is labeled as “Most likely to provide revenue to maintain current service”. The second graphic provides greater detail on all fare increases. Note that “On-board” indicates purchasing a pass when you board the bus and is more expensive. “Off-board” indicates purchasing a pass via valleymetro.org, at a Transit Store, or at pass vending machines. The increase to an all-day local regular pass ranges from 70% to 170%. Increases to the monthly local regular pass ranges from 22% to 55%. Increases to a Spring or Fall semester student pass ranges from 21% to 53%.

For more information, please view the recorded webinar.

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By now some of you have had the opportunity ride the light rail, and some of you with your bicycles. I personally have encountered standing room only trains and trains with more than a handful of empty seats. I have taken my bicycle on twice and had to stand at the doors with my bike both times as folks were sitting underneath the bicycle racks. I have watched kids cumbersomely hang (youtube video showing how to hang your bike) their BMX bikes from the racks. I have encountered folks of many ages, races and socio-economic backgrounds. What we have all yet to do, however, is pay to ride. At 4:40am on January 1 fares go into effect. Those of you who plan on riding regularly should be aware of a public hearing on January 7th, 5:30pm at the Tempe Transportation Center to discuss proposed fare increases of up to $1.00 on single ride passes as well as increases on all-day and multi-day passes. The fare increases could go into effect by July 2009. Interested parties should attend in person or submit comments on fare increases via one of the following methods:

Email comments to fares@ValleyMetro.org
Customer Service will accept comments at 602-253-5000
Written comments can be sent to:
Valley Metro RPTA
Attn: Fare Program Manager
302 N. 1st Ave. Ste. 700
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Should anyone wish to discuss their light rail experience I have added a Light Rail specific forum.

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