Litter and Debris Piled on the Side of Orange Line Bike PathIn both an editorial yesterday and an article today the Daily News took a strong position that local governments are not doing enough to support cyclists, especially those that use the Orange Line Bike Path.
Yesterday, an editorial called for increased funding for bike amenities along the Orange and other transit lines. The Daily News notes:
The MTA board budgeted $500,000 for the bike storage containers - $100,000 each year for the nextfive years. They'll install 80 lockers in the San Fernando Valleybefore the summer. Great, but there is already a list of 200 cyclistscitywide who hope to snag a locker.
There is a wide-open window of opportunity right now to boostthe regular ranks of public transportation users, thanks to the stateof the economy. MTA board members should seize the moment (not thehalf-decade) and accelerate the funding to get lockers installedsooner. The next spike in gasoline prices is right around the corner,and the MTA should be ready to accommodate new transit and bicyclecommuters when that happens.
Today, the Daily News followed up on that writing by slamming the state of the Orange Line bike path. Repeating some of the reporting that appeared last week on LAist. In short, while the physical state of the path is still great, it has also become a home for vagrants, or as LAist put it, "Orange Line Bike Path Turning into Mini Skid Row."
As planners continue to think about construction of a bike path to run parallel to the Expo Line, hopefully they'll take into account some of the problems going on in the Valley.
Photo: LAist
