Candidates Position on Cycling

There's another election coming up, this time, it is to elect a new mayor and city council.  This Election will be held on May 9th, 2015 and early voting is From April 27 to May 5.  But who to vote for is the question we're all asking in the bicycling community for I my self don't want to elected anybody who would act like Rob Ford of Toronto and remove perfectly good bicycle lanes especially where they're needed the most..  Now I'm not going to endorse any candidate, I will however say ya or nay to their ideals.  I will however remind everyone who voted against bicycling last year on May 29, specifically voted to remove the bicycle lanes on S Flores.  they are....

Acting Mayor Ivy Taylor then council Lady for District 2
District 3 Rebecca J. Viagran
District 4 Rey Saldana 
District 6 Ray Lopez
District 7 Cris Medina
District 8 Ron Nirenberg
District 9 Joe Krier
District 10 Mike Gallagher

So my Advice is don't vote for anyone on this list.  They're stuck in 20th century anyway and I don't know about you, but I want a better bicycling San Antonio for the 21st century.

Now I decided to ask all the mayoral candidates except Ivy Taylor and asked them five questions.  Those Questions are...
1.  Would you have voted to remove the S Flores Bike Lanes?
2.  What are your plans to improve Bicycling as a form of transportation in the City?
3.  Are you a supporter of Uber and Lyft?
4.  What are your plans to improve VIA? 
5. 5. Anything Else you would want to add?

Now if they failed to get into contact with me and I worked hard to contact every candidate, I'll be criticizing what they wrote on their campaign site concerning the five questions I've asked.  The Candidates are listed in the order that they'll appear on the ballot according the Rivard Report. To find their website, just click on the candidate's name.  Now on to the Mayors....


Paul A. Martinez
1. Would you have voted to remove the S Flores Bike Lanes?
Answer: No…bike lanes are an important part of our city and are vital to the public safety of our citizens who choose to ride bikes as an alternate means of transportation.

2. What are your plans to improve Bicycling as a form of transportation in the City?
Answer:  As we move our city into the future we need to plan bike lanes so that there is no reason to shut them in the future as our city grows.

3. Are you a supporter of Uber and Lyft?
Answer:  Yes I am a supporter of Uber & Lyft however while I welcome free enterprise they must adhere to public safety ordinances. I do not agree with all of the ordinances that our city placed on the ride-share public safety is non-negotiable.

4. What are your plans to improve VIA?
Answer:  My plan to improve Via is to bring in change management specialist that would identify the eight (8) types of waste going on in Via. I would also make sure that their leadership are qualified to actually run Via.

5. Anything Else you would want to add?
Answer:  It is critical that “We the People” have a voice in our city government but in order to do that we must stop electing career politicians and start electing career leaders. We need to elect a leader with vision, a leader who will listen to everyone and not a special interest group.


Douglas S. Emmett
No Answer, No Website

Michael Idrogo
This is probably the most retarted idea I have heard to improve our economy which is to build a Canal from here to the Coast.  Now if your asking why this is such a terrible idea, the answer for that is that we don't have the water to build a canal.  You see during the founding of our city, the San Antonio river was used for commerce for it was wider and deeper than it is today.  As more and more people moved to San Antonio, the Edwards Aquifer was tapped more and more thus less water was going to the river. Today the City of San Antonio has to pump water into the river to create the famed Riverwalk and you can see this pump which has been on more and more since the building the Museum Reach right behind the Witte.  The good news is that we have railroads for bulk items which is normally what is sent on barges these days because if we still had to use rivers to bring all our cheap goods, then San Antonio wouldn't be a big city it is today.

Mr Idrogo idea isn't limited to San Antonio for once upon a time, Dallas was talking about actually building a port.  If it was dumb ideal for Dallas, then it's also dumb ideal for San Antonio and Roman Mars of 99% Invisible illustrates it better than I could.  Listen to the story right here.


Raymond Zavala
No Answer, No Website.

