4/25: Hello readers and friends. I'm still recovering from a surgery I had on 4/11, so I'm unable to attend events and do typical coverage. See this post for the latest update. I'll work as I can and I'm improving every day! Thanks for all your support 🙏. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor
In a wonderful sign of bike-oriented economic development in the Columbia River Gorge, a new bike shop has opened its doors in Cascade Locks.
Bike the Gorge offers electric bike rentals and its owner is taking full advantage of progress by the Oregon Department of Transportation on the Historic Highway State Trail to encourage customers to explore the area. In a Ride Guide on the shop’s website you’ll find routes that boast of carfree paths through tall trees and up-close views of waterfalls.
This is just the start of a boom in bike-related businesses that is likely to spring up as ODOT gets even closer to completing the 73-mile Historic Highway State Trail — a generational project that will reconnect a low-car and carfree alternate to Highway 84 between Troutdale and The Dalles.
Bike the Gorge has a fleet of Lectric XP 3.0 e-bikes available to explore the trail. They are Class 2 e-bikes with a throttle, large tires, and an upright riding position. If you want to try them out this month, there’s a 20% rental discount if you use promo code APRIL20.
The co-owner of Bike the Gorge, Ben DeJarnette is a friend and BikePortland subscriber. I asked him a few questions about his new business:
Who are you and what inspired you to launch this business?
Ben DeJarnette
I grew up in sprawling suburban Virginia where bike lanes and public transit didn’t exist and you had to drive everywhere, so Portland has always been a gleaming city on the hill to me (even if a little bit of the shine has worn off).
I lived carfree for my first few months here and rode almost everywhere, but I experienced a lot of the challenges you wrote about last week — I was sideswiped by a car in Old Town, my beloved Lotus bike was stolen, and eventually I moved further east and found myself dodging a lot more potholes.
The real game-changer for me was when Biketown switched to an electric fleet. I was coaching cross country at Fernhill Park (NE 37th and Ainsworth) at the time and found that riding an e-bike there from Montavilla was faster, cheaper, and more fun than driving — and I didn’t have to worry about theft.
The business idea actually came to me a few years later on my honeymoon in Scotland, where my wife and I rented e-bikes and rode on a carfree path along Loch Lomond. It was an incredible experience that got me thinking about how cool it would be to do something similar on the state trail around Cascade Locks — and that was the beginning of the journey that led to Bike the Gorge.
Why are you betting on bikes in the Gorge?
The Gorge is a rare place where the biking experience is getting dramatically better (thanks to major infrastructure investments and the availability of e-bikes) at the same time that the driving experience is getting dramatically worse (due to traffic delays, bridge tolls, permit systems, and parking fees.)
As more people learn that there’s a safe, accessible alternative to driving in the Gorge that’s also really fun, I think we’ll see interest in biking take off — and eventually even more businesses (and hopefully infrastructure) will pop to support it.
Any thoughts on impact the Historic Highway State Trail will have/has on your business and economic development in the Gorge in general?
The State Trail has the opportunity to be a world-class tourism destination that lifts all boats in the Gorge, from Troutdale to Cascade Locks to the Dalles. But we need to get it across the finish line!
I hope that helping more people experience the existing trail will create advocates who can push for those final pieces, including replacing the Eagle Creek staircase with a ramp and completing the critical trail segment from Mitchell Point to Hood River.
Good luck Ben! And keep this shop in mind if you want to explore deeper into the Gorge.
A (newly) independent rider, my shopping cart, and armor against the weather. (Photos: Shannon Johnson/BikePortland)
My new challenge this season: bike to every bikeable destination on our schedule, and if I am considering driving, to challenge myself with the question, “Why not bike?”
My original family biking goal was modest: to go on one family bike ride each week. When we were just getting started, that was a real challenge. I’d see the weekend approaching and think, “I have to get us out for a bike ride; we haven’t ridden anywhere this week!”
We’ve come a long way in two years!
Now, I look forward to biking almost daily. Every morning, I ask myself, “is there somewhere we can bike today?” I look forward to errands, as if they are needed excuses for going on a bike ride. I have a long list of parks and favorite bike-able destinations for taking the kids on outings, and we are still adding to that list on a regular basis. My children readily grab helmets when it’s time to leave the house, and the bike is now competing as our primary mode of transportation. Even the baby has begun to enjoy biking, as he eagerly points to his winter outfit and his bike seat, eager to go for another ride.
Still, there’s room for growth, and Spring seems like a great time to set new family biking goals.
My new challenge this season: bike to every bikeable destination on our schedule, and if I am considering driving, to challenge myself with the question, “Why not bike?”
Below are some of the recent answers to our “why not bike” challenge…
Why not bike?
A: It’s cold.
Solution: Dress warmer, with a warm base layer (I just wear leggings under my regular pants), and put on a good waterproof outer layer, including hat and waterproof gloves. It takes a little extra work to dress warmly, but it doesn’t get that cold in greater Portland. I remind myself that, however cold I think it is, it would probably classify as a warm day in Sweden, and nordic folks still go outside in really cold weather. Just go for it!
