LIVING IN LOS ANGELES WITHOUT A CAR (LILAWAC)

A Car When You Need It

2010-08-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

Like my predecessor, I'm a Zipster (a.k.a. Zipcar member). I always intended to join a carshare service when I went car-free, but honestly it hasn't been necessary nearly as often as I expected it to. This is primarily due to the limits of the service, though: I've rented a UHaul for errands as often as I've rented a Zipcar, because there are no trucks available through Zipcar in my area! This means that furniture-related errands tend to be done with a UHaul.

In addition to the non-availability of trucks, I'm also a bit bothered by lack of distributed pickup locations. In Los Angeles, you can only pick up Zipcars at either USC or UCLA (or within a couple of blocks of those campuses), which makes me resist using the service for as long as possible. Nevertheless, I have used the service twice and have been pleased with the results both times. So, good when I use it, but I would use it more if it were better (are you reading this, Zipcar??)

Anyway, I wanted to share with you how I make it work: I have to ride my bike up to UCLA, then stuff it in the back of the car and drive it away. I guess I could also park the bike nearby... but I would spend the entire day worried about whether or not it would be there when I got back. So behold, Ruby getting a ride in a Honda Insight:

For the rest of you who are car-free, how often do you find yourself borrowing or renting a car/truck?

Tips for Beginning Commuters

2010-08-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

This post is modified from something I posted on the Treehugger forums, only SEVEN WEEKS into the bike commuting adventure. I recently was re-directed to it and discovered that it (mostly) still holds true, and hope it helps someone out there who is just starting out...

*Helmets aren't required by law in Los Angeles if you're over 18... but it's up to you to determine your own comfort level. For a beginner, I would advise always wearing one, because while you're learning the rules of the road you're simply more likely to get in someone's way and end up in a collision. These days, I wear my helmet for rush hour only, because rush hour drivers are angry and my coworkers worry too much.

*Bike paths are great, but few and far between. While you're riding or driving, start taking note of which streets in your area have bike lanes, sharrows, wider than normal shoulders, or disallow parking during rush hours (which gives the street an extra lane). Once you've noticed which streets have these features, plan your routes to use them when possible.

*You probably shouldn't ride the same route you drive. What you look for in a car (a straight shot to your location, many lanes, high speed limits) are not the same things that you want in a road when you're a bicyclist - (wide shoulders, slow speed limits, even gridlock that you can ride past with ease). I tend to look at google maps in 'hybrid' mode to help plan my routes using smaller streets to get me to my destination. I know google just came out with a bike maps feature, but it usually puts in too many twists and turns for my comfort level. For a beginner it might be great though, since it definitely favors low-traffic roads.

*It is actually safer to ride on the street than you think. It's safer than riding on the sidewalk, because cars see you easily when you're on the street, while sidewalk riders crossing through intersections appear to come out of nowhere from a car's perspective and are more likely to be hit. Start with smaller streets, residential neighborhoods and such, and you'll eventually begin to feel safer. I promise you, when I started this, I would rather walk my bike through a crosswalk than make a left turn, got scared by every car that came near me, and was generally terrible. Now I prefer to make a left turn from the lane on most occasions (except where I don't have enough road to get left safely), know which streets I like to ride on and which to avoid, and am generally 1000% more comfortable being a part of traffic.

*Signal! Most drivers will look at you like you're a moron out there waiving your arms around, but even if they don't understand your signal (left arm straight out for left turn, right arm straight out OR left arm bent up like a wave for right turn), it will at very least draw their attention to you at the appropriate time.

*If you are at an intersection and you've pulled up alongside/in front of a car while waiting at a red light, turn your head and make eye contact with the driver. This forces them to adknowledge your presence, and they're less likely to push you off the road.

*The cars moving in your same direction are not the ones which are most dangerous to you. The most dangerous cars are those parked to your right, which may open a door without warning, without looking. This is caled "getting doored" or "winning the door prize", and is much more likely to happen than an accident with a moving vehicle. After the door prize, the next most dangerous thing is cars which are turning in and out of driveways, because they are paying attention to other cars but can sometimes fail to see you. I tend to slow down in areas where there are a lot of business driveways, so that I'm sure than I can avoid a car that either doesn't see me or underestimates my speed in a pinch.

*Don't run red lights. While it is illegal, many of us treat "Stop" signs as "Yield" signs, but always always always stop for a red light.

*Related to the above: you CAN get ticketed on your bike! Running red lights, not having proper lights on your bike at night, or drinking while biking, can all get you a ticket.

*Don't ride against traffic. Dumbest, absolutely the single dumbest thing you could do. When you do this, you're now at risk for a headon collision which is worse than the little tap you might get from behind the other way, and you put other cyclists in danger.

*get a good LED headlight and red taillight if you'll ever be caught out after dark.

*if you're on a street where there is parallel parking on the right, I know you'll get the urge to be as far right as possible, but don't weave in and out amongst the cars. For example, some people will ride in the parking zone if there are no cars parked there, and then they have to re-enter traffic as soon as they encounter a parked car. This causes you from the eyes of the people in their cars to frequently disappear and reappear, and freaks people out and risks you not being seen. The safest place to ride is as far right as you can get in the right-hand lane.

*likewise, in many cities you can choose to ride on the sidewalk or on the street. Whatever you choose (I obviously recommend street), stick with it. Riders who ride sometimes on the street and sometimes on the sidewalk are difficult to keep an eye on for motorists, and frankly anger them because of this.

*Consider multi-modal commuting. Take the bus to work and bike back to avoid arriving at work sweaty, or take the bus most of the way both ways and ride the last mile or two from the bus stop.

...most importantly, stay aware of your surroundings, and HAPPY RIDING!!!

The Urban Machine: Handlebar Tape

2010-08-08T00:04:00.000-07:00

I am ashamed... I have been coveting other bikes lately. Bikes made of sleek, light carbon, or custom painted with colored Deep-V wheels. They're so pretty, so flashy, I can't help but look! And then I feel guilty, because Ruby's been so good to me. She's only ever gotten a flat once, she handles well, she's not too heavy for anything I've ever needed to do, and most importantly she fits me. I had a hard time finding the perfect fit: when the standover height was right, my back felt crunched and cramped. When I had room to stretch out, the top tube would nearly split me in half. So buying Ruby was an easy decision, one ride and I decided I HAD to have this bike, it was THE ONE. Which means that no matter how cute some other bike might be, I'll probably keep Ruby forever. Seriously, I cannot imagine giving her up. So I'm starting a series on making her the best bike she can be.

The first upgrade she's gotten is brand-new handlebar tape! Not only does the cork match the leather on my MKS half clips and start to give my bike a little custom style, I was in serious need of some new padding. I'm not totally sure how long handlebar tape is supposed to last, but I've put at least 5,000 miles on my bike since purchase, and the callouses developing on the palms of my hands coupled with the trouble I've had keeping one of my end caps in told me it was time. It seems like a small thing, but imagine how many miles you put on your bike in a year... then imagine that every mile, your hands were wrapped around hard handlebars instead of the cushy feel of cork. So when I stopped by Palms Cycle earlier today to get a floor pump, I decided to pick up some new tape.

Re-taping was surprisingly easy! Though to a novice it would appear that you'd have to remove the brake mechanism to re-tape, that's not the case at all. The rubbery bit that goes along the gear shifts actually peels back a bit, and when you wrap the new tape it only goes under the edges of that piece, not under the whole thing. This sounds silly to more experienced hands, I'm sure, but novices like me should be pleasantly reassured that this is an incredibly easy upgrade to make yourself, as well as a great way to add a little flare to your daily driver.

Santa Monica Critical Mass

2010-08-07T23:04:00.001-07:00

After much consideration, followed by six months of poor timing, I finally attended my first Critical Mass ride last night!

photo by Nicholas Freeman

Critical Mass is a group ride intended to draw the attention of motorists to the growing number of cyclists on the streets. Individually, we are easy to bully, cut off, and run over (as not one but TWO motorists came close to doing yesterday during my commute!), but when we gather together we own the road. The tactics are admittedly controversial—taking up multiple lanes of streets, jamming intersections, and running red lights aren't things I would normally do. And yes, sometimes the entire group is ticketed for doing such things. And sometimes they are ticketed, buzzed, or otherwise harassed for doing nothing but riding peacefully. When I lived in Seattle, there was an incident in which the Seattle Critical Mass got into a physical altercation with a motorist, seriously damaging the relationship between motorists and all cyclists (whether they were involved or not). For these reasons I wasn't completely sure about joining up with a group with that reputation. Apart from anything else, I can't really afford to accrue any moving violations, which for the record (since I get asked about this frequently) can be issued to cyclists for any of the same reasons that they are issued to motorists, like running a stop light, failing to signal, not having proper lights, or being drunk. After what I had read online, I had fully expected that at least some members of the group would be ticketed, and would not have been surprised if we either started with or acquired a police escort.

My fears were unfounded, however, when I finally had the guts and the time to join up with Santa Monica Critical Mass. Apparently the incidents with the SMPD had effectively dissolved the group who experienced such heavy-handed controls... so this was an entirely new group, one which the police did not seem particularly concerned about. Meeting at the cannon near the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier, we rolled out 30 strong a little before 7pm, escort-free, and raucously happy. While the riding style would admittedly be intimidating to many drivers on the road, we each used our judgement of what was safe and only did things like surrounding a car when that car was moving at the speed of a snail. We did not run red lights wholesale: if a light was yellow or red when the leaders approached it, the entire group stopped, but if it was green as the leaders passed through, some people towards the rear may have ended up rolling a red to keep together. Nothing a car trying desperately to make a left-hand turn doesn't do at every single red light in the city.

And speaking of left turns, they've never been so easy! The safety that riding with a large group confers is incredibly comforting. And the energy was fantastic—it was great to shed the attitude of a road warrior for once and remember that biking is FUN. It really was a party on wheels. And as for the group's stated goals, since the newly remodeled Santa Monica Place opened that day, it provided great visibility for the group. When other bicyclists passed, they were encouraged to turn round and join up; when pedestrians passed they often yelled words of encouragement, or asked who we were. The route took us up to the traffic circle, down to Abbot Kinney, and back up to a party—as though our party on wheels wasn't enough.

Overall, I'm very glad I went, and encourage any of you who are on the westside to try it as well. The first friday of every month, meet around 6:30 (the group leaves by 7pm) around the cannon at the pier. I'll see you there.

NEW FEATURE: The Bike Commuter Index

2010-07-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

Hello all, long time no post! Major apologies for that, but I return to introduce a new feature: the Bike Commuter Index. Some long-time friends may know that I developed this a few years back and have long kept it as a test of how popular commuting by bike is in my neighborhood. The basic idea is to count how many bike commuters there are in a given area/along a given route. To make it neutral, I count on a per-mile basis, so that the counter riding additional miles cannot boost the numbers. The method is as follows:

+1 for every bike commuter you see on your commute (must be roughly during "rush hours") who is dressed for work/in normal clothes, or is carrying a backpack or pannier
+1/2 for every rider in spandex NOT carrying backpack or panniers. I don't want to be counting people out for "training rides" who regard biking as a sport and actually drive to work. I figure it's half-and-half whether they have a change of clothes waiting for them at work, or are just being sporty.
+1/2 for every bike seen mounted on the front of a bus. Multi-modal commuters are good too, but not strictly bike commuters. Admittedly, I don't always notice this, but I figure it should count when I do.
+0 for children under driving age. Sorry, doesn't count. Though if you can't quite tell, go ahead and count them.
+0 for parked bikes. Who knows how long they've been there, how long they'll stay there, how often they're actually used... Sorry, nope.
-1/2 for every near-accident you witness or are involved in. This deters bicyclists.
-2 for every ACTUAL accident you witness or are involved in. See above, but worse.
Now divide by the number of miles ridden!

For instance, this morning I saw 11 bicyclists, plus myself so 12, with no accidents or incidents of any sort. My route to work is 5 miles, so the BCI for this morning was 2.4! So for every mile ridden, there's an average of 2.4 bicyclists out there.

This will start to have more context as I post in this series more often, but for now I'll just mention that when I developed this around 3 years ago, most days the BCI didn't even hit 1.0. I'm definitely riding a more bicycle-friendly route now, so that accounts for some of it, but I'm still pleased that it's gone up. On the other hand, the car-commuter index would be in the tens of thousands if I could manage to count it, so that's still a little depressing.

To the kids that frequent Culver Center...

2010-04-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

STOP STEALING MY BIKE LIGHTS! Seriously. A few weeks ago while I was at the gym, my front light ran away. I replaced it but have been keeping it in my bag, only attaching it at night while riding, which is a total pain. Since the back light was still there I assumed it was uninteresting to potential thieves... wrong. Just last week I was leaving the gym, and when I went to turn it on it wasn't there.

This made me think about a very interesting social phenomenon: what an object means to me vs. what the same object means to you. For instance, my bicycle lights to a thief are probably a thrill, a fun toy, maybe something they can resell for $10? To me they are my safety, what keeps me visible, the difference between getting home in one piece and being roadkill. I don't ride for pleasure (though it is often pleasant), or for sport, I ride for transportation. Would you steal the bulbs out of a car's headlights? Cause that's what whoever keeps doing this is doing to me.

Obviously, I don't plan on leaving my lights on my bike while it's parked anymore. But I'm curious if my readers have experienced similar incidents: have you ever had anything stolen off of your bicycle? What are your habits as far as leaving accessories (lights, bells, seat, tool bags, water bottles...) attached while you're in a store, at the gym, at work?

Speeding up LA's Mass Transit Plans

2010-04-11T09:58:00.000-07:00

So the big news this week is that LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been promoting the 30/10 Plan, which aims to bring mass transit to Los Angeles a full 20 years ahead of schedule. Is it snarky to say that it would be the first time LA Metro ever arrived early?

Snarkiness aside, the basic idea is this: since July 2008 we've all been paying a half-cent sales tax (passed through Measure R) that will pay for the expansion of Metro Lines, Light Rail, and Guided Bus Lines throughout Los Angeles County over the next 30 years. The projects range from extending the Green Line so that it actually goes to LAX, to whole new lines connecting the current network to the beach and West Santa Ana, and a plan this extensive takes time to plan, design, and execute, never mind the process of raising funds a half-cent at a time. The 30/10 plan would shorten the time span from 30 years to 10 by borrowing cash from the federal government (which is guaranteed to get paid back over the 30 years through the Measure R funding) and gives all the projects a nearly immediate green light. A couple of key things make this awesome:

1) We avoid 20 years worth of inflation and increased construction costs. Due to the overall economic slump construction costs are relatively low right now, and taking advantage of this could save up to $3.6 BILLION.

