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Bike the City Council Early January updates

Two City Council good bills to get involved on this January and a third terrible bill to keep an eye on for February.

Bill 59 – Parklets & Bike Corrals

Bill 59 CD 1 would allow bike corrals and parklets (tiny parks) to be installed in on-street parking spaces. Bike corrals are important for providing parking for lots of bikes in high demand areas (like in Downtown or anywhere you see a rack designed for 4 bikes that somehow has 9). Bike corrals are giving people a place to park their bikes in cities across the US. This bill is essential to bringing them to Oahu.

Parklets repurpose a parking space as a tiny park. In areas most in need, they create a place to sit down, enjoy the street, and re-think how we use our greatest public asset – our road right-of-ways.

Bill 59 CD1 is scheduled before the Transportation Committee Thursday 1/14/16 1:00pm. This is the bill’s 4th of 5 hearings to becoming law.

 

Bill 82 – Bikeway Planning & Implementation

Bill 82 would require the City to develop a 5-year bikeway implementation plan and to conduct two public meetings for major bikeway projects (for reference 11 have occurred for King St). The bill was introduced by Councilmember Ozawa as a replacement for Bill 68 and represents a giant improvement. The bill largely mirrors what Seattle does. The 5-year plan and two public meetings will help make our bikeway planning and implementation more inclusive, transparent, and accountable in a way that should help get us the bikeway network we so need.

HBL submitted supporting testimony for Bill 82’s first reading in December with request for a couple minor changes (read it here). We intend to support the bill moving forward with the minor amendments.

Bill 82 is scheduled before the Transportation Committee Thursday 1/14/16 1:00pm. This is the bill’s 2nd of 5 hearings to becoming law.

 

Bill 84 – BAD bill to watch for February

Bill 84 is BAD. It would essentially REPEAL the fundamental part of our landmark Complete Streets law – that every project should take every opportunity to make a street safer for walking, biking, and driving.

In 2012, the City Council unanimously passed Bill 26 making it policy of the City to strive to make all of streets safe walking, biking, and driving. At the core of the Complete Streets policy was that “every transportation facility or project, whether new construction, reconstruction, or maintenance, provides the opportunity to implement complete streets policy and principles”. This is crucial to making our roads safe for all users in timely and cost efficient manner. Bill 84 would remove this fundamental Complete Streets approach for many of our roads by saying that we will NOT consider Complete Streets on any project unless the Complete Streets improvement is expressly noted in the budget.

Bill passed first reading in December and has been referred to the Committee on Budget. It is not currently scheduled for a hearing. So no testimony is current being accepted. It may be scheduled as early as February 10. We’ll have an update when more information is available.

 

Get Involved

Submitting written testimony is simple and makes a big difference in showing councilmembers support/opposition. Note that a bill must have scheduled hearing to testify on it. 

  1. Go to www.honolulu.gov/ccl-testimony-form.html?view=form
  2. Enter:
    1. Personal info
    2. Date – hearing date
    3. Council/PH Committee – this is included in hearing agenda
    4. Agenda Item -this is included in hearing agenda, put the bill number is brackets
    5. Your position on the matter – support, oppose, or comments
    6. Representing – self, unless your speaking on behalf of organization
    7. Written testimony – speak in your own words, those are the most powerful
  3. Submit!

Call your councilmember. Written word is great, but a call to your councilmember personalizes it. Click here for district map and phone numbers.

Join the Bike Advocacy Team. This will ensure you receives email on how you can be involved in important bicycle issues. Click here to join. 

 

Action Alert – come out 1/13 to support our bikeway network

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Bikeway Meeting 1/13 6pm

at Blaisdell Center, Hawaii Suites

Come out to show your support!

The City is holding a public meeting on the planned protected bike lanes on South Street and Halekauwila Street, and evaluation of King Street.

The City plans to construct the South Street protected bike lane in coming the months, but is looking for more feedback.This will be our second protected bike lane and is a crucial part of the City’s work to build the Minimum Grid of protected bikeways we need to make cycling truly accessible to all.  The bikeway has faced opposition from a single, but very vocal landowner. So it’s crucial that we have many supportive voices in the room!  This is the second public meeting on South Street – 200 supporters came out to first! Let’s bring out even more this time!

The meeting will also cover a 2-way protected bike lane on Halekauwila Street between Richards Street and Ward Avenue. The project will be constructed with the rail work.

