🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
The electric bike revolution has landed in Portland.
All weekend long at the Electric Bike Expo the world’s top e-bike brands are offering free test rides of over 100 different models. I swung by on Friday afternoon to get a closer look.
Starting this Monday (5/23), traffic patterns on North Willamette Boulevard will change dramatically for up to four months.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation is replacing a viaduct that spans across the bluffs between North Chase and Fowler which requires them to close the entire northern lane. During the closure, all northbound auto, truck and bus traffic will be detoured up to Lombard. Willamette will remain open for bicycle riders in both directions — but northbound bike traffic will be routed up onto the sidewalk.
Here are the details from PBOT:
We’re always glad to see the subject of a story show up in a comment thread. When the subject of a story happens to be a political candidate on her way to hundreds of thousands of ballots in a few months, that’s even better.
Thursday morning, Portland City Council candidate Chloe Eudaly jumped (politely but authoritatively) into a discussion about her positions on transportation and housing. It was taking place beneath our post about her late surge to make the November runoff against sitting council member and Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick.
Her transportation thoughts are, she admitted, weak on detail so far. But they’re strong on credibility — among other first-rate literary references, they included a story about her time biking around Amsterdam with one of the best-known writers about urban bicycling, “Dishwasher” Pete Jordan.
Job Title *
Lead Bike Technician
Company/Organization *
BIKETOWN
Job Description *
About BIKETOWN:
Bicycle sharing is a sustainable, healthy, and community-based transport option that enhances urban livability and mobility. Under contract with the City of Portland and with sponsorship from NIKE, Inc., Motivate International is excited to announce the beginning of its operation of Portland’s bicycle sharing program, launching this summer. The system will include 100 stations and 1,000 bikes. Motivate is the largest operator of bike share systems in North America.
Overview of Position:
BIKETOWN is seeking an experienced Lead Bike Technician to oversee a team responsible for all aspects of bicycle assembly, maintenance, and repair for a “smart bike” fleet of 1,000 bicycles each equipped with an interactive user interface. The bike technicians will be responsible for the proper functioning of the bicycles in the system, including troubleshooting the electronics on the user interface and swapping batteries as necessary. Training on technical and unique aspects of BIKETOWN bikes will be provided. You’ll be a part of a team that focuses on operating an effective bicycle transportation system with emphasis on building strong client and sponsor relationships while exceeding the highest standards for service. This position reports to the Operations Manager.
This is a full-time position.
Responsibilities:
– Supervise and train a team of Bike Technicians.
– Oversee the initial assembly and subsequent maintenance and repair of a fleet of 1,000 bicycles, troubleshooting and devising solutions as needed.
– Manage the scheduling of Bike Technicians to ensure adequate coverage for all shifts (including work in the shop and in the field).
– Ensure that bicycle repairs are completed in a professional and timely manner.
– Respond to requests from the Operations Manager.
– Assist in maintaining an OSHA compliant workplace.
– Ensure that all necessary reporting is accurate, complete and timely.
– Perform bicycle repairs and maintenance.
– Perform in-field bike checking as necessary.
– Understand bicycle department contract Service Level Agreements and ensure metrics are achieved on a monthly basis.
– Participate in installation or move of bikeshare stations as needed.
– Use web and phone applications to locate bikes and interact with bike computer interface.
– Represent BIKETOWN positively and share information about the program with the public during the course of executing duties in the field.
– Work to help manage the inventory, organization, and cleanliness of the work space.
– Maintain a positive relationship with all co-workers.
– Cross-train as requested in other roles
Note: The above description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications associated with the job. All personnel may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities due to the nature of work performed to accomplish Motivate International’s mission.
Required Skills and Experience:
– Minimum three years of experience in professional bicycle repair.
– Minimum one year of experience in a supervisory/management role.
– High school diploma or the equivalent; Bachelor’s degree preferred.
– Excellent organizational skills.
– Strong analytical and problem solving skills.
– Passion for bikes, efficiency and sustainability.
– Proven technical and mechanical aptitude and innovation.
– Adaptability – enthusiastically adapt to changes in the work environment.
– Dependability – Follow instructions; respond to management direction; communicate frequently; solicit feedback to improve performance.
– Interpersonal skills – maintain confidentiality; remain open to others’ ideas; demonstrate patience and willingness to try new things.
– Excitement and interest in bike sharing is a must.
– Ability to report to work at the BIKETOWN operations center in SE Portland and/or field locations, as needed.
– This position may occasionally require hours which exceed 8 hours per day and/or 40 hours per week.
– Familiarity with Portland area geography and street layout a plus.
– This position may require frequent or prolonged standing, sitting, bicycling, bending, stooping, and/or lifting up to 50 pounds.
Preferred Skills and Experience:
– Applicable training or courses involving bicycle repair is a plus.
– Familiarity with electronics troubleshooting and repair a plus.
We are an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.
Motivate is a drug-free workplace.
Compensation:
– Salary: Dependent on experience.
– Competitive benefits package offered.
How to Apply *
Please apply using the BIKETOWN website. Here is a link to the online application:
https://www.appone.com/MainInfoReq.asp?R_ID=1309417
We haven’t been able to do a full story about this plan yet, but we wanted to let you know about this open house. If you ride, live or work up near Mt. Hood, be sure to chime in about the bike/ped plan they’re working on.
I’ve pasted some salient info about the plan and the June 1st open hosue below.
The Villages at Mount Hood are home to over 5,000 permanent residents, and the surrounding area serves thousands of recreational users every year. Visitors from the Portland area come to enjoy its mix of uses, including biking and hiking. Clackamas County aims to increase transportation choices – especially bicycling and walking – to support the needs of The Villages communities along the US 26 corridor within the communities of Brightwood, Welches, Wemme, Zigzag, and Rhododendron.
Clackamas County has initiated Walk & Bike The Villages at Mt. Hood to identify and promote safe travel options within and between communities on Mt. Hood. Currently, area residents and visitors have few travel options besides personal vehicles because local roadways are narrow, and lack shoulders and bikeways. The project will help identify where shoulders and bikeways are most needed and prioritize the necessary improvements.
Six years ago former US Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood surprised everyone at the closing reception of the 2010 National Bike Summit when he climbed up on a table and made a short but sweet speech.
“I’ve been all over America,” LaHood proclaimed, arms outstretched over 700 bike advocates. “People do want alternatives. They want out of their cars; they want out of congestion; they want to live in livable neighborhoods.”
The next morning he followed that up with a policy document that he said marked “the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.”
Fast forward to Wednesday when current DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx came to Portland. He struck resonant chords about America’s failure to diversify our transportation system, but as evidenced by the FAST Act that passed under his watch, federal transportation funding and policy shows no signs of ending its long romance with the automobile.
So when I got the unexpected opportunity to ask Secretary Foxx a question, the first thing that popped into my head was that indelible image of Ray LaHood standing on a tabletop in that Senate ballroom on Capitol Hill. I wondered if Secretary Foxx had any insights into how we might usher in this era LaHood once spoke of.
One of Portland’s most unusual experiments in privately funded bike promotion keeps growing and growing.
I’m witnessing problems on the Springwater that have nothing to do with people who are houseless. As more and more people are using the path this spring as the weather gets nicer, I’m seeing a good bit of rude and unsafe behavior on the Sellwood-OMSI section. As someone who sometimes bikes fast myself, I’m sad to say that the majority of the rudeness I see is coming from my fellow fast cyclists.
As an example – this morning I saw two gentlemen in roadie garb and bikes going about 21 mph on the Sellwood-OMSI section of the Springwater. On the very narrowest section of the path (just south of where the path goes under the Ross Island Bridge), they passed a family with two kids on bikes. The gentlemen in roadie garb didn’t even go single-file to pass this family despite the path being quite narrow at this point. The gentleman on the right passed the kids extremely close and at high speed. The family seemed scared.
This type of behavior is not OK. If you’re behaving rudely on a path, no matter on a bike or walking or whatever speed, you really need to stop. If you’re behaving rudely at 21mph, that presents much more of a risk to other path users than someone behaving rudely at 12mph or 3mph. People who go fast on bikes need to behave more cautiously and politely than people who go slowly because of this. If you’re a fitness type, think of the slowing down and speeding up as adding some sprints to your workout 🙂
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2016 is a huge year for the Columbia River Gorge. 100 years ago Oregon celebrated the opening of Route 30 — the Columbia River Highway — and this year we’ll celebrate its grand re-opening as a State Trail with miles of new biking and walking-only paths that open up exciting carfree exploration opportunities.
But even as new pieces of the State Trail are completed, our overuse of cars is killing the Gorge vibe. In an effort to reduce automobiling’s impacts to this historic natural resource we all share, the Oregon Department of Transportation has launched a new public transit line.
The Columbia Gorge Express opens next Friday. The new line will have 12 departures a day Friday through Sunday from the Gateway Transit Center with stops in Rooster Rock State Park (25 miles east of Portland) and Multnomah Falls (30 miles east of Portland). It’s just $5 for a round-trip ticket and bicycle riders are welcome aboard: Each transit vehicle has capacity for three bikes on the rack.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Our bike parking coverage is sponsored by Huntco.
Downtown Portland’s most interesting new meal spot could be described as an indoor food cart pod, or maybe a slightly upmarket food court.
But whatever you want to call Pine Street Market, one thing it’s clearly short of is bike parking.
A few weeks ago, when I met a friend there, I resorted to something I’ve never had to do since moving to Portland: locking my bike to the plumbing outside a nearby building.
This is such an odd situation in Portland, which usually excels at commercial bike parking above all else, that it’s been drawing attention:
Looking for a new place to spread you cycling wings? We’ve got three great job opportunities that just went up this week.
Learn more about each one via the links below…
–> Sales Associate – Rack Attack Car Rack & Hitch Centers
–> Staff Physical Therapist – Pedal PT
–> Retail Sales Person – Universal Cycles
A nearly two-year quest to raise funds for Safe Routes to Schools across the Portland region came to an end this morning. At the monthly meeting of Metro’s Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation, elected and agency leaders voted to support a policy direction that will inform how $130 million in federal “flexible” transportation dollars are spent.