The Traffic Circle and New Scooter Law.

78.1

For all of those who answered my request to call 311 to tell San Antonio TCI that where they built the bicycle ramp was unacceptable. (Image 78.1)  Well, they decided to do a band aid fix instead of an actual fix. (Image 78.2)  For all your efforts, I would like to say thank you because from what I heard, they were planning on just leaving it the way it was.  They widen the bike lane just a bit and left it.  At some point in the future, they'll have to come back and redo the ramp, but we won't see that for a very long time, about the time when San Pedro gets a bike lane.  If you happen to be going through this circle, just stay on the sidewalk until the first driveway and go into the bike lane for that's the safest way to go.  

Also if you happen to need to get something fix, please email me at sirbikesalot06@gmail.com or leave a message on FB or Twitter about the problem along with the picture of it.  If it's not a useless bike lane, I'll post a similar call to action on this blog post FB and twitter feeds. 

78.2

Now I have another request to ask all my readers.  The new e-scooter law that is expected to pass on October 11th will allow the use of e-scooters on sidewalks so long as they yield to pedestrians.  My question is, why can't bicycles be treated the same way?  Right now, and I have mention this many times, Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited makes it currently illegal to use your bicycle and e-scooters on the sidewalk.  Well we as a community now has a chance to change the law and help those council members who said yes to removing that silly law from the books during the last municipal elections.  

 

Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited states: 

• (a)     It shall be unlawful for any person to drive or propel or park or stand any vehicle upon any sidewalk.
• (b)     Law enforcement officers and emergency medical personnel while using bicycles provided by governmental agencies and while in the performance of their authorized duties are exempt from the provisions of subsection (a). Any person, while parking a bicycle in city installed bike racks, is also exempt from the provisions of this section.

This law also applies to SWell Cycle for which their customers continuously breaks. If you want to contact Swell Cycles, our local bicycle share company about this issue, then click here to inform them on how their customers continuously break the law.  https://sanantonio.bcycle.com/contact

I also ask everyone to please call or email or your Council member and let them know that bicycles should be allowed to use the sidewalks just like the e-scooters. Below you'll see my letter that I sent to our mayor, which I also left his official contact information, at the bottom of this story. 

If you don't know who your council member is, please click here: https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/Find-My-Council-Member

Also I posted the council member answer to question F. " Will you amend Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited, so people can ride their bicycles on the sidewalk" below their contact info. 

District 1:  Roberto C. Treviño.  Main office ph# 210-207-7279  Field office ph# 210-207-0900
Email:  https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d1/Email-Form
F. Will you amend Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited, so people can ride their bicycles on the sidewalk?
Answer:  Yes
Explanation: I would explore this but we must have a thoughtful discussion of equal access to all so that sidewalks are safe to elderly and disabled.

District 2:  William H. ("Cruz") Shaw.   Main office ph# 210-207-7278.  Claude Black Comunity Center Field Office ph#  210-207-0950.  Rittiman Field office ph# 210-207-0970.
Email:  https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d2/Contact?sendto=District2

District 3:  Rebecca Viagran.  Main Office ph# 210-207-7064.  Constituent Office ph# 210-207-0969
Email:   https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d3/Contact

District 4:  Rey Saldaña.  Main Office ph# 210-207-7281.  Constituent Office ph# 210-207-0880
Email:  https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d4/Contact?sendto=District4
F. Will you amend Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited, so people can ride their bicycles on the sidewalk?
Answer: Yes
Explanation:

District 5:  Shirley Gonzales.  Main Office ph# 210-207-7043.  Collins Garden Library Field Office ph# 210-207-0960.  Las Palmas Field Office ph# 210-207-0990.
Email:  https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d5/SuggestionBox
F. Will you amend Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited, so people can ride their bicycles on the sidewalk?
Answer:  No (see explanation)
Explanation: In the existing environment, there are times and places where cyclists feel pressured to ride on the sidewalk, but an ordinance to allow riding on sidewalks does not address the underlying causes. Moreover, adopting such an ordinance may negatively impact the effort to improve cycling and walking in the city by tacitly acknowledging streets are the rightful domain of motorists, and that bicycles belong on sidewalks.  My goal, and I would ask the cycling community to share this goal, is to make cycling safe and pleasant on every street. A street where a person feels it is prudent to ride on the sidewalk is indicative of a failing street, a street that needs redesign, not the adoption of an ordinance to permit riding bicycles on sidewalks.

