🚨 Please note that BikePortland slows down during this time of year as I have family in town and just need a break! Please don't expect typical volume of news stories and content. I'll be back in regular form after the new year. Thanks. - Jonathan 🙏
Happy Pedalpalooza! My kids and I joined over a thousand others on the Pedalpalooza Kickoff Ride on Saturday and we’re excited for more bike fun! Hundreds of rides with all sorts of themes for all sorts of people will take place this month and a lot of them are kid friendly.
Bike Valet Sub
Go By Bike
Go By Bike is the largest bike parking area in North America. We average parking and returning over 300 bikes per day. Go By Bike is a small one location operation that started 7 years ago. We are very proud that the number of people riding to the tram continues to grow. When the tram first opened they only had 12 bike parking spaces.
We are looking for people who are interested in being a sub at the bike valet when people are sick or on vacation. The ideal sub is someone who is interested in being around bikes, cool people, and has excellent people skills. As a sub you would be helping retrieving people’s bikes. You do not need to have any mechanic experience to sub. When someone is out we will contact people on the sub list and if you are available you can respond. Compensation starts at $15/hour.
Fill out this form on the Go By Bike website and we will contact you to schedule a time for you to do a 20 minute orientation at the bike valet where we will show you how things operate and how to valet bikes. After your orientation we will contact you when we are in need of a sub.
Go By Bike Afternoon Mechanic
Go By Bike
Go By Bike is seeking an afternoon mechanic at the largest bike parking lot in North America. For the past seven years we have provided bike valet and repair under the Aerial Tram in South Waterfront. Go By Bike a small local independent business whose goal is to make the tram the best place in Portland to begin and end your bike trip.
The mechanic would work on bikes between 12-3 and then help valet bikes from 3-6:30 providing on the spot mechanic work and advice to customers. Customer service is a must as well as the ability to multitask. For the first hour you would work with our morning mechanic and for the following two hours you are by yourself. Repairs are mostly flats, brake pads, and regular tune-ups.
During the summer we valet 350-450 bikes a day.
Compensation starts at $15/hour plus 10% of your repair revenue.
Sick and vacation pay as well as paid national holiday and 1 paid week off during winter break.
Please send a resume with a cover letter explaining why you would like to work at the bike valet to goybikeshop@gmail.com
It’s time to help the Portland Bureau of Transportation make northwest neighborhoods as bike-friendly as possible.
PBOT has just opened an online open house and shared latest project concepts for their Northwest in Motion project. This is an effort to identify and prioritize about a dozen projects that aim to encourage biking, walking, and transit use in and around the Pearl District .
Pedalpalooza is off and running. And from the amount of smiles at Saturday’s Kickoff Ride, y’all are ready for it!
Welcome to the week. Here are the most noteworthy items we came across in the past seven days…
Double duh: A major study found that protected bike lanes work. And if that wasn’t obvious enough for you, they found that paint-only bike lanes are actually worse than nothing at all.
Flower power: Continental is set to launch a line of tires derived from “dandelion rubber”, which the company says are much easier on the planet than using rubber trees.
It’s been many years since we’ve had a transportation commissioner as willing to voice progressive ideas and positions as Chloe Eudaly.
I’m not sure if it’s because Commissioner Eudaly is simply more comfortable on social media than any other council member, or because she sees the communication channel as a strategic tool to shift the conversation her way. Whatever the reason(s), I like it. And if you care about smashing the transportation status quo, you should too.
Two recent Facebook comments from the Commissioner stand out. One was lighthearted, the other more meaty.
Marine Drive has been a problem child for the Portland Bureau of Transportation for years and the city hopes recent disciplinary actions help set it straight.
The road’s design encourages dangerous driving and the city has tried all types of tricks to slow people down and prevent them from running into each other, or from running off the road and into the Columbia River — something that happens more often than you think.
In one week last month, two drivers failed to control their vehicles and ended up in the river. One of them didn’t make it out alive.
The latest move is a speed limit reduction from 45 to 40 mph on an 8.5 mile segment between NE 33rd and 185th (Portland city limits). Last year PBOT lowered the speed limit west of this segment (from 40 to 35) and installed speed cameras at two locations (33rd and 138th).
This story was written by Malia Knapp-Rossi, a Master of Urban and Regional Planning candidate at Portland State University and intern with Better Block PDX.
Better Block PDX is excited to announce that Portland State University’s Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) has adopted the Project Pathway program.
Ever raced cyclocross, mountain, or road bikes at Portland International Raceway? Ever biked on the Columbia River Slough northwest of Kenton? Or maybe you’ve enjoyed the annual Winter Wonderland Light Show?
If you answered yes to any of those, you’ve ridden on the streets, across the yards, and around the borders of Vanport.
It’s been a long time coming, but Portland is finally about to take a big step forward in road safety. The Bureau of Planning & Sustainability (BPS) announced today they’ll propose a change to the City’s administrative rules that would require all garbage and recycling contractors to fill gaps in the sides of their trucks by 2022. The new mandate would apply to about 195 vehicles that currently don’t meet federal safety standards.
City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly announced today that Chris Warner has accepted her offer to be the new Director of the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
Warner had served as the agency’s interim director since July 2018 after previous director Leah Treat left for a job in the private sector.
“Director Warner brings over twenty years of public sector management and transportation policy expertise to his position,” Eudaly said in a statement. “As a policy and technical expert, he has worked at the local, state, and federal levels for Governor Ted Kulongoski, Senator Ron Wyden, Representative Peter DeFazio and City Commissioner Steve Novick.”
Commissioner Eudaly said she chose Warner after a national search (in part) because, “He understands how difficult it will be to reorient our transportation system to meet the challenges of the future… he knows PBOT, and he has the skills and experience necessary to turn ideas into actions.”