Mike Villarreal
I'm for one is drooling over this, Making San Antonio one of the best bikable places in the USA.  If you  read my blog regularly, this is what I've been wanting in San Antonio and it is the reason why I write this blog.  Here's the thing, He will not have enough time to make San Antonio a great bicycling city during his term.  He might be able to get San Antonio to move it's ranking on Bicycling Magazine from 48 to probably 40.  To really become on Bicycling Magazine Top 10 List he would have to divert at least 50% of the roadway maintenance fund to do it and knowing how long it takes just to repair a stroad in San Antonio, will be lucky that we get like 3 or 4 of them.  His other ideas are also long term solutions so don't expect them to be implemented with in a 4 year period.  Again I am drooling over this, but I'm grounded in reality and I realize that this just ain't really possible because Unlike Austin which has groups like BikeAustin.org and the headquarters of BikeTexas, San Antonio lacks an organized bicycling community that is politically involved to really make San Antonio bikeable. 

Tommy Adkisson
1. Would you have voted to remove the South Flores bike lanes?
Answer:  I would not have voted to remove the South Flores bike lanes. To make our city both more walkable and bikeable, it’s imperative that we evaluate the way our streets are designed and constructed. Emphasizing our urban corridors (including making them friendly to non-drivers) would have a profound impact on our community- as a mechanism to relieve congestion on our expressways and also to encourage neighborhood interface, especially traffic to mom and pop business!

2. What are your plans to improve bicycling as a form of transportation in the city?
Answer:  The focus of my campaign is a commitment to sustainable neighborhoods. I believe the experience of bicycling in San Antonio will be drastically improved when we put our resources into the getting our city government back to basics- repairing our streets, curbs & sidewalks and removing dangerous stray animals from our neighborhoods.

3. Are you a supporter of Uber and Lyft?
Answer:  Yes, I am in favor of new technologies and the competition they bring to our marketplace. I support the ride-hailing concept, so long as all necessary public safety precautions have been taken into consideration.

4. What are your plans to improve VIA?
Answer:  I am a big believer in public transportation. I think we need a comprehensive transportation plan that includes multi-modal transportation and rail services- if they have the support of the majority of the citizens of San Antonio. Offering more hubs around the city would make it a more practical system to use and could also ease our traffic congestion. When I was on Commissioners Court, we gave every Bexar County employee a free bus pass and encouraged the top 100 area employers to do the same.

Leticia Van de Putte
As you go to her site and click on the Policies, you come across Infrastructure.  Nothing on bicycles here just making sure we have sidewalks.  She said something about putting barriers along the sidewalks.  Don't really know what's she's talking about, but to me it sounds like a fence of sorts, like the ones you see in Tokyo to keep people out of the roadway.  From the looks of it, this person will continue the policies that Keep San Antonio Lame.

Rhett Rosenquest Smith
No Website, No Answer.

Julie Iris Oldham
Just a Facebook page, No Answer.

Cynthia T. Cavazos\
1.  Would you have voted to remove the S Flores Bike Lanes?

Answer:  They recently put in these green bike decals on our cities west side...i see the need for the lines. They look nice. I used to ride a bike...i tried to stay on the sidewalk...if there was noone around ...i went for it. The bike rule is a mopad or some if them Vespas...a line to the left side and right side of the street would be good...next to cyclist a hopeful road  for min speed vespa riders.

2.  What are your plans to improve Bicycling as a form of transportation in the City?
Answer:  The same as above

3.  Are you a supporter of Uber and Lyft?
Answer:  I am not sure why they have to go through the city...they have assume business names, they have a license....insurance? I think they need insurance without the city anyway.

4.  What are your plans to improve VIA? 
Answer:  Well...if i am elected the next Texas mayor, VIA will still be in business for a while...for a while they have been talking about a train. We have a set railroad...and because of that road..it might be hard to keep trains from collision. I think if Via can think of a safety plan...it could be possible to add train but, much deliberation is as soon as prints are drawn.
I love the train in Austin...The ride is beautiful, but...no hills or overpasses. My main concern regarding trains is safety and speed. I Will not fund the train. I love the idea, but I will not fund.

Gerard Ponce
 Just a Facebook page, no Response.

Pogo Mochello Reese
Just a Facebook Page.  No Response.

Cynthia Brehm
1.  Would you have voted to remove the S Flores Bike Lanes?
Answer:  I would have voted no to remove the S Flores Biking lanes. I'm a huge proponent of biking. I want to create more biking trails, hiking trails, parks, swimming pools, and basketball courts for families to enjoy- everything doesn't have to be bricks and concrete.