District 6:  Greg Brockhouse.  Main office ph# 210-207-7065.  Constituent Office ph# 210-207-3749.
Email:  https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d6/Contact?sendto=District6

District 7:  Ana Sandoval.  Main office ph# 210-207-7044.  Centerview Field Office ph# 210-207-0870.
Email:  https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d7/About/Contact
F. Will you amend Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited, so people can ride their bicycles on the sidewalk? 
Answer:  NO
Explanation: We would need to evaluate bicycles on sidewalks on a case-by-case basis as it is important to balance pedestrian safety and bicycle safety.  

District 8: Manny Pelaez.  Main Office ph# 210-207-7086.  Igo Library Field Office ph# 210-207-0943.
Email:  https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d8/Contact?sendto=District8

District 9:  John Courage.  Main Office Ph# 210-207-7325.  Frost Bank Field Office Ph# 210-207-0955.
Email:  https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d9/Contact?sendto=district9
F. Will you amend Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited, so people can ride their bicycles on the sidewalk? 
Answer: Yes
Explanation: YES. 

District 10:  Clayton Perry.  Main Office ph# 210-207-7276.  Constituent Office ph# 210-207-0994.
Email:  https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d10/Contact?sendto=district10

Mayor:  Ron Nirenberg.  Main Office ph# 210-207-7107.
Email:  https://www.sanantonio.gov/Mayor/About/Contact?sendto=Mayor
F. Will you amend Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited, so people can ride their bicycles on the sidewalk?     
Answer:  No     
Explanation:  Bicycling on pedestrian pathways poses avoidable dangers to both pedestrians and cyclists. We should insist on separated bicycle lanes instead.  

Images:
78.1:  A picture of the traffic circle bicycle ramp taken on August 15, 2018.  As you can clearly see, there's not much of a bicycle lane nor paint pointing the way.  
78.2:  A picture of the Traffic Circle bicycle ramp showing the band aid improvements that San Antonio TCI made. 


My letter to the Mayor, Ron Nirenberg.

Dear Mr Nirenberg,

I hear that the new e-scooter law that will be voted on Octoboer 11, 2018 will include a provision to allow these vehicles to be used on the sidewalk so long as they yield to pedestrians.  My question to you sir, why can't bicycles be allowed to do this as well?

The current law on the books, Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited states that: 

• (a)     It shall be unlawful for any person to drive or propel or park or stand any vehicle upon any sidewalk.
• (b)     Law enforcement officers and emergency medical personnel while using bicycles provided by governmental agencies and while in the performance of their authorized duties are exempt from the provisions of subsection (a). Any person, while parking a bicycle in city installed bike racks, is also exempt from the provisions of this section. 

Thus, this current law makes it legal for law enforcement to give out tickets not just to those who use the e-scooters, but those who also use the SWell bicycles that are docked just outside of the City Chambers. 

I can tell you from using a bicycle for daily commute and using the e-scooters that controlling a bicycle is way easier than an e-scooter.  The e-scooters are much harder to control because you're using not just your legs to balance the vehicle, but also your hands on the handle bars and there has been more collisions with e-scooters with pedestrians then there has been with bicycles colliding with e-scooters. 

I hope that when the rules governing these vehicles come out, they also include new rules to allow the many safe cyclist to use their bicycles on the sidewalk as well, so long as they yield to pedestrians.  

Sincerely,
Daniel Day.  

My Letter to SWell Cycle

To Whom it May Concern, 

It has come to my attention that the new e-scooter law that is to be voted by the city council will allow these vehicle to use the sidewalks, so long as they yield to pedestrians.   My question is this, why can't bicycles be also allowed to do the same?

The current law on the books, Sec. 19-286. Driving or parking on sidewalks prohibited states that: 

• (a)     It shall be unlawful for any person to drive or propel or park or stand any vehicle upon any sidewalk.
• (b)     Law enforcement officers and emergency medical personnel while using bicycles provided by governmental agencies and while in the performance of their authorized duties are exempt from the provisions of subsection (a). Any person, while parking a bicycle in city installed bike racks, is also exempt from the provisions of this section. 

Right now your customers are constantly breaking the law when they ride your bicycles on the sidewalk.  So far, I have yet to hear of a story of one of your customers being pulled over by police and issued a traffic ticket, but that can change at any time.  

I can tell you from using a bicycle for daily commute and using the e-scooters that controlling a bicycle is way easier than an e-scooter.  The e-scooters are much harder to control because you're using not just your legs to balance the vehicle, but also your hands on the handle bars and there has been more collisions with e-scooters with pedestrians then there has been with bicycles colliding with e-scooters.  

