If you live, work and bike in Royal Oak — we need you on Monday, November 10th at 7:30 PM at City Hall (third floor).

Royal Oak City Environment Committee, the Sierra Club, and concerned local bicyclists are speaking before City Commission to ask for improved bicycle and pedestrian safety in Royal Oak.  In short we are asking them to develop a non-motorized transportation plan.

Here are some tips from Tom Regan, who’s down a lot of work getting us to this point:

We will speak at public comment, which is at the very start of the meeting, so you must be on-time.

Idea — Bike to the event and carry your bicycle helmet into the meeting. Hold your helmet when you speak at public comment.

The themes are very simple. You can address any one or more of these points when you speak:

• Royal Oak can be a dangerous place to ride a bike.
• All Royal Oak citizens will benefit if Royal Oak becomes a safer place to walk and ride a bike.
• Royal Oak should write a non-motorized transportation plan as a way to set community goals and reach them in an intelligent and efficient manner.

Be very brief, or take the whole 5 minutes, or just give your name and address and say “I would like Royal Oak to write a non-motorized transportation plan.” If even that sounds scary just stand next to someone else when they talk and hold your bike helmet!

The local Sierra Club has jumped into this effort with both feet. They are an extremely well-organized and active chapter, we are very fortunate to have their help. The Royal Oak Environment Committee has also endorsed the effort.

Please send your letters-to-the-editor now. There will be a sudden drop in letters with the election over, now is a good time to get published. Nothing long or involved is needed, just dash off something quick on how Royal Oak would benefit if it were safer for walking and biking:

• Royal Oak Mirror
• Royal Oak Review
• Royal Oak Daily Tribune
• Oakland Press

We look forward to seeing some helmets at Monday’s meeting.

Much has been written about the recent U.S. presidential election, but one question for us is, “How does this affect federal bicycling funding and policy?”

Earlier this year the bike industry met with Senator Obama:

Stan Day, SRAM’s president, said that Obama “gets it.” He pointed out that Obama understands that bicycles can be part of a solution to issues as diverse as health care, obesity, energy and environmental policy. “He does his homework and he can connect the dots,” he said.

After winning the election, Obama’s team created a web site to discuss his upcoming term, its direction, and policy.  And it does discuss bicycling among its urban policy goals:

Build More Livable and Sustainable Communities: Our communities will better serve all of their residents if we are able to leave our cars, to walk, bicycle and access other transportation alternatives. As president, Barack Obama will re-evaluate the transportation funding process to ensure that smart growth considerations are taken into account.

Yes, he “gets it.”

And, two of the names being bandied about for his Transportation Director are major cycling supporters: Earl Blumenauer and James Oberstar.  Both would be a huge boost for bicycling and Safe Routes to School advocates.

But we shouldn’t forget how absolutely awesome it was having a serious mountain biker in President George W. Bush.  That did wonders for the perception of mountain biking as a sport; it’s not just for young folks.

o how soon before Obama is riding mountain bike trails?  Certainly that question has already been asked at IMBA.

Stay tuned…

DDOT to get Bike Racks

It began with a Transportation Riders United, MTGA, a bike petition, and others asking for bike racks on DDOT buses.

A bus rack manufacturer loaned DDOT some racks to try out on the Russell line.  Their Bikes on Buses (B.O.B.) program was started.  Meanwhile, DDOT requested funding to equip all of their buses with bike racks.

The great news is MDOT has approved that funding request.  Over a three-year period, all of DDOT line haul buses will get bike racks.

Model D Speaker Series: Bikes + Transit

Next Tuesday, October 21st, the Model D Speaker Series welcomes John Hertel and Scott Clein to the Motor CIty Movie House at the Russell Industrial Center.  The event begins at 5 PM with the presentations starting at 5:30 PM.

From Model D:

Hertel is the local transit czar, and will speak on the the Regional Transportation Coordinating Council’s recently released transit plan for Southeastern Michigan, including a light rail or streetcar system down Woodward Avenue. (Hear more about it here from Model D Radio/Michigan Now reporter Chris McCarrus.)

Clein is an engineer with  Giffels-Webster, the firm which recently helped design a non-motorized plan that calls for more than 400 miles of bike lanes in Detroit. The plan recently got approval from Detroit City Council. Read more about it here.

To sign up for this free event or to get directions, visit Model D.

We’ll see you there!

Mike Reuter (American Cycle & Fitness), Nancy Krupiarz (Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance), Tim Blumenthal (Bikes-Belong), and Todd Scott discuss Detroit bike advocacy strategies

Most cyclists in Metro Detroit recognize the shortcomings of biking in this area.  So what should we do about it?  Just opining on the Internet doesn’t create the change we want to see.

One idea we continue to push is for Metro Detroit communities to develop non-motorized transportation plan or bicycle plans.

And since safe and effective bicycling facilities are foreign concepts to most cities in this area, it’s best to have these plans created by professionals outside of city government.

Cities, villages, and counties receive a portion of the state fuel tax and no less than 1% of that must be spent on non-motorized transportation.  MDOT has stated that creating non-motorized plans is a good and proper use of this state funding.

As reported earlier, the City of Detroit has recently endorsed a non-motorized transportation master plan.  The City of Troy issuing a request for proposals to do the same.

But for one great example of a bicycle plan, we point to the Village of Oak Park in Illinois where the village manager is Tom Barwin, Ferndale’s former city manager.

The Village of Oak Park recently adopted a bicycle plan that was developed by the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation.

The first objective of the plan will be to develop a comprehensive bikeway network consisting of marked on-street bikeways, signed routes, and multi-use trails where possible.

The second objective of the plan will be to develop a safety and education plan for the Village. Many people do not bicycle because of a perceived risk to personal safety.

The final objective of the plan will be to market bicycling to the community. Marketing is one the most cost-effective means to increase bicycling.

Links: The Oak Park Bicycle Plan | Chicagoland video interview

One major benefit the Chicago-area enjoys is having a well-organized, experienced, and active non-profit bicycle advocacy group — the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation.  We do not have anything equivalent in Metro Detroit.  While the League of Michigan Bicyclists is the statewide bicycle advocate organization, they play only a minor role in local advocacy efforts.

This is another change we need to consider as we push bicycle advocacy forward in Metro Detroit

People typically chose their transportation mode based on what’s faster, easier cheaper, and in some cases, greener.  The $4 gasoline prices certainly put a lot more folks on bicycles.

However, through the decades, mode choice has tilted toward motor vehicles for a number of reasons, including artificially cheap parking.

But there are ways to make biking more preferred.  Imagine if cyclists didn’t get red traffic lights?

Copenhagen and Amsterdam have something called the Green Wave.  They time the traffic signals on selected, highly-trafficked routes so that cyclists get all green lights heading into the city center in the morning.  At noon the green wave reverses, giving cyclists leaving the city center all greens.

The City of Odense in Denmark has even installed bollards with a moving green light to pace the cyclists so that they get the green at intersections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEOakvjuIEs