Every two years here in Texas, the State Legislature holds it's session. And every two years, BikeTexas ask people from all over Texas to come to Austin and lobby for a better bicycling state.
Back in 2009, I was a member of this group that went to Austin and we convince all the state Legislators to pass the "Safe Passing Bill" which the governor, Perry, the same one celebrating a rail connection to DFW, veto it. Now you might say, hey we lost, but did we. Today That Same law is now a City Ordinance not just here in San Antonio but also in New Braunfels and several other communities all across the state.
Today, I am asking all of my readers here in San Antonio to take time out on March 30th and go to Austin wearing your best Sunday clothing and go knock on the door of our local State Senators and Congress people. Your presence with BikeTexas at the State Capital will send a message that we want a better bicycling State, and a better bicycling San Antonio.
Two weeks to go until we speak up for people who ride bikes!
Already
registered? Great! We can't wait to see you in Austin. In the meantime,
spread the word to all your friends who ride bikes!
The
day in Austin begins with a briefing from BikeTexas staff about current
bills in the legislature related to bicycling. We review materials that
ask for support for specific legislation, then break into teams and
head out to visit every office. With your help, your elected officials
will know that there is a powerful bike lobby in Texas.
We'll
have lunch in the Capitol Grill (please anticipate about $10 for lunch)
during our lobbying time and take a picture on the Capitol steps before
heading back to the BikeTexas office for a celebratory happy hour.
Don't miss out! Register now.
Buses
will be available from many cities on Cyclists in Suits day--indicate
your interest on the registration form. We may also be able to line up
Austin home stays for those coming from places that are farther away
than is pleasant to drive in one day.
There
is no cost to attend Cyclists in Suits, thanks to generous support from
Richardson Bike Mart, Bicycles Inc, and Hans Johnson Company. (There
may be a fee for transportation to/from Austin.)
On a Friday Morning I got tagged in a twitter feed from the Rivard Report about stolen bicycles in San Antonio. In this story, they reported that over 2,000 bicycle were stolen last year. Now these aren't Huffys being stolen, but high end bicycles that someone had to dole out $300 plus to buy. Now I never had a problem about this because I knew that nobody would find my bicycles if they ever got stolen, so It was up to me to keep my bicycle from being stolen in the first place. I began to think like a thief and made sure at least on my end that no matter what happens, I would still have a bicycle even though I might not have a seat post or any lights left. So here's some advice that I use everyday, even when I take my bicycle out and to other cities.
1. Nobody is going to stop the bicycle thief.:
If you think a passer by is going to stop someone from steeling your property, well I have some terrible news for you, nope. I encounter some punk trying to steal a Mongoose at the Central Library like 5 years ago right in front of several people. As a matter of fact, at the same rack that you see as the backdrop to this blog I was the only one to stop him and get the bicycle back to the proper owner. The owner had purchase his lock from a dollar store and the thief was using some wire cutters from the same store. I chased down the thief up to Savings and Main Ave before I lost my breath and he got away. I haven't seen the guy since and chances are I'm not going to be around when someone steals your bicycle, so don't expect some passer by to defend your property.
Casey Neistats, a guy made famous for getting a ticket for not riding his bicycle in the bicycle lane in NYC, made another film about on how easy it is to steal a bicycle. He stole his bicycle not just in plain site, but in plain site in front of a police station and he only got caught when he took a power tool to stealing his own bicycle. Folks, nobody is going to stop someone from stealing a bicycle, so do what you can to make thief work to get your bicycle because I know you worked hard to get it.
2. Make sure your lock cost at least 10% of the value of the bicycle.
Now this is hard for all of us, because the reason why we're riding a bicycle in the first place in San Antonio is because we can't afford a car. We're glad to have gotten a damn good bicycle, but we're always broke and to people like us, well $80 is like two weeks worth of groceries. Finding the money for a good lock is pretty hard to find, but it has to be done. In the story, they mention Abus locks which is one I happen to have. In San Antonio, make sure your lock is at least an rating of 7 or above. Kryptonite also has a rating system as well and for their rating system, 6 and above. Also make sure that you have a cable and I'll point out why you should have one a little later.
3. Always lock up your wheel and frame.
This is very important that everyone does where ever they lock up their bicycle. You need to lock up your wheel and frame together.(Image 37-1) Even when you come to a bicycle rack that only supports the wheel, (Image 37-2) then you better find a way to lock up that wheel or when you come back, you might no have a whole bicycle to ride home on. Now this is where the Cable comes in handy for you might find that the only place to lock up your bicycle is at one of these wheel racks and well, you better make sure that your bicycle wheel and frame are both locked up. Now I don't have a cable at the moment, but I do have a chain and I use it to make sure that both wheels and frame are always locked up. (Image 37-2)
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"“The important thing is to make your property less appealing, less
accessible to the thief, than your neighbor’s property, the guy’s
property next door,” said Sgt. Javier Salazar, a San Antonio Police Department spokesman who I interviewed at the recent Síclovía press conference
at the Tripoint YMCA. “That may be a cold way of looking at it, but
it’s reality. The thief is going to look for the path of least
resistance. If your bike is better protected than the next guy’s, so be
it.”" Source: Rivard Report
Also, when you lock up your bicycle, make sure that nobody can move it. If someone else can come by and move your bicycle, chances are they can steal it. Hal Ruzal from Bike Habitat NYC can show anyone how to properly lockup their bicycle and in the Video below, he'll do just that. Also at the end of this post, you'll see another video explaining how to properly lock up your bicycle as well as a lesson on what not to buy when it comes to U-locks.
