🎄🚨: BikeCraft is back! Our holiday gift bazaar happens Wednesday, 12/17 at Migration Brewing on N Williams Ave.
See full vendor list here.
A six-mile stretch of the popular Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail that was closed due to the Eagle Creek Fire on September 4th of last year has finally re-opened. The news comes as the Oregon Department of Transportation opens a comment period on how to reduce congestion in the Columbia River Gorge.
One week after an open house where the public was asked to rank a list of potential projects to be funded through the Central City in Motion plan, the Portland Bureau of Transportation has trimmed the list from 18 to 11. PBOT also seems to have axed key parts of two remaining projects.
At least that’s how it appears in an email just sent to members of a local, pro-business advocacy group.
Business for a Better Portland (BBPDX) sent an email to members today encouraging them to submit comments on the projects. “Although the online open house survey is now closed,” reads the email, “BBPDX members have the opportunity to provide direct feedback on which projects should be slated for development in the next five years.”
The map and list of projects provided by BBPDX is different than the map shown at the open house last week. The most recent map made public by PBOT showed 18 “project bundles” (a mix of protected bike lanes, crossing updates, and enhanced transit lanes). The map revealed in the email from BBPDX today shows just 11 projects — two of which have had key elements removed since last week.
“We spend so much time, money, and effort driving around cities. Wouldn’t it be great if we could leave our cars at home sometimes?”
That’s the headline for a new contest just launched by ridesharing company Lyft. The “Ditch Your Car” challenge is a partnership between Lyft and local public transportation providers including Biketown, TriMet, Portland Streetcar, and Zipcar.
50 lucky Portlanders will be chosen through an online sign-up form to participate. They’ll be given $549 in ride credits to use for one month. Winners will get $300 credit from Lyft, a 1-month Zipcar membership (with free activation), plus $100 drive credit, a 1-month TriMet and Portland Streetcar pass, and a 1-month Biketown membership (good for 90 minutes of Biketown a day for a month).
Maria Schur (a.k.a. “Bicycle Kitty“) is active in our community as a ride leader and bike industry employee. Her last post on BikePortland was about her participation in the Ride to Defeat ALS.
Cooler temperatures, golden school buses and colorful leaves can only mean one thing – it’s almost time for Portland Society’s Boot Camp! We’ve come to call it Bootless Camp, because it’s more of a relaxing retreat than a workout-a-thon.
What is the Portland Society? According to our website, we’re Badass Biking Babes. To put it more succinctly, we’re a membership organization of female-identifying cyclists in Portland, Oregon who work together to support each other through referral, education and community. Portland Society has become so much more to me than its mission statement of making Portland a better place to live and ride. What started as a networking group has become a club of bikey friends who empower and uplift each other.
*We need a new sponsor for the Weekend Event Guide and the BikePortland Calendar. Please contact me for more info!
The weekend is right around the corner and it’s time to make plans. The fall colors have begun to peek out and a bicycle is a great way to see them.
Here are our picks for the best things to do…
We’re about half-way through the 120-day electric scooter pilot program and the Portland Bureau of Transportation has embarked on the public outreach phase of its assessment.
Earlier today I received an email from Bird, one of the three companies participating in the pilot. “How was your recent Bird ride in Portland?,” it asked. “The Portland Bureau of Transportation would like to hear about it! Take their survey today for a chance to win one of four $50 Visa gift cards. Your responses will help PBOT determine whether e-scooters contribute to the Portland’s mobility, equity, safety, and climate action goals.”
The email linked to a PBOT survey that asked many detailed questions including: “Why did you try e-scooters for the first time?”, “How often do you ride e-scooters?”, “How often do you use e-scooters to access a bus, MAX, or streetcar?”, “What are the top three trip types for which you use shared e-scooters?”, “If an e-scooter had not been available for your last trip, how would you have made that trip?,” “How did you get to the e-scooter that you rode?”, “Have you reduced the number of automobiles you (or your family) own because of e-scooters?,” and so on.
When we shared the news of improvements coming to the NE Marine Drive last month, many of you were disappointed that nothing was being done on the section between I-5 and 33rd Avenue.
A commenter named Kristin shared that, “Though there’s a ‘bike lane’ through that section, it’s crazily overgrown and very narrow in spots, making the fast truck traffic even scarier.”
Portland Design Works is looking for some fresh faces for our fall photoshoot!
The shoot will take place in various neighborhoods around Portland on Monday October 8th from 10-6pm. We are seeking members of the bike community who are interested in modeling for the shoot. All ages genders and ethnicities are encouraged to apply! The entire day will not be required for all models.
This is a paid gig. Use of your personal bike is not required.
If you’re interested and would like more details please shoot us an e-mail at: marketing@ridepdw.com with the subject line: Model for PDW Fall Photoshoot
Feel free to share this post, we look forward to hearing from you!
My daughter was just hit by a driver who failed to stop on SE Milwaukie. They were both south-bound between Knapp and Flavel, This occurred between 5:30 and 5:45PM, Tuesday , Sept 25. She was not seriously hurt, fortunately–a little bruising and scraping– the car sped off ,a woman driving a newer black SUV. She was unable to get the license plate ,but she wanted to alert ppl to the area as it seems to be accident prone.
This post is part of a contractual partnership between BikePortland and Portland Bureau of Transportation.
Last night we hosted a special Wonk Night event to bolster the City of Portland’s bicycle parking code update project.
As we shared last week, the bike parking chapter of the Zoning Code (33.266.200) was written in 1996. That means it doesn’t address today’s volume of riders, the types of bikes people ride, or best practices for the design, security, and location of bike parking. And it’s certainly not strong enough to handle projected growth — in terms of our bicycle ridership goals or the population overall.
That’s a problem.
If people don’t have an accessible and secure place to park their bikes, they’ll be less likely to ride. And for those who don’t bike yet, seeing bikes neatly lined up at high-quality parking spaces can be an inspirational nudge toward giving it a try.
American bike commuting rates seem to have entered a post-recession skid in 2017. Here in Portland, meanwhile, they once again stayed about the same, according to Census estimates released this month.
If you’re like me, you love to celebrate active transportation (a.k.a. walking, bicycling, using a wheelchair, skateboarding, scootering, etc). On October 10th we’ve got the perfect opportunity to party because it’s Walk and Roll to School Day! With about two weeks until event, there’s still time to organize something at your school.