2) It would create jobs in planning, design, engineering, and construction which are sorely needed right now.

3) It would help LA shed its car-dependence that much more quickly. It will take time for Angelenos to embrace public transit, it's not going to happen overnight. By making this investment now, people might actually be ready to use it (and even live without cars?) by the time it was originally scheduled to be completed.

For more coverage on the 30/10 plan, I'd highly encourage you to check out this excellent post over at the Transport Politic. Also, stay tuned for further coverage here, starting with a dissection of the proposed routes. To help support this plan, head over to Move LA to see who to write or use one of their form letters.

Introducing Erin (& Ruby)

2010-04-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

Hello, all! Long time reader, first time poster... last year my good friend Emily moved out of LA at about the same time I moved back to the area. So we were talking last week and decided that I should start posting my adventures on LILAWAC, seeing as I'm car-free. I so figured I should post to say high and give you the basic run-down before I start launching into rants about transit or stories about people nearly running me over.

//I would say that I bike to about 80% of my destinations, walk to 5%, bus to 5%, and catch a ride with a friend to the remaining 10%. This includes a 5-miles-each-way commute to work every day down the most pothole-filled bike lane imaginable.

//I've lived in LA for about seven and a half years, on and off. Seven here, two in Seattle (worse weather, better culture, bigger hills), and the last six months back here after I finished grad school. I love this place, but know it could be better.

//I didn't learn to ride a bike til I was 17. Yep, you heard that right! So if you're out there thinking this is cool for others but you're not a good enough rider, I'll call BS on that. I'm still not good at hills, I'm not super-fast, but I'm pretty fearless in traffic and willing to try things to make alternative transit work for me.

//I'm a designer, and my beliefs seep into my work. So if things go a little pie-in-the-sky or design-y around here, it's because I know that great things can be done, and there are other people out there working on them.

//I do not wear spandex. Well, I wear yoga pants to the gym, but the point is that you'll never catch me out there looking like Lance Armstrong or something. I believe that bikes can be used as transportation without making a sport out of it (unless you're into spandex, to each her own!)

//I've been car-free for one year now, and was car-light for a year and a half prior to that.

//And last but not least, you should meet Ruby (this is her at Venice beach last weekend). She's on her second life at least; I got her two years ago from Recycled Cycles when I lived in Seattle and have never looked back. The shop said that the frame was made by Giant, but it's been totally rebuilt, stripped of markings, and powdercoated, so I don't

know what model she originally was. Doesn't matter to me, she's great, and I get tons of comments on how beautiful she is.

Anyway, this is my first post to say hey there, and I'm looking forward to sharing more about living in LA without a car. Stay tuned.

Take Luck

2009-02-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite comedy routines of all time is a live routine by Brian Regan released several years ago. In it, he explains the meaning of the phrase "take luck"....which is a combination of "take care" and "good luck" that got smushed together in a hasty mid-stream sentence switch.

I think it's a good phrase though, since it encompasses both of these concepts. After all, who wouldn't want to take luck with numbers like this?

chart courtesy of the Speaker of the House of Representatives

Dear friends, as we enter unchartered economic times, I hope everyone out there takes luck wherever you can get it. In the meantime, I'll be over at my new Web site, the GreenDesignCollective.com, where I'll be blogging and trying to save the world. So to speak. Feel free to drop me a line if you, too, are saving the world, or biking, or living in Los Angeles without a car, etc., etc.

Take Luck!

-emily :o)

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

2009-01-24T14:49:00.001-08:00

If you are actually reading my blog, there's a good chance you've seen this already on another blog, but its coolness factor implores me to share it again here: it's a concept for a bike light that laser projects a bike lane on the pavement around you as you ride. I think this is probably the neatest thing that any biker could ask for, and it could save a heck of a lot in infrastructure upgrades. If it were only on the market.

I think that this bike light will at some point come to fruition, and if so, I'll be in line to purchase it, for sure. Unfortunately however, unlike that laser thingy, I feel like LILAWAC is going nowhere, fast. It's not that I've purchased a car or anything - I'm still Living In LA Without a Car, for sure - but it's hard for me to blog about this topic when there's so many other people living in LA without god-knows-what anymore. For instance, how many people could start a blog about "Living in LA Without a Job"? Or "Living in LA Without a Home"? The crash of the economy and the housing market has left me feeling a bit hollow - like, who cares if I don't have a car?

All of this is to say that LILAWAC is going on hiatus. I'm going to be switching gears to focus on my new project very soon, and when that is released, I'll post it here so you know where to find me. In the meantime, if anyone has anything they want to share, ding me so I can add you as an "author". I want to leave the information out there in case it could help someone at some point.

So long, good luck, and Happy Obama 2009.

Getting back into bike shape

2009-01-15T09:43:00.000-08:00

Winter break in the Midwest was not conducive to staying in shape. Between the holiday eating and the lack of outdoor activities (it's hard to take a walk when it's 5 degrees outside), I am now trying to get back into bike shape. And it's fun, but I've got muscles that hurt that I didn't even know I had! The one really great thing about Los Angeles though, is that it stays great biking weather all year round.

One thing that I am interested in doing sometime soon is a critical mass ride. It looks like such fun but I have still never done one. Isn't that ridiculous? Anyway, I will be perusing the Midnight Ridazz calendar for upcoming cool rides, let me know if there is one I should pay attention to...

Asphalt

2009-01-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I'm back in Los Angeles and reveling in my utter lack of funds. Oh the joys of being a grad student before the next semester's loans have been dispersed.

So I was listening to my favorite NPR podcast, APM's Marketplace, from yesterday evening (since it's free) and they were talking about asphalt. As in, that black murky stuff they use to make roads. And they were basically saying that Barack Obama wants to upgrade the country's infrastructure but that might not work very well if we have an asphalt shortage. It turns out that the price of asphalt has been inflated for the past year or so, causing many state and local governments to cancel infrastructure upgrades. And the reason the price of asphalt has been so expensive? Because it's made with oil!

I guess at this point I'm thinking:

Do we have anything that's NOT made with oil?
Is there something else we could use?
Can't we come up with a substitute for asphalt that's not made with oil?

I mean, is this too much to ask? To have something that we can rebuild our roads with that's not made with oil?

Living in Cincinnati Without a Car

2008-12-18T19:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, well I'm not really living here, but I'm visiting my hometown for the holidays, and I'm relying on the courtesy of my family and friends to shuttle me around. It rather feels like I'm in their "custody"... currently I'm in my Mother's custody but will be in the custody of my best friends over the weekend.

Cincinnati is a car-centric city, for sure, even more so than Los Angeles, believe it or not. At least in LA, I have the option of the bus or the subway, most times of the day. In Cincinnati, most people I know do NOT take the bus. And if I were in a part of town where I could, I would definitely try to take the bus, but the public transportation system here just isn't robust enough. The good news is, if I hadn't been in a Target parking lot earlier this week, I would never have seen this gem....

Indeed!

I get around ... sort of

2008-12-09T20:36:00.000-08:00

Friday night I tried to get home (to Downtown) from the Westside (Venice-ish) and I had thought there was a bus that ran all night that I could catch. No, it wouldn't have been the smartest thing I've ever done but damn it, I wanted to sleep in my own bed. Besides my friend was there, and although she was too tired to drive me home, I was fully prepared to make her sit there and watch me at the bus stop until it came. Well, it didn't come because ... there was no late night bus. I mean, my goodness! Don't people need to get around for jobs in the middle of the night? As a city, isn't this supposed to be an option? Last time I checked, I didn't live in the middle of nowhere. Needless to say I remain as cynical as ever about the public transportation options in this city.

What I am not cynical about is biking, however. I still love it. Haven't been able to do too much of it lately though, which is why I'm considering going on C.I.C.L.E.'s 3rd Annual Toys & Mittens Ride this Saturday from 11 am to 2 pm. Looks like fun and it's for a good cause!

Also if I could take this thing with me on the ride, I totally would. It's so cute! And its hybrid electric! I could have used this on Friday night....

Discriminating against bikers ... in the drive-thru

2008-12-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

I have long wondered what would happen if I got a hankering for a "fourth meal" at Taco Bell late one night, but needed to take my bike because, well, I don't have a car. I never tried it because I knew what would happen... I've heard the stories and the urban legends, I'm sure you have too. They won't serve you. At one time I heard that serving a person who was not in a car was deemed "a security risk", which if you think about it, is probably the dumbest reasoning possible, because if someone really wanted to rob a place, they could unbuckle their seatbelt, jump out, and/or turn the car around and ram it through the flimsy front wall of the place. But I digress.

Recently a young lad in the Northwest tried to test this theory, on a bike no less, and not only was he turned away, he was arrested. Observe:

The employee said her manager had told her not to serve people on bicycles, because of the safety hazard. She explained the policy to the bicyclist, but he refused to leave and told her, "Go ahead and call the police. I'm making a stand."

Good for him! I mean, what's the big deal, anyway? It's a guy on a bike. Not a guy on a tank or a mobile missile launcher, for crying out loud! If anyone could explain this mystery to me I would appreciate it because clearly I'm missing something, and like the dude in the article said, we all have "a right to chicken strips."

Yay for Holiday DASH!

2008-11-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

If I had my choice, I would probably get around Los Angeles strictly by DASH bus. They are quick, comfortable, and only 25 cents. And now through the holidays, they run on Friday and Saturday nights in Downtown LA! How super great is this.

I ganked this map off the DASH web site

OK so admittedly you might need to bring your compass with you to figure out where you're going on this special DASH route, but as reported by blogdowntown, the limited run DASH route will allow people to get between landmark institutions Downtown and public transportation. Now everybody go out and ride it so they keep something like this going after New Year's!

When NOT to ride your bike

2008-11-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

I strongly encourage using your bike if you get one of these to go with it though ... just wait for the air quality to improve, please?

view from Downtown LA, November 16, 2008: air quality = poor

Pennies

2008-11-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

Just a friendly reminder to everyone who is as scared sh*tless by the worsening economic climate as I am ... the DASH buses take pennies. 25 previously underused and usually annoying pennies. Thanks to my piggy banks full of these coins, I might actually have a transportation budget for the next week. Yippee?

What a nightmare

2008-11-09T21:51:00.000-08:00

I need to talk for a second about the plight of the carless when it comes to temporary visitors who arrive via LAX. I have some friends who will be flying into LAX this week, staying for an extra-large layover of 9 hours, and then jetting off to Australia. This is great and I will be happy to see them - if I can get there, and if we can leave the airport. You see, I attend USC and would like to leave from school to go there, but the public transportation options for getting from campus to the airport are positively abysmal. My options look like this:

Do what the trip planner tells me: take a long bus ride through an unfamiliar neighborhood, transfer to the Green Line, then take a shuttle to the terminals. Estimated time of travel: 60-90 minutes
Go north from campus and depart from Union Station, take the ever-awesome LAX Flyaway, meet them there, and then cab it. Estimated time of travel: pre-Flyaway = who knows, post-Flyaway, max 30 minutes
Rent a car on campus from my nemesis, ZipCar, drive to LAX, pick them up, drive them around, take them back, take the car back. Estimated time of travel: to LAX = no more than an hour; dignity lost by feeding the ZipCar beast = hard to tell

So to put it bluntly, all of these options SUCK. If the idea of biking through airport traffic didn't scare me so much I might actually consider biking but that's really a non-starter. In the end, with my schedule (and my shrinking bank account) being what it is, I suspect I will not even be able to make it and will need to see them on their return trip. But if this ridiculous decision-making process isn't illuminating as to how sad the state of public transportation is in LA, I don't know what is.

A Future without Cars?

2008-11-06T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well at least someone else is thinking of it besides me! Tomorrow there will be an event in Culver City to discuss "people, bikes, and community in 21st century Los Angeles." Have a look at the flyer below:

I found out about this event on Facebook but as the flyer says, everyone is invited.

Another thing I found out about on Facebook is this blog called Bike Town Bet a that seems to be interested in doing a little biking experiment. Unfortunately their first event already happened but maybe there will be another? I'll keep checking....

A Big Day for Public Transportation in LA

2008-11-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

Today in Los Angeles, we have a new transportation landscape in front of us. Not only did Proposition 1A pass, giving us the go-ahead to get high-speed rail in the state, but Measure R passed by its two-thirds required margin - 67.4% - thus approving the half-cent sales tax increase for the next 30 years to pay for mass transit and road improvements.

Those of us who live without a car in Los Angeles are probably very encouraged by this news, and I know I voted for both initiatives to pass. But is it too little, too late? I'm glad that people who live here have finally come to the realization that the city absolutely needs more public transportation to function, but most other American cities grew up with their public transportation systems in place. Granted, LA is not like most other American cities ... it did not follow a traditional development pattern and its footprint dwarfs most other metropolises (metropoli?). So any additional transportation infrastructure is destined to be a development challenge. But I am glad that we have a plan now ... and if we can make it work with the new limitations that this murky economy presents us, then Los Angeles will truly become a city of the 21st century.

One of the best ways to save on transportation costs is by not going anywhere

2008-10-22T12:44:00.000-07:00

Conservation shouldn't stop with the products that we use (or don't use), or with our increasingly precious resources. Conservation can also extend to how much we travel and how much we NEED to travel. Case in point, this article on Treehugger about working from home. It seems to me like the most efficient trip is the trip that we don't need to take. Which is why working from home makes so much sense, even if your boss does not currently agree:

Megan suggests at Planet Green, "Let your boss know that green telecommuting is a growing trend, that eco-smart bosses and workers everywhere are giving this carbon-footprint-shrinking solution a go, and that you'd like to hop on the emission-reduction wagon."

And if your boss doesn't respond to this eco-idealist talk, remind them that working from home would probably reduce overhead in addition to your company's carbon footprint. The technology exists to allow a LOT more people to start working from home, but we haven't really embraced it yet. Isn't it time?

The Bicycle Commuter Act

2008-10-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Expect me to leave this up for a few days.