4. Always take your lights off.
Now you have your bicycle locked up, now it's time to take all the lights off as well as panniers and anything that can grow legs without you looking. This also includes your helmet so make sure
it all goes with you. inside.
5. Lock it up close to the Entrance
Where ever you choose to lock it up, try if possible to lock it up at the entrance of the building your going into. Not everyone has a bicycle rack at the entrance your going to, but if the rack happens not to be on the same side of the building where the entrance is, then don't lock it up there. Never, ever lock it up a bicycle to a rack that is not on the same side as the entrance is. If you happen to lock it up on a pole, make sure you cannot lift your bicycle up and over and remove it from that pole. Also make sure the pole is securely in the ground and keep the bicycle away from the parked car.
6. When you get home, bring the bicycle inside.
I don't know how many times I heard over Facebook that someone got their bicycle stolen off their porch. I wonder why they never brought the damn bicycle inside because I always bring my bicycle inside when I get home. I remember as a kid of getting my bicycle stolen off my deck. So after that, I simply brought my bicycle inside. Now this doesn't stop thieves at all for I also heard that some bicycles got stolen after their homes where broken into. Now I cannot help that, but I can always make some work for the thieves trying to steal the joy of two wheels, so if you don't bring it inside, don't complain that your bicycle was stolen outside on the porch. But if you do bring it inside and are afraid of home break ins, take advice of number 6.
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6. When there's no place to lock up your bicycle, Lock it up to itself.
When I go inside a place where there's no place to lock up your bicycle, then I take out the U-lock and lock up the wheel and frame together.(Image 37-3) Now Kryptonite doesn't recommend this, however but I do because I've heard several people getting their bicycle stolen when they went in for a quick Gatorade. I go to a lot of convenience stores and I can tell you that having my beloved bicycle locked up is just like taking the keys out of the ignition of a car. You don't leave your keys in the ignition when you go inside, you should do the same to your bicycle. Now I do this because a lot of bicycles that get stolen is because someone rode away with it. This method won't stop someone in a pickup truck, but when they get home, they'll have their work cut out to get that bicycle ready to be resold.
7. Lock your bicycle up on the VIA bus.
Now remember, VIA doesn't want your bicycle being locked to the rack and
for good reason because VIA has more problems with people leaving their
bicycles on the bus then they do with theft from the bus and at the end
of the day, they don't want to have to bend over backwards to get that
bicycle off the rack so it is free the next day. But that doesn't stop
you from locking your bicycle wheel and frame together like I mention in number 6. This is something I do all the time I ride the bus. I've heard several stories of people getting their bicycles stolen on the bus, stories ranging from falling asleep on the bus and being left with a huffy to seeing someone take it off the rack and rode away with it while watching people get aboard the bus downtown. So I do the same thing when I go into a convenience store, I lock up the wheel and frame together. Now you might not think this doesn't prevent the bicycle from being stolen but back in April 2014, my bicycle was almost stolen on the Lineup. As usual, the 12:30am lineup was being held up and as I sat down and started to stare at my phone, a guy wearing white and grey all over, came up and started to take my bicycle off the bus's bike rack but because I locked up the wheel and frame together, he eventually gave up and started to go after the other person bicycle which wasn't locked up. It was after about a minute or two of trying to take my bicycle off the rack that he started to go after the other person bicycle which wasn't locked up. That is when the bus driver notice that the bicycles on the rack was being stolen. Remember, nobody is going to stop your property from being stolen, and she honked the horn and alerted us that our bicycle was being stolen. The thief walked away very fast and if that wasn't the last bus out of downtown, I would have gone after that thief, but I was tired from work and wanted to go home.
8. Put down Identifying marks.
When bicycles are made, they're pretty much the same with the same type of paint scheme. So make your bicycle yours by putting a few dings and stickers on it.(Image 37-2) This will help you identify it when you need to the most. Also SAPD is going to hold an event called “Engrave and Save” on Saturday March 28th and I expect everyone to go to this event.
"NEWSWIRE: Saturday March 28th, detectives from SAPD’s Central Property
Crimes unit and SAFFE officers will host an “Engrave and Save” bicycle
ID initiative in front of the Central
Substation at 515 S. Frio St. from 8 a.m. to noon. Riders can sign a
waiver and and get an “owner-supplied number” engraved on the underside
of bike frames at no charge. SAPD will retain a copy of the waiver, in
effect, registering your bike in the event of a future theft and
recovery."
This will be posted at the top of my blog and if any more info is coming my way, I'll let you know. Now another thing you can do is copy the serial number which is located underneath the pedals on the frame of the bicycle. Keep a copy of the serial number with a picture that is no less than 2 months old of your bicycle in your wallet at all times so if goes stolen, you can post it on the twitter feed with photo and with the serial number to the police and to the national site that tracks stolen bicycles, bikeindex.org.
Images:
37-1: A diagram on how to show you to lock your bicycle up properly. Can be found by clicking here.
37-2: A picture of my bicycle locked up at a wheel rack where it is virtually impossible to properly lock up your bicycle.
37-3: A picture of my bicycle of what I do every time I put it on the VIA's bus bicycle rack or go inside a convenience store.
I've been hearing about the new green lanes around town and frankly, I'm not impressed at all. If you want to know why it's because I've ridden on better green bicycle lanes in Austin. (Image 36-1) Let me remind people that a green square box isn't a bicycle lane (Image 36-2) for it to be a green lane, well, the lane should be painted entirely green. So far the places that have gotten the "Green Box Treatment," are W Commerce St From Elemendorf Lake to out pass General McMullen and N Flores between Euclid, and Fredericksburg Rd. And I'm pleased to report they also have the green dash lines now.
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36-3
N Flores St has always been on the list of the Bicycle Master Plan
to get a bicycle lane. For the most part, they did a decent job and
they only put in the dash green lanes in only after I brought up the
issue at the February BMAC meeting. Now I understand that green paint is
expensive, but I wouldn't be bitching if they didn't put down the dash
lines of green paint in the first place.
Traffic now moves
slower now and for the most part, nobody is parking in the parking lane
which allows us cyclist to keep right further away from moving traffic.
(As a matterof fact, I recommend that people ride inthe parking lane in Iowa St Bike Lane, a Double Edge Sword.)
But when it came to the intersections of Fredricksburg RD, they
decided to keep the same old thing, two lanes of car traffic. (Image 36-4) Their
excuse is that there's sufficient vehicle traffic to warrant the two
lanes instead of just having a single car lane with a bicycle lane on the right hand side. I watch traffic here and it would have been safer for all if they never kept the two turn lanes. Also not putting in that 4ft bicycle lane would have been a better choice and instead started the bicycle lane closer to the right turn lane from southbound Fredricksburg Rd. I wish this city would stop thinking that 4ft bike lane are acceptable when it should be a minimum of 5ft.
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36-5
The same excuse is used
to justify the number of turn lanes that are on northbound N Flores at W Euclid.(Image 36-5)
Not only is there a right turn lane, but there is also a left turn lane
as if their is enough traffic volume to justify this left turn lane on
to Euclid which just happens to be a regular neighborhood street without double yellow lines. The other problem is that going southbound, it forces people
on bicycles to dangerously merge with traffic, (Image 36-6) defeating the purpose for
having the bicycle lane in the first place. If they really wanted to do it properly, they
would have nixed the northbound left turn lane and just had the two
lanes going north having the right hand lane just being a right turn lane except bicycles. The Same for the southbound lanes, instead of having these two lanes, how about having one lane merging across W Euclid with the same old two lanes down N Flores southbound.
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But if you really want to know why they did this stupid design here, (Image 36-5, 36-6)
because cars are more important then people on bicycles. Actions speak
louder than words to me and what these actions are telling me that the
movement of cars is more important than people. It tells me that San
Antonio's actual position on bicycles is that bicycles are for
recreation, not transportation for if the City of San Antonio was really
for a better carbon free future, they would have designed it without
the ridiculous turn lanes left and right, north and south. And lets leave the useless Sharrows out of this conversation.
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W Commerce St on the other hand is an okay job. This is definitely a place where bicycle lanes are needed and belong. They're wide enough west of Elmendorf Lake but I do have some issues at W Commerce St and Gen. McMullen. Yes it's a big place and the traffic volume deems it necessary to have right and left turn lane, but I felt pretty uncomfortable on that bike lane waiting for the green light. Also it's just too narrow just waiting there and maybe in the future, the city of San Antonio can actually put in a Protected bicycle lane like the ones they have in the Netherlands and Austin, TX for there's plenty of right of way available to put one in on both sides.
Also if you happen to be riding westbound on W Commerce St and you come to the intersection where Old Hwy 90 West splits off south and W Commerce St continues, Please put out your left hand and signal to all the motorist that your making a left turn regardless whether your going on Old Hwy 90 West or strait on down W Commerce. The people driving cars are not going to be able to reading your mind and if they just happen to be going strait, they'll run into you. Like in the green bicycle lane in Austin,(Image 36-1) the city of San Antonio did a good job here. I can only hope that they extended it further along both W Commerce and Old Hwy 90 West past San Joaquin (Image 36-9) and fix the problems between the one way sections of W Commerce and the bridge that crosses Elmendorf Lake.
36-9
Images: 36-1: Picture of the Green painted bicycle lane crossing Guadalupe just north of W 45th St viewing North
36-2: Picture of the Green bicycle lanes without the green dashes across Poplar viewing South
36-3: Picture of the Green Bicycle lanes N Flores St after my complaint to BMAC at W Cypress St viewing North
36-4: N Flores St at Fredricsburg Rd viewing south
36-5: N Flores St at W Euclid Viewing North
36-6: N Flores St at W Euclid viewing South
36-7: W Commerce St At Gen. McMullen viewing East
36-8: W Commerce St At Gen McMullen viewing East right before the right turn lane cutoff.
36-9: Old Hwy 90 West At San Joaquin viewing Southwest.\
P.S. It is also noted that The Alamo Bike Shop is the first of such shops to have a bicycle lane right out in front.
On Wednesday, Hemisfair took down its famous Arch that stood at the intersection of E Nueva and S Alamo, and today, Friday, they took down the Clockless Clock tower.(Image 35-1) These structures are in the way of motor vehicle traffic, and sorry to say that once it was a safe place to walk is now just like any other downtown street, little room for people, plenty of room for cars and SUV's.
It's been all over the local news about the famous arch, the famous Hemisfair Arch that was the backdrop for countless summer time movie times on the wall of the Magik Theatre, the New Years Eve celebrations, and other events. And as usual, our local media is missing the real story, which is that this is the first step in plans to bring automobile traffic to a pedestrian only zone.
While other cities around the nation and world wide are working on restricting and even making some streets car free, San Antonio is going back to the 1950's when we dreamed of endless roads of driving your new car on. Hemisfair said they're going to make it safer, but let's be honest here, you have a very safe place already because people don't have to look over their shoulders to worry about a car running them over. Their quote from the Express News says it all
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"The re-establishing of the street grid — pedestrian-friendly roads that will allow slow traffic and bicycles — is one of several facets of the park’s rebirth."
