Bike transportation in Downtown?

[Rynjny]

http://socialbicycles.com/

anyone think this idea will work in downtown?

[CityLife]

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php?topic=14386.0

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-jan-the-countrys-largest-bike-sharing-systems

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-jan-bike-sharing-in-urban-jacksonville

[dougskiles]

Before we have bike share, we need some infrastructure to support it.  It can be as simple as what is shown in the video:

[thelakelander]

It doesn't take as long as we tend to believe in Jacksonville either.  Lakeland implemented these changes recently after an accident this past March:

The alterations may slow traffic flow a bit, city officials say, but they will make Lakeland more appealing to the young, educated demographic known as the creative class.

The changes also may help Lakeland in its bid to receive a Bicycle Friendly Community designation from the nonprofit League of American Bicyclists.

The plans arose from a task force appointed by the Lakeland City Commission in the aftermath of a March 1 accident involving three bicyclists and a driver at an entrance to the Lakeland Yacht & Country Club on the lake's south side.

Black said he and other cyclists proposed some changes that he knew the city wasn't likely to accept: Turning Lake Hollingsworth Drive into a one-way, clockwise road, and treating the stretch near the club as if it were a school zone, with a maximum speed of 15 mph or 20 mph.

The city, though, has embraced other suggestions. Lilyquist shared plans to create 2-foot buffer zones between the vehicle lanes and a bike lane. The buffers will consist of two 8-inch-wide white stripes with 8 inches of unpainted surface between them.

The city is considering adding a series of round, 3/8-inch-high bumps on the stripe nearest the vehicle lane to alert drivers who begin straying into the bike lane.

The public works department also plans to paint the bike lane surface green in sections of high concern, including "pinch points" near Fairhaven Drive and near Beacon Road, Lilyquist said.

Green bicycle boxes eventually will be painted at all the streets with stop signs and traffic lights.

The city admitted these multimodal improvements will slow vehicular traffic down (that's a bad word in Jax still...)

The result of all of this may mean that vehicle traffic doesn't move as fast around Lake Hollingsworth, said Jim Studiale, city planning director.  "It's taking (Lake) Hollingsworth and saying, ‘If you want to speed, go on Florida Avenue, go on Bartow Highway, go on another route,'" Studiale said. "But Hollingsworth, because it's this jewel of a recreational resource, we need to respect it more and make it more of a complete road and deal with safety and pedestrians, which may mean you can't go around the lake in a car in 2½ minutes. Maybe it's going to take you five minutes."

The cost of the planned modifications â€" less than $75,000 â€" would come from the city's transportation fund, whose primary revenue source is gasoline taxes, Lilyquist said.

full article: http://www.theledger.com/article/20120530/NEWS/120539914?p=4&tc=pg

[dougskiles]

It doesn't take as long as we tend to believe in Jacksonville either.

The physical work can be done over a weekend (and mostly at night).  What takes a while are all the meetings and studies needed to convince people that it should happen.

[Seraphs]

Great system.  I think it could work here.

[tufsu1]

some of us are working on getting Intown Jax a bikeshare system as well as a greenlane (colored bike lanes) system...we've met with several council members and hope to meet with Public Works soon

[Adam W]

some of us are working on getting Intown Jax a bikeshare system as well as a greenlane (colored bike lanes) system...we've met with several council members and hope to meet with Public Works soon

That's great news. I think that a coloured lane system of some sort (or at least dedicated bike lanes) is an absolute necessity if you're going to have a bikeshare scheme. You can't put bikes out for the general public without taking steps to ensure they won't get seriously injured or killed.

Riverside/Avondale/Downtown/San Marco seem like an ideal starting place for bikeshare and bike lanes. I can see it being really popular.

[urbanlibertarian]

For those of us who are old enough to have lived through Jim Crow laws, the term "colored bike lanes" is a little disturbing.   

[justinthered]

It doesn't take as long as we tend to believe in Jacksonville either.  Lakeland implemented these changes recently after an accident this past March:

The alterations may slow traffic flow a bit, city officials say, but they will make Lakeland more appealing to the young, educated demographic known as the creative class.

The changes also may help Lakeland in its bid to receive a Bicycle Friendly Community designation from the nonprofit League of American Bicyclists.

The plans arose from a task force appointed by the Lakeland City Commission in the aftermath of a March 1 accident involving three bicyclists and a driver at an entrance to the Lakeland Yacht & Country Club on the lake's south side.

Black said he and other cyclists proposed some changes that he knew the city wasn't likely to accept: Turning Lake Hollingsworth Drive into a one-way, clockwise road, and treating the stretch near the club as if it were a school zone, with a maximum speed of 15 mph or 20 mph.

The city, though, has embraced other suggestions. Lilyquist shared plans to create 2-foot buffer zones between the vehicle lanes and a bike lane. The buffers will consist of two 8-inch-wide white stripes with 8 inches of unpainted surface between them.