A: It’s dark.
Solution: I turn on my bike lights and wear a reflective vest or add another light/reflective tape to the outside of my backpack. I was trying to save money by scrounging used/old/broken lights around the garage, but they kept breaking, or were difficult to attach to our bikes, or the batteries were dead. Realizing that a lack of working lights was preventing us from biking, I finally decided to invest in a whole batch of new lights, so we can get all the bikes in the family properly outfitted, and have another few sets ready-to-go whenever a light breaks or battery dies. I know it’s a big expense, but if you can afford it, it will save you money (and hassle) in the long run.
A: I’m shopping and I’ll have a big load to haul home.
Solution: Run this errand on the weekend, when the kids can stay home with daddy. With the cargo box empty of children, and a capacity to carry over 200 lbs of cargo, and an electric assist to help with pedaling a full load, I don’t actually need to drive for the vast majority of shopping trips, as I recently proved with a trip to the garden store for bags of compost and soil. The cargo bike can usefully accomplish this. In fact, using the bike as a shopping cart at the garden store, I found the bike is more efficient. I don’t have to park, load a cart, then walk to my vehicle and load my trunk, then return the cart. Instead, I just walk my cargo trike up to the bags of compost and soil, load them up, pay, and then bike home. As I have found on other occasions, the bike was actually preferable for the errand, and I got the bonus of some exercise and fresh air too.
A: Because the kids are going to be hungry.
This answer sounds funny, but it’s real! Little kids are constantly and desperately hungry, and hunger quickly leads to meltdowns and emotional disasters. I’m trying not to buy food out, which gets really expensive for five kiddos. My ideal is to always have home-made snacks on hand, but often I fall short of that goal. A lack of ready-to-eat snacks that I could just throw in a pannier has been deterring me from biking. I have a box of wheat thins and goldfish, we can just grab that and go. It’s a little thing, but sometimes little things can make the difference. Asking “why not bike” helped me realize that I need to add some easy snacks to the grocery list. Problem solved!
A: It’s too far.
Sometimes, this is true. There are occasions where biking is not realistic for us. But we are challenging ourselves. With an electric assist, we can go a lot further with less stress/difficulty. Maybe, on some occasions, what used to be “too far” is actually within reach; we just haven’t tried it yet.
Another solution: Change the destination to a closer/bikeable option. As I wrote recently, we are examining all of our drive-commute activities, extracurriculars, and errands and asking ourselves: is this really necessary? Can we find a closer option that is bikeable? Is this particular thing worth the drive, and all that driving entails?
A: The baby is napping, or needs a nap, or won’t nap on the bike.
Solution: The obvious solution is to change activities so as not to conflict with naptime, or to change the napping start time, so as not to conflict with the activities. This isn’t always possible. In one instance, I was regularly waking my baby up, driving 30 minutes in traffic, entertaining four children for an hour inside the minivan while one kid did an activity, then driving us 30 minutes home, leaving us tired, hungry, and in need of dinner – with no time or energy to cook it. It was an activity I really valued and wanted to continue, but I finally had to acknowledge that the cost of a long, stressful drive during naptime, was just too high. We gave it up, and have chosen a nearby Saturday morning activity instead. This will allow us to bike without disturbing baby’s nap, and also to visit friends and a nearby park during the activity, instead of watching movies on a minivan screen device while waiting in a parking lot with a crying baby. It’s a change that is absolutely refreshing.
Another solution: Pick an activity that allows an older child to commute independently. This is life-changing! My oldest son has just joined the swim team. Why swim team? Because the pool is just six blocks away. Today was his first solo commute, and our whole family is delighted. I didn’t have to wake up the baby or drag a whole van full of siblings to sit and wait during an activity they weren’t participating in. Instead, my oldest rode his bike alone (something we have practiced for months together). After swim practice, he arrived home dripping wet from rain and beaming from ear to ear from his newfound independence.
A: There’s a scary road.
Solution: This depends! I am putting extra effort in to plan safer routes that avoid scary roads. I’m also trying out some intentional sidewalk riding, just to get us through a few patches with high car speeds that don’t feel safe if we chose road riding. I’m also trying to not get discouraged at the increased length of these safer routes, but to appreciate the longer rides as opportunities for more exercise.
Of course, sometimes there just isn’t another way. So I am trying to get involved in bike advocacy in my neighborhood, with the hope of helping spur safer road improvements, especially on the scary sections of roads that prevent us from biking to favorite destinations. A new cycle track in my community has completely elevated my idea of what is possible. A seemingly impossible and dangerous road–one we never would have ridden–now has a cycle track that is one of our favorite, and most comfortable, places to ride. Good changes can happen. I hope to find ways to be a catalyst for those changes.
A: Because I have always driven.
Solution: Make biking the default. Plan to bike. And when I am tempted to reach for the keys, out of habit or convenience, I ask, “why not bike?” When I don’t have a good answer, I grab my helmet and bike instead.