Um here's the thing, Hemisfair is already a "pedestrian-friendly" place right now. I wrote back in July 2014, that you have a great place and that all you need to do is activate it. When you reopen it, you and I will have to worry about people texting while driving on how beautiful Hemisfair made the place to drive a car. This is like saying that we're going to improve La Villita by bring back cars to the old neighborhood. There was a time as a matter of fact, that I've used Hemisfair Park on my way to St Philips SWC from their main campus on the Eastside BECAUSE THERE WHERE NO CARS TO WORRY ABOUT. As they reopen the park, I expect to see what I see on Houston St today and every weekend, people on bicycles running into people walking on the sidewalk because to many people are driving their cars causing a traffic jam.
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If it was true that improving public space is to allow cars into that space, then why isn't La Villita jumping up to allow cars down Villita St between La Villita and the Riverwalk? (Image 35-4) Why is it when they redid Brackenridge Park, they removed the roads through the park and left only one that is connected to Mulberry? Why is it that when we close off a street to vehicular traffic, we celebrate it as a major event called Siclovia? It is because cars take up a lot of space, and they destroy places that they're allowed in. Every time we make room for automobiles, people walking and people riding bicycles suffer because there's simply no defense against a 1,000+ pound steel cage and a inattentive driver, drunk or otherwise operating the vehicle. When Cars are slowed down or removed, people feel simply safer to lounge about and to exercise. There was a time in America's History when we thought about banning cars from our cities or restricting their speed limits to under 20 miles per hour for back then, the streets where meant for people. When car enthusiast saw this a threat to their driving, they launched an ad campaign to change the saying from "the streets are for people," to the current saying that we all know "the streets are for cars."
"If we don't change our habits, our obsession with treating cars as the
dominant life-form of our cities, catering to their every needs with
congestion-free roadways and ample parking, will be the downfall of
American cities. They are our bread and circuses. We know it's making us broke, and we still continue. It does not have to be this way - it is just a matter of priorities."
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The good news is that despite the city's assistance to bring back cars to a people friendly area, is that you can bring back the friendly area for the people by simply remove the access for the cars. It is a sad day for San Antonio for in other cities in North America and around the world are working tirelessly to restrict cars. There was a time right after World War II that we thought of progress with the building of freeways. Today, Dallas and Austin are looking into tearing down those freeways to revitalize the urban core, i.e. space for people. San Antonio seems to be stuck in the 1950. It is sad to live in a city where progress is measured not by how many protected bicycle lanes that are available, but how much space is available to drive your car. No Wonder there's a saying "Keep San Antonio Lame."
I'm not against the improvements being made, I'm against bad Ideals and this one just happens to be a bad Ideal.
Image:
35-1: A picture of the famous Clockless Clock Tower that was right next to the Downtown All Around Playground being torn down. Viewing South.
35-2: A picture of what is left from the removal of the famous Hemisfair Park Arch. viewing east.
35-3: A Picture of the famous Hemisfair Park Arch back in July 2014. viewing east
35-4: A Picture of Villita St in La Villita on the day that the they brought down the Clockless Clock Tower. Viewing West
35:5: A picture of Hemisfair way as it is currently is on Feb 20, 2014. this time next year, cars will be traveling down this pedestrian space.
Note About Story: I'm going to start doing a on the clock blog posting every First and third Tuesday of Every Month. And On top of all that, when breaking stories like this happen, I'll be posting them when they happen.
Last week, I focus on bus stop locations and Transit Centers. This week I'll be focusing on transit times and bus fare. To improve VIA, they cannot just do it by where they locate their transit centers and bus stops, it also means to working to make the buses go just a little bit faster and perhaps, make it free to use by all of San Antonio.
3. Make PRIMO Go Faster
The Economist wrote how collecting fare on the bus is just not economical and slows down buses yet we do it on Primo. When Primo services were sold to San Antonio, it was promised that it would run just a little bit faster just like light rail and be cheaper. But now as I ride this route, I find that it's a little bit slower than what it replaced which was the 91 Fredricksburg Rd, Skip Stop. When similar service is sold in other cities across North America, it is sold as cheaper than light rail, but with the same speedy service you get on rail. In other cities, you don't pay for the bus fare on the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit), but you buy a ticket at the station where you get on board the BRT. That's not how VIA does it, for you have to pay for the bus fare as you board the Primo. This slows the bus down quiet a bit especially at Deco District Station. Since this is the main bus route down Fredricksburg Rd now, most people ride the 100 instead of the 95 or 520. It's time that VIA stop collecting bus fare for the Primo on the bus, and instead allow all the doors to open up and have people board it like you would a light rail train stopped at a station. Have VIA police board the bus and ask people for their bus tickets and proof of fare as they're doing that, they can issue some fines like the DART police does on the light rail in Dallas. Have the tickets sold have a expiration time so it can be use like one would use a transfer.
4. Removing Traffic Jams for VIA Downtown.
If you live on the East Side like I do and to take the bus into downtown, you would have notice that during every weekend from Thanksgiving through Memorial Day, a traffic Jam forms as every car coming from the North Side is looking for parking downtown mainly at Rivercenter Mall. (Image 33-2) Now I don't see this as much in Dallas because their Light Rail does a pretty good job in having people who want to enjoy downtown choose transit over driving. A good example is what I saw during the 4th Of July, 2004. After the Downtown fireworks display, I was riding the Blue Line back to my motel room which was located out by I-610, the train was crowded with lots of families and their kids. To me, this was amazing because when similar events take place here in downtown San Antonio, everyone drives to downtown, not so in Dallas because trains are just better thing to ride than buses, and if you want to know why that is, well click right here to find out.