Buried in my Google Reader the other day was the news that the bailout, er, "rescue" bill actually included a great tidbit called "The Bicycle Commuter Act". According to this post on the newly minted Green, Inc. blog on the NY Times, House Resolution 1424 includes SEC. 211. TRANSPORTATION FRINGE BENEFIT TO BICYCLE COMMUTERS, and what it boils down to is this:

"Starting next year, employers who provide bike parking, bathing facilities, tune-ups, or other support for bicycle commuting, can deduct up to $20 a month per participating employee from their own taxable income."

So forgive me for getting a little excited, but this is pretty awesome, right? Like, at least they acknowledged bike commuters...I mean, it still pales in comparison to the $115 credit for using public transportation, but baby steps to progress. Have a look at the full link on Green, Inc. above to find out who you should thank.

I love this picture from the NY Times of the dude in his suit on his bike.

Feeding me information

2008-10-16T12:46:00.001-07:00

When I bring information to this site, there are a number of other blogs from which I get it. Many of them are posted in the links on the right, but just so we're clear, I will give them a shout out right now:

Treehugger. I can't think of a better blog on environmental issues today than Treehugger, and they always seem to have the best posts on biking and other transportation issues. I encourage anyone to check it out.
Blogdowntown. A blog about, uh, Downtown LA, of course.
Curbed LA. This blog discusses many aspects of our urban environment, including real estate and new architecture. Oh and the Metro line.
Inhabitat. This is the blog that has Transportation Tuesday, so we don't have to.

Also here's some news about the Downtown Regional Connector that will allow seamless transfer from the Gold Line to the Blue and Expo lines. As Curbed put it, "it sounds like something a grown-up city would have. "

My dream

2008-10-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

I had a dream last night about this blog. I dreamt that I met the bloggers of Curbed LA and they started chatting me up, and then I told them that I had this blog, but I didn't know how much longer I would be able to maintain it because I'm getting so busy with school and I just didn't have time. And the bloggers of Curbed (in my dream it was called "Current") told me to keep it up as long as I could, that it was important and needed to be done. Shortly thereafter, I woke up.

It has been nearly two weeks since I posted here, and that I had a dream because I felt guilty about not posting means that the lack of blogging is both my fault and a true indication of how crazy my life has become. As a graduate student I have responsibilities I have to attend to, and between those and watching the intense market turmoil of the past couple of weeks, I am rather amazed I remembered to eat. But here I am now ... and like the mythical bloggers at Curbed in my dream, I do think this blog is important. Los Angeles is going to reach a critical point in the near future where it's going to have to decide what it wants to be, and although transportation isn't all of that decision, it's a large and vital part of it. People are going to have to work together if they want a Los Angeles that functions as well as many other American - or even global - cities do.

So I'm going to keep blogging here as long as I'm able, but in the meantime, I would still love other contributors to share their experiences. I'll let you know if any further solutions to society's problems appear to me in my dreams.

Design a Bike Rack for Los Angeles!

2008-09-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

That would be a great competition, right? Well it's not happening yet. But, New York already did it....and, per the New York Times, here are the 10 finalists.

Neat, aren't they? I wish I had known about this sooner!

I mean, is it too much to ask that the nation's second largest city at least try to be as forward-thinking as its first largest city? I don't think that's too much to ask. I'm just saying.

Wednesday Links

2008-09-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

Haven't done this in a while!

CICLE does Downtown LA

2008-09-21T23:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from this weekend's Downtown CICLE ride. It was a great event, very well-attended, but not terribly rigorous at only about 5 miles in 3 hours. Personally, I prefer group rides with less talking and more biking, but it was definitely the most well-organized group I've ever seen. Although if we had gone any faster, we may not have seen these amazing historic sites...

The group meets at Union Station

Inside Broadway's Million Dollar Theater

The beautiful Bradbury Building

The Mayan Theater

The Crystal Ballroom at the Millenium Biltmore, where the first Academy Awards were held

Karma, and another downtown ride

2008-09-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

I got honked and yelled at on my bike commute home today by a really angry looking woman in an ugly old car, and I had to smile, because clearly she was just upset that I was saving so much money by not having an auto of my own.* I've also noticed that on the few occasions when I have gotten honked or yelled at, it's always been by women. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad the men aren't yelling, but because I'm a chick that gives other women license to be rude to me? Strange logic. Anyway, I took one for the team and was rewarded just a minute later when a new bike buddy appeared beside me. I'm used to commuting home by my lonesome self, but this fellow grad student on his way home complimented me on my foldy bike, and we then chatted for the next few blocks before we split off. It's kind of fun to have a bike buddy on your commute! Nice to meet you, Jay. ;o)

Speaking of bike happiness, CICLE is hosting a group ride this Saturday, September 20. Meet in front of Union Station at 1 pm, the ride departs at 1:30 pm sharp. Here's the annoucement from their newsletter:

This Saturday's Urban Expeditions Ride
That's Entertainment! Downtown L.A.
Critics agree; Urban Expeditions is "Visually stunning". "Show stopping performances!" "The ride of your life!"
This month's Urban Expeditions' episode, "That's Entertainment! Downtown L.A.", is a tautly wound drama starring Downtown Los Angeles. It airs Saturday, Sept 20th, at 1:00PM at Union Station in Downtown L.A.--don't miss a moment of it.
Downtown L.A. is haggard, gritty and desperate for a comeback. Can she reclaim her place as the queen of L.A., or is she destined to be just another forgotten has-been? From Hollywood film premiers, to famous entertainers who played there, Downtown L.A. played grand hostess to any star-studded event worth its weight in marble and gold leaf.
Take an intimate look inside the life of Downtown's Theater District and her storied past. Flash back to an era of limitless possibilities and an endless parade of stars. Before there was Hollywood, there was Downtown.
What got Charlie Chaplin hot under the collar at the Los Angeles theater? Why was Duke Ellington receiving death threats at the Mayan? From her rise to fame, to her humiliating flops, you'll fall in love with Downtown's indomitable spirit.
C.I.C.L.E. presents you with an all-new family fun episode of Urban Expeditions, sponsored by REI. From Vaudeville, to talkies, to the start of TV, you'll immerse yourself in this edge-of-your-seat story of love, greed and tragedy, plus a little slapstick thrown in for comic relief.
Stay tuned to your favorite L.A. Bicycle Education and Entertainment station--call letters C.I.C.L.E.--for the next airing of Urban Expeditions, the bike ride series that everyone's riding about.
Meet: In front of Union Station, 800 N. Alameda St, L.A.
Time: 1:00 PM. Ride Departs 1:30 PM SHARP
What to bring: Your bike. Children under age 9 should be on a tag-a-long, bike trailer, tandem, or other safe child-carrying device. All participants under 18 must wear a helmet and be escorted by a parent or guardian. Bikes must be in good working order, make sure the brakes stop, tires are to full pressure, and bring lights if riding in dusk or dark conditions. Water and snack are always recommended.
More Information: Call 323.478.0060 or visit, www.cicle.org

I'll be there!

*That's what I always tell myself when drivers yell at me so I don't get upset, freak out and wreck.

Not giving up on trains

2008-09-15T08:16:00.000-07:00

I'm sure it goes without saying that trains are still the safest way to travel. The Governator told you this on Saturday, following the worst train wreck in this country in 15 years. People who ride trains and subways know it too ... you're land-bound, chugging along on a rail, designed to prevent collisions. But sometimes accidents happen. And hearing the news that the wreck may well have been caused by an engineer who missed a red light - because he was texting? really? - makes this no less tragic, but it also makes it seem like a bad dream. It makes me wince. It makes me really worry about people in Los Angeles who, if they are trying to avoid the highway because it's dangerous being on the road with all the crazies who drive while texting, might now be scared away by trains because of engineers who operate thousands of tons of hurtling metal while texting.

I sincerely hope this isn't the case and that when the investigation is completed, we find out that there was a malfunction or something. Nevertheless, it won't bring those people back, and it won't help the people who are still in the hospital and facing months of rehab. I'll definitely get on a train again, but next time, I might head towards the back.

Subway to the Sea

2008-09-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

One component of Measure R, which was mentioned in a post last week, is the Metro Westside Extension, more affectionately known as the "Subway to the Sea." For those of you whom have lived in Los Angeles for a while may remember that the subway was once headed for the sea in the mid-1980's, only to be held up by concerns of drilling through areas with pockets of underground methane. Last year, that federal moratorium was lifted, allowing the next generation to pursue completion of the project which aims to ease gridlock on the westside.

Last night, the final public hearing in the Alternatives Analysis phase took place in Westwood and I attended the meeting in order to gain a little more insight into the project itself as well as the opportunity that the community has had to comment on the available options. There was a healthy group of approximately 80-100 people present. The evening started out with an open house, where presentation boards were placed at the perimeter of the room and conversation took place between the public and the Metro staff present. Following that was a presentation, which is available for download here, followed by a public comment session in which about 20 individuals each had two minutes to state their opinion. About 85% of those who spoke were in favor of some sort of subway expansion to the westside.

Now, to the subway plan iteslf...

After multiple studies, calculations of ridership, and a series of public hearings, the subway is down to four options. The first two options are required by the Federal Transportation Administration, which would provide federal matching funds for the project, and include a "No Build" option, which simply looks at how quality of life will be affected if no changes in public transit are taken over the study period (25 years), and a "Transportation Systems Management" option, which looks at how to improve existing bus service. The final two options are officially known as "Alternative 1," which takes the subway from the existing Purple Line station at Wilshire/Western and extends it straight down Wilshire Boulevard all the way to the ocean in Santa Monica, and "Alternative 11," which takes that same plan and adds an extension headed past the Beverly Center, though West Hollywood, and links up with the Red Line near Hollywood and Highland.

Alternative 1: straight down Wilshire

courtesy of Metro

Alternative 11: with West Hollywood extension

courtesy of Metro

A sizable majority, both of those present at the meeting last night and public feedback gathered from previous public hearings, favor at least getting the Wilshire portion of the subway constructed and proceeding with the West Hollywood extension if there is enough funds remaining. The main line of the subway would cost approximately $6.1 billion and the West Hollywood extension would cost approximately an additional $3.0 billion. Yes, this seems like a lot of money (and it is), but it is less per mile constructed compared to some recent urban freeway projects, according to Project Manager Dave Mieger. Right now, that price tag (equivalent to $33 per hour of travel time savings) is slightly above what the FTA requires in order to be eligible for federal matching funds ($30 per hour of travel time savings), but the Metro staff was fairly confident that cost savings could be achieved during the engineering process and that the influx of riders with increased gas prices would help push that figure down closer to $25 per hour of travel time savings, making the project eligible for FTA funding.

For those of us who look for a better way to travel in the Los Angeles area in a more sustainable fashion, this is the public transit project which has and will continue to be the most expensive, yet most visible evidence that Los Angeles is committed to moving past car-only transit. I highly recommend that you provide your comments on the project here to let the Metro staff and Board of Directors know which of the alternatives you prefer, as the public approval and comment phase is critical before the project can move forward.

Some interesting additional tidbits:

North/South connections to the subway are being studied, including the 405 Corridor Study and adding bus service in conjunction with the subway stops, but those are not a part of this particular study.
About 22% of the riders that would use the MWE would be coming from the San Gabriel Valley, much to the chagrin of Supervisor Gloria Molina, who has not been in favor of the project or Measure R
Ridership on the Red and Purple Lines has grown from 120,000 riders/day in 2006/07 to 153,000 riders/day this summer
BART in the Bay Area handles about 322,000 riders/day and would have approximately twice the mileage of the Metro subway system if the Wilshire and West Hollywood lines are constructed, meaning that the Metro system would have about twice the ridership per mile compared to BART.
The current ridership models only account for trips back and forth from home to work, but a large amount of traffic is comprised of people headed to meetings or trips social in nature. Once those "special generators" are factored in, the project will be even more favorable in terms of receiving federal funding.
In the 28 years since the first Metro sales tax was passed, the westside has been the only area of the county not to receive rail service.

Biking for Obama!

2008-09-10T12:17:00.001-07:00

For the record, I'm not interested in turning this blog into another political site. There are enough of those already. This blog is meant to be about staying positive, and finding better ways of getting from Point A to Point B. Besides, I'm pretty averse to confrontation, and who knows if my views are shared by the others who post on this blog occasionally anyway.

But, I'd imagine that many of you who ARE interested in alternative forms of transportation are also supporting Barack Obama for President. If not, that's fine too ... this is a free country, after all. But I am, and I wanted to share some photos from a recent event that we had in support of Obama's candidacy.

The event is called "BARACKCYCLE" and it's a once-a-month bike ride, somewhere in Los Angeles, of Obama supporters. The most recent ride began at Hollywood and Highland with a small but enthusiastic group of cyclists. We went from there, to Beverly Hills, to West Hollywood, and back. All in all, we rode 19 miles that day! In the sun! I'm not going to lie, I had a headache for the rest of the day. But it was great fun - a good way to workout, and support our favorite candidate (and bike fan), AND raise awareness of cyclists on the road. Some of those roads were scary, and I never would have ridden on them without my little team of BarackCyclists. But we did pretty good!

If you are a member of BarackObama.com, look for the next BARACKCYCLE by searching for events in the Los Angeles area. We hope to see you there!

The Big Blue Bus

2008-09-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

My best friend lives in Santa Monica, and I live downtown. So for me to get to see her, without a car, is a pretty big hassle, right?

Wrong!

About 90% of the time, when I need to go to Santa Monica, I take the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus. They have an express bus, the aptly named 10 line, that goes from numerous stops in Downtown LA to numerous stops in central Santa Monica. It's a great bus, really ... it's quick, you can put your bike on the front, and it's usually quite timely. Unfortunately it has a limited schedule ... typically service ends by about 8 pm, but it does run on the weekends. And if you go to Santa Monica on the 10 and you miss the last bus, remember that you can always catch the 720 on Wilshire, which goes from one end to the other, pretty much all day and night.

So remember, if the Republic of Santa Monica is your destination ... the Big Blue Bus will get you there. (I wish I had a picture to put here ... suffice it to say that the bus is big, blue, and well, a bus.)

The debate on bike helmets

2008-09-06T10:46:00.001-07:00

I've heard a lot of people talk about why they do, and why they don't, wear helmets when they are riding their bikes. I suggested here a few weeks ago that you should always wear your helmet when riding because, to be frank, if you get hurt and you're not wearing it, people just won't care as much. Whether or not that's valid reasoning is up to you to decide. I wear my helmet all the time because I think that people take me more seriously as a cyclist, and besides, I'm terrified to not wear it when I'm riding on the streets of LA!

So the ever-informative Treehugger has just posted some findings about bike helmets that I think you non-helmet people might want to pay attention to. They say the debate is over, because they have finally found a study that looks at pediatric and adult bicycling deaths before and after passage of a bicycle helmet law. After the bike helmet law went into effect, the death rate was cut in half. Discuss.

Vote "yes" for public transportation

2008-09-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's September already! We've got some important things to talk about...

It would be irresponsible of me to write a blog about living in a place without a car if I didn't talk about public transportation. And it would be irresponsible of me to talk about public transportation without encouraging you to support it. Today I'm going to discuss some of the transportation issues that voters must decide on this November.

First we have Measure R . Measure R is VERY IMPORTANT to the future of Los Angeles as a city of the 21st century. Basically it's a half-cent sales tax increase which will "fund and expedite rail and traffic issues, including the Subway to the Sea AND Airport, and freeway improvements throughout LA County." Even drivers can get behind that!

There is also the issue of California Prop 1A, aka the "Bullet Train", which is a statewide bond issue and won't raise taxes. Can you imagine getting from Los Angeles to San Francisco faster, safer and cheaper than by plane? I know I can ... I mean, I'm not fond of planes to begin with but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that plane travel is getting to be more expensive and more of a hassle than ever before.

So make sure to vote for public transportation for Los Angeles in November!

*Thanks to Davide for pointing these out to me!*

Dreaming about my new wheel(s)

2008-09-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you guys, but ever since I watched the closing ceremonies of the Olympics last week, I've been dying to get one of these:

Daily Mail photo found at Mixx

I mean, how cool are these things?!? I guarantee you if I went cruising around town with this monocycle, nobody would give me any trouble at all. Then again, I might cause wrecks, but still ... they are bad-ass, aren't they?

Image credit:Xinhua, found at Beijing Olympic Games

OK, so I probably can't get one of those anywhere, unless I go to China and track them down and bribe someone, or something. In the meantime, I think I may have stumbled upon the set of 4 wheels that I'd like to purchase in the future, if presented with the opportunity to do so again. It's called the Toyota iQ, and although it's clearly not as flashy as the "Beijing monocycle," it's arguably one of the smallest and most fuel-efficient four-passenger cars in the world. And I think it's pretty cute, anyway.

Image courtesy of Treehugger.com

Unfortunately this scrappy little car won't be sold in the U.S. in the near future ... only in Japan and then in Europe early next year. But I think there are a lot of people, like me, who would shell out the relatively meager $13,000 to buy it here in the U.S. I hope so, anyway! Because I want Toyota to bring it here! Click here to read more about the iQ. Alas, I will keep dreaming ...

"Cycling Makes Community"

2008-08-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

So says the Bike Writers Collective. Check out their web site for a Cyclist's Bill of Rights. It's awesome!

(I wonder if they'd let us into the Collective?...)

Evidence of a thriving bike community was seen two days ago on USC's campus at the semi-annual Bike Sale, which I attended. Rather, I tried to attend it, but the line was so long, I had no chance at getting one of the 100 or so used bikes they put out. These bikes are harvested at the end of every semester from bike racks on campus after having been abandoned by careless owners. Perhaps I was being greedy in the first place, I mean why do I really need another bike when I already have a perfectly good one? But, they were only $25 and I was hoping to find something a little lighter. Alas, maybe next time, but only if I camp out (photo below)...

You'd think they were waiting for tickets to see Saturday Night Live

About 75% of the line

Pedestrian Skills

2008-08-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

In surveys conducted by traffic engineering groups, a consistent fallacy occurs: everyone thinks they are a good driver. In fact, as many as 90% of the population think they are "above average to good." Basic statistical principles say that this is impossible, and it is one of the many reasons economists poke fun at survey data. I am sure if you asked people similar questions, you would see the same bias; I have met way too many people who said they were good at soccer or basketball, only for me to be shamed that I brought them to play.
So like the mundane task of driving, which we are all above average to good at, we must all be experts at walking. After all, I learned how to walk before I learned how to take my pants off (and NOBODY would EVER say they were bad at that). However, walking around downtown, Hollywood, Century City, Santa Monica, etc, I constantly observe people walking terribly. And I am tired of it!
What is it that people are doing wrong? Jaywalking. Now, I know that it sometimes takes a little more time, because crosswalks aren't always located directly beween Pinkberry and wherever you need to go next to get your car, try on cute shoes, or whatever it is you do after Pinkberry. But is it THAT much trouble to walk a half a block to the crosswalk? In all reality, you are doing everyone a service, including yourself, by going to the crosswalk.
First, you are protected. If you are in the crosswalk, you can pretty much play hopscotch in traffic and not be found at fault should a car collide with you. Even though you are technically protected by law anywhere in the road, all you need is an eyewitness saying you were darting in and out of the street trying to get hit, and a jury of your non-pedestrian peers may find YOU at fault for whatever damage you may have done to Mr. Smith's Nissan Sentra. And this brings up the second point: you are more protected in the crosswalk, physically. Most function in concert with traffic lights, which get a lot more respect now that cameras are attached to them. Those that are not are flagged with anything from flashing lights, caution signals, and refelctive strips in the road.
Not being a jaywalker is part of being a good citizen. Crosswalks have been placed, somewhat strategically, in order to allow the natural flow of traffic. So whenever someone darts across Melrose from Marc Jacobs to Alexander McQueen without using the crosswalk, a bottlekneck is created. For every time delay that the first driver experiences, the delay is multiplied by 4 to the traffic as a whole. Therefore, wherever you are going should be 4 times as urgent as all the places everyone on the road is going as a whole to justify your jaywalk.
Finally, a jaywalking ticket sucks. It doesn't stay on your record, but you do have to pay a fine. To paraphrase Sheldon Brown: "if you are in a hurry, why are you walking?" The extra bit of time it takes to use a crosswalk is offset by the safety and order maintained. It helps to eliminate the stereotype of Americans as a lazy, self-centered people. Using the cross walk costs you much less than it benefits everyone else on the road. Do something refreshing; do me a favor: jaywalk one time less today. I bet you won't mind it more than a few seconds.

The state of car sharing in Los Angeles

2008-08-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I've been doing this blog for almost three months now and I haven't yet talked about car sharing.

Car sharing, for those of us who do not have a car in this massive car-hungry metropolis, is an invaluable way to run errands or accomplish small car-dependant tasks without breaking the bank and/or getting caught up in the mounds of paperwork you might find in a traditional car rental agency. Or at least it is supposed to be. When I moved here one year ago, I joined FlexCar, and was quite pleased with the service. I live Downtown, and was delighted to find that FlexCar had 4 cars in the garage behind my building, which I started using immediately. Around the beginning of this year, FlexCar was bought out by ZipCar, which is a national company, and we were promised the same service. I'm sorry to say that ZipCar did not deliver. As mentioned in this blog, ZipCar actually pulled many of the cars from around the city ... in fact, it pulled all of the cars from its non-university areas, and it even pulled some of those cars too. And its prices are now higher than that of FlexCar, both its membership fees and its hourly rates. One wonders what a company could be doing right if the service costs more and you get less.

Nine months later and ZipCar still hasn't capitalized on the movement of people who, driven by high gas prices, want to shed their cars and rely on public transportation more. Sure, I am a USC student and I can use the ZipCars there - but I live downtown, so it's not at all convenient for me. I have used the ZipCars a few times since they took over, which have been necessary trips, but the lack of cars available to me has forced me to become more familiar with the public transportation system. It has been an unexpected bonus on what was an unfortunate situation. I would really like to see ZipCar work, but with their lack of expansion and service in what could be a very lucrative market, it makes me wonder if ZipCar even wants to succeed in Southern California at all.

Photos of Bike Lovers in their Natural Habitats

2008-08-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

I discovered this project in a newsletter produced by Cal State LA called Loudmouth, and I thought it was so neat that I wanted to share it with everyone. Bike It: Portraits of My Bicipandilla, by Kelly Marie Martin, is a series of black and white photographs that the artist has taken of her bike buddies to document them all. Have a look at this link to see some of the portraits and the artist's thoughts about her project. In the meantime, I'm going to try to figure out what a "bicipandilla" is ...

(I hope she doesn't mind me talking about it ... but it's super cool and a special treat for all the bike lovers out there!)

Indifferent to Fuel Costs

2008-08-21T15:55:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the largest price increase for crude in 2 months, lets blog!

I really wish that the reason I went car-less was because of my earnest desire to help save the environment and mankind. Honestly, though, one of my pet peeves is the nuisance caused by misguided attempts at environmentalism (read: bio-fuel boom, “bio-degradable” anything). Don’t get me wrong, it is a very nice feeling knowing I am not spewing CO2 into the air when I go to work; I have ammunition to spare if people want to get into a righteousness debate. My reason for going cog-crazy can be represented by the indifference curves below:

If we view this n-dimensional concept into two dimensions, then I think it would be fare to boil down the two dimensions to Time (Good X) and Money (Good Y). Unfortunately, time is fixed; the government can’t mint it, and it is the same in both recession and boom. You can only get more free time by working less, but that may affect Good Y in a negative way. Money, in terms of disposable income, is one of the more flexible parameters, growing in inflexibility during a recession.

Before gas prices soared out of control, I bought an old 12 speed off of my friend. I had wanted to get back on a bike, if for anything, to avoid the tedious parking situation I faced every time I went to visit my friends. Then, one Friday, I decided to bike to work. My usual 45-minute, 8 mile commute sublimated into a 30-minute joy-ride. The ride home (which sometimes took as long as an hour to drive) was only 30 minutes. And it was fun; I actually LIKED going to work (and going home was even MORE fun)! After about a month, I noticed that I had all of this Good X and Good Y that I did have before. Suddenly, I was consuming at I2 instead of I1. I was so happy that I stopped reading about the mental health coverage in my HR manual.

At the end of December, I had used my car about three times in the last three months. I was consuming at I3 instead of I2, and then things got complicated. The parking garage across the street from my apt was now offering services to a completely full office building, and would not longer offer spots to the local folks between 10am and 5pm. The only over-night/all day option left was Hollywood and Highland Center. I would rather park in the 4th level below Hell’s wine cellar than have to go into that monstrosity. In need of a quick tax deduction, I took the plunge and donated my old 626 to charity. Again, I didn’t do this because I am a wonderful, generous, community-oriented guy. It was because now that I didn’t have to pay for insurance and parking, I could consume at I4 instead of I3.

Not everyone has the same enthusiasm for bicycles that I have. Even if bicycles weren’t around, I would avoid driving at all costs. In college, I had an hour long commute by public transit to campus or a 40 minute drive. Even though it took 20 minutes longer, I was happy to take transit; it was the only time I could make myself study. I’m just one of those folks that are happier not driving or looking for parking spaces.

Let me direct my final comments to those of you who say you “like” driving. I know you exist, and some of you were in town recently for the celebrated Gumball 3000. I also saw a couple of you on my way into work on Monday (it is extra satisfying to pass genuine race cars, with your carbon-fiber body panels and extra-fancy riveting crawling through Santa Monica Blvd traffic). Most of you who like driving really don’t. If you did, you would not buy a BMW 3 series or a Mercedes 230 (there are non-luxury brands with better performance for a lower price). You would never compromise and get a Prius, because it isn’t fun to drive. While you are driving home from work (that is where everyone reads blogs, right?), consider your indifference curve. And don’t forget the part about cookies; when you ride to work every day, you can eat them at lunch EVERY DAY, guilt-free.

Saddle up, ladies!

2008-08-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday on Curbed LA there was a question from a (probably?) female reader who asked how to best begin bike commuting in LA. As is usually the case on Curbed, the comments ranged from genuinely helpful to sincerely douchey, but I decided to bring it up since we've covered a lot of these same topics on this blog before. That said, I came across the booth for C.I.C.L.E., or Cyclists Inviting Change through Live Exchange, at Sustainable LA on Sunday and I wanted to make everyone aware of their presence in the community. C.I.C.L.E. was founded by women and is more than just an exceptionally worked-out acronym: they are a non-profit that offers workshops for many different levels of riders, including beginners, and they focus on educating the community about the benefits of taking up cycling. They operate mostly out of a community center but are hoping to open their own facility in the future and will be fund raising for that soon. I encourage anyone with questions similar to that of the Curbed reader to check out C.I.C.L.E. and try to take one of their workshops, which are very reasonably priced (~$15).

It's important to support fledging organizations in our community that approach the issue of alternative transportation in a helpful and informative way!

Sustainable LA

2008-08-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday on Grand Avenue in Downtown LA, the Los Angeles Film Festival branched out into a mini-block party dubbed "Sustainable LA." Organizations and artists from all over the city who promote sustainable living came out and set up booths along the block from 12 to 6 pm, and the booths were bookended by performances or workshops. The discussion they were having while I visited was about electric cars; they had five panelists, I missed who they were, but one of them was clearly from General Motors because he was discussing their upcoming Chevy Volt and GM's research on electric car infrastructure. Here's a snapshot from that:

Here are some other photos from the day. It was a lovely afternoon for a block party and local cycling and public transportation enthusiasts were out in force as well.

A model of a plan to turn the 101 cavern north of Downtown into a park

A parking sign becomes a planter

In the shadow of giants!

