Month: May 2013

Report reignites talk of bike excise tax – but advocates aren’t howling

Jesse Fairbank
North Portland Bikeworks new location-11-10

Would you like tax with that? Maybe you would, actually.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Today’s Portland City Club report that gave a big bear hug to biking also said buyers of new bikes should pay a special tax: 4 percent on each new bike purchase in Oregon, or $20 for a $500 bike.

The report recommended that the money — it’d be about $840,000 annually for the State of Oregon — go to programs that support and educate road users about bikes.

The city’s bicycle advocates aren’t exactly thrilled. But perhaps surprisingly, they aren’t gasping in horror, either.

“Generally speaking, the BTA is opposed to any new barrier between people and biking,” Bicycle Transportation Alliance advocacy director Gerik Kransky said today. “That being said, we’re open to the conversation. … It looks like their ideas about how to spend the money are pointed in the right direction.”

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Seafoam Focus corrente 2011

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2011
Brand: Focus
Model: corrente
Color:Seafoam
Size:small
Serial: 239122033
Photo: http://i.imgur.com/uhb74v3.jpg
Stolen in Portland, OR 97217
Stolen:2013-05-28
Stolen From: Portland State University at Montgomery and Broadway.
Neighborhood: University District
Owner: Jennifer Sharp
OwnerEmail: jennatcoho(at sign)yahoo.com
Description: When she was stolen she had black fenders, a rack, bike pump, front and rear lights, and a tool bag on the front.
Police record with: CPSO
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Red Centurion but unlabeled 70s/80s

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 70s/80s
Brand: Centurion but unlabeled
Color:Red
Size:60 cm
Photo: http://instagram.com/p/Y6guxhjD14/
Stolen in Portland, OR 97202
Stolen:2013-05-29
Stolen From: 3005 SE 25th Ave
Neighborhood: Brooklyn
Owner: Michael Tousignant
OwnerEmail: Michael.tousignant( atsign )gmail.com
Reward: $50
Description: Red Centurion road bike, converted to single speed. 2 stickers on lower frame: 1. “If we’re not supposed to eat humans, then why are they made of meat?” (White) 2. Up Cycle bike shop (yellow). Black rear rack and double sided pedals (one side SPD). Panniers and front racks are not with bike. USB front light and mounted rear light.
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: 13-153372
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike

charcoal /black khs mountain21 speedcharcoal 2012

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2012
Brand: khs
Model: mountain21 speedcharcoal
Color:charcoal /black
Size:26
Stolen in Portland, OR 97230
Stolen:2013-04-10
Stolen From: winco off 122 and sanrafel
Neighborhood: hazel wood
Owner: pete chetney
OwnerEmail: reddogelkslayer( atsign )gmail.com
Description: all stock had a break in r thumb shifter. fenders and a rack
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

army green harro bmx 2008?

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2008?
Brand: harro
Model: bmx
Color:army green
Size:20
Serial: x2454g00-70
Stolen in Portland, OR 97230
Stolen:2013-05-31
Stolen From: 12914 ne wasco portland
Neighborhood: hazel wood
Owner: pete chetney
OwnerEmail: reddogelkslayer(AT)gmail.com
Description: its all stock
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Job: Customer Service Representative – Velotech – FILLED

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Sorry. This job has been filled.

Job Title
Customer Service Representative

Company/Organization
Velotech

Job Description
Velotech, owner of BikeTiresDirect.com, Cyclocross.com and the Western Bikeworks store and web site, is seeking qualified candidates for our Customer Service department.

Responsibilities include sales and support of customers contacting us on the phone, via e-mail and in our store. Additional duties include customer account management, warehouse order picking for will-call customers and assistance with product returns and exchanges.

Qualified candidates should have 2-3 years of experience working with customers. Successful candidates will also demonstrate outstanding communication skills, accuracy and attention to detail in data entry/customer account management, and a genuine desire to create great customer interactions.

The position requires a thorough knowledge of bicycles and products. An absolute, all-encompassing love of all types of bicycles is strongly recommended as well.

How to Apply
All applications must be submitted via email and should be directed to Chris Currie, Director of Marketing, at chrisc@velotech.com. Velotech is an equal opportunity employer.