I ask the people at SWell Cycle to ask the city council that when they vote to allow e-scooters on the sidewalk, that they also allow not just your bicycles, but everyone who rides a bicycle on the sidewalks as well.  

Sincerely,

Daniel Day. 

The League of American Bicyclist is about to set back San Antonio again.

77.1

Back in August, Alamo Area MPO sent a tweet (image 77.1) out about San Antonio again reapplying to the League of American Bicyclist to become Silver ranking as a bicyclist friendly city.  I am here to warn people that if we win Silver status, then biking will get worse in San Antonio for the people who are in charge will use the status as a crutch not to improve the current situation. 

I've been pointing out the fact that since the awarding of the Bronze Status, that we don't deserve it. When your city voted to remove a bike lane, I think that everyone would agree, you don't deserve to be marked as a Bicycle Friendly City. Since that time, the city pretty much stop painting bike lanes except if they were down neighborhood streets that didn't need them or in District 5.  They also built a Protected bike lane and put it in a places where it didn't do any good plus the signal lights are timed in a way to to give cars a priority.  The biggest complaint that I hear of is about cars parked in bike lanes.  And the most  unfriendly thing that TxDOT and San Antonio TCI refuse to do is to enact the Bicycle Master Plan.

77.2

So how is the league coming to it's conclusion?  They are using this chart (image 77.2) to determine our city status and the greatest flaw in this chart is that they're going to be counting a street like South Pine which doesn't need a bicycle lane.  They're going to be counting the protected bicycle lanes along I-37 where the bicycle green light doesn't come on unless you push the beggars button. (image 77.4)  They're going to be counting the bicycle lanes filled with parked cars. (image 77.3)  They're going to be counting the miles and miles of trails that are illegal to use after dark because of Sec. 22-28. Public parks hours of operation and curfew. All the while ignoring the handful of needless deaths that their status leads to.

77.3

So What's our real status as a bicycle friendly city?  Back in May 2018, People's for Bikes came out with a new status based on actual metrics.  Out of these measurements, the city of San Antonio ranked 1.5 Stars, just sightly higher than Houston, or Dallas. Fort Worth has a higher status of 2.2 and Austin is at 2.8.

And we're such a bicycle friendly city, that the latest hit and run case (and thank god that she's alive) is Samantha Flores, age 23.  She's going to need help paying those medical bills, so please visit her gofunme page by clicking here. 

We as a community need to fight this ranking because if we do manage to get Silver, you can kiss the ideal of protected bicycle lanes down Broadway, Austin Hwy, Commerce, Military, Fredricksburg Rd, or any other major stroad.  You will see the City of San Antonio to continue to flaunt the new status, just as they flaunt the current status of Bronze as a bigger crutch to avoid putting down any new bicycle infrastructure.  The City will even will go so far as removing it, like they recently did on Broadway at Jones, especially where they are needed. 

77.4

So What can you do to fight back against this false status?  For starters, you can take some time out and fill out this survey by the League of American Bicyclist and let them know on question 6 that we don't deserve any friendly status.
Link to Survey:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/app_BFC_FA18

Second, you can sign your name to this petition and share it with your friends and urge them to sign it.  The more people who sign it, the better we are able to prove our case. To sign the petition, please click here.

Third thing you can do is to email the League of American Bicyclist, amelia@bikeleague.org and tell them your unfriendly story about our Bicycle Friendly city.  I have a sample letter available by clicking here if you need help on writing your letter. 

Fourth, you can contact Bike Texas by email mail@biketexas.org and let them know of your unfriendly experience of riding a bicycle.  I have a sample letter available by clicking here if you need help on writing your letter.your own.

Fifth, You can call the two friendliest bicycle council ladies on the city council and let them know that if we remain a bicycle friendly city according to the League of American Bicyclist that San Antonio Transpiration and Capital Improvements will continue to drag it's feet when it comes to building necessary bicycling infrastructure.
Shirley Gonzales, District 5.  Contact page: https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d5/SuggestionBox
Main Office: 210-207-7043

Anna Sandoval, District 7.  Contact Page: https://www.sanantonio.gov/Council/d7/About/Contact
Main Office: 210-207-7044

And that's all we can do folks. I can only hope that the league won't help Red McComes or Ancira car dealerships out by providing the City of San Antonio with a crutch to continue to remove or put in bicycle infrastructure that don't serve any purpose.  

Images:
77.1: Tweet from Alamo Area MPO. 
77.2:  League Of American Bicyclist https://bikeleague.org/community
77.3: Complaint about the cars park in the bike lane on Dover Ridge on the Far West Side
77.4: A meme illustrating how wrong they time the bicycle lights here in San Antonio.