While biking on Venice blvd on Saturday night, the mayor was forced to slam on his bike brakes after a taxicab suddenly pulled in front of him, causing him to fall and break his elbow. Unfortunately, both for this story and for the prospect of motorists being penalized for crimes against cyclists, the taxicab got away without anyone getting the license plate, in spite of the Mayor’s security detail being present.

Maybe he needs to hire a better security team?

In any case, perhaps this event sheds more light on the issue of bike safety on the mean streets of LA. The Mayor himself, broken elbow and all, wrote on Huffington Post two days later, “Unfortunately most of our City was built with cars in mind. It’s time to recognize that bicycles also belong on L.A.’s streets.” The Mayor goes on to reference the Measure R funds, and talks about plans to build 1,663 miles of bikeways.

Hopefully news of the crash won’t deter would be cyclists from riding more frequently or beginning to ride, especially as a means of commuting. On the other hand, hopefully motorists will proceed with more caution when cyclists are present.

So, for those of you who don’t know what a sharrow is, (okay I’ll admit I didn’t know exactly what one was, but basically had a pretty good idea) they are paintings on the road indicating that cyclists will be riding on that road. They are really there for drivers, so they know they must SHARE the road with cyclists.

Anyhow, there have been sharrows painted on Westholme, and I’ve heard reports of other sharrows being painted around the city. The main premise seems to be that if you ride on the sharrows you will not be “doored”, as the sharrows are required to be painted 11 feet from the curb (LADOT Pilot Program paints them 12 feet from the curb)

Anyway, check out the LADOT Blog post, its quite informative.

Transportation's lobby will be closed all day Friday

UCLA Transportation’s front lobby will be closed on Friday for a systems upgrade. Speaking for the department, I’m sorry for the inconvenience this may present! You may still e-mail us at transportation at ts.ucla.edu. Alternatively, if your query is more general, you may tweet @uclacommute OR post on our FB wall (facebook.com/uclatransportation.)

And our website, www.transportation.ucla.edu, is available to you 24-hours a day.

Measure R was passed in Nov 2008, and increased the Los Angeles County sales tax by 1/2 a cent, from 8.25% to 8.75%. It’s supposed to generate close to 40 billion over the next 30 years that goes to transit and roadway projects.

However, some of that money is earmarked for Bike/Ped projects. Check out the LACBC blog for more details.

Anyone of any westside bike projects in the works?

The Metro Blue Line opened today twenty years ago, back in 1990.

For a blast from the past, check out this Metro Blue Line promotional video… starring none other than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yes, I thought it was a joke too but then I clicked “play” and realized this was real.

It’s also “I Love Transit” week at Metro. Today’s “I Love Transit” poll asked us to vote on our favorite rail line and explain why. Five Lines! So hard to choose!

I decided I would go with the Metro Red Line. It’s the line with the station near my old South-of-Melrose-Hill neighborhood (Beverly/Vermont) and it’s also the line that provides speedy access through the Cahuenga Pass to my family and friends who live in the Valley.

Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition published a post on its blog breaking down the steps on filing a police report for cyclists. The steps are deriven by new procedures written (but not yet enacted) by the LAPD. The LACBC blog features a large flow chart with specific instructions on when a police report should be filed and under what circumstances. It’s an interesting read and I encourage everyone to check it out.

For those of you that bike to UCLA from areas west of the 405, please be advised that the bike path that runs along the west side of the 405 and connects Constitution Avenue (VA) to Waterford Street/Church Lane (Brentwood Glen) will temporarily be closed beginning this Monday (July 12th).

The closure is necessary because of construction activities related to the 405 Sepulveda Pass Widening Project. UCLA Transportation is working with Metro to ensure that the path reopens as soon as possible, but the path will likely be closed for several months. In the meantime, please use an alternate route.

While Go511.com is well-designed and represents a herculean effort to be SoCal’s  comprehensive commuter information site, a closer look under the hood of the site reveals some interesting observations.

Front page of Go511.com

The first is Go511’s “NexTrip” feature. Users can use NexTrip to look up scheduled arrival times for a particular transit route and stop for any transit agency in Southern California. This feature is not to be confused with NextBus, the technology used by many agencies in Southern California to inform customers of the arrival of the next bus in real time.

Screenshot of NexTrip feature for Go511. Users can use pull-down menu to specify transit agency, route, stop, and direction to find out precisely when the next bus is arriving (per the published schedule)

The second was the fact that Go511.org refers users seeking driving directions to Mapquest even though its traffic map was powered by Google. While I heard that Mapquest recently underwent a facelift, I am a loyal user of Google Maps and dependent on its many features.

Interestingly, Go511 directs customers to Mapquest for driving directions (literally, with a link).