2.  What are your plans to improve Bicycling as a form of transportation in the City?

Answer:  Absolutely, biking, walking, and some other quick mode of transportation yet to be decided by the voters are the way of the future.

3.  Are you a supporter of Uber and Lyft?
Answer:  I'm a big supporter of free enterprise. I believe Uber and Lyft need to improve their background checks on their employees. Two recent incidences occurred because of their failure to properly screen their employees.

4.  What are your plans to improve VIA? 
Answer:   To improve VIA, we must change the City By-Laws regarding lifetime appointments. Appointments should be a two -four year term. They have a monopoly and do as they please instead of doing the will of the people representation.

5. Anything Else you would want to add?.
Answer:  We need transparency, trust, and accountability within our City government. City officials are elected to represent the people, not special interest groups, not political parties, but the will of the people and how they want to be governed. We must put an end to wasteful spending, corruption within our government, and oppression of the people. It must end for a better San Antonio.


Now they're are also 3 propositions on the ballot, but due to time and space issues, you'll see that posting next week.  Until then, Enjoy Fiesta and make sure you vote. 

What VIA Gets Right

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As a person who criticizes VIA a lot and as a person who lives in a city that doesn't appreciate their public transit service, it is easy to forget what our transit agency does right. So in this posting, I have decided to point out everything they do right and just maybe this is the reason why we constantly see all those award signs as to how VIA is the best transit system, while at the same time we shake our head and wonder how the hell did they get that. It is because the average VIA rider rarely travels to other cities and uses those public transit systems to compare it to ours that we don't know how good we got it.


But Stops:

We take this for granted that VIA has well marked out bus stop sign and the routes posted on that sign to tell you if they stop there. Everywhere you go, you'll see one of these unique signs and you will know right off the bat that this is a bus stop and that these routes stop here and if there happens to be no Sunday service. They also have a bus stop ID number which makes it pretty easy to figure out what time the bus will stop there by using their app or texting that ID number to 52020. In other cities this isn't the case just like this perfect example of this bus stop on The T in Fort Worth across from the Fort Worth Convention Center.(Image 38-2) Many systems across the country fail their riders by not doing what VIA does to their bus stops.  .

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Route Numbers

VIA numbers it's bus routes very well. Except for the 100 Primo and perhaps future Primo routes, the bus routes 1-99 go to downtown and the 500's are crosstown buses and 600's are neighborhood bus routes in the suburbs. Also you can tell which set of numbers serve what side of town just by reading the number.  Image 38-3 shows how they pretty much number the buses that serve to and from Downtown. In other cities especially in Austin, the route number just don't tells it where it goes, but it also tells how it serves creating a complicated mess of multiple routes. Imagine if they renumbered the 76 Old Hwy 90 West,(Image 38-5) and gave it a new number like 376 to tell you people that it is a bus route that skips stops. VIA describes what type of service it is by the designation as either an Express, Skip, or Metro type route.

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In other cities, the same bus route number that serves one side of town, will also serves the other side of town and go in multiple directions.(Image 38-6) This isn't the case here in San Antonio for as the bus enters downtown, it changes it bus route number and continues to the other side of the city. People might complain about this, but in reality, this is a good thing because there’s no confusion on what numbers serve what side of town from Downtown.(Image 38-3) By allowing the bus route numbers to change it's route number, you allow the efficiency of providing buses to needed areas. Also by changing the route number, you remove confusion on where the bus is going.

VIA works on keeping the routes parallel and strait, rarely overlapping with each other. Only a handful of routes split off to serve a greater area like the number 28, or the 75 for example but always return to back the other way. Unfortunately they failed to keep this simple lesson when in mind when they returned bus service down Walters Street, thus causing chaos for those trying to get to either Walters St, or E Southcross and WW White. I hope those at VIA reading this will fix this problem in the next round of changes so that when the 515 get to McCreless, they can change the route number to 509, thus elevating any confusion.

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VIA allows Bikes on the BRT

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In all the other cities around the country, only VIA allows the bicycles to come aboard their BRT. In Austin, Los Angeles, Fort Worth (Image 38-4) and many other cities which have BRT services, they have a bicycle rack on the front of their BRT if they even thought it was needed to put a bicycle rack on in the first place.

