Bike plans / planning « Charlotte Area Bicycle Alliance (CABA)

In and around Charlotte

Cycle Track in Uptown - maybe. We hear that a consultant contract is being negotiated to study the feasibility of Charlotte’s first two-way “cycletrack” along 3d Street from the new Little Sugar Creek Greenway and CPCC thru Uptown to Irwin Creek Greenway.
”Bike Share” update - CABA has been informed that discussions are taking place for outside vendors and sponsors for a bike share program on or before the DNC convention in Sept. 2012 but nothing is firm as yet. More news upcoming. Stay tuned !
Bad News: Update on $10 million Federal “Tiger Grant” application for a major urban/suburban bike trail - Unfortunately, Charlotte did not make the cut. This could have been a big one . It could have leveraged another $20 million to build a trail connecting Little Sugar Creek NE to Tobey Creek at UNCC and from there all the way to Cabarus County as a major link in the unfolding Carolina Thread Trail system. There were over 800 applicants !
Green lanes for Charlotte ? – CDOT has received tentative approval from national certifiers to construct some “green lanes” as an experiment. This is big news, and if you have ridden on them elsewhere you may have experince the secure feeling it is to be on one. BTW: In other cities they are also blue and red. As long as they are bright who cares !? CLICK: GoGreen to see a video of Brooklyn, New York’s test lane.

Leave a Comment » | Advocacy - Local, Bike plans / planning, CDOT, Events - Local, Safety | Permalink
Posted by martinzimmerman8

Fact-finding tour of bike sharing systems

Message from Martin Zimmerman, CABA Exec. Director ~ ~

In mid-October I returned from a pretty remarkable 3 – week trip…..to Paris, Lyon and Strasbourg, three of the most successful “bike-sharing” cities in Europe. In Paris I interviewed Monseur Albert Asseraf, the JC Decaux company representative for the “Velib” bike-share system (20,000 bikes; usage increase of 20% over last year). I met with him and the JCD maintenance and repair guys on a barge along the Seine just a stone’s throw from the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Met with other insiders and community activists in Lyon and Strasbourg whose successful bike share systems predate Paris’. Pedaled the systems in all three cities to gauge the quantity and quality of the bike infrastructure and check out what segments of society are actually using bikes on an everyday basis. (Lyon is about as good as it gets). I took the subways, trams, trains and boats (and of course walked for miles in each city) to view how the transportation systems were integrated.

Bike sharing systems are simply well-managed fleets of high-quality bikes available for short-term affordable credit card rental at various locations within cities. There are now more than 375 systems in 33 countries. (For more on bike sharing - use the Search box on this page or CLICK: Bike Share.)

The results of this trip will be used by CABA as a public service to inform local decision-makers who are just beginning to consider its feasibility in the Queen City, possibly in concert with the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Leave a Comment » | Advocacy - Global, Advocacy - Local, Bike lanes + infrastructure, Bike plans / planning | Permalink
Posted by martinzimmerman8

UPDATED BIKE MAP AVAILABLE

September 17, 2011

In print – 5000 copies

Charlotte Cycling Guide – 2nd Edition – Check out your friendly neighborhood bike shop and you will find it. Slightly revised from the 2009 version. Includes 10 new marked routes with special signage, complete list of allied organizations, including CABA, safety tips, bike shop links etc. etc. High quality graphic design just like the previous map.

To download from CDOT website, CLICK: Map. Scroll down halfway, locate the link for Charlotte Cycling Guide, right click on it, select on the Short Cut Menu “Save As”, select where in your computer you want to save it to, and wait for the 45 MB file to download.

If you want a hard copy go to any local bike shop. Thanks to Paul (we don’t know his last name) who sent us this comment.

5 Comments | Advocacy - Local, Bike lanes + infrastructure, Bike plans / planning, Books in Print, CDOT | Permalink
Posted by martinzimmerman8

NY Times – GLOBAL NEWS UPDATE

August 14, 2011

Take a hike, gas-guzzlers !

Across Europe, irking drivers is urban policy - Sorry. A bit late posting this one. But it’s a must read !

From NYTimes, Environment page, June 26: ” While American cities are synchronizing green lights to improve traffic flow and offering apps to help drivers find parking, many European cities are doing the opposite: creating environments openly hostile to cars. The methods vary, but the mission is clear — to make car use expensive and just plain miserable enough to tilt drivers toward more environmentally friendly modes of transportation…” Thanks to Shannon Binns of local CABA affiliate, Sustain Charlotte, for sending us this article. CLICK: What’s your excuse ? to read the entire piece.

Leave a Comment » | Advocacy - Global, Bike lanes + infrastructure, Bike plans / planning | Permalink
Posted by martinzimmerman8

CABA TO SPEAK AT CITY COUNCIL

May 13, 2011

Tonight ! – Monday June 13

Bring your helmet

City council is about to vote on the 5-year Transportation Action Plan Update, which of course includes a bicycle component. It’s a combination of budget, projects and policies. Rumor has it that our developer friends at REBIC (Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition) don’t like it much. We do. They’re paid lobbyists. We’re volunteers. But we can make a difference. We’ve stopped REBIC before, and we can do it again.

Bring your helmet and show up at 7 pm. (Warm bodies count at City Council meetings!) If you wish to speak, contact the City Clerk: 336.2248 before 5 pm today.

To read the draft document and all of REBIC’s past comments CLICK: TAP.

Leave a Comment » | Advocacy - Local, Bike plans / planning, Events - Local, Meetings | Permalink
Posted by martinzimmerman8

NEWS FLASH! BIKE SHARING IN D.C.

May 4, 2011

CABA returns from fact-finding trip

Is Charlotte ready for bike share ?

Martin Zimmerman, CABA Exec. Director, has just returned from meetings with public officials and on-site inspections of the successful launch of Capital/Bike Share in our nation’s capital. 1100 bikes at 140 locations throughout the city and in neighboring Arlington, Virginia. The program began last September and now has 6500 annual members (a $75 annual fee). Martin has prepared a Power Point of his trip to show to Charlotte audiences.