33-2
So since we don't have a good alternatives to driving downtown like they do in Dallas, cars end up jamming up the paths of Eastside buses at E Commerce and Bowie including the 100 from speeding through downtown like it was intended to do so. So why can't VIA work with the City of San Antonio and close off the far left lane and leave that lane open only for buses? What is so hard about this is beyond me because if VIA wants more people to ride their buses they're going to have to have faster service to get more people to ride. If they're not willing to fix this weekend traffic jam then why bother to ride the bus when driving is so much faster. They're will be no light rail to solve this problem any time soon, nor any proposed Lone Star Rail service so will you please get off the train bandwagon politicians and VIA as the only solution to fix our transit system. So will anyone at VIA or the City wake up and clean up this mess up? Probably not because like the rest of San Antonio, they must think that everyone who rides VIA are just losers and well we don't deserve a speedy ride at all. Like it or not, downtown is VIA's main transit center, and if people trying to get to work can't connect to their other routes and forced to wait a whole hour for the next bus. This lack of action simply promotes the belief that VIA SUCKS and it's just better to break down a by a car.
5. Keep Buses Moving during Battle of Flowers.
Every year during
the Battle of Flowers and the Fiesta Flambeau parades, VIA stops having
the buses go through downtown to continue on as other routes and instead
starts to have them go to downtown to certain stops to turn around
cutting off passengers ability to connect to other routes. The thing
about this is that these stops are really far apart forcing many of
VIA's riders to walk up to a half a mile through the parade just to get
to their connecting routes. You see you have the east side routes all
coming to Bonham at E Houston, the north side routes turn around at
Travis Park and finally all the west, south and southeast routes turn
around at Nueva and S St Mary's. So if you just happen to be on your
way to work when these parades are going on, well chances are you'll
have a good chance to become unemployed. It's these days that forces
hostage users like me to think, it's time for me to break down and buy a
car. And since you couldn't count on VIA for getting you to your job
on time, well they suck. Over the years VIA has done nothing to fix
this problem. So now you have this wonderful transit center on the west
side of Downtown, so why can't you have all the buses that are
detoured because of the parade hop on the freeways that surround
downtown and continue on after they all make a stop at the Westside
Multimodal Center (WSMMC). Having to have all of us hostage users walk
considerable distances to catch a bus is just wrong especially when
we're all running late, so now you have this great transit center downtown, so
start putting it to good use and when the city closes off Broadway and
Commerce St for the Fiesta parades, start rerouting all those buses to
WSMMC so we all can catch our connecting routes and be on time for work. .
6. Make Bus Rides Free.
People in San Antonio are extremely against toll roads and with a
passion because driving a car here in south Texas is considered a free
thing to do. Despite having to pay for gas, despite having to pay for
insurance, and maintenance, driving is considered a free thing to do, so
as I board the bus to get around San Antonio, I wonder why do I have to pay a toll? The
political leaders claim to want more people to ride public transit here,
but do they really encourage it? Of course not, they'll keep
complaining about Ozone Action Days and the traffic while at the
same time never consider the thing that might fix it which is to make bus rides free.
How to we guarantee free bus rides to all the residence of San Antonio and not
repeat the history with "problem riders" everywhere else it was tried. We keep bus fares in
place, however, if you can show proof of residency like a CPS bill, a W2
form, a paycheck statement, a lease, or bank Statement in San Antonio, then you
can go sign up at VIA and pay a fee of like a $60 for a full year of
free bus rides, just like you would now as you buy a 31 day Big Pass for
$35 but without the proof of residency. Limit the amount of people up to 4 people at a certain address. I
guarantee that every year during tax season, people will come down to
VIA and sign up and pay the $60 for a full year of free rides. Make it
a minimum of two years of residency to qualify for this service while
at the same time, we keep the bus fare around for the tourist, for the
homeless and others who would abuse the system or don't sign up. I
think this is a great idea so I can count on the local politicians not to
endorse this. Keep San Antonio Lame.
Conclusion
I hear from politicians and environmentalists who drive cars all the time that we need more people to take public transit, but when these people make the clean, carbon neutral alternative hard to accomplish, only the poor will use it not because we want to, but because we have to. If the goal of the city leaders and VIA is to encourage more people to ride transit, then I have just lay out some solutions that if implemented should increase the number of choice users and help improve the current image of VIA. So will you please get off the train bandwagon politicians and VIA as the only solution to fix our transit system. But chances are you'll never see any of these improvements at all because from what I have seen over the years from the inaction of our politicians and the actions of VIA have said to the citizens of San Antonio that you should buy a car. And guess what, we're doing just that.
Images:
33-2: A picture of E Commerce St at Bowie looking west showing all the cars trying to get parking at the Rivercenter Mall.
I wrote before how VIA sucks back in August, and ask anyone who takes the bus, on a daily basis for they'll agree with the sentiment. It's not really VIA's fault that they suck. Roughly 80% of the the reasons they suck are things they have no control over such as the fact that they have to serve a very large spread out city and they only receive 1/2¢ sales tax to pay to operate the system. Compare that to Dallas, Houston and Austin which receive a full cent sales tax, VIA have to be thrifty with their cash. They are unable to operate in places like Live Oak, Hollywood Park, Helotes, Windcrest and other independent municipalities that just don't want to pay the sales tax and they just don't like public transit at all. They also have to comply with the American With Disabilities Act and the Federal Transit Administration which means that they have to pick up any wheelchair even though the bus is full and running late.