Last but not least, the meeting will include opportunity for comments on the King Street protected bike lane. Let’s not forget that this beloved bikeway, which has almost doubled cycling in one short year, is a two-year pilot project. King Street was a giant leap forward in making our community more bicycle friendly. Let’s make sure it’s permanent! 

RSVP on Facebook or online.

 

P.s. Don’t forget to join our King St PBL volunteer clean-up before the meeting.

News: Hawaii Bicycling League hosts ‘pop-up’ giveaway event to increase night riding safety

From KHON2 12/23/15 –

By Web Staff

http://khon2.com/2015/12/23/hawaii-bicycling-leagues-hosts-pop-up-giveaway-event-to-increase-night-riding-safety/

[ViewtLight Up the Night KHON2 coverage, December 23, 2015

[View the KHON video here]

The Hawaii Bicycling League held a “pop up” event near the King Street Protected Bike Lane Wednesday giving away free lights to increase ride safety at night.

The giveaway was part of the organization’s “Light Up The Night” safety campaign for December. Their goal is to increase the number of cyclists that use lights to help prevent potentially deadly collisions.

Staff and volunteers gave away lights as well as reflective bands to riders who already have them.

“It’s really important for cyclists to be using lights at night. It makes them visible, regardless the fact that all the places that have street lights, all the ambient light around. It doesn’t make you necessarily stand out,” said Hawaii Bicycling League communications director Daniel Alexander.

The organization also advises that riders should get both rear and frontal lights to allow both pedestrians and motorists see you. 

News: Cyclists Urged to Use Lights at Night

From Star-Advertiser 12/12/15 –

By Marcel HonorĂŠ and Dana Williams

www.staradvertiser.com/hawaii-news/cyclists-urged-to-use-lights-at-night

BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM Malia Harunaga of the Hawaii Bicycling League installed a red taillight on Stephanie Reyes’ bike after installing a headlight on the handlebar. Kristen Jamieson provided lighting. Jamieson also had lights installed on her bike.
BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Malia Harunaga of the Hawaii Bicycling League installed a red taillight on Stephanie Reyes’ bike after installing a headlight on the handlebar. Kristen Jamieson provided lighting. Jamieson also had lights installed on her bike.

Cyclists riding around Oahu without lights at night — making them almost invisible to passing cars and pedestrians — are enough of a problem that a bike-advocacy group has launched a campaign to distribute lights to delinquent riders.

“It really is a big safety issue, and it’s a common complaint we hear when we go out in the community from those who don’t bicycle,” said Daniel Alexander, advocacy, planning and communication director for the Kaimuki-based Hawaii Bicycling League.

The nonprofit group is responding in part to data that back those concerns. Several years ago a University of Hawaii-led count near the school’s Manoa campus conducted over two nights found that fewer than half of the cyclists there used a light as required by law. Only 134 of 327 cyclists, representing 41 percent, had the proper light, according to Alexander.

State law requires that cyclists use a front light that’s visible for at least 500 feet ahead of them and a rear reflector when riding at night. HBL recommends riders use a rear light as well, to be even more visible to passing cars.

This past week HBL reported distributing 75 free pairs of lights over three nights at several sites in town and in Kailua. Its members could have provided more if they had more workers on-site, Alexander said.

The group called using lights the biggest thing that someone cycling at night could do to prevent a collision.

Just under half of all fatal bicycle accidents in the United States from 2010-2014 occurred at night, according to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser analysis of federal traffic crash data. Of the 1,509 bicycle riders killed at night during the five-year period, only 63 — representing 4 percent — were using lights.

In Hawaii the federal data show that 13 cyclists were killed in traffic crashes from 2010-2014. Of those, three were killed at night and none were using lights. In September 2014 a 21-year-old woman died after a crash in Kailua. In December 2010 an 18-year-old man was killed while riding a bike in Mili- lani; and in September 2010 a 49-year-old man was killed in Honolulu.

HBL’s campaign to better protect nighttime riders comes ahead of a year in which Oahu likely will see a boost in the number of cyclists getting around town.

The island’s first major bike share program is poised to launch this summer, making 2,000 bikes available for rent in town, 24 hours a day. (Those bikes will feature front and rear lights that activate upon pedaling, Bikeshare Hawaii spokeswoman Jennifer Pang said.)

City transportation officials, meanwhile, aim to link new bike lanes to the King Street Cycle Track to help boost ridership and provide safer route options in a city that’s saturated with cars.

Cyclists represented just 1 percent of all commuters on Oahu in 2014, and it’s hovered around that percentage going back to 2006, the latest U.S. Census numbers show.