A peak into the future of 4-wheeled vehicles

2008-08-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

MSNBC continues to surprise me with its coverage of alternative vehicles and transportation. Today they have an article about the Zenn ("Zero emission, no noise") electric vehicle that you should check out. I stumbled upon the Zenn for the first time at a conference last year and I thought it was great, even more so since at about $16,000, it's actually affordable. It is part of a growing industry refered to as "neighborhood electric vehicles" or NEVs, since its top speed is only about 25 miles per hour and it only gets about 35 miles to a charge. If you live in a community with streets that have 35 mph speed limits, you could legally drive this car on the road in many places of the country. Of course it is still impractical for most people, myself included, but the battery technology is quickly catching up to consumer demands, and the CEO of Zenn is planning to have much more robust vehicles on the road in just a couple of years. So when an all-electric car comes on the market that gets up to 80 mph and goes for 240 miles on a single charge, and it costs about $25,000, would you buy it? I believe my answer would be "yes."

image courtesy msnbc.com

New Age of Road Rage

2008-08-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

The recent coverage by the media of cyclists has truly been exciting; there hasn’t been this much in the news since Lance Armstrong retired from cycling, and the greatest come-from-behind story in US cycling since Greg LeMond was finally litigated into being a fraud. Images from these stories have been gruesome and even scary. Living in LA, nothing has hit harder than the Mandeville Canyon incident.
So, hearing similar stories about a cyclist being beaten down after commenting on someone’s driving, to stories commenting on cyclist traffic behavior, and reflecting on some of my own experiences, I decided to address the New Age of Road Rage.

First, I have been a driver/pedestrian, I have been a driver/cyclist/pedestrian, and I have been a cyclist/pedestrian. In every faculty, I have made mistakes. People were cut off. I have run red lights. I have jay walked. Pretty much any way I could have traveled, I have made errors. Fortunately, everyone around me was paying a little more attention, and collisions were avoided. While doing my driving/cycling/walking, I have had the chance to observe the technical skills others employ in these activities, and I think I can safely say that nobody has a lifetime of perfection in any of these.

Now, even though we mostly agree, there has been a lot of discussion about the reason why this is such a hot issue now. Working at a bike shop, I can tell you that sales are through the roof. Some shops are announcing huge vacations in the middle of summer because they are sold out of everything! And driving? GM is mortgaging its future to sell SUVs to anyone who will still take them, even offering to lock in gas at 2.99 a gallon. Americans feel more strained to make ends meet than ever. I am not a psychologist, but I know a thing or two about economics. And everything makes me say: “man, we are some stressed out folks.”

So, as we try and confront our stress, be it in car, bicycle saddle, motorcycle, or crowded train, let my personal reflections help you keep your cool in the slow-moving summer commute.

When I was riding my bicycle back from brunch with a friend one morning, a concerned motorist passed me. Whimsically and foolishly, I had left my helmet at home, thinking the 5 block trip did not call for it. In a moment of absolute righteous indignation, the motorist yelled out his window “hey, you’re a fucking idiot!” I had no idea what he was saying, but when I asked him to clarify, he repeated himself in a more civilized tone and added “if you are going to ride your bike in traffic, you should at least have a helmet.”

What could I say? He was right, though I did let him know that his delivery really didn’t inspire any obedience. And then it hit me (fortunately, it wasn’t a car). All these years that I had ridden motorcycles and bicycles and cars, cursing motorists for merging into my lane without checking their blind spot, cutting me off, and usurping the right of way, was all in vain. No more did my chiding break these drivers of their bad habits as did this motorist’s chiding break mine. After all, I almost ALWAYS wear my helmet. Even though it doesn’t look as cool, I am way too cool to be dead. And all these drivers who don’t see me, or whatever they may have done, did not set out this morning to kill a cyclist (I know there are isolated cases where this logic does not hold up, but let’s simplify the discussion by assuming that drivers who did intend to hurt cyclists are just as crazy as random guys who start bar fights just to see a little blood flow).

So now that I no longer feel the need to correct and chide and insult every errant driver, I can enjoy the day more. Even if someone is a terrible rage-a-holic, my effort to reform them is pointless. I am sure that their family, lovers, friends, and the crew of “Intervention” have all been trying for years to do what I am only spending seconds on. In fact, I am trying to do it one better. When I accidentally took the right turn on red during someone else’s protected left today, I stopped by the car and apologized. The driver looked at me like he had never heard an apology before, and in the context, it is a great possibility.

Now, on another night, I didn’t take things as coolly. I had stayed at my office until midnight working on a project. After a 14 hr workday, an 8 mile ride home did not seem inviting. When I work that late, I will usually take Santa Monica Blvd from Century City instead of Little Santa Monica, which has more stoplights, but a smoother right lane and some delightful eye candy on the sidewalks. This particular night, I was booking along at a decent clip, not a car in sight, when I started to see headlights creep up on me. The headlights turned into warmth radiating off of the engine behind me, and finally culminated in a long, obnoxious honk.

BikeSnobNYC has covered honking pretty thoroughly, and my reactionary impulse is a little more violent. When we got to the stoplight, I was able to see that the offending vehicle was a BMW 7 series with an overweight, Caucasian, male drive and an overweight, Caucasian, female passenger holding a doggy bag in her lap (there was a restaurant that served so much food that not even THEY could finish it?). I was able to restrain my most primal desire, and simply shrugged my shoulders, as if to say “there was nobody in the left lane; why didn’t you just pass me?” Then the passenger rolls down her window and says:
“Get off the road!”
“Where should I go?” I asked, my shoulders still shrugging.
“On the sidewalk!”
“There isn’t one.” If you have ever ridden Santa Monica Blvd heading East, there is no sidewalk on that side of the street, and the right lane has only a 1 foot wide strip that is rideable. And before I could add “besides, the road is the safest place for me to be,” Kirsty Alley wanna-be had rolled up her window, and pre-Ironman John Favreau slammed his foot on the gas. And right there, I had another epiphany: some of these people don’t know! Some drivers do not know the laws regarding safe road sharing between automobile and bicycle. And we are all guilty of this in some way. How many folks do you know that get a perfect score on the driving exam? How many people do you think get all of the bicycle-specific questions right?

Keeping this in mind, I try to keep it cool around imperfect drivers. I do the same around imperfect cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians, and myself. Until the day I come across someone who is out for blood, I will try my best to assume that after all is said and done, most people want to get where they are going without incident. And I am just the same: another imperfect road-user, powerless to change the road around me. Until the police begin enforcing the proper passing cushions, motorists intimidating cyclists, and cyclists blowing red lights like they don’t exist, nobody is going to change their habits. And until then, we should not take it upon ourselves to enforce these laws on each other. More than likely, those were the questions you and I got wrong on our driver’s tests.

Beach Ride

2008-08-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

There's nothing quite as lovely as taking a long bike ride down the beach on a Sunday morning. It's beautiful, it's breezy, and you burn lots and lots of calories in the process. The route that my biking buddies and I usually take is shown below.....we start just a little south of Santa Monica pier and bike south all the way to Hermosa Beach. Normally you can pick up a pretty good pace after you get through the crowds in Venice, but this past Sunday morning, the roughly 15 mile return trip was a little tougher than normal. We biked into headwind nearly the whole way home! Needless to say we burned over 2000 calories and I spent most of Sunday and yesterday recovering. I recommend this trail though, especially for beginners. There are plenty of people on beach cruisers through Santa Monica and Venice so it's less intimidating, although it is a chore to dodge traffic in some major pedestrian areas.

The saga continues....

2008-08-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

A popular topic in New York news outlets these days is the recent discussion about cyclist vs. motorist angst, which was blogged about here last week. Today, it's a link to a lengthy article by the New York Times, which rehashes much of the stories floating around the internet in the past month, and even gives a shout out to our very own Mandeville Canyon Road incident. Through the article I found a link to another Blogspot blogger entitled BikeSnobNYC, who is working on a photo project to document people who "almost kill" him, as in this hilarious post. Sounds like a noble cause....just remember to be careful out there, folks. Better to be a bike safety nerd than an injured cyclist.

Call for Contributors!

2008-08-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

Happy 08-08-08! Since it's the luckiest of all lucky days, I thought I might try my luck at asking for contributors (sorry, couldn't help myself). I'm returning to grad school in a couple of weeks so I fear my opportunities to post might diminish significantly, but LA's various and dynamic forms of transportation certainly aren't going anywhere. If you use alternative transportation to get around in this car-centric city and feel that your experiences might be worth sharing, drop us a line or leave a comment. I think that more voices and experiences would make the site richer and more useful for everyone.

Have a lucky and wonderful weekend!
-emily

Tom LaBonge and his merry band of bikers

2008-08-07T00:47:00.000-07:00

I never meant for this blog to be solely about the biking experience in Los Angeles, but it is summertime, and therefore it's a great time to ride, and talk about it. As it turns out, City Councilman Tom LaBonge agrees with me, so he's started hosting Wednesday bike rides throughout different areas of the city. The most recent ride started in and traversed through Downtown, and since that's my 'hood, I decided to join. What great fun we had! I have never been to some of the areas we biked through, and wouldn't have gotten the chance except with a group. We wheeled around a state park, biked through Boyle Heights, and waved at the Arts District. Also in an exhilarating flash, we biked through the 2nd Street Tunnel. Woo hoo! I recommend next week's ride to anyone looking for a little exercise and community in one neat package. And the best perk of riding with a City Councilman? The police escort, although the popsicles at the end didn't hurt :o)

Photos from the August 6 Sister City Downtown Ride:

This week's starting point: City Hall

I hope someone at the front knows where we go next

Go into the light!

Cresting on Figueroa and getting ready for the tunnel

At the end

Bikes vs. Cars = Trouble

2008-08-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

It was bound to happen. In a country that has spent the last 50 years of its existence worshiping the almighty automobile, we had to imagine that this day would come. America is starting to realize, gently and collectively, that our cars might not be so good for the environment and our pocketbooks. And some of us are taking steps to remedy that; riding our bikes to work, taking public transportation, and carpooling. And some of us are just getting angry.

There was an article a few days ago in the Wall Street Journal about the confluence of these groups on the streets of Los Angeles. I suppose LA is an easy target for these types of stories since everything is so spread out and since our car culture is still so resistant - the distances that cyclists have to go here are always longer, their encounters with cars more frequent, and perhaps, more frightening. But the problem isn't confined to Los Angeles. All across the country cyclists are running into trouble. Last month in Toledo, a cancer survivor and bike commuter was murdered while riding his bike to work; it was his first day of bike commuting. In New York City last week, a cop body checked a cyclist on a Critical Mass ride, and it was caught on video. And in Seattle, which I've just discovered is a cyclist's happy place, a Critical Mass group clashed with a motorist who "felt trapped" by the sea of bikes around him - and then he proceeded to run over a couple of them to get away. This story is especially illuminating because it shows the bias the media and most of society still exhibit when it comes to cars. The motorist comes off like the victim in the story when the reality is, he's the one who has a vehicle and used it as weapon to run over some people. Two cyclists in this case have been charged with assault when the guy who was driving the car hasn't been charged at all.

And then there's the flip side in this equation, when cyclists get angry back. Case in point, Portland, aka the most bike-friendly city in the country, where cyclist-motorist relations have recently gotten way out of hand. These events, while bizarre, demonstrate that bikes are not going away any time soon, and bikes and cars are going to need to play nicer on the roads if everyone is going to stay safe.

Here's a few steps I think cyclists could take to make themselves less of a target on the road:

Obey traffic laws. If you're going to act like a car then you need to obey the same traffic laws as cars, at least until they pass bike-specific road rules. Just think of how annoying it is to see a cop car run a red light and then think of how motorists must feel when bikes do the same thing.

Avoid riding in rush hour if possible. I know it's impossible for many commuters but see if your office would give you flex time by avoiding rush hour. Less cars to deal with means less opportunity for conflict.

Practice defensive bike riding. If you're riding on a road that has little or no bike lane, don't yield to cars. Get in front of them. Yes, you'll probably piss them off but you have a right to be there as well. Also there's a lesser likelihood that a car will run you over head on rather than sideswiping you. It's sad to think of it this way but it's harder for a motorist to get away with straight out running a bike down than what could be seen as an "accidental" sideswiping.

Defend yourself. I've been thinking a lot about this lately. What do you do if you feel menaced on the street late at night? Do you pull out your Mace or some other self-defense tactic? Well, motorists who menace cyclists are no less dangerous. If a motorist starts harassing you while you're riding your bike, Mace them, Tase them, or whatever you need to do to get away safely.

For god's sakes, wear your helmet. It never ceases to amaze me how few people wear their helmet in Los Angeles. I realize people here are obsessed with looks, but cyclists too? Really? No matter how careful you are when you're riding, you're going to get hurt a lot easier if you don't wear a helmet, and sadly, people won't sympathize with you nearly as much either. In a perfect world we could all let our hair down when riding, but we are far from perfect....

These tips are just one cyclist's take on how to ride safer. Use your common sense on the road and let's hope that motorists use theirs as well.

Bags for Biking

2008-08-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

Can't talk for long as I'm going to explore the great public transportation system of Seattle this afternoon, however, as promised yesterday, I wanted to mention a few great bags for biking:

Timbuk2 - This is the type of bag I use. I love it. My bag is so enormous that in the event of an emergency it will fit both my computer and my cat, plus a change of clothes. That's not exactly essential for biking, but you can rest assured that this bag and its stabilizing strap do a great job carrying my stuff on my back while I'm concentrating on the road.
Chrome bags - These bags are very popular in the biking community as well. I almost bought one of these but I thought they were a bit masculine for my taste.
Freitag bags - These bags are super fantastic because they use cleaned and recycled truck tarps to make the bags. Unfortunately they cost a small fortune but at least you are being good to the environment!
Voltaic bags - And if you REALLY want to lessen your impact, may I suggest Voltaic bags. These have a solar collector in them so you can charge stuff with your bag!

I'm sure there are way more types of bags that people use.....if you have any suggestions, post them here. I gotta take the Flyaway again!

Sweat

2008-07-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest hurdles that I've had to overcome in my switch to commuting by bicycle is the notion that sweat is a bad thing. I've always been the type of person who perspires when they work out, and commuting by bike, while not as strenuous as running a marathon, isn't exactly a stroll in the park, either. Going down the road at 20 mph on 2 wheels burns calories, and therefore, I sweat.

But I learned to embrace that sweat. Sure it's yucky for the ride and about 20 minutes after that, but when I'm done with my ride, I've got one workout done for the day. The ride home makes a second workout for the day. Commuting to work or school just 3 days a week means I get 6 workouts in without stepping foot in a gym! But don't take it from me, check out these guys in the New York Times.....they bike even further than I do. Click here or do a search for calorie calculators to find out how many calories you would burn by commuting to work by bike.

Tomorrow I'll talk about how I carry my change of clothes to work with me so I don't stay sweaty all day :o)

Wild Wednesday Links

2008-07-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

The Martin Jetpack was officially unveiled yesterday in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. (Wisconsin? Really? OK.) Make sure to watch the video so you can start dreaming of how much quicker you'll get to work in the near future!
Those people in Scandinavia really know how to make lifts that work for any type of contraption. This video of a bike lift up a hill in Norway is old, but if they can put a cart lift in every IKEA in the country, why not a little bike lift up a big hill in LA?
The Dodger Trolley is officially running. Take it, go on.
You may have heard this already, but the all-electric Mini Cooper is coming in summer of 2009. And the all-electric Smart Car is coming in 2010. Get ready to motor.
I may have discussed it yesterday, but what I didn't know at the time was that the LAX Flyaway is extending its morning service since ridership is up so much. Yeah posh bus!
Navigating the LA River by kayak? It can be done! Just like this blog!

The Most Posh Bus Ride in LA

2008-07-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

.....is the LAX Flyaway. I've been spending way too much energy going in and out of the airport lately, so I think it's time to talk about my favorite form of public transportation to LAX. For those of you who don't know about it, the LAX Flyaway is a shuttle bus that leaves from Union Station in downtown, from Westwood, and from Van Nuys at least every half hour and takes you to LAX. It's super easy and super cheap! A $1.25 subway ride to Union Station, $4.00 for the Flyaway and you arrive in style right in front of your terminal. The Flyaway buses (at least the ones from Union Station) are those giant tour bus type things with the cushioned seats and the bathroom in the back (not that I've ever used the bathroom, but it's good to know it's there). You just pay for your ticket, you can check your bags on the bus, and then you sit and wait for your terminal stop. Easy. And the Flyaway bus drivers know how to get around traffic. You always want to allow enough time to get through security and to your gate, but before that, I think the longest a Flyaway bus has ever taken to get to the airport, from downtown, in traffic is about 45 minutes.

Now, after you get to the airport, I cannot vouch for air travel, which has evolved into one of the most annoying and stressful experiences a person can subject themselves to. But at least the Flyaway is nice!

Transportation Highlights of the Week

2008-07-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

In lieu of links (I'm traveling again), here are some awesome transportation highlights of this week:

From the LAist, Thursday was an important day for public transportation in Los Angeles, because the Metro board probably voted to ask voters to increase sales tax to help fund some projects. The list of what would be funded is impressive. Let's hope it all goes according to plan.
From CurbedLA, this DIY bike lane can't be legal....but that doesn't mean it's not awesome!
From the Los Angeles Times, the ironically named Bottleneck Blog reports all things traffic-related. Isn't that what Google Maps is for?

What's the best bike for YOU?

2008-07-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

How many people got out to the Bike Film Festival this weekend? Anyone? Also, did anyone else go to Glow in Santa Monica? If, like me, you skipped the film festival to get to Glow you may have been as disappointed as the rest of us. But at least the critical mass bike group doing laps on Ocean Drive at 1 am was having a good time!

But I digress.....lately I've been getting a lot of questions from people who are looking to buy bikes for themselves. My first response: yay! But to be honest, I am far from being an expert. My biking experience, although I commute about 30 miles a week, could best be described as "intermediate lite." Still, I love talking about bikes, so anything I can do to help steer people in the right direction, I will. So let's talk a little bit about bikes for the beginner to intermediate crowd for today, shall we?

(I have never ridden many of these bikes so in most cases I can't offer explicit endorsements. However, I have heard that these bikes work well for friends, and they are good brands, so I wanted to include them.)

One of the first things that people mention when they ask about buying a beginner's bike is cost: they don't want it to cost too much. The truth is, unless you want some piece of crap bike from Target or Wal-Mart (don't even get me started on Schwinn), you're going to have to spend at least $350-$400 for a decent bike. My roommate hadn't ridden a bike in 12 years; she recently decided to take the plunge, and she got this Kona Smoke 2-9 for about $350. She then proceeded to ride 15 miles on it! Kona is a great brand, with a large selection of bikes, and I think we can safely say that they have some for beginners as well.

Kona Smoke 2-9: $350

image courtesy of Konaworld.com

I would be remiss if I didn't mention my own bike. I own a Dahon Espresso folding bike, which cost me about $400 when I got it. The model has since been upgraded, along with the price, but it's a great bike. I've put it through way more use and abuse than I imagine it was meant for, but it's responded, and it just keeps trucking. Dahon has a full line of great bikes, for beginners to advanced riders, and all of them fold, which is super convenient!. I highly recommend this brand.

Dahon Espresso 2008: $449.95

image courtesy of dahon.com

Trek is a very well-known company with a full line of bikes, for beginners all the way to racing cycles. If you are truly, ahem, green to biking, you might want to start off with something super easy to ride, like their Lime bike. It's a comfort bike, which means it's not meant for intense biking, plus it uses an "automatic shifting" system, which I don't quite get, but OK. If you just want a bike to glide along sidewalks, take jaunts to the store, or go to the beach, then this is probably a great bike for you.

Trek Lime: $589.99 (as shown, Women's model)

image courtesy of yankodesign.com

If you're looking for something a little more road ready, the Trek Soho might be the type of bike you are looking for. It's lighter and faster than all of the previous bikes mentioned, plus it has thinner wheels which are better for road biking, and flat handle bars, which I find a lot less intimidating than the curved ones on the high-grade road cycles.

Trek Soho S: $549.99

image courtesy of Trekbikes.com

Last but not least, if you know what you're doing out there, and you know you only need a few gears to get where you need to go, another great bike for more intermediate road cyclists is the Swobo Otis. Unlike the previous bikes with up to 24 speeds and "chomper" brakes, this bike only has 3 speeds, and it uses a disc brake (like a car) on the front wheel, and coaster brakes on the back wheel. If you are going to purchase a bike of this caliber, it would behoove you to research just how many different types of brakes bikes use - you may be surprised!

Swobo Otis: $719.00

image courtesy of Swobo.com

Well there you have it.....some great bikes and I'm barely even scratching the surface! Let me know if you have any suggestions or if you own these bikes and you vehemently disagree with anything written here. Happy shopping!

between the spokes 006: bikes + films = something to do this weekend!

2008-07-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

did you know?

that this weekend is the bicycle film festival? in los angeles? well it is. so hop on your bike and check out all the activity that is happening in los angles to support it.

last night i went to a club called rhonda where there was free bike valet (because car or bike, everywhere in LA has valet....valuable lesson from clueless). good times. check the website out for all the details!

The Two-Wheeler Tide is Shifting

2008-07-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

Even major news outlets like MSNBC are acknowledging that high fuel costs are driving commuters to bikes and buses. Today, their article Bikes or Cars - who rules the road? touches on a number of problems facing people who choose to use their legs, and not their cars, to get to work. One good point in the article (which I highly recommend to anyone who is considering trying to bike) is beware of newbies in the saddle: many people just starting out aren't familiar with bike-on-the-road etiquette and don't understand that cyclists need to obey traffic laws as well as everybody else. The article also mentions a difficult fact that many cyclists hate to hear about - some drivers are impatient around cyclists on the road, and end up acting downright hostile. But the energy crisis isn't going anywhere....which means bikes aren't going anywhere....which means, share the road.

Worthy Wednesday Links

2008-07-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long absence....even bloggers go on vacation. Let's see if we can catch up on two weeks worth of links.....

Metro's Streetcar has been added to City Council's Transportation Sales Tax Motion.
We're almost like a real city now: you can actually hail a taxi on the street!
Just when you thought the cost of driving couldn't get any higher.....parking meters cost more now too.
It's the little things: CurbedLA says we now have arrival times showing up on the monitors at Downtown's 7th Street Metro Station.
Sad: Dennis Crowley, a bicycle advocate and advocate for the rebuilding of a "bicycle freeway" from Pasadena to Downtown, is dead.
Justice! After last week's post about cyclists getting injured, here's a follow-up about the guy who tried to kill them. He's being charged and could face up to 7 years in jail. Stay away from cyclists, drivers!
Who doesn't like cool maps anyway?
You can ride your bikes on sidewalks and streets......

And the list goes on and on. I think I must stop for now before I get carried away/don't have anything else to talk about. Onward!

between the spokes 005: movin' on up

2008-07-11T01:31:00.000-07:00

hey lilawac-er's

okay, so i admit that in my earlier posts i sung the praises of being simple, i.e. how it doesn't take anything fancy to park the car and take to two wheels. that was before bianchi.

i admit, my old huffster served me well. it got me through those awkward formative years of adolescence. it stood by my side as transitioned from teen to adult that fateful semester when i moved away from home and was afforded the use of a car. and when gas prices soared in the summer of '08, who was there? that's right...huffy.

but sometimes steadfast and reliable is just that, steadfast and reliable. so, i decided to do what any average quarter-life crisis person would do. i traded in the old land yacht and got my self a sports car.

i know, i know. but i have to tell you, this bike was so worth it. words can not describe the shear delight it is to wake up everyday and get to ride this beauty around town. the ride- so smooth. the look- so hot. in the words of ferris bueller "it's so choice."

this bike is a precision machine

complete with carbon fiber trimmings.

r.i.p. huffy. this biker has found a new love.

in other news:

you know those guys at google should really get a nobel prize or something for pretty much finding a solution to everything- email, calandar, search engine- and now, google has made their already awesome maps even better but allowing to plan your trip with public transit! sadly los angeles isn't available yet, however knowing how google works, it will only be a matter of time before our fair city is on the map! and for those readers outside of LA, maybe you can report back on the google map public transit planning experience- cough, cough honolulu.

I go out of town for a couple of days.....

2008-07-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

...And everything goes crazy! I'm on vacation right now which is why LILAWAC is quieter than normal, but apparently Los Angeles is not quiet in my absence. I just spotted this post on Curbed LA which documents a couple of incidents involving cyclists over the weekend. In one incident a motorist started harassing cyclists who were riding legally and in single file on the side of the road, then swerved in front of them and braked, causing serious injury to both. The article doesn't mention if the motorist was charged or not, but if anyone knows the license plate number of this guy's car, will you please publish it so the rest of us can be on the lookout? The last thing we need is a psychopath running down cyclists in LA.

Meanwhile I'm in Hawaii, and they love bikes down here. I'm going to the Bike Shop to rent one for the week today. I'm going to stick with a "comfort" bike since I don't have any idea where I am yet, and I really just need to go to the beach and back, but they rent road bikes too. And they are nice! Check it out if you ever make it to Honolulu.

Wonderful Wednesday Links

2008-07-02T10:50:00.001-07:00

Last week, the LAist told us about an important day for public transit. On the same day they told us how maybe, just maybe, California's air will get much cleaner.
From Treehugger, Jeff Rubin predicts a mass exodus from cars in the US. We can only hope!
That's awfully ambitious: Mercedes plans to eliminate fossil fuels from its car lineup by 2015.
Bikes are in the spotlight! Even the cardboard kind! And bikes can help build a community too!
Treehugger rated the 7 best electric scooters, including one I saw in action last week.
Here's a cautionary tale about riding your bike and being "doored", and a possible start to an awareness campaign for drivers.
StreetFilms made a movie about Portland's bike boxes.
Better late than never: bus service to Dodger Stadium will start July 25.
The news is not getting any better about the price of oil and, therefore, gas.
If you are in the market for a Hybrid, I hope you bought one already, because the waiting list is getting longer.

Cal. Veh. Code § 21202

2008-06-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

I've heard a lot of complaints from people in Los Angeles (ahem, drivers) about "those cyclists....why can't they just ride on the sidewalk? I hate it when they block the lanes on the street." Well, folks, the law states that cyclists are allowed, nay, supposed to ride on the streets, not the sidewalk. And even if some sidewalk cyclists actually feel bad for blocking cars in the street and/or are afraid of all the crazy drivers in Los Angeles, think of it this way; riding on the sidewalk is much more hazardous for bikers than riding in the street. Why, you ask? Well, in the street, cars must yield to bikes, but other than that, bikes act just like cars....we follow the flow of traffic, we obey traffic lights, and we generally stay as far right as possible to stay out of a car's path. On the sidewalk, things get a little crazy....bikes must yield to pedestrians, not to mention avoiding newspaper carts, sidewalk cleaners, merchants, restaurants with sidewalk seating and so on. Bikes on the sidewalk risk getting hit by cars entering or leaving a parking lot, or getting tangled up in a dog's leash. Believe it or not, sidewalks actually have much more maintenance issues than streets which are (usually) smoother....and don't even get me started on the crazy people that might purposely try to mess with you on your bike just for being there. Simply put, cyclists should ride on the street, and drivers need to yield to them.

Listen, I know it's frustrating when you're sitting in your car in bumper to bumper traffic and a bike goes whizzing past you. I used to be in that car. And then I bought my bike. I'm not going to lie, it's liberating, not to mention better for my health and the environment. So, I'm sorry, but until we get our own Superhighway, cyclists will be sharing the road with you. If you have any questions about California state laws regarding bikes (which trump local ordinances, by the way), I encourage you to check out the California Vehicle Code - Bike Relevant Sections, and especially Cal. Veh. Code § 21202, which details a cyclist's operation on the roadway. And SHARE THE ROADS!!!

Get LA Moving!

2008-06-27T16:20:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of maps, so imagine my delight when, a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon this site called Get LA Moving, which provides, in detail, a practical plan to expand LA County's Metro Rail network....with a giant map. (The map can be seen below but I encourage you to visit the site for an up-close look) Get LA Moving describes itself as:

"...a grassroots all-volunteer group of citizens who love our great region, but recognize that we must determine and implement solutions to our mobility crisis right now to improve our quality of life. The plan was devised through an open citizen-led dialogue, which continues today."

The group is led by Damien Goodmon, who many people know as the instigator in the fight over the Expo line between Downtown and Culver City. If this movement indicates anything, it's that Mr. Goodmon has done his homework and ultimately, it seems he has good intentions for the longevity of public transit in Los Angeles.