That’s just a sampling of the useful ways that asking “why not bike?” has helped our family carefully consider our biking obstacles and focus our efforts on tackling those that we can overcome ourselves. Sometimes it’s as simple as buying a box of granola bars or a good rain jacket!
If we don’t have a good reason to drive, we are committing ourselves to biking. That’s our new family biking challenge. Happy riding!
TREC has released two e-bike surveys in the past — in 2013 and 2018 — and now, with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and advocacy group People for Bikes, they’re launching a third. In addition to helping researchers figure out how to get more people on electric bikes, participants in this survey also have a shot at some cool prizes.
“The survey is intended to provide a snapshot of the motivation, use, and experience of e-bike owners in the US and Canada,” TREC graduate student Cameron Bennett told BikePortland. “This edition includes new questions concerning purchase incentives, e-bike class, and maintenance, and updated questions on travel behavior. We anticipate providing results from this survey later this year.”
E-bikes have become a lot more popular since the last time researchers conducted this survey. In a 2017 BikePortland article about TREC’s e-bike research, Jonathan theorized that in a few years we wouldn’t “remember what our bikeways look like without [e-bikes],” and in retrospect, this is certainly true. Now, electric bikes are ubiquitous in bike lanes in Portland and beyond, and upcoming e-bike rebate programs indicate that the tide isn’t turning anytime soon. It’s not just bike aficionados and industry insiders riding with electric assists these days, so this survey should be able to encapsulate a broader audience.
According to TREC, the data from this survey will be used to “create better policies, legislation, and infrastructure for e-bike users.”
“Your responses to the survey will be used to better understand what types of e-bikes are in use in the United States and Canada, how they are being bought and used, and who is using them,” a TREC statement on the survey states. “You will also be asked about your experiences riding your e-bike and your feelings concerning safety and accessibility on the bike.”
Here at BikePortland, we’ll eagerly await the results of this survey: TREC’s e-bike research is always informative and interesting, and during such a pivotal time for electric bikes (and bikes in general) in Portland, it is crucial to have up-to-date data about how people are riding their e-bikes. As a relatively new e-bike owner myself, I filled the survey out — it didn’t take very long, and the questions were engaging, so just do it!
Once you complete the survey, you’ll have the opportunity to enter to win one of 50 $20 Visa gift cards and one of three Tops Designs backpacks with People for Bikes branding. You can find the survey here.
SE 7th and Washington looking north right before the street turns into Sandy.An aerial view of the intersection. (Google Maps)SE 7th and Washington looking south.(Photos: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)
After the carfree Blumenauer Bridge across I-84 opened to the public in August, connecting Portland’s Central Eastside and Lloyd neighborhoods via 7th Ave, the Portland Bureau of Transportation announced a suite of other changes coming to the surrounding streets to make the corridor more bike-friendly. In short order, PBOT made changes to NE Couch St and completed a controversial redesign at NE 7th and Tillamook, both done with the stated intent of making it more pleasant for people on bikes to use the network around the glitzy new bridge.
In addition, PBOT announced a plan to redesign 7th Ave south of the new bridge, including making changes between Washington and Stark streets. As someone who frequently bikes between southeast and northeast Portland via 7th Ave, I was very eager to see what PBOT would do here. But it’s been nine months since PBOT announced their plan to redo this area and the intersection still looks the same. What’s going on?
According to PBOT Public Information Officer Dylan Rivera, the project has been stalled because of contractor availability and weather.
PBOT’s plan for this intersection. (Source: PBOT)
This area is a bane of my biking existence, especially when traveling northbound: crossing from the bike lane on the east side of SE 7th when it turns into Sandy Blvd is one of the most complicated maneuvers I regularly make. It requires crossing two lanes of fast car traffic in an area with very poor visibility, all while watching out for more car traffic coming from the surrounding streets. I dread the experience every single time, so I was eager for PBOT to make some changes.
“We’re awaiting the contractor to complete the work the project. We met with them earlier in March and they expected to begin the work in May or June, but it really depends on weather,” Rivera wrote to BikePortland in an email. “They have a few other task orders in front of this one and they can’t get started until we get some dry pavement.”
In an April 7th letter to Central Eastside residents (PDF) PBOT Capital Project Manager Scott Cohen offered further details on the project. Cohen wrote that, when completed, it will entail:
Parking removal on the north side of SE Washington between SE Sandy and SE 8th
Traffic operational changes on SE Washington between SE Sandy and 8th (one-way eastbound only for motorized vehicles)
Traffic operational changes on SE 7th approaching SE Stark in both directions (right turns only for motorized vehicles)
“The project will result in improved safety for people walking and bicycling and a stronger connection between the Central Eastside and Lloyd neighborhoods,” Cohen wrote. “Construction is expected to begin as early as May 2023 but may begin later in the year.”
A different vision from Depave
Depave’s current design for a cul-de-sac concept at SE 7th and Sandy in between Stark and Washington. This design wouldn’t be feasible with what PBOT currently has planned. (Source: Depave)
“Momentum will be building. We think we can move the needle on this.”
