I would rather fund bicycle trails.... (Austin, Cesar Chavez: construction, store, transport)

[Austin97]

trying to fund bike lanes as an alternative way to commute is ridiculous. less than 1% of the population of austin will ever commute by bike.

I bike a lot. Bike lanes and dedicated bike paths are perfectly fine being sold for recreational purposes only. They are just like parks that span the entire city. Sell them as that and I can buy into the logic.

right now we have shoal creek going north and south, north walnut creek trail going east west, south walnut creek trail going north/south and the hike and bike trail going east west. Connect them all and you have a massive loop around the entire city north of town lake for minimal dollars.

The violet crown trail will connect the south to this loop. Connecting to far west austin (620) and creating a safe loop in the hill country would be awesome as well.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by Austin97

trying to fund bike lanes as an alternative way to commute is ridiculous. less than 1% of the population of austin will ever commute by bike.

I bike a lot. Bike lanes and dedicated bike paths are perfectly fine being sold for recreational purposes only. They are just like parks that span the entire city. Sell them as that and I can buy into the logic.

right now we have shoal creek going north and south, north walnut creek trail going east west, south walnut creek trail going north/south and the hike and bike trail going east west. Connect them all and you have a massive loop around the entire city north of town lake for minimal dollars.

The violet crown trail will connect the south to this loop. Connecting to far west austin (620) and creating a safe loop in the hill country would be awesome as well.

Since austin _already_ has 1.6% bike commuters:

http://bikeleague.org/sites/default/...l_forweb_2.pdf

without a large number of fully separated paths, even higher numbers can be expected when people feel safe riding.

[LiveUrban]

Originally Posted by Austin97

trying to fund bike lanes as an alternative way to commute is ridiculous. less than 1% of the population of austin will ever commute by bike.

I bike a lot. Bike lanes and dedicated bike paths are perfectly fine being sold for recreational purposes only. They are just like parks that span the entire city. Sell them as that and I can buy into the logic.

right now we have shoal creek going north and south, north walnut creek trail going east west, south walnut creek trail going north/south and the hike and bike trail going east west. Connect them all and you have a massive loop around the entire city north of town lake for minimal dollars.

The violet crown trail will connect the south to this loop. Connecting to far west austin (620) and creating a safe loop in the hill country would be awesome as well.

Around 2% of workers in Austin already get to work by bicycle. https://austintexas.gov/article/stat...ng-2013-update

In neighborhoods like Hyde Park and North Loop (where many UT faculty/staff live), that number is around 13%.

Make it convenient, safe to ride and provide commuter showers like UT does, and you'll see more people biking.

Also, biking is so much more than commuting to work. You may have to drive to work because it's 15 miles away, but you can still bike a couple miles to the nearest park or a miles or so to a store to pick something up rather than drive. The goal of the city is to increase biking particularly for trips under 2 miles which happen to be the distance of the majority of trips made by car.

[LiveUrban]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

The Average high temperature in August in the Netherlands is 73 degrees. In Austin the Average high in August is 97 degrees. Huge difference.

The wind, rain, and cold - arguably worse conditions to bike in are prominent in the Dutch climate yet they still have such high bike use rates. It comes down to differences in culture and the infrastructure in place.

Also, it's comfortable in the morning hours during the summer when people bike to work. In the evenings it doesn't matter if you sweat a bit as you're likely headed home anyway. Electric-assist bicycles (e-bikes) help to lessen the impacts of heat - it takes much less effort to ride them than a traditional bicycle resulting in less sweat. They practically flatten hills and make riding against the wind a breeze (no pun intended)

I sweat more jumping into a car that's been sitting in the sun than I do biking a couple miles. Once you start riding everyday, you build up stamina and sweat less. Hills become less daunting as your legs strengthen.

[veloman777]

Originally Posted by je4xff

They recently completed "re-striping" of the bike lanes on Mesa Drive. There used to be 4 lanes of traffic with bicycle lanes in each direction. And after re-striping the bike lanes, we have a result of something straight out the movie Idiocracy. Now there are still 2 bike lanes, but only 2 lanes for cars. And when all the Anderson High kids are leaving and arriving, guess what? It becomes a complete cluster-f#$k with half the capacity for cars pouring in and out of the area. Way to go city geniuses - it went from bad to worse.

I've been to a few TxDOT meetings at Anderson High. I had to lock my bike to a bench because there were no bike racks. I wonder how many kids going there have to travel less than 2 miles.

Traffic at schools is always a problem when it starts/gets out - almost everywhere. Designing for the worst is going to cost something during the other times.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Novacek

Since austin _already_ has 1.6% bike commuters:

http://bikeleague.org/sites/default/...l_forweb_2.pdf

without a large number of fully separated paths, even higher numbers can be expected when people feel safe riding.