Furthermore, I found the transit trip planner built into the site to be clunky and unreliable, similar to the Metro Trip Planner, making me wonder if they were both the same. Granted, this was based off one test itinerary (perhaps you, our reader, will have better luck). The itinerary: last week, I had a friend travel from Union Station to Sepulveda & Manchester in Westchester during the evening rush hour. Google Transit told me to suggest a commuter bus, Line 439. The Go511 transit trip planner told me to use the Local 42, a bus line that would’ve taken 20 minutes longer and exclude the use of the freeway.

Finally, the launch of the website also accompanies the launch of a new automated 511 toll-free phone service. I would offer my review, except I could not get it to work on either my cell phone or my office line. If you need directions on the fly and are sans web-based smartphone, might I suggest 1(800) COMMUTE? Metro says it will continue to operate 800-COMMUTE, which is staffed weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on weekends from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

As Go511 is in beta, I look forward to future versions of the site and hope to see improvements in the near future.

Lonely wait at bus stop/Via Flickr user net_efekt (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wheatfields)

Are any women readers of this blog night-time transit riders? If you are, I could really use your help in providing advice to people seeking to ride transit at night alone.

I’ve been meaning to write on this topic for a long time because it turns out that riding transit at night is complicated. The fear or concern about safely riding public transit at night and intimidates and discourages riders, many of them women.

For me, there are four factors I consider when deciding whether to use transit for late-night travel:

1. Safety. UCLA professor Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris recently published a study which found that women were much more scared simply waiting at the bus stop or the transit station than on a transit vehicle itself. I ask myself whether I would feel safe walking to/from or waiting for transit. And if the answer is no, I consider another mode.
2. Bus frequency. How long might I have to wait for a bus? On many lines in LA, service is sparse after the evening rush hour.
3. Convenience. After dark, I might only be willing to ride one bus; if I have to make a transfer, I’m more likely to try another mode, such as biking, carpooling, or driving alone.
4. The built environment. Is the area designed at a pedestrian scale, with accouterments to enhance safety such as good lighting? Or does is it a busy vehicular thoroughfare (where cars rule?) This will be different for each person. For me, the built environment and urban design of the area I am traveling through influences my mode choice, particularly at night when I’m less willing to walk at night through areas without amenities such as good lighting and sidewalks.

Here’s a starting point for dishing out advice for riding transit at night. Please feel free to offer advice (or rebut my ideas) in the comments.

1. Do your homework and complete your trip planning before you get to your stop. Know when and where to catch your bus.
2. Have a fully-charged cell phone in case of emergencies.
3. Take advantage of technology. For example, Metro operates www.rapidbus.net, which is a mobile phone-ready site that provides NextBus bus arrival time data for Metro Rapid buses. My boyfriend reviewed www.rapidbus.net on the LA Subway Blog last year. (Note: It isn’t always reliable. But sometimes, some information is better than no information.)
   

   Screenshot of Rapid on the Cell site.

   There are also third-party apps which make schedule and route information easily accessible via iPhone, Android, or Blackberry. In a story about third party apps, Fred Camino of The Source recently recommended the Unibus, and iTrans apps for the iPhone.

4. Have a back-up plan. When I’m alone, I try to carry enough cash for a cab.
5. Optional: You might consider having someone meet you at the bus stop to walk, sharing a taxi or drive you home. Personally, I think the person who comes to greet you should already be there to pick you up, but that’s just my opinion. (Read my account.)

Bike in front of UCLA entrance. Flickr/-Andrew-

Starting next month through the end of 2010, the City of West Hollywood will be sponsoring a series of FREE bicycle education workshops called Confident City Cycling 1 & 2 (CC1 and CC2).

The workshops will be taught by Ron Durgin, a League of American Cyclists-certified instructor. CC1 & 2 are five hours each and taught on different weekends.

At Bikeside Speaks last month, Alex Thompson highly recommended Ron’s class, so I signed up for the classes meeting July 10th and July 17th. I figure that there is a lot that I could learn:

Description: CCC1 is a classroom-only presentation, bikes are not required. Instruction includes the principles of bike handling and gearing, hazard avoidance, proper lane positioning when sharing the road with motorized traffic, and logistical information for would-be bike commuters including simple bike adjustments and repairs.

This class is a pre-requisite for CCC2, which is held the following Saturday. CCC2 is a class for riders with their own bikes. Participants learn hands-on techniques for adjustment and repair of common problems, followed by parking lot drills for better bike handling and hazard avoidance. The principles of lane placement and riding with motorized traffic will be reviewed and then practiced on neighborhood streets in a managed group ride.

WeHo is sponsoring a set of Ron’s workshops each month through the end of 2010, so check out the PDF below to see if there is a date that works for you.

Information about Ron Durgin's Confident City Cycling classes