– Ted Labbe, Depave
Some people might be frustrated with the lag on this project, but according to some advocates, this delay hasn’t been all bad. One of these advocates is Ted Labbe, who heads the urban re-greening organization Depave. He and his team (along with other local organizations) have been working on a plan to redesign this area for some time, and they want to make sure that when it’s done, it’s done right.
Last summer, Depave hosted a block party at this intersection, setting up food carts, skate ramps and a performance area to demonstrate the space’s potential to be more than a slab of concrete. A few weeks later on Parking Day, volunteers from Depave and the Parking Reform Network hosted a pop-up in the car parking space on SE 7th to further emphasize why this intersection needs to change. According to Labbe, the community response to these events revealed the need for radical change here. He said that while he thinks there are some urgent safety needs to address here, he wants to see a more fundamental shift in how this land is used.
“[The hazards concerning traffic calming and safety] are the most immediate things we want to address,” Labbe said. “But beyond that, we’re focused on making this a green plaza. It’s not just about safety and mobility for folks outside of cars: it’s also about creating a destination.”
Depave has hosted several events this year on SE 7th in between Washington and Stark to help the community reimagine the space. (Photos: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)
Portland’s Central Eastside has a lot to offer, which is why it’s a prime location for new multifamily developments. It’s transit-dense and located in close proximity to a lot of major local attractions. But one thing it’s missing? Greenery and tree canopy coverage.
“Folks in the Central Eastside have some of the lowest access to green space in the city,” Labbe said. “We see [the intersection on SE 7th] as an opportunity, because it’s a redundant portion of the street grid.”
Labbe said Depave is working closely with the city on this project and the group is hopeful they’ll be able to come up with a solution that everyone can be happy with. But this might take a little more time.
Depave is planning to activate this intersection with a weeklong event at the end of July, culminating in a block party on July 29th. This “activation week” will include mobile green infrastructure elements, pop-up retail and more, and Labbe said Depave is seeking business sponsors and partners to work with them to make the summer event great.
“We’re just doing this by the skin of our teeth,” Labbe said.
If you’re interested in working with Depave on this project, you can get in touch with them here. People going to the upcoming Oregon Active Transportation Summit will also have an opportunity to hear about Depave’s plans for this intersection, so stay tuned for more.
“We think the best opportunity is to layer all of these things together,” Labbe said, referring to PBOT’s street redesign concept and their own push for more urban greenspace. “Momentum will be building. We think we can move the needle on this.”
Buying an e-bike is almost guaranteed to be easier in the near future. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
At a meeting of its Transportation Policy Advisory Committee (TPAC) on Friday (4/7), Metro made it clear they’d like to get into the e-bike purchase incentive game. They join the cities of Tigard and Portland, as well as Oregon lawmakers and the federal government in their enthusiasm to fill demand for e-bikes as weapons against climate change and as effective tools for personal and family mobility.
TPAC, which is made up of over a dozen technical staff from agencies and governments throughout the region, learned about the potential investment in e-bike access via a presentation about the federal Carbon Reduction Program. This $5.2 billion program was approved as part of President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in November 2021 and is administered through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) with a goal to, “fund projects designed to reduce transportation emissions.”
Oregon will receive about $82.5 million total from the Carbon Reduction Program. The Oregon Department of Transportation will hand out about $54 million of that, and Metro estimates they’ll have about $18.8 million total to spend over five years. At the TPAC meeting Friday, Metro said they plan to award five years in one allocation process. As part of that effort, they’ve developed several draft packages of projects that will be refined by TPAC, the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT, which is sort of a TPAC for elected officials), and Metro Council members.
Those draft packages were revealed publicly for the first time Friday.
Carbon Reduction Program – Package Options & Elements Descriptions (Source: Metro)
Metro has come up with four different packages that would guide this $18.8 million allocation. Three of the four include a strong tilt toward transit projects because Metro used their Climate Smart Strategy plan as the backbone for Carbon Reduction Program decision-making and transit came very highly recommended through that process.
As you can see in the graphic from the TPAC presentation, Packages A, B, and C include four projects each, with three of those being transit-related: bus rapid transit on 82nd and Tualatin-Valley Highway, and a transit signal priority project on TriMet Line 33 (McLoughlin Blvd). The only difference in those three packages is a $3 million investment into a fourth project. Package A would fund an e-bike program, Package B would invest in Safe Routes to School projects, and Package C would put that $3 million into a general Active Transportation pot. Package D would fund five projects that just missed out on funding in a recent Metro federal active transportation funding process (known as the Regional Flexible Funding Allocation, or RFFA). All four packages would set-aside $1.8 million for Metro’s Climate Smart implementation program.
It was the $3 million e-bike program that caught my eye as something new.
Here’s what the Metro presentation said about what it could fund:
Potential elements include a subsidy/rebate program, promotional campaign, and transit access elements such as secured parking with charging stations. Potential partnerships with local agencies and non-profit organizations and coordination with potential state rebate program under consideration by the Oregon legislature.
According to Metro Resource Development Section Manager Ted Leybold, the specific type of program has yet to be determined. “At this point, it is only a conceptual investment to support deployment and use of electric powered bicycles,” shared Leybold in an email to BikePortland. The program would be further defined only if Package A is recommended by JPACT, TPAC and Metro Council.
No TPAC members objected to the e-bike program at Friday’s meeting. One of them, Indigo Namkoong who represents environmental justice nonprofit Verde, said she’s an e-bike user and “fan” but warned that the barrier to more e-bike riders in the northeast Cully neighborhood her organization works in isn’t just about cost. “It’s about infrastructure and feeling and experiencing safety on the roads,” Namkoong said. “We don’t have bike lanes in a lot of areas in our neighborhoods in Cully and surrounding areas… so safety infrastructure is one of the most important hurdles that we hear about.”
Metro staff will return to TPAC and other advisory bodies in the coming months to seek an official recommendation on which package should move forward. It’s a relatively tight timeline because Metro needs to have their decision to FHWA by November of this year.
If Package A and the e-bike investment program is prioritized, Leybold says there will be several issues to work through including: restrictions with federal funds (that prohibit direct subsidy for private vehicles, “so we would need to get creative on how to use the funds to support deployment and use while still being compliant,” Leybold said) and how best to coordinate with other e-bike funding programs already being considered by the Oregon Legislature and the City of Portland.
Lawmakers in Salem are currently considering a bill (House Bill 2571) that would offer rebates to e-bike buyers in the amount of $400 or $1,200. That bill passed out of its first committee on March 29th and is currently in a budget committee. And the City of Portland is likely to use revenue from the Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) to establish an e-bike rebate program of its own. As we reported last month, a PCEF committee has recommended $20 million to increase e-bike access over the next five years.
If HB 2571 becomes law, Metro’s $3 million e-bike investment could be added to the “Electric Bicycle Incentive Fund” that bill would create. Or it could be a standalone program.
In addition to these three e-bike incentive efforts, there’s also the federal E-BIKE Act that was just reintroduced to Congress late last month. If signed into law, the E-BIKE Act would offer individual consumers a refundable 30% tax credit for purchasing an electric bicycle — up to a $1,500 credit for new bicycles less than $8,000. The credit would be allowed once per individual every three years, or twice for a joint-return couple buying two electric bicycles. Income caps of of $150,000 annually for single filers, and $225,000 for heads of households, and $300,000 for those filing jointly would apply.
Watch this space in May for final decisions about these draft packages at Metro. Any allocations would have to be amended into the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program before they could be spent; but no matter how you slice it, buying an e-bike is very likely to become much easier in the coming months.
Ciarlo at the 2022 Alice Awards hosted by The Street Trust. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Catherine Ciarlo is the new director of planning, development and research at Metro. Metro is our regional elected government that oversees long-range planning and serves more than 1.7 million people in the Portland area with a jurisdictional boundary that spans 24 cities and three counties.
Prior to accepting this position at Metro, Ciarlo had worked at the Portland Bureau of Transportation for over five years. She began as Active Transportation and Safety Division manager and most recently served as acting group director of Development, Permitting & Transit. She’s also worked at CH2M Hill (now Jacobs), a planning consulting firm, and she was transportation policy advisor for former Portland Mayor Sam Adams from 2009 to 2012.
Ciarlo has deep roots in Portland’s bicycle advocacy scene. She was the executive director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (now The Street Trust) from 1998 to 2005.
Here’s more about Ciarlo from a Metro press release:
As a consultant, Ciarlo managed transit projects and multi-modal street improvements for multiple clients including TriMet, ODOT, Clackamas County and the cities of Spokane, Astoria and Milwaukie. At PBOT, Ciarlo was responsible for managing teams to design and deliver programs that advance the City of Portland’s climate and equity goals. Her portfolio included the city’s bikeshare program, e-scooters, Safe Routes to School, Sunday Parkways and the Vision Zero traffic safety initiative.
In addition, Ciarlo has overseen programs to encourage community use of the right-of-way, and has provided strategic leadership for the Portland Streetcar system.
In each of these areas, Ciarlo says she has worked with her teams to re-orient priorities and programs to serve Portlanders who have not historically had a voice in transportation and planning.
“The Metro region is faced with big challenges and major opportunities in the coming years,” Ciarlo said in a statement. “I am honored and excited to work with community members, elected leaders, and diverse stakeholders to help our region be the equitable, vital place we know it can be. Metro’s leadership is critical to making that happen.”
Melissa Bryden, fully decked out (including her bike!)Shawn Granton led the dapper group on the Tweed Ride this year. (Photos: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)
Are we in 21st century Portland or 19th century Oxford? You might not know if you witnessed the participants of yesterday’s Tweed Ride rolling around the city. The Portland Tweed Ride has been a staple of group bike events in the city every year since 2010, and though yesterday’s soggy weather kept the group relatively small, the truest tweed-heads showed up for the occasion in their finest wool blazers and caps.
“Woah, tweed,” said a mesmerized onlooker sitting in Kelly Plaza when the group passed through the Hollywood District. We tipped our hats to him in response.
A group shot at Normandale Park (Photo: Shawn Granton)
Emee Pumarega
Something I like about the Tweed Ride (which aptly started in London but has chapters all over the world) is that it demonstrates how you can ride a bike wearing practically anything. As long as you roll up the cuffs of your pants so the hem doesn’t get caught in your bike chain, the world of fashion is your oyster. If you must wear spandex, so be it, but tweed skirts are perfectly bike-friendly as well.
The group was joined by Melissa Bryden, who came to Portland from Sacramento just for the occasion. Bryden hosts tweed rides in her neck of the woods, and wanted to see how it’s done in a city where the weather bears more resemblance to that of the British Isles (a.k.a., the land of tweed.)
“Dressing up in costumes, biking and drinking tea? It’s all the fun of being a kid, even though I’m in my 60s,” Bryden said when I asked her why she loves to bike in tweed.
With group ride season kicking off, the Tweed Ride shows the range of themed bike activities available to Portlanders. Only in Portland can you enjoy a posh and classy ride like this in April and then, come July, exchange the wool blazer for a cat costume, yachtwear…or your birthday suit. (It’s getting to the point where I need a second closet just for themed bike ride attire.)
So sit back with a cup of tea and check out our photos from the Tweed Ride. And be sure to follow the Portland Tweed Ride Instagram so you can stay informed on next year’s tweed activities.
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Sometimes getting a clear view of Portland requires stepping back 6,000 miles. That’s what Cathy Tuttle did when she commented from Utrecht about Taylor Griggs’s post, A ‘Living Streets’ plan for downtown Portland.
Tuttle was an advisor to the four Portland State University students who created the “Living Streets” plan, and she picked up where Taylor left off with some insight about how controlling — not abolishing — cars is key to successful European “car-free” zones.
Here’s what Cathy wrote:
I love living in Utrecht for a few months!
What I’m focused on is looking at how cars are controlled here. Yes, Utrecht may have the best bicycle and transit infrastructure in the Netherlands. It also has some of the most thoughtful car control. The two are completely interlinked.
You cannot have great bike, transit, and walk zones without putting control on how people use cars in a city: Freight zones and times, where you can ride scooters and mopeds, what cars are licensed to drive where, and most importantly, where and when private cars can be parked.
What many people might not see in European “car-free” zones is that there are still plenty of cars — for business deliveries, emergency access, disabled people, and local residents. In the US, we’ve turned our most valuable, dense, business-rich areas into car free-for-alls. It’s not healthy for cities, for local businesses, and certainly not for people.
Utrecht is a thriving city. People are housed, happy, and productive. Thousands of businesses are flourishing, and abundant, healthy businesses mean that, among other things, roads and public spaces are in good repair and transit is clean, safe, and frequent.
This is all preamble to say that the TREC/PSU report on Living Streets is on the right path, and is a very good blueprint for local Portland business and political leaders to use, as soon as they have the courage to do so.
The four student authors, Cameron Bennett, Owen Christofferson, Emily D’Antonio, and Aidan Simpson have provided solid, data-based guidance. I hope they all end up in positions in Portland or other cities where these transformations are needed soon.
Reading their 79-page report may be daunting for some. I want to point out just a few pages to focus on. The authors did a deep dive into what “Living Streets” are in a dense downtown context. Here’s their plan.
Living Streets are the “Living Rooms” of cities. More detailed descriptions of what a Living Street is (these descriptions could be used by City planners working respectfully on public outreach) are on page 44. The student report has valuable lists of possible design elements (p. 29) and cost estimates (p.67). These are all good public engagement tools.
Because Portland leaders are not ready to draw a ring around the whole downtown as a living streets area (they should!), this report highlights Opportunity Areas (p.21) that are basically smaller places that can be adapted to a car-lite approach because they have zero or few driveways. The Opportunity Areas also lead to dense residential and business destinations that people want to go to.
I am convinced, if areas downtown adopt a Living Streets approach, they will draw in more people, who will support more businesses, who will help more of Portland’s downtown thrive. Uncontrolled car driving and more cheap car parking does not make Downtown Portland more inviting.
The Downtown Portland Living Streets Plan narrows its focus to just four destination areas and goes into detail about how they could be designed and what it would cost to do demonstrations and permanent designs for each of them. These four areas: Old Town, Burnside Wedge, Extended Halprin, Transit Mall, were chosen with a robust data-focused process that’s worth a look (See page 64: Weighted Decision Matrix Criteria).
I believe any of these demonstration areas — all of them and more in fact! — will improve the quality of life for people who live in Portland, increase the city business tax base, and draw new visitors to a city where the dream is once again alive.
And I want to say a few words about the other comments in this thread. Once you get to the far side of the apocalyptic stuff at the beginning, this is a fascinating thread. Watch the video John links to; appreciate BlumDrew’s and J1mb0’s discussion of density and the Portland region; don’t miss qqq on the role of parks.