The 20% that VIA has control over such as bus stop location, park-n-ride location, types of buses they use every day, how they collect fare. It is this 20% that VIA can work on fixing and this is where my advice comes in. So for the new VIA board chair, Hope Andrade, here are my suggestions to fix the image of your failing bus service. Yes your bus drivers are nice and I know a few. Yes you have the best mechanics in North America and how you pay for them is WONDERFUL, but in the end, that is only doing so much.
1. Put Connecting Bus Stops Closer Together.
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On some of it's routes, they do a terrible disservice on where they locate bus stops. This is a big problem mainly on the Looper 550/551. I pointed this out in my Streetcar series, Streetcar Part I, VIA Sucks when I pointed out the fact on how the 28 and 515 bus stop #16838 is nearly a quarter of a mile away from the connecting route of the 550 bus stop #96897. (For the record, I mistook bus route number for I always get confused on which number of the 550/551 Looper is going.) For some reason, VIA feels it necessary to discriminate against the hostage users (my term for transit dependent people) on my side of town. This is not the only bus stop, for the connecting bus stop of the 551 was recently moved from the traffic island on WW White and Rigsby (Image 32-1) and was moved south to the Hold Caterpillar Training Center.(Image 32-2) Yes TxDOT recently repaved the sidewalks on this part of WW White, but now this bus stop is further from places where people go to such as the 99 Cent Only Store and the CPS Energy bill paying center. (Image 32-3) Why they couldn't put this bus stop just pass the Burger King is beyond me, (Image 32-3) but as the actions of VIA speak louder than words, they obviously saying that you should buy a car so you don't have to worry where they locate the bus stops.
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This isn't the only bus stop like this for the 550/551 Looper Bus Stops are notoriously placed far away from connecting routes especially along the frontage rd of Loop 410. This is one of the reason why the majority of the hostage users in San Antonio considers VIA to suck. I understand that sometime you cannot get the bus stop where you would want it in the first place, but that doesn't mean that you should give up on not striving for good location and keep the walking distance down to a minimum between connecting bus stops because if the goal of VIA is to keep Paratransit usage down, then keeping the bus stops far apart will only encourage those who qualify for Paratransit to use it more often. VIA also wants more people to ride their buses, well when San Antonio sidewalks suck, (#sasidewalkssuck) having those bus stops to where they don't have to walk as far just makes sense.
This is not the only example for they're plenty of examples on the 550/551 Looper, all across town. The worse being able to connect from the Looper to the VIA PRIMO, 100 route at Wonderland Mall of the Americas. Please fix that one before you tackle the ones along Loop 410.
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2. Transit Center Locations.
VIA has a mix history when it comes to transit center locations. For this reporting, I will also include clusters of bus stops like Naco Pass. The Transit Centers they got right and put in the right places are Kel-Lac, Mainland, Walmart at 281 and Loop 1604, North Star, and the Walmart at Rigsby and 410. The ones they got in the wrong places are Madla, Naco Pass, and Randolph. I'll just won't talk about Crossroads, for VIA is considering to get rid of it and move it closer to the Primo Station on Fredricksburg Rd near Crossroads BLVD. I also will not be talking about the Medical Center Transit Center and Ingram for I have mix feelings about them unless someone asks me to in a future post. And from my understanding, VIA is about to make mistakes on it's future transit centers such as the one planned for Brooks City Base and Stone Oak.
What Via Got Right
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Hostage users like myself depend on the bus to be able to get to the grocery store, to get to work and to be able to go to other places to run errands. When VIA chose the location for the Kel-Lac Transit Center, (Image 32-4) they located it in the best possible spot, right next to a neighborhood, and right next to a Shopping Center where K-mart and Handy Andys use to be. Today the shopping center has several shops including a Family Dollar and a flea market. It's better than the old location between US 90 Access Rd and the Freeway which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Kudos to VIA for working out a deal so the buses could use the backside of this shopping center for a quick way through back to Military Dr. I can only hope that the owner of this shopping center will improve upon the location and turn it into a mix use area with apartments, and maybe even a grocery store like there use to be. Also I bet that VIA is actually adding value to this property. So if they're paying increase property tax to the County and the City because of Kel-Lac, then shouldn't that increase amount that the property is paying go to VIA? That is how they use to fund transportation, not by a user fee, but by a Land Value Added Tax.
The North Star Transit Center replaced the old bus stops on Rector, and although those bus stop shelters still exist, they at least placed this Transit Center right in the middle of the action. Due to height changes in the terrain, it is somewhat cut off from from the mall. But due to TxDOT's improvements to the sidewalks in this area, it's now a better place to walk, and you can still access the mall from the transit center location by either walking, or catching a bus to the old bus stops on Rector. Although VIA could work on shortening the distance one must walk to the mall from this location, for the most part, it's properly located so one can access nearly all of the businesses on foot both inside and outside loop 410 all be it, a somewhat of a distance to walk.
Also the cluster of Bus Stops at Walmarts such as Mainland, 281 At Loop 1604, and Rigsby At Loop 410 are also good choices as well. Now I'm not a big fan of Walmart, but when your grocery stores are limited to only two which are HEB and Walmart, and when you live with out a car like I do, (hostage user) your glad that the bus stops right next to the store instead of being at the edge of the parking lot along the stroad.
What VIA Got Wrong
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The transit centers that VIA got wrong are Madla, Naco Pass, and Randolph. These transit centers are located away from places where people want go. In Madla's case, (Image 32-5) it located away from South Park Mall, it's located away from the apartments on S Zarzamora, and there just happens to be a fence on Cantrell Dr blocking access to the neighborhood from the transit center. Now it just happens to be in a perfect spot for a future train station for the Lone Star Rail, however, I will stand by my opinion, it is simply a study collecting dust and there will be no train station at this location ever. If VIA is ever to improve service on the South Side around South Park Mall, they better put it in a better location, like in South Park Mall's parking lot.