The city is considering adding a series of round, 3/8-inch-high bumps on the stripe nearest the vehicle lane to alert drivers who begin straying into the bike lane.

The public works department also plans to paint the bike lane surface green in sections of high concern, including "pinch points" near Fairhaven Drive and near Beacon Road, Lilyquist said.

Green bicycle boxes eventually will be painted at all the streets with stop signs and traffic lights.

The city admitted these multimodal improvements will slow vehicular traffic down (that's a bad word in Jax still...)

The result of all of this may mean that vehicle traffic doesn't move as fast around Lake Hollingsworth, said Jim Studiale, city planning director.  "It's taking (Lake) Hollingsworth and saying, ‘If you want to speed, go on Florida Avenue, go on Bartow Highway, go on another route,'" Studiale said. "But Hollingsworth, because it's this jewel of a recreational resource, we need to respect it more and make it more of a complete road and deal with safety and pedestrians, which may mean you can't go around the lake in a car in 2½ minutes. Maybe it's going to take you five minutes."

The cost of the planned modifications â€" less than $75,000 â€" would come from the city's transportation fund, whose primary revenue source is gasoline taxes, Lilyquist said.

full article: http://www.theledger.com/article/20120530/NEWS/120539914?p=4&tc=pg

That makes a lot of sense for Lake Hollingsworth since Florida Southern is right there and Southeastern is right down the road. Does downtown Jax have as big of a demand for bike lanes?

[dougskiles]

Does downtown Jax have as big of a demand for bike lanes?

Bike lanes are no different than any other form of transportation infrastructure, in that if they are designed properly and connect two or more areas of activity, they will be used.  The more protected the bike lanes are from car traffic, the more they will get used - particularly by women and children.

Tha fallacy in the thinking of some of our current leaders is that we only build the system when the demand has been demonstrated.  I assure you, that logic is NOT what leads to the construction of highways.  First and foremost they are constructed as a generator of economic development.  Transit and bike infrastructure will also lead to economic development - of a more sustainable nature.

[Bill Hoff]

Fyi - The Jacksonville Bicycle Coalition is having one of their regular, open brain storm meetings today: Three Layers Ciffee House @  3pm.

It would be a good way to introduce & discuss the topic to stakeholders and activists in the bicycle community.

I'll be there.

[peestandingup]

Does downtown Jax have as big of a demand for bike lanes?

Bike lanes are no different than any other form of transportation infrastructure, in that if they are designed properly and connect two or more areas of activity, they will be used.  The more protected the bike lanes are from car traffic, the more they will get used - particularly by women and children.

This isn't happening here at all though. The city clearly has a basic misunderstanding on what makes a safe & effective bike network. Painting a white line down a street or highway & calling that a "bike network" actually does more harm than good IMO. For one, because it's incredibly dangerous to mix pedestrians/bikes with automobiles. I don't care what anyone says, "open road" cyclists or anyone else. It's just a bad idea. And two, because they don't get used (because of those very dangers & the fact that the network is usually half assed/incomplete that you have to get off it anyway).

Case in point: The sharrows on Riverside Ave. No one uses it, including myself. ESPECIALLY if I have my kid along for a ride in her trailer. There's no way in hell I'd ride her on the streets in this town. So guess what? We stick to the sidewalks, as does most everyone else we see. So in my view, if a so called "bike network" or lane doesn't pass the kid test, it's probably shit. Now, if you want to put up a true divider, like a guard rail, a small raised wall or something, then we can talk. But of course that's not going to happen. At least not here. You'd never hear the end of it from the blowhards.

The only safe place to ride here is the Riverwalk. But that's more for recreation use, not necessarily a "network". It should be though. That thing should actually wrap around the entire urban core. And without a safe network, I'm not sure how successful any bike sharing service would be. It would be like sending soldiers out to battle armed with sticks, when everyone else has bazookas & machine guns.

[tufsu1]

For those of us who are old enough to have lived through Jim Crow laws, the term "colored bike lanes" is a little disturbing.   

which is why the term used is greenlanes

s to the comment above from psu....I 100% disagree....studies all over have shown that ridership goes up when bicycle infrastructure (including bike lanes and sharrows) are installed.....and here in Jax, I've seen a significant increase in bike usage in the urban core area over the past few years.

[danem]

I loved biking in San Francisco, particularly by the piers. You not only had room (not one of those awful skinny excuses for bike lanes that dip sideways into the storm drain), but you had a sense that everyone driving was watching for you! And that's with lots of big hills around, too.

Car traffic in downtowns needs to slow down. The idea in a downtown is you find a single place to park and you keep your car in one place while you walk or whatever to where you want to go. Then slow traffic suddenly doesn't matter quite so much. Different paradigm for suburbia where you go to Target, finish there, then get in your car to drive across the enormous parking lot to the Ross.