The thread sent me into a couple hours of thinking over my 20-plus-years relationship with downtown Portland. Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with it, except to say that the present state of the city was a long time in the making. I’ve turned identifying the first sign that things were amiss into a personal parlor game.
Welcome to the week. Here are the most notable stories our writers and readers have come across in the past seven days…
A DOT ray of hope: Washington’s state DOT has a new requirement to close bike network gaps whenever they do a major project on an arterial highway — and it looks like it’s going to lead to much better bike infrastructure. (The Urbanist)
Get on the bus (to National Parks): Cars are strangling “America’s Best Idea” so here’s an idea: resurrect Greyhound buses as the de facto tourist transit service at National Parks and get the cars out of nature. (City Hikes)
A safety tax for trucks: Great to see the another big-city editorial board get comfortable with the idea of more regulation on large and heavy SUVs and trucks as a route toward safer streets (L.A. Times)
Profit over people: The reason there are so many trucks in America — despite their terrible safety and climate change impacts — is largely due to the simple fact that quirks in the law make them more profitable than smaller vehicles. Yay capitalism!! (Washington Post)
The Netherlands bike story: A well-reputed podcast has published a detailed history of bicycle activism in Amsterdam that relays the inspiring story of the fight against car-centric planning and its remarkable aftermath. (99% Invisible)
Unprotected: San Francisco is mourning the loss of a cycling champion who was killed by a drunk driver while bicycling last week. It happened in a location where activists had called attention to the need for protected bike lanes. (SF Gate)
Doubting studies: Traffic impact studies and the Trip Generation Manual are the bedrock of street planning decisions, but they’re far from scientifically sound. (Streetsblog USA)
Enforcement debate: This article about the correlation between fewer police doing traffic enforcement is about Seattle but it could have easily been written about Portland. (NPR)
Scooters in Paris: All eyes in the micromobility world are on Paris where a non-binding referendum result showed vast opposition to electric scooters as Mayor Anne Hidalgo says they don’t fit into the cities plans to support biking and walking. (Tech Crunch)
Lyft and bike share: When Lyft raised fees for Biketown in Portland, it underscored the peril of having our bike share system owned by a private corporation and renewed talks of a public takeover. Turns out we’re not the only city whose close ties to Lyft causes stress. (Curbed)
We need much more than bigger hats. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
(Graphic: APANO)
As the impacts of climate change have stomped into Portland, it’s becoming very clear that east Portland bears the brunt. Because there are fewer parks, fewer trees, and more roads and other paved surfaces, our (now) annual heat waves scorch that part of our city.
Back in June, environmental nonprofit organization 350 PDX hosted a bike ride in east Portland to highlight the need for climate resiliency and the value of shade. When it comes to beating back a warming planet, green infrastructure is one of our greatest weapons.
Now there’s a really cool opportunity to work on-the-ground to bring more of that to east Portland.
The Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO) is looking for three people to serve as Greening Ambassadors. Richa Poudyal, an independent consultant who is helping APANO launch the program, told us this morning that, “The program is a chance for east Portlanders to create and implement climate resilient solutions for their own neighborhoods instead of perpetually waiting and relying on government institutions.”
Applicants must live east of 82nd Avenue, and be 14 years of age or older. If selected, ambassadors will work with APANO to organize a block party and a tree planting event this summer. Ambassadors will also work with APANO to flesh out their vision for what a green block will look like — and then figure out how to actually implement it.
The program will train ambassadors to be climate justice organizers, pay a $600 stipend, and provide $8,000 for each participant to spend on block-greening projects.
Deadline to apply is April 15th and the job is from May to December of this year.
“We need a robust transit system if we are going to tackle climate change, help people move out of poverty and homelessness, and reinvigorate our downtown.”
– Tyler Frisbee, incoming member TriMet Board of Directors
(Photo: Frisbee at the National Bike Summit in Washington D.C. in 2012 by Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Tyler Frisbee is slated to be a member of the TriMet Board of Directors. Frisbee was nominated by Oregon Governor Tina Kotek late last month.
If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Frisbee served six years as a legislative assistant in the office of Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer and was a liaison for bike and transportation advocates. After leaving Blumenauer’s office in 2014, she served as policy director for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition for one year. Following her stint at SFBC, she worked at Metro for nearly seven years on government affairs and policy development.
Last month, Frisbee returned to Rep. Blumenauer’s office with the new title of senior strategic advisor.
The nomination came just a few weeks after we reported on comments about TriMet Governor Kotek made in an interview on Oregon Public Broadcasting on March 3rd. “I don’t think we’ve paid enough attention to how TriMet is doing their business,” the governor said.
Frisbee (in striped shirt with mic) at a panel discussion about the future of transportation in 2017.
