Gas Prices and Bike Sales?

I'm getting the question quite often these days. Mostly from publications that want me to advertise with them. "Are recent gas prices increasing your sales?" At this point it's too early to tell. But, there have been quite a few recent news articles that would lead you to believe that this is true. I especially like this one as it make great sense to pair the Washington State Ferries and cycling.

Make room for more bikes

TAD SOOTER; Reporter
tsooter@bainbridgereview.com
Published: May 17, 2008 12:00:00 AM

On Monday, Washington State Ferry Captain Ty Anderson watched 130 bicyclists pedal onto the 5:30 p.m. sailing from Seattle to Bainbridge.

It was the most cyclists he had ever seen board a regular commuter run, but he was hardly surprised by the number. Anderson, himself an islander and bicycle commuter, has seen the number of cyclists grow steadily in his 25 years as a captain.

Read more...

I'll keep posting them as I see more. Thanks to the bikeologist for the link. You can check out some of his videos here.

Bike Share in Bellevue?

A couple of days ago I got a call from a developer in Bellevue. Turns out they have filed a "Request for Information" with the City of Bellevue concerning a Bike Share program. The first part of the process is setting up a meeting with concerned parties (by invitation apparently) and talk about what a Bike Share would look like in Bellevue, what what need to happen to make it work and to start to figure out what the logistics would be. Basically to get enough information to see if it will be possible.

The Bike Share idea is not new, it has been an evolution. Bike Share programs are regaining some momentum in the last few years with programs in Europe that have been described as very successful. Because of this the idea is once again catching on in the states with cites such as Portland, Washington DC, Chicago and now Bellevue.

The meeting was an interesting group of people with different interests. There were people from the City of Bellevue, from King County Parks, Cascade Bike Club, Bike Alliance as well as local developers. There are an estimated 3000 housing units going in to the 36 square block area that is downtown Bellevue in the next few years and everyone is a concerned about traffic in the area. Adding a bike share program is seen as a way to possibly reduce the amount of cars on the road in the downtown area.

As you can imagine there are a number of "roadblocks" to negotiate to make something like this happen. Downtown Bellevue is not a bike friendly place in any one's estimation and it will take it a while to get there. Nevertheless it is encouraging to see local developers and city government taking a pro-active approach to future traffic issues and even more encouraging to see that bikes are being seen as a part of the solution.

This is all in the very early stages but I'll keep posting about it as it goes.

What Have We Learned?

It seems that the "traffic apocalypse" is over. For now. We went through a couple of weeks of construction on north bound I-5 and from all reports... wait for it... traffic was better during this time of construction then it was before (with the exception of my trip to Issaquah during a Mariners game, but that doesn't really count. Traffic is always jacked during games). People rode the bus, got on the train and they rode their bikes. It was good to see. So, what have we learned?

Well, I learned that when there are less cars on the road a person can actually use I-5 as a way to go north to south in the afternoon. It was like it used to be when I was in college. In the early 90's if you wanted to go somewhere, you jumped on I-5 went to the the exit you needed and arrived at your destination in pretty good time. These days you stay off of I-5 at all costs on all days. Too many cars. But with less cars on the road it was like stepping into a time machine.

Hopefully the many people that found an alternate means of transportation also learned something. Hopefully, those people learned that buses aren't half bad, that the train is pretty cool and that biking to work really is the best way to get there. Hopefully they learned that the answer to all of our traffic problems is not more lanes but less cars. If not, well, we'll get another chance next year when they shut down the south bound lanes!

It's Working, It's Working!

The I-5 Construction and closure has been big news all over Seattle and it seems that people have taken it to heart.

On my morning commute from West Seattle to Greenlake I usually see 10 or so other bikers along first part of the route out of West Seattle. Today there was at least double that. I thought for a few moments that I was racing as I had to check my blind spot for other cyclists as I was riding.

From all accounts it sounds like people have heard the message about traffic and are finding alternative ways to get into Seattle from the South. Talking to another employee today who came into Seattle on Sound Transit, she said that they were experiencing double their usual ridership since the beginning of the week.

Yesterday I had to drive to work (needed to bring some demo wheels back from home) so my wife, who works in downtown Seattle, and I left about 30 minutes earlier to make sure to get her to work on time. We figured traffic would be awful and expected the worst. As we got on to the West Seattle Bridge we quickly noticed that traffic was better than it has been in weeks and we ended up getting her to work about 35 minutes early!

This is both encouraging and a little worrisome. Encouraging because so many people are finding alternative ways to get to work that during some of the worst traffic conditions possible the roads are actually very clear. But worrisome in that people may hear this and get back into their cars and start driving again.

What I'm hoping is that people will try out these alternatives, whether they be riding, carpooling, taking the bus, or the train, and find out that they are good choices and even enjoyable and stick to them throughout the year instead of just when there is the potential for really bad traffic. Just think, the roads could always be this clear if just half the people that have tried an alternative to driving this week kept on with their new routine.

What have your experiences been during this "Traffic Apocalypse"?