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Randolph Park And Ride has a history. The buses that serve this place was once located at Windsor Park Mall, now the home of Rackspace. Back in 1992, (maybe I got this year wrong) a terrible murder took place there. A man waiting for the bus to go home just had 40 cents in his pocket, the bus fare amount back then. Another man came along and in the process of robbing him, killed him for not having any money on him except 40 cents. It was this tragedy that prompted VIA to move the transit center to it's current location at I-35 and Loop 410. (Image 32-6) People don't know, but the neighborhoods around Windcrest are very dangerous neighborhoods. What VIA got wrong at this location was where they put the parking lot, and where they put the bus shelter. In a perfect world, the transit shelter would be located next to the intersection of Randolph Blvd and Crestway Dr, while the parking lot would be located next to the interstate. But no, they had to do it the other way so people would have to walk farther. I don't think that the designers of this place were thinking about walking in the July heat, but I can only hope that today's designers, architects, and engineers will take into account that walking long distances in a 100 degrees heat is a no go for everyone. Other locations could have been sought out such as Perrin Beitel and Loop 410, but no matter.
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Now Naco Pass (Image 32-7) is another failure for it is located far away from the businesses such as HEB, Walgreens and the Walmart around the intersection of Thousand Oaks and Nacogdoches. The problem is that this cluster of bus stops is that it is located behind a bowling alley at Uhr Ln and Naco Pass. Maybe one day, VIA can forgo this location and put this cluster closer to the intersection of Thousand Oaks at Nacogdoches, but until then, we hostage users are just going to have to suffer, either wait an hour for a bus going to the proper place, or walk to these places.
Future Transit Centers
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They're many new transit centers and park-n-rides planned all across San Antonio and Bexar County. One such transit center is being proposed for Brooks City Base.(Image 32-8) If VIA want to improve it's image, they better located this transit center at the intersections of Goliad and SE Military, or at City Base landing and SE Military. It should be quite obvious why it should be located here, because if it's located further into Brooks, then it will simply be cutting off people from where they want to go, like the HEB, the Walmart Supercenter, the Best Buy and even the Target. The same rules should also go for the future transit centers of Stone Oak, Beorne, and even New Braunfels. Kel-Lac should be the example that VIA strives towards, connecting their patrons to the place that they need to go to. Transit centers are there to connect multiple bus routes at one location. They do a better job when they also are able to connect to places that people need to go.
So far what I have written should tell you that we're not
just transit users, but we're pedestrians and people just don't like to
walk very far. So closing the distances between bus stops and where
people want to go should be a goal for future transit centers and
connecting bus stops. This blog is getting pretty long, so I leave the other suggestions in my next blog post in two weeks, so until then, enjoy.
Images:
32-1: A Google Street View of the former location of the 551 Bus Stop at Rigsby showing by accident where the 30 bus stop is Viewing North.
32-2: Current location of the 551 bus stop showing it to be farther away from Rigsby viewing North
32-3: A Google Satellite Map showing where bus stops where, and are currently and where some business are where people need to go.
32-4: A Google Satellite Map showing where the Current and old Kel-Lac transit center are at US 90 and Military Dr.
32-5: A Google Map showing the location and how things are cut off from Madla Transit Center on the South Side of Town. I didn't choose the Satellite Map because I wanted to show the walking distance from a random address in the neighborhood next to the transit center and how it's pretty much cut off from everything.
32-6: A Google Satellite Map of Randolph Park-n-Ride showing where the Transit Shelter and the parking should have been placed.
32-7: A Google Satellite Map of Naco Pass Showing how it is poorly located.
32-8: A Google Satellite Map of Brooks City Base Showing the future failure of VIA's future Transit Center.
Happy new year to everyone. As usual life gets in my way of writing, but I have settled on at least one story ever two weeks. Also as I finish writing this post, I would like to inform all of my readers of the lost to the local cycling community and a friend Matthew Ahern. He recently past away on Thursday due to a bad heart. He didn't so much helped to make the bicycling community as he worked to try to make San Antonio Real. I fell out of touch with him when he lost that house on Howard St in which he wanted to have as a urban farm. San Antonio will miss you.
Also to keep this blog from being published, I got sick to the point that this screen was very hard to see and I was unable to walk around. Bright screens hurt my eyes and since I've just recovered, It just now coming out.
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Hey San Antonio, have you ever wanted a bicycle path like you heard about them having in Denmark or the Netherlands? Or what about the ones their building in Austin? Well have there is one right now along the frontage road of I-37 in front of the Convention Center.(Image 31-1).
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I notice the new cycletrack when I first saw the cut out in the concrete at the intersection of E Commerce and the southbound exit of I-37 back in 2013. (Image 31-2) I normally see these cuts in sidewalks underneath freeway bridges for storm water drainage, but it's rare to see these things downtown and so big for that matter. Now I was hoping that they would at least spread it out down E Commerce, but knowing the unofficial stance towards cycling, I knew it wouldn't happen. I also knew that from the get go in 2013, that Transportation & Capital Improvements would have all the signals screwed up and bias towards everyone not in a car. Now don't get me wrong building this is having San Antonio move in the right direction, but it should have been built for people being the first priority, not the cars going by. In my opinion, they build this to say we're doing something for cycling, now stop asking for improvements. Everything I saw was built to make sure cars can go as fast as they possibly can and to have people feel inferior when you are on foot and bicycle.
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Now I'm going to point out everything both wrong and right with this new piece of infrastructure. I'll be working my way from E Commerce to Cesar Chavez. I will try to show as many picture as possible, but if any one wants to help me make a video on what is wrong, please contact me, via the links to the left of this page.