If nothing else, it's a helluva map!

between the spokes 004: chinese proverbs

2008-06-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

photo taken at the bike rikes for the chinatown metro gold stop
very profound.

in other news, yesterday i rode the metro red/purple line for the first time. my office sent me on a mission to rhino model (sorry non-architect readers...it's a modeling software...nothing to do with animals) at the other office we are working on. this seemed like a fine time to explore some new metro territory. all i can say is WOW! the metro red/purple line is all underground, so
a: you feel like you live in new york/europe (your pick)
b: there is something almost rebel like to travel underground in los angeles, like your beating the system and doing something in section rather than plan (again apologies non-architect folk)
c: have you seen the red line stations is los angeles? they all look like discarded sets from 70's sci-fi films (read: before lucasfilms got all digital). i totally recommended checking them out for the sheer awesomeness of brutalist concrete and ambient light. i didn't have my camera with me, but i will share some pics next time i go underground.

so today's lessons:
1: you + bike = -1 car
2: droids and non-droids alike love LA's redline

Worthwhile Wednesday Links

2008-06-25T00:27:00.000-07:00

Curbed is trying to figure out whose job it is to fight for bike paths.
Another candidate for obvious headlines: soaring oil prices alter vacation plans. But this is from the Onion so it's actually funny.
Montreal is launching a public bike system.
Wow....who needs an electric scooter when you have these guys in your neighborhood.
Bikes already share bus lanes in LA but they're just now getting to it in Chicago.
Woo hoo! You can now get to Dodgers Stadium via public transportation.
LA Metblogs has another post about bikes on the freeway.
Finally, survey says....ding ding ding! Sales tax increase for public transit is a "yes". (Sorry, I just had a flashback to Family Feud from the 80's.)

Bookmark this: an affordable electric scooter that goes above 20 mph

2008-06-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning, I was on my bike, on my way to work as usual, when I encountered traffic down the street from my building, which included a few other bikers and a guy on a scooter who smoked me as a traffic light turned green. At the next light, I caught up to him (satisfying, you have to admit), and I moved into the crosswalk as I usually do, when all of the sudden, the scooter dude called out my name. Eh? It turned out to be a friend of mine from undergrad, Davide, who lives just a block south of me. In our brief conversation over the course of the next half block, where Davide was kind enough to slow down for me, he told me about his scooter, that it's electric, that he got it online, that's its Chinese and it works great. Later when I got to work, I looked it up, and lo and behold, the electric R-20 from EVT America does exist - and it goes up to 45 mph! AND it doesn't cost you your first born child to buy it; in fact, according to the web site, its $2499 plus $400 for shipping, which, all told, is cheaper than many new gas-powered scooters. Intrigued, I emailed Davide to ask him about his experience with it, and this is what he had to say:

"it was not the easiest thing, buying a bike, i've never ridden, and it came unworking, so i had to be patient. I got a new controller for it, and actually disassembled it, and did wiring, almost shocked myself.

But its paid off now, i take it to work everyday in Culver city, and have free, clean transportation, and learned a lot about electricity in the process, and met some guys that build their own e-bikes and cars, etc.....

....I would like to take a light rail, when it opens, but until then, i wanted to stop being a tool to oil companies, and this is what i bought."

So there you have it. Who ever thought that not one, but two graduates of UC DAAP would be urban pioneers in the rejuvenated Downtown Los Angeles, trying to lessen our carbon footprint by using alternative transportation. For those of you who think that you couldn't commute by scooter over long distances, well, Davide proves that you can go from Downtown to Culver City and back on an electric scooter - sure he has to take surface roads, but honestly, traffic on the highway is probably terrible at that time anyway. I, for one, am so impressed by Davide's perserverance with his electric scooter, and so encouraged to see that it can be done. I'd like to get one too, but alas, I am a poor grad student, so I'll stick with my motor-free two-wheeler for now.

image of the R-20 courtesy of evtamerica.com

Cyclists have a long way to go in LA

2008-06-20T00:31:00.000-07:00

According to some estimates, there are over 3 million cyclists each year in Los Angeles.* Given that there are so many of us, you'd think we would have an easier time getting around, or that our city would work a little bit harder for us.

Enter yesterday's article from MSNBC and Forbes Traveler about the 10 Most Bike-Friendly Cities in North America. Make sure you read the full article, but for the purposes of our discussion, here's the list.

10. Chicago, IL
9. Minneapolis, MN
8. New York, NY
7. San Francisco, CA
6. Seattle, WA
5. Davis, CA
4. Montreal, Canada
3. San Diego, CA
2. Boulder, CO
1. Portland, OR

image courtesy of msnbc.com

You'll notice that Los Angeles is nowhere near that list. However, there are 3 other California cities that ARE on the list; every other major West Coast city in the US is on the list; San Francisco and Seattle have giant hills; Montreal, Minneapolis, and Chicago are, for all intents and purposes, a frozen tundra for half the year; and then of course there's New York, throbbing with people, taxis, buses, subways and the occasional elephant. My point being, what's the deal here, folks? LA has the perfect climate, and is largely flat, with wide boulevards and streets. Why can't our city be friendlier to cyclists? All of these other cities have major obstacles and much more daunting landscapes, and yet they are all more conducive to biking. Is it really that much to ask to give away some of our precious asphalt to bikes?

Mayor Daley is over in Chicago coming up with a long-term bike initiative called Bike 2015. Meanwhile Mayor Tony just got back from Israel where he gave the Prime Minister a Kobe Bryant jersey. Not that there's anything wrong with Israel or Kobe Bryant (well, that's debatable) but doesn't this city have some pressing transportation issues at hand?!?! I hope I speak for all of us when I say, have some vision, Los Angeles. Give us bike lanes, racks, freeways, and everything in between. I want to be on that list next year!

I mean, we got beat by Boulder. Seriously.

*I don't know where I heard this or even what "each year" means, but I did hear it somewhere. If anyone has a source, I would appreciate it.

Today is "Dump the Pump Day"

2008-06-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

Who knew that such a thing existed? From the article:

Given the average price of gasoline these days, Los Angeles transit officials might have an easier time convincing commuters to get out of their cars and board public transportation Thursday to take part in the third annual National Dump the Pump Day.
The campaign is orchestrated by the American Public Transportation Association, and Southland transit officials are on board encouraging people to take buses or trains for a day.
"Using public transportation is the quickest way to beat high gas prices," said Peggy Delach, president of Foothill Transit's executive board. "I take public transit to work in Los Angeles and I can tell you first-hand that the money saved is significant."

Sounds good to me!

between the spokes 003: one more reason to park the car

2008-06-19T02:31:00.001-07:00

from the los angeles times:

"Bush calls for offshore drilling, citing gasoline prices"
read full article here

the intention of this post isn't to procure rabid political debates, but rather point out that everyone's actions do make an impact on the global level. ditching your car in favor of biking or mass transit to make the relatively small commutes that we each make day to day helps to ensure that our gracious mother earth hangs on for a few more years.

los angeles is the quintessential car city, so if you/we can make it without a car here, then we can make it anywhere (yeah, that's right mr. sinatra... new york is so last century). and besides the environmental benefits, have you been on public transportation in this city? one ride alone provides a weeks worth of water cooler conversation fodder...from the bad fashions to the crazies to the friendly strangers...attractive people who ride bikes... in comparison with driving it's just blah blah blah traffic this and blah blah blah gas prices that...conversation more predictable than the ending of the sex and the city movie.

so, if for some reason you hate trees, then at least ride the metro to spark up your coffee talk. just don't make fun of the guy on the huffy on the metro gold around 11 each night. because i will know.

Wicked Wednesday Links

2008-06-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

Our friends at Inhabitat celebrate Transportation Tuesday, which means our link section benefits considerably from it. That first link describes an innovative 3-wheeled vehicle and this link describes how the guys at Mythbusters prove that electric vehicles outperform gas. Sweet.
Meanwhile, Treehugger is always aflutter with efficient transportation talk. I don't have a car but if I could afford one, I'd get a Tesla with a solar PV canopy, like the one I saw at the Dwell on Design conference (below). Ok, since most of us can't afford a Tesla, why not get a wee car that we can fuel with water? Meanwhile, cyclists in Australia are saving tons of money in health costs.
The LAist posted some news last week about the Subway to the Sea's struggle for funding and oh by the way, how about getting a SmartBike hook up in LA? Most of the commenters seem to think the bikes will be stolen immediately.....
Yay for Blogdowntown! Their article about how bike racks are being installed one at a time in Downtown LA hits the nail on the head when it says, (to paraphrase) 'hey that's great, but we should probably get a lot more bike racks than that.'
Finally, the NY Times talks about how more drivers are running out of gas these days. Big surprise.

The ever growing train population.

2008-06-17T09:08:00.001-07:00

Yes, this is the preferred method of transportation these days. With gas prices quickly approaching 5-bucks a gallon, I'm not the only one. UGH.

It used to be that I could leisurely make the 1.5 mile car ride to the park and ride at the Sierra Madre Train Station, park my car where ever I pleased, head down the stairs, walk the over pass (b/c yes, we have to walk over the 210 West to get to the tracks.) and settle in comfortably for my 8:10 am beginning to end-of-the-line daily train adventure.

Well now, it's not so leisurely. Instead, I have to get up a minimum of 30 minutes earlier go through the morning rigor with a swiftness to hop in my car, cut off the stupid slow drivers in Pasadena to get to the same train station, where now, if I am lucky, there is one of TEN parking spots still available at 7:40 in the morning. My adventure is no longer settling, nor is it comfortable.

People are always cramming on the train, by the time we get to the Highland Park station, it's standing room only. I'm always on my laptop working on some design, which also stops me from people watching. (Side note: Did you know that people don't like to be stared at? Well it's not my fault they have no fashion sense.) And as out tracked-trek goes over the freeways, I can't laugh at the commuters anymore... because, oh yes, high gas prices equal less traffic. I guess that means that the comfy places to be are now back on the roads. At least it's getting that way.

Being a green advocate, I appreciate the positive impact this is going to have on the environment, getting all the cars off the road. What I don't appreciate is the lack of etiquette that people have on the train. And, that, my friends is becoming an ever growing problem with the ever growing population of train commuters. Unfortunately, I am not the only one that has realized the economic coup public trans provides. I guess, I'll have to learn to share.

Bike/Math Nerd

2008-06-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

On my way home, I thought it would be fun to nerd out on math a little bit today. Bear with me.

As of today, I've put 720 miles on my bike (I know this because like a true nerd, I have a bike computer). Now that doesn't seem like a lot, I know many people often drive 1000 miles a month easily, but when you consider that my daily commute back and forth to school/work is 7.8 miles total, you'll realize that means approximately 93 daily commutes by bike, or 3 months. So that's cool.

Now let's think about it in terms of driving.

If we were optimistic and said that gas cost an average of $3.50 throughout those 93 days of commuting, we would see that by not driving a car, I've saved a little bit of money. If I were driving a car that got, let's say, 25 miles a gallon (as my old car did); and I went 720 miles; then 720/25 = 28.8 gallons of gas. 28.8 gallons x $3.50 = $100.80. Which means I've saved about $100 in gas money. This would be great if owning a car only meant putting gasoline in it, but as it turns out in Los Angeles, owning a car costs a lot more than just the gas it drinks. Commuting by bike saves way more money in other ways. For instance, the garage behind my apartment building costs $175 a month for parking. A parking pass at school is like, $380 for 3 months or something similar. Insurance would be probably $100 a month, if I was lucky. And what if I was still making car payments? Let's give my metaphorical self a break and pretend like it's paid off. Added up we have the following situation for 3 months....

Car:
Parking at home for 3 months: $525
Parking at school for 3 months: $380
Insurance for 3 months: $300
Car payments: $0
Gas: $100
Total: $1,305

Now, the bike:
Parking at home: um, free
Parking at school: still free
Insurance for 3 months: also free (helmet costs $30 though)
Payments: none
Gas: about 400 calories per round-trip commute
Total: $0

So hopefully you get my point. If I bike another 720 miles in the second half of this year, I will have saved myself at least $2,610 for the year than if I was using a car for that commute. And yes, that's assuming that I'm paying a premium for parking, but it's also assuming gas is a lot cheaper than it is now, and it's assuming I'm not going anywhere else besides school. I might be a nerd but I do have a social life! Which equals gas, which equals more money.

One last little math problem and then I'll stop.....an average trip on the Metro costs $1.25. The last, highest gas price I saw was $4.97 a gallon. By my generous calculation, and at (a very optimistic) 25 miles a gallon, that's almost $1 for every 5 miles traveled. Which means you only need to go about 6 miles to get your money's worth out of that Metro ticket. The LA Metro Bus and Rail Trip Planner is less generous...they are saying that the 6-mile trip from my place to my nearest Trader Joe's costs $3.12 in gas! That's a whole bottle of 2-buck Chuck! Each way!

Anyway, my brain is fried. But chew on that for a while ;o)

The 720 is the place to be

2008-06-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles' answer to a (currently) inadequate subway and lightrail system is the Metro Rapid buses that run on most of the city's major streets. The 720 is the Rapid bus that runs East-West along Wilshire Boulevard between Downtown LA and Santa Monica pretty much all day long. And, given that Wilshire intersects with almost all of LA's major North-South streets, it's a very popular route. Below is a picture of one of the 720's "smaller" buses....normally they are those giant double-buses, you know, the kind with the expansion joint in the middle that people can actually sit in? I took a ride on the 720 the other day on one of those giant buses, and it was packed. The drivers on the Rapid buses really know how to speed as well, so even with the traffic on Wilshire in Beverly Hills, I made it cross town in less than 50 minutes. And it's hard to explain, but when you're packed into a bus that tightly with people from every imaginable walk of life barreling down Wilshire Boulevard at 50 miles an hour, you really learn to appreciate your neighbors more.

image courtesy of chaffeeyiu.com

The 720: highly recommended, both for transit, and for neighborly spirit!

Inspiration

2008-06-11T23:49:00.000-07:00

I was initially inspired to start this blog back around May 15, which was Bike to Work Day in Los Angeles County. A slew of people around LA, including a number of my coworkers, participated in the bike ride, and as a result, many of them were treated to breakfast, "swag", and the satisfaction of knowing that they burned calories, not fossil fuels, on their way to work that day.

Well, I apparently got up too late to enjoy all the festivities, and I guess I live too close to work too, because I didn't get any of the perks on my ride to work that day. Which led me to think, "wait a second. I bike to work every week, at least twice a week.....where's my swag?!" Naturally this led to my decision to start a blog, LOL.

lucky bikers got swag on May 15's Bike to Work day - image courtesy of metro.net

This month brought another big Bike to Work Day, this one in Tokyo, Japan, and it's happening today on June 11. In conjunction with today's event, have a look at this gadget that you can put on your bike that keeps track of total hours, average speed, calorie consumption, AND the total CO2 savings made versus car travel for the same distance.