Besides her resume and track record around bicycling and progressive transportation policies, one of the most high-profile projects Frisbee worked on at Metro was the unsuccessful Get Moving 2020 transportation funding measure campaign. In 2017, Frisbee was one of three panelists (along with former PBOT Director Leah Treat and Chris Rall, a regional organizer with Transportation for America) at an event hosted by the Portland chapter of Young Professionals in Transportation. When the topic of choosing projects for the 2020 funding measure came up, Frisbee’s predilection for political compromise came through. “I don’t think we’re at the point of picking projects yet. And it’s not about a percentage [of which which modes get funded], it’s about what projects do you need to get people on board. You have to build the package for the yes votes.”
These are precarious times for TriMet as the agency continues to try and dig out of a major slump brought on by the Covid pandemic and years of bad headlines about system safety. While they’ve made significant service changes as part of their promising Forward Together plan and ridership is ticking up compared to the last few years (total boardings in February 2023 were up nearly 19% over the previous year), they are also on course to raise fares for the first time in a decade and the massive shift away from office commutes create ominous clouds for the future.
Reached via email this morning, Frisbee said she was honored to be nominated. “We need a robust transit system if we are going to tackle climate change, help people move out of poverty and homelessness, and reinvigorate our downtown,” she shared in an email. “I appreciate that Governor Kotek sees how connected all of these challenges are, and understands TriMet’s role in tackling them.”
If her nomination is approved by the Oregon Senate, Frisbee will serve a four-year term on the board that starts June 1st and runs through 2027.
Correction, 4/7 at 9:03 am: The original version of this story said Frisbee had been appointed to the TriMet Board. That was wrong. She has just been appointed and will have to be approved by the Senate before her appointment is official. I regret the error and any confusion it caused.
Despite the backlash PBOT pushed ahead and constructed the bus-and-turn (BAT) only lane on a one-mile stretch of SW Capitol Hwy from Barbur Boulevard to Bertha Court last fall. So, now that the paint on the Rose Lane has been dry for some months, how’s Hillsdale faring? According to a new PBOT traffic data monitoring report, the impact doesn’t appear to be as dramatic as some people feared.
Before the Rose Lane
A sign in Hillsdale demonstrating the pushback against the Rose Lane. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Hillsdale business owners and residents had a few concerns about this project. For one, some worried that the BAT lane would impact business access, and that its implementation would back up traffic in the area to such an extent that their shops would shut down “in a matter of months” (per the petition against the Rose Lane). People were also worried that the new traffic operations on Capitol Hwy would cause excessive traffic routing onto local neighborhood streets, and they argued that PBOT has made overstated assertions about how beneficial the Rose Lane would be for transit trip times on this corridor.
PBOT’s new report doesn’t comment on how well these local businesses are faring, but in December, BikePortland’s Lisa Caballero reported that Hillsdale businesses seemed to be doing quite well despite some claims to the contrary. The report does say that PBOT has “observed longer traffic queues, particularly during the PM Peak Hour westbound on SW Capitol Highway from SW Barbur to SW Sunset.” To remedy this, the bureau will be “advancing signal modifications to help mitigate this queuing.”
The report also states that local service streets only saw a minor uptick in both daily and peak hour vehicle volumes.
“Daily traffic volumes decreased on all monitored local streets except three, and those increases ranged between 25 and 31 additional vehicles per day…For local streets with increases of Peak Hour vehicle volumes, increases ranged between 3 and 14 additional vehicles during Peak Hours,” the report states. “While these changes are within expected standard fluctuations in daily volumes, we understand that people living on these streets may notice and feel a difference.”
Here are other takeaways from the report:
There have been no significant changes in speeding, when comparing 85th percentile speeds on arterial streets or local streets.
We have not observed changes to vehicle volumes or other patterns on arterials that trigger mitigation, but we will continue to monitor, collect data, and gather feedback from community stakeholders.
While daily vehicle volumes on arterials were lower, all decreases are within expected seasonal fluctuations in daily volumes. Daily traffic volumes decreased on all monitored major streets, with total daily volumes decreasing between 2 percent and 12 percent. Lower traffic volumes on major streets are typical during winter months, and all observed decreases are below or within expected seasonal adjustment factors ranging from 10 percent to 15 percent.
All local streets remain well below our preferred threshold of 1,000 vehicles per day, including streets that are not designated Neighborhood Greenways
PBOT says via the report they’ll work to reduce congestion with tools like signal timing and adjustments to lane markings. After these mitigation measures are completed, staff will go out for another round of data collection and release another report this summer.
The scope of this report didn’t include data about if the BAT lane is working to make transit trips faster — the ostensible purpose of the new bus lanes. The PBOT press release about the report states that “this project was designed to help buses bypass congestion on SW Capitol Highway, and it is expected to support bus speed and reliability as travel activity continues to grow into the future.” People who ride TriMet bus lines 39, 44, 45, 54, 56, 61, and 64 are all impacted by this project, but it’s unclear from the report if their travel times have been reduced.
When a project sets out to make non-car transportation faster, easier or more accessible, there may be some trade-offs for people driving cars, at least in the short-term. It would stand to reason that this is actually one of the main points of a project like this one: to encourage people to rethink their choice to drive single-occupancy vehicles.