As CitiBike launches, what’s next for Portland’s Alta Bicycle Share?

bikeshare experts Matt Christensen and Paul DeMaio
Alta Bicycle Share principal Mia Birk explains Portland's future system to possible sponsors

Alta Bicycle Share principal Mia Birk explains
Portland’s future system to possible sponsors
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Portland-based company that leads the nation in bikesharing just enjoyed its biggest launch yet, kicking off a 6,000-bike deal worth tens of millions of dollars over the next few years. And for Alta Bicycle Share, 2013 is only going to get more interesting.

Alta’s system is planning to launch in Chicago in “late summer.” San Francisco and the Bay Area are slated to join Alta’s empire in August with 350 bikes, and Columbus will get a 300-bike fleet in July. Alta already operates systems in Washington, Boston, and now New York City, meaning the company’s municipal bikeshare systems will be in five of the country’s 10 biggest metro areas by year’s end. Waiting in Alta’s wings: Vancouver BC, Seattle, and of course Portland. (Atlanta and Philadelphia, two more top-10 metro areas, seem to be on their way to bikesharing, too, and Alta will be a strong contender.)

This sort of growth is huge for a company that’s less than four years old — and also risky for a company that just lost a top executive to a possible competitor and has had to weather serious technical delays and complicated labor issues in the middle of its rapid expansion.

So I decided to talk to two national bikesharing experts about Portland’s locally-grown industry leader and the future of bikesharing in general. The two were Matt Christensen, managing editor of Bikeshare.com, a Santa Monica-based website that posts jobs and other news about the bikesharing industry; and Paul DeMaio, founder of DC-based bikeshare consulting firm MetroBike LLC, who’s been publishing The Bike-sharing Blog for six years now.

bikeshare experts Matt Christensen and Paul DeMaio

Bikeshare.com’s Matt Christensen and MetroBike LLC’s Paul DeMaio.

Both of these guys were thoughtful, frank and upbeat in their assessment of where Alta and the concept of bikesharing are headed. The questions and answers below have been combined from separate interviews that covered many of the same subjects.

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City Club research report strongly endorses bicycling

Read the report here.

After a year of research, a 12-member committee of the Portland City Club released a report today titled, No Turning Back: A City Club Report on Bicycle Transportation in Portland. The 83-page report tackled nearly every major bicycling issue that Portland faces: From quantifying just how many people are riding, to making recommendations on how to raise money to pay for bike-specific infrastructure. They also looked into many of the negative narratives around bicycling to determine if they had any merit (spoiler alert: they don’t).

And, just as I suspected when I shared an update on this project earlier this month, the report is extremely favorable to bicycling. Here’s an excerpt from the Executive Summary:

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People on Bikes: Copenhagen

Welcome to special edition of People on Bikes from Copenhagen. Please join me in thanking Pro Photo Supply for their support of BikePortland. They’re a great local business and I would be a mess without their help.

As you can imagine, in a city where 36% of the trips are made by bicycle, it wasn’t hard for me to find a good spot to photograph people on bikes. In fact, I went right to one of the places with the highest amount of bike traffic in all of Europe: Queen Louises Bridge. The bridge connects the Nørrebro district with the city center and during the evening rush hour, there are massive platoons of people riding bicycles form in both directions.

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Help is on the way! Maintenance and paving coming to neighborhood greenways

Neighborhood greenway conditions-1

PBOT has already marked areas in need of
repair on N Michigan Ave and many other neighborhood
greenways throughout the city.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

BikePortland News Editor Michael Andersen contributed reporting for this story.

Have you noticed the white paint that outlines the many cracks and potholes on your favorite neighborhood greenway? They started appearing weeks ago and I assumed something was up at the Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). Before I left for Europe I confirmed my hunch. It turns out that PBOT, city maintenance crews, and Mayor Hales’ office have reached an agreement that will soon bring relief to the horrible condition of our local streets — many of which have recently been turned into neighborhood greenways.

“This is good news for people who are walking and are using bikes, and especially kids who are getting to school,” PBOT spokeswoman Diane Dulken shared with us today.

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Latest Headlines

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From the Archives

With six kids and no car, this mom does it all by bike