Bus + Bike = Will Travel

2008-06-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

Due to some computer problems (that I don't really want to get into), I've had to visit Culver City several times in the past few weeks, and it looks like I might have to go back. Today, however, I was prepared for any form of transportation, and I took the carbon-free plunge. I biked from USC to Culver City - actually, Motor and National, so the Palms neighborhood - by myself. I had never even visited some of those neighborhoods by car, let alone by bike, so it was an adventure. Between that long trip and the morning commute to school, I actually biked 14.25 miles total today. Have a look at the Google Map below for an overview or the actual map for a close-up of my route. I went this way on the recommendation of a friend who lives in Culver City, and aside from a fairly daunting headwind, the entire route was flat, and the neighborhoods were calm. The first mile or so on 36th Pl. was actually to avoid the nasty construction on Exposition, and it worked well. All of the streets I traveled were either wide enough to accommodate bikes or slow enough so that cars had no trouble going around.

On my way back, I cruised down Motor to Venice, where I picked up the 333 bus back to Downtown LA. The 333 is an express version of the 33, which traverses Venice Boulevard from Main Street in Downtown to the ocean in the west. If you've never taken your bike on a bus, first let me clarify: you don't actually take it on the bus. You put it on a rack on the front of the bus and lock it in with a big "hook" that holds the bike in place, no matter how aggressive your bus driver (trust me I've had plenty). So after biking 14 miles, I was relieved to have the 333 bus option to take me right back to Downtown, even though I had to squeeze on the bus. You would think with rising gas prices and a noticeable uptick in ridership, they would add more buses that could accommodate all those people....I guess these things take time!

Cyclists vote, too

2008-06-08T18:04:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama celebrated his victory in the Democratic primary campaign this weekend by spending time with his family and riding his bike. Who doesn't like a presidential candidate who knows how to use his bike!?! I'm just saying.

image courtesy of www.treehugger.com

Life on the F Dash

2008-06-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

One of the easiest ways to get around Downtown LA, and in fact, many other areas of the city, is by using the DASH buses. You have probably seen a DASH bus around town, even if you didn't realize it....it's just a tad bit shorter than a regular bus, it's blue, and it's usually cruising! Besides the fact that it's only 25 cents. I take the F Dash every week at least once but usually more often since I work at and attend USC. And between that and my bike, I have had some weeks where I've only spent about, oh, $1.50 in transportation costs.

The DASH bus doesn't just operate Downtown....there are DASH routes all over town, and these are all 25 cents too! Use the link above and the LA DOT Transit link to the right to find the DASH line that works for you, and save some money!

Terrific Thursday Links

2008-06-05T14:59:00.000-07:00

The LAist has had some great posts lately about etiquette on the Metro, or "Metroquette" as they like to call it. Have a look at this and this.
Also from the LAist, gas prices are indeed lessening commute times, which is good since traffic costs a lot of money. Apparently it's happening everywhere.
Anyone else a big fan of scooters? The New York Times recently detailed the rise in popularity of scooters since gas prices have started to go up.
From Inhabitat: cars wouldn't be so bad if they cleaned the carbon dioxide out of the air as they drove!
After hearing the news that the Ford F150 has been bumped from the top spot in vehicle sales per month - for the first time in 15 years - I am starting to feel a little sorry for the automobile industry. Maybe they should take the lead from these guys.
Oh, if only Los Angeles were as bicycle friendly as....Columbus, OH?
Finally, in New York City last weekend, they had the 7th Annual Commuter Race, and the winner was....a bike!

between the spokes 002: that's one sweet ride!

2008-06-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

today i thought i would start my post with some images of my sweet ride:

that's right, kiddos. simple.classic.huffy. i've had this 15 speed since i was in middle school. aside from some modifications for comfort (those stock bike seats...oy vey) it's pretty much just the way i got it for my 15th birthday. the point here is you don't need anything fancy to make your way by bike instead of car.

if you need further inspiration, check out this article by andy bowers nobody bikes in la. unless you are driving more than 20 miles somewhere, it would be just as easy (and cheaper) to bike there.

so save your gas money and spend it on a new bike seat!

for those of you already on the prowl and looking to meet some others like yourself, check out the event calender at bikeboom los angeles. it's practically littered with events for fellow bikers like yourselves!

Los Angeles Metro has a vision...

2008-06-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

....and they want YOUR input. Yes, that's right; Los Angeles is planning for our transportation future, and if you pay attention, you can participate in the process. If you've ridden the Metro trains lately you may have noticed a recent ad for this initiative. They are signs that have the word "Imagine" on them, and they implore you to go to www.metro.net/imagine to share your vision for the future of transit in the Southern California region. They even have maps! So go to it.....tell them what you want (and how to pay for it) and maybe your idea will show up on a Metro Map someday.

between the spokes 001: a bikers perspective

2008-06-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

hey lilawac readers!

this NEW exciting series of blog updates comes direct from downtown la/highland park, offering the perspective of someone who owns a car but has recently decided to take to the road on two wheels (with a little help from metro gold)

after a few rides to school (6.5 miles) and a few adjustments to my trusty huffy mountain bike (that's right...huffy) i have found that despite getting to school sweaty, the bike ride is rather enjoyable. and you get to see awesome views of the la river.

but how do you plan your journey you ask? can i google map bike paths? yes! bike metro has made a handy website that allows you to map potential bike paths based on your tolerance of hills, level of riding and if you want to use public transit. my favorite part is when you map your path, it tells you how much money you are saving by not driving, elevation graphs and lots of other cool facts.

summers here, so park the car and get some fresh air!

Beer....now cheaper than gas

2008-06-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

image courtesy of structed.com

This sums it up well.

LA cyclists heart Toronto

2008-06-01T23:43:00.001-07:00

photo courtesy of torontoist.com

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the cyclists of Toronto, Canada's Critical Mass. Apparently on their monthly ride two days ago, the 200 or so cyclists spontaneously decided to take an on-ramp - and then took over the entire westbound side of the Gardiner Expressway, like one giant automobile. Said one participant, it wasn't intended to be a huge statement, but more along the lines of, "Here we are. Let's take the Gardiner."

photo courtesy of TObike's Flickr

I'm getting excited just thinking about being on that ride with that group. How absolutely exhilarating it must have been to just follow 200 of your bike buddies onto the highway. And how funny it must have been to be one of the drivers that got stuck behind them....can you imagine someone on their cell phone, calling home to say, "I'm sorry, I'll be late, I'm behind a bike traffic jam"? Absolutely brilliant!

photo courtesy of martinho's Flickr

Don't get me wrong....I know this was illegal. It was as illegal as the much smaller group of brave LA cyclists who have twice taken to the freeways in the past month and a half. But who doesn't think this is awesome? Like organizer Morgan Strauss said in the Santa Monica Daily Press, "In a city ruled by cars, why is it that you can get places faster on bikes?”

Here's some (slightly frightening) video from the LA group's latest ride...

And here's one of the group's members with his very large bike riding onto the freeway. Amazing!

photo courtesy of Alex Thompson's Flickr

Not that I'm encouraging them, or saying you need to ride your bike on the freeway to make a statement....but if you are interested in hanging out with any of these (awesome) people in Los Angeles, check out the Crimanimalz from the freeway ride, Critical Mass Los Angeles, or the very popular local Midnight Ridazz group. Also check out the permanent links about cycling on the right. And don't forget to ride safe!

A scientific case for going car-less

2008-05-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

If you care about the environment and you've finally conceded that global warming will, in fact, be a defining issue of our lifetime, then you probably realize that reducing the amount of time you spend driving around in your car can't hurt. And you might want to pay attention to news like this...

Yesterday, on the NY Times Environmental Blog, Dot Earth, Andrew Revkin talked about a conversation he had with Nobel-Prize winner Dr. F. Sherwood Rowland at New York's World Science Festival. As many of you know (at least those of you who have seen An Inconvenient Truth), the level of carbon dioxide is hovering around 385 parts per million now, after never going above 280 parts per million for at least 650,000 years. Most scientists acknowledge that to keep our climate in familiar territory, our long-term goal should be returning this level to 350 parts per million, a level passed in 1988.

With this in mind, Dr. Rowland's answers to Mr. Revkin's questions are rather alarming. Mr. Revkin's first question:

Given the nature of the climate and energy challenges, what is his best guess for the peak concentration of carbon dioxide?

His answer? “1,000 parts per million,” he said.
My second question was, what will that look like?

“I have no idea,” Dr. Rowland said. He was not smiling.

I don't know about you but this scares the crap out of me. Every time I think about how nice it might be to have a car, I'll reread this article and look at a picture of my lovely bike. It's going to take a heck of a lot more than just us though.

But hey, have a great weekend! :-/

my lovely bike

Big Green "Bike Boxes"

2008-05-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

Maybe one day LA will be as bike-friendly as Portland.

Image courtesy of www.treehugger.com

A girl can dream, can't she?

Terrific Tuesday Biking Links

2008-05-27T23:39:00.000-07:00

Bike link round-up for the week!

Before you get started on biking your way through the city, make sure you read this guide to Bicycling Street Smarts, which I just discovered this weekend.
This Washington Post article gives us some helpful hints for biking up hills.
Treehugger tells us about a successful event over the weekend in Toronto called Bells on Bloor, which was "a bike parade to promote the idea of bike lanes on the major crosstown street in Toronto."
Treehugger (ever biker-friendly) also tells us 7 ways that cities can make your bike more secure.
Not necessarily bike-specific, but Seattle is looking for ways to encourage residents to ditch their cars.
Finally, and this is nothing new, but for our first installment of Bike Links I would like to remind everyone of this outstanding campaign from the City of Muenster in Germany which illustrates how much space it takes to move the same number of commuters by car, bus and bike. Voila!

Image from the City of Munster, Germany Planning Office via the LAist

Tips for Riding the Bus

2008-05-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

I've lived in several major metropolitan areas and in each, I had to learn how to use the public transportation system. Life would be great if that meant traveling around by subway or light rail all the time, but in fact, a large portion of that time was spent on a bus. Each city's bus system was a different experience; a ride on a New York City bus meant that you got to see the city while going from point A to point B, a luxury unknown to the legions of subway riders. Riding a bus in Washington, DC, meant squeezing into a seat between extremely well-dressed politicos, while taking a bus in San Francisco meant a bus full of costumed party-goers on Halloween, or having your route diverted by a protest at any given moment.

Riding the bus in Los Angeles is no more or less of an adventure than in any of these other cities. Actually, the bus system in Los Angeles is the most extensive in the country and as far as I can tell, it might be the cheapest. $1.25 for a single ride, $1.55 for a ride plus transfer, and if you are lucky enough to need only a DASH Bus, then your ride only costs you 25 cents. That's one quarter, people! Does anything else in your life only cost a quarter anymore? That won't even buy you half a candy bar.

With this in mind, I encourage everyone to ride the bus in LA, and I'm going to give you some tips that I've picked up in my years of bussing it to ease your transition.

Have your money and/or pass ready before the bus comes. Everyone is trying to get someplace as quickly as possible and fiddling for your money or pass to delay the bus is a big no-no.
Don't be afraid to ask the bus driver questions about your route. If you need to go somewhere specific and you want clarification, ask the bus driver. If you want a certain connection, ask the bus driver. If you are not sure that you have the right amount for your route, ask the bus driver. This is their job and (most of the time) they are happy to help!
As soon as you step on the bus, move to the back as far as possible. The human traffic flow inside the small bus cavity is really critical to its route and if you stand in front when there is room in the back, you'll block any newcomers to point of major annoyance. Not to mention you are supposed to exit in the back anyway, so that gets you closer to your exit path.
If there is an empty seat on a crowded bus that no one else will take, sit there! It's nice to be polite and all but you'll clear up the aisle if you sit in that seat. However....
Get out of your seat and stand if an old or disabled person needs it! I think this is pretty obvious but I thought it best to reiterate.
Know the names of a few cross streets before your stop. This will help to orient you as well as prepare you so that you don't pull the "Stop Requested" chain too late.
Be nice to your bus driver, and thank them when you leave! Remember that bus drivers have a really tough job and are constantly challenged, whether by traffic, rough road conditions, or simply the crazy people sitting across the aisle from you. You never know when someone is having a bad day and a kind word could help, so be nice to your bus driver as soon as you step on the bus. Thanking them when you get off at your stop is just good form :o)
Complain when the bus is late. As easy and cheap as it is to ride the bus in LA, our bus system is, sadly, quite a long way from being as precise and prompt as public transportation in, say, Switzerland. Be polite when you call to complain but remember that the system can't improve without feedback from its users, which means you!

Greetings! And why we're here.

2008-05-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

Gas prices have more than quadrupled since 2003.

Oil prices just topped $135 a barrel, and show no sign of going much lower.

Gas prices are hovering around an average of $4 a gallon.

...These are just a few of the many facts that paint a bleak picture for people who rely on cars as their primary form of transportation. And prices aren't getting any lower....gas may hit $5 in the near future. In an economy that is already wrought with tighter budgets and less jobs, higher transportation costs will be crippling to most Americans.

So why blog about not having a car in Los Angeles, a sprawling metropolis with one of the biggest car cultures in the United States? Because if it can be done here, then it can be done anywhere in the country. Los Angeles already suffers from a notorious traffic problem, a bus system that isn't exactly prompt, and people aren't even allowed to hail taxis in the city. But we do have the largest and most extensive bus system in the country; we have a fledging subway system with plans for growth; and we have a climate that is optimal for bicyclists.

Bikes galore at USC

I don't own a car, and I've been living in LA a little less than a year. And yes, sometimes I've needed one. But I've taken the bus, and rode my bike. I've used the local car share service, or I've gotten a ride. I am living proof that you can live in Los Angeles without a car! And I'm more than happy to extend my life experiment if it means helping others learn how to save money, time, and the earth.

Sooooo...if you are living the experiment as well, or are bike- and bus-friendly, please let me know! I am looking for contributors and would love additional viewpoints.

Disclaimer: This blog is not meant to encourage anyone to give up their cars outright or stop buying cars. Rather, it's meant to be a resource for people living in Los Angeles - and beyond - who are interested in options to an auto-centric lifestyle.