Coming from E Commerce, just as you approach I-37, you'll start to see a shaded painted protected bicycle lane to your right. As you come you enter the bicycle lane you'll come to a light crossing the southbound exit from I-37. As you cross that exit, you come to a pole with a crosswalk button (they're actually called beggars buttons) that signals the bicycle light signal. But you immediately see the problem with the button that suppose to activate the signal across Commerce on the other side of the pole out of reach because of a curb. (Image 31-3) This is Failure one, why they didn't put on the side of the bike lane is beyond me. What this action says to me, "is that I should be in a car, not on a bicycle."
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The next failure is that the bicycle light and the Crosswalk light isn't on at the same time and isn't on at the same time with green light for the cars.(Image 31-4) Another problem is that signal lights don't light up automatically when the green light is on for the cars going in the same direction as it is on at most downtown crosswalks. Austin had it right when they put this sign up on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway for they didn't use any bicycle signals, they just used the regular crosswalk signal. This light just happens to be on when the green light is on for the cars.(Image 31-5)
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Another problem are the large crowds during an Alamodome event. Now the good news is that they don't head down towards Montana, at least most of them. However, because there's lack of sinage, people walk along the path set up for the bicycles as well as the path set out for them. Having some sinage down either painted on the path or put up telling people to stay right would help, not just on the path by the Institute of Texan Cultures, but would be great along the entire length. Also having a orange stripe down the entire length of the path would help along with some Sharrows, a place where they would actually be useful. (Image 31-6, 31-7)
Again both at Market and Montana, the bicycle light isn't in sink with the motor vehicle light or the crosswalk light. I'm expecting SAPD bike patrol to start handing out tickets to anyone running this red light. All I can say to the person who timed these lights is thanks again for keeping San Antonio lame and for keeping the easier choice to use still be the polluting one.
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31-7
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31-9
As the trail come to end end by the Institute of Texan Cultures, some signs have already been put up telling people and cyclist to keep to their perspective sides. It would be nice for there to be two paths, but on the day I saw the crowds going to the Alamobowl, they simply avoided this part of the path. I cannot say how it will be for Folklife. (Image 31-9)
Now the worse part of this entire construction and it makes me think that the person who designed it and signed off on it's construction cannot seem to use good common sense, i.e., an idiot. It's not just a danger for people on foot, or on a bicycle coming off the path, but it is also a problem for future delivery 18 wheelers going to the New HEB that will be built at S Main and Caesar Chavez. The HEB Warehouse is located at Loop 410 and Rittiman Rd. From there any delivery truck will be heading south on I-35 and then to I-37 and be getting off at Caesar Chavez. They will be turning in this terrible designed right turn lane tearing down the Do Not Enter Sign which has already been torn down by another vehicle, which I cannot determine if it was a car or a big commercial vehicle. (Image 31-10)
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As Any 18 wheeler using this turn lane, their trailer wheels will go over the sidewalk, and who know if it will hurt any people waiting to cross to the island.(Image 31-11) That waiting area to cross is so narrow and shouldn't have been built in the first place. The way it should have been built was to have the sidewalk at least come out to where we have the island and no island be built, and from there be able to cross the stroad. This is by far the biggest problem of the entire Cycletrack. Now only will it cost a few million to rebuilt, I hate to say it but it will never get built until somebody gets killed walking or biking here. That's the sad fact that if we were to make it safer, someone is going to have to die. Chances are, they'll just make it safer for the cars speeding, not for anyone on foot or bike. Also it would help if the people designing these things at least had to attend truck driver training class and obtain a Class A-CDL. I think by having such experience, then we would see less terrible designs for both vehicles and people. If your asking why was it built, so cars could turn faster. As we have seen time and time again that faster speeds hurt people. So if your ever walking by using this crosswalk. Just remember, the car turning faster is more important than your safety on foot. (Image 31-11)
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So lets see whats wrong. One, lack of paint for keeping people to their proper sides. Two, having the bicycle and pedestrian signals not in sink with the vehicle signals. Three, having the beggars button for the bicycle signal, which in many cases is simply not needed hard to reach and push to activate it. And finally, having the turn lane at Cesar Chavez.(Image 31-11) If most of these things can be fixed, then that's great, but the thing that needs to be fixed the most is the most expensive problem and that's that right turn lane with that island at Cesar Chavez.
Images:
31-1: Viewing North of the Convention Center Cycletrack just past the Institute of Texan Cultures.
31-2: Viewing West at East Commerce and I-37 of the police cars parked in the bike lane.
31-3: Viewing West at E Commerce and I-37 showing the button on the other side of the curb of the bicycle lane.
31-4: Viewing South at E Commerce showing both the bicycle signal and the pedestrian signal not in sink with the vehicle signal in the same direction.
31-5: Viewing East on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway in Austin at a digital sign telling motorist to yield to people in the crosswalk both on foot and bicycle.
31-6: Viewing South at Market where the bicycle signal is red and the pedestrian signal is counting down.
31-7: A group of people in the bicycle path approaching Montana where you see the pedestrian and bicycle signal in red while the vehicle is in green viewing south
31-8: A man in the Crosswalk crossing the Southbound I-37 Exit at E Commerce St showing how the bicycle signal is on while the crosswalk is off.
31-9: A sign asking people to share the path as it becomes one path at the Institute of Texas Cultures
31-10: A picture of the down Do Not Enter Sign and the Fast Turn lane at Cesar Chavez at I-37
31-11: A group of people wait to cross to the island at Cesar Chavez and I-37
