Bicycling

Southern California's largest bike-share system, Metro Bike Share, debuts next week!

On bus-only lane signage in Los Angeles, there is a little two-word section at the bottom that reads, "BIKES OK."

Just when the Metro board was on the verge of adopting a policy to incorporate first/last mile, including bike and walk, connections into "the planning, design, and construction of all [Metro] transit projects," Metro staff postponed including first/last mile connections to the second phase of Purple Line subway expansion.

One thing great about Bike To Work Day is that some cities open bike facilities just in time to lure new folks to try bike-commuting. This year, the city of Covina has done just that. The Covina BikeHub opens for business this Thursday. The new hub is a secure bike-parking facility at the Covina Metrolink Station at 600 North Citrus Avenue. One-year membership is free for riders who sign up in person this month.

One day after Long Beach had their Bike Fest, it was Los Angeles' turn. Missing the backing of an organization similar to Downtown Long Beach, the Bicycle Culture Institute, led by powerhouse Nona Varnado, mustered the volunteers and resources to put on a bicycle-themed party worthy of Los Angeles' legendary bike culture. The overcast skies and scheduling quirk may have kept the crowd in the hundreds instead of thousands, but the crowd of cyclists had plenty to do, with events varying from creating yarn art on bike spokes to BMX demonstrations.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar is excited about the future of bicycling in downtown Los Angeles. At a press event yesterday, Huizar took a test spin on one of Metro's bike-share bikes. SBLA Streetsie-winner Huizar sees bike-share as one key feature of "a snowball effect" virtuous cycle for central Los Angeles: more bikes on the street will trigger more safety-in-numbers, which will prompt more city investment in bikeways, which will lead to even more bicycling.

Have you ever wondered what will happen to you when you are too old to bicycle on your own? There is an organization called Cycling Without Age that pushes for "the right to wind in your hair" for people of all ages. Cycling Without Age links volunteers with elders for trips on board "trishaws" - essentially a rear-steering tandem tricycle.

The Los Angeles Bicycle Culture Institute is seeking your help, through a Kickstarter campaign, to bring back the popular Los Angeles Bicycle Fest this Mother's Day, on Sunday, May 8. The campaign just crossed the $1,000 line, but needs another $2,500 to make its goal.

At a kick-off event this morning, the city of Long Beach celebrated a soft launch of its new bike-share system, called Long Beach Bike Share. There are currently two stations in operation, with a dozen bikes. The system will fully publicly open at the Saturday March 19 Beach Streets open streets event.