“I think next year is when we start connecting the pieces,” city Department of Transportation Services Director Mike Formby said, referring to new bike lanes planned for South and McCully streets. “It should make a difference.”

In its first year, however, the King Street protected lane has drawn heaps of complaints from drivers — including those who say its design doesn’t make cyclists as visible as they should be.

Nonetheless, city officials say the number of cyclists riding on King Street’s busy sidewalks has plummeted since the Cycle Track’s launch, helping to make conditions there safer than before, when more cyclists were weaving around pedestrians and braving the street’s shoulder lanes alongside cars.

Alexander said that HBL would have distributed lights regardless of the new lanes and the increase of bikes to come. It’s part of the 41-year-old group’s ongoing mission to promote bike safety, he said.

This past Monday through Wednesday, after the sun had set, HBL members flagged down all the passing nonilluminated cyclists they could at several intersections: at Kainalu Drive and Kuulei Road in Kailua, at Dole Street and East-West Road in Manoa, and at King and Keeaumoku streets along the King Street Cycle Track. They fastened front and rear lights to the bikes after those cyclists took a brief safety quiz and signed a nonbinding agreement to use the lights.

The group started with 400 pairs of lights, funded through a broad $80,000 grant from the city to conduct bicycle safety workshops and a bike program for seniors, Alexander said.

City transportation officials had aimed to install a protected bike lane at South Street by the end of this year. Amid some push-back from local businesses, they’ve opted to redesign it so that it doesn’t take away any road capacity from cars on South Street, according to Formby. Three major condominium developments going up on the street also prompted the redesign, he said. It’s now slated to be installed in the first quarter of next year at earliest.

The striped lane along McCully Street will be similar to the designated lane that runs along Waialae Avenue in Kaimuki, Formby said. The McCully and South street lanes will each connect to the King Street Cycle Track to help create a grid for cyclists to better maneuver around town, he added.

“Systems don’t really show results until you start connecting the pieces,” Formby said. “You really need to start putting in a net grid.”

HBL is considering distributing more of its lights through December, Alexander said. “Not being visible at night has pretty major consequences for your safety,” he added.

 

needalight needalight2

Mānoa Christmas Parade – Dec. 12, 2015

December 12, 2015 – Update!

Manoa Christmas Parade 2015 CollageWe had a wonderful time in the Mānoa Christmas Parade, many thanks to the fantastic people who came out to ride their beautifully decorated bikes (and trikes!) this past Saturday as we cruised around Mānoa. Mahalo as well to the Mānoa Lions Club who organized the parade, we are so happy HBL could participate, and are looking forward to next year! We had Christmas elves, a reindeer, a decked out Christmas tree in a bike trailer, and many more merry riders to join us. You can take a look at our Facebook page for more pictures, or share photos you took of the parade by using the uploader below!

Please select a valid form

Pictures shared by Paul (click for higher resolution): Manoa Christmas Parade 2015 pictures from Paul V

Pictures (and awesome bike lights!) shared by Linda (click for higher resolution):

Manoa Christmas Parade 2015

Pictures shared by Yovo (click for higher resolution):

Manoa Christmas Parade 2015 pictures

4pics 6pics3pics


 

December 2, 2015

 

Manoa Christmas Parade 2015

Come join us in the 2015 Mānoa Christmas Parade on December 12th (Saturday)! We’ll be decking out our bicycles with fun decorations and cheer as we cruise along in the parade that begins at Noelani Elementary School (in Mānoa). The event is expected to have 1,100 marchers, 12 vehicles, & 5 bands. Other participants including state and local government VIP’s, local businesses, community organizations, and youth clubs, have made the Mānoa Christmas Parade a festive and colorful holiday season event. It starts at 5pm but we will meet at 4pm at the Noelani School for bicycle decoration and staging. Bring your best holiday attire! Please email Malia at Malia@HBL.org or sign-up HERE to be part of the festivities!

We will bring some garlands and things to dress up our rides, but if you have some festive accessories to deck out your bike then please feel free to bring them (lights?!)! You can wear whatever you feel comfortable cruising along in (the more holiday spirit the better!), just make sure it doesn’t interfere with you riding safely.

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season and hope to see you on the 12th!

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3442 Waialae Avenue, Suite 1
Honolulu, Hawaii 96816
Telephone: 808-735-5756
bicycle@hbl.org

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To enable more people to ride bicycles for health, recreation, and transportation through advocacy, education, and events.

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