Daily News Spotlights Orange Line Bike Trail, Slow Pace for Bike Improvements

2_2_09_laist.jpgLitter and Debris Piled on the Side of Orange Line Bike Path

In 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 next
five years. They’ll install 80 lockers in the San Fernando Valley
before the summer. Great, but there is already a list of 200 cyclists
citywide who hope to snag a locker.

There is a wide-open window of opportunity right now to boost
the regular ranks of public transportation users, thanks to the state
of the economy. MTA board members should seize the moment (not the
half-decade) and accelerate the funding to get lockers installed
sooner. The next spike in gasoline prices is right around the corner,
and the MTA should be ready to accommodate new transit and bicycle
commuters 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

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