I knew you guys would pull those stats out

here is the actual survey question.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/acs-25.pdf

How did this person usually get to work LAST
WEEK? If this person usually used more than one
method of transportation during the trip, mark (X)
the box of the one used for most of the distance.

Of course this question translates to

Two percent of Austin residents now regularly commute to work on bicycles, according to an electronic newsletter published last week by the city of Austin Transportation Department.
That equates to about 8,200 people, according to the newsletter. The measurement is produced by the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which estimates the number of people who regularly use a bicycle to commute to work.
By 2020, the Austin City Council hopes for five percent of Austin residents to be bicycle commuters. The council had set 2015 as the 2 percent benchmark goal.

Further students that work are included in the totals. Even if they work minimal hours.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by LiveUrban

Around 2% of workers in Austin already get to work by bicycle. https://austintexas.gov/article/stat...ng-2013-update

In neighborhoods like Hyde Park and North Loop (where many UT faculty/staff live), that number is around 13%.

All of 1.4 miles from Hyde Park and 3 miles from North Loop for students and faculty that live close to the UT Campus! Truly impressive, NOT!

I applaud your enthusiasm for bicycling, but seriously in this climate, it will never be an acceptable alternative for the majority of the people who live in Austin unless we can decentralize the places where most people work, in order to shorten most of the travel times people are facing. Yes there is a huge cultural difference here and that is much harder to change.

But we can also blame our government agencies for creating the problem. But they also control the solution. They locate most of their offices in Central Austin. So we have major employment centers for State, County and City centers all located in one area. What we really need is the decentralization of employment centers. Move all of the government entities into decentralized areas dispersed around town and suddenly the commutes become shorter, bicycling or even walking to work becomes more practical. We also need to provide government incentives to businesses who want to relocate here to do so in decentralized locations, where they can attract employees to live away from the core of downtown.

There is no reason these days for all of those government or commercial offices and agencies to be all located in the same part of town.

[ppp38]

I don't doubt that more of the under 35 crowd would bike to work with dedicated bike lanes. Maybe the older people wouldn't, but I think more people in my age range would. I know I would.

[hillcountryheart]

Originally Posted by LiveUrban

The wind, rain, and cold - arguably worse conditions to bike in are prominent in the Dutch climate yet they still have such high bike use rates. It comes down to differences.

There are considerable biking paths (fietspads) that are separated from the road. Driving is extremely expensive and parking in the major cities is extortionate, reducing vehicular traffic. There is little light rail except between cities - there are streetcars in Amsterdam, but in the densest zone, and then there are the canals. Finally there's regular bus service in all major cities.

And then there's the fact that housing in the public sector, which is a considerable amount, is prioritized to minimize the distance between home and work. The maximum I know people to ride is < 3 miles - all perfectly flat so that motorized bikes are effective.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

All of 1.4 miles from Hyde Park and 3 miles from North Loop for students and faculty that live close to the UT Campus! Truly impressive, NOT!

I applaud your enthusiasm for bicycling, but seriously in this climate, it will never be an acceptable alternative for the majority of the people who live in Austin unless we can decentralize the places where most people work, in order to shorten most of the travel times people are facing. Yes there is a huge cultural difference here and that is much harder to change.

But we can also blame our government agencies for creating the problem. But they also control the solution. They locate most of their offices in Central Austin. So we have major employment centers for State, County and City centers all located in one area. What we really need is the decentralization of employment centers. Move all of the government entities into decentralized areas dispersed around town and suddenly the commutes become shorter, bicycling or even walking to work becomes more practical. We also need to provide government incentives to businesses who want to relocate here to do so in decentralized locations, where they can attract employees to live away from the core of downtown.

There is no reason these days for all of those government or commercial offices and agencies to be all located in the same part of town.

Actually I see that as making things even worse and encouraging more dispersal. I might commute from Cedar Park to DT Austin, but no way would I do Cedar Park to Kyle. And for some reason the idea of living and working in the same suburb has little appeal to a lot of people. And even if one worker in a household works works nearby what is the chance the other worker also does so? I guess there are couples where both work at Dell but I think that (and Round Rock) is one of the exceptions.

Also having these offices in DT Austin makes transit a viable option. Since most suburbs don't have real transit service (sorry CARTS) having only one transportation option is a compromise in my book. I would think biking and walking would be less practical since for most (with exceptions like San Marcos) suburban communities these modes are more of an afterthought. When you have huge swaths of parking lots, absent sidewalks, and traffic intersections without even a walk button the impression is "why are you even trying?"