VIA's Schedules are Easy to Read.
Unless you actually traveled to other cities, you never know how easy it is to read a bus schedule here in San Antonio.(Image 38-5) This has been the case for a long, long time even before they redid the routes back in 2004. Each bus schedule have the route map on the top the city's streets that you would normally see on a regular street map right behind the cover. Then they have the times of where and when below in vertical rows.(Image 38-5)
 

If you don't think that the average VIA bus schedule isn't easy to read, then I'll leave you with this beautiful bus schedule map of the number 1 from Fort Worth The T.(Image 38-6) If you can understand where this bus goes and what time it gets (Download the PDF schedule) there, please get back to me, for I barely know myself. Even when San Antonions used DART and CapMetro and say that those systems are better than VIA, for apparently even those schedules are a little hard to read. Why they couldn't use the same pattern VIA does on all it's schedule is beyond me.(Image 38-5) Seems to me it would be the logical thing to do.

38-6

VIA Operates on Major Holidays.

We're spoiled San Antonio for we get bus service on Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years Day, and even the Forth Of July. You might not think this to be a big deal, but in other cities across this nation, they shut down the buses for major holidays. I was in Albuquerque on Christmas Day 2007 and there was no bus service on that day. I had to walk everywhere to get to where I needed to go. So the next time your complaining about only Sunday Service on Christmas, then take into account many major cities in the USA don't have service on that holiday.

Trash Cans at Bus Stops

This is a no brainer. Go to other cities, and they're a lot of trash on the sidewalk around the bus stop.

No Subcontractor Operating this Route

Except for Grey Lines Operating the Para-transit service, something I wish VIA would stop doing, every bus driver, every mechanic is a VIA employee. It's the main reason why we see them win awards year after year. It's the reason why we see their bus drivers on TV and newspapers worldwide touting how they're a good driver.  With this arrangement, VIA gets to tout the most efficient cost ratio compared to any other transit agency in the Sate of Texas, unlike Austin, Houston, and other cities, in which those transit agency outsources to a for profit corporation to operate their services. Somebody who's politically correct will say how this is a good thing and it saves money, but in reality it cost services and money to the tax payers and those who work for these corporations operating the transit services are not loyal to the transit agencies themselves but are loyal to the corporations themselves first. I should know for if I told you what I use to do for a living, you would have thought I worked for that company, but I didn't. In actual fact, I worked for a subcontractor that company hired. I was never loyal to the company that I did the work for because I was loyal to the subcontractor that I worked for because they signed my paychecks and that company the subcontractor did the work for was constantly mistreating us all the time and accused us, the subcontractor employees (me) of things we never did. You do not have this problem at VIA because that VIA bus driver is loyal to VIA. In Houston, the transit agency outsources it's operations to First Transit and I've heard stories from people who live in Houston of bus drivers passing by people waiting at bus stops with them clearly seen. Rarely do I hear of VIA bus drivers missing people at bus stops. It's one of the reasons why they're putting in those new bus stops shelters that I'm complaining about. This is so the bus driver can see people at the bus stop and well stop.

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The Lowest of Fares in the USA

So many people believe that they receive all their funding from the fare box which is a lie. And yet, we have some of the lowest fares in the Nation. A ride on VIA cost $1.20 and if you need to transfer to another bus, it will cost $.15 cents more. The Fare structure is pretty simple too (Image 38-7) for everyone can buy a Big Pass for $35 and use that pass for 31 days to ride all the types of bus services (including Express service) all month long. In Austin, they have three different fare types and monthly passes to accompany each type of fare. One for their local metro services, one for their Express services, and finally another one for their Commuter Rail and BRT (Primo) services. (Image 38-8) When I was in Austin last time without a bicycle, I bitch and complain that I had to pay extra just to use the Train there. What a ripoff to live in a city like Austin and have a terrible fare structure keeping those who depend on the bus off of the services they need the most. So far as I have understood, VIA has no plans to have a separate fare structure for any future rail services nor create a separate fare structure for any existing or new Primo services.

38-8

It could be worse, you could live in a place that has a zone fare structure in place which makes the poorest of those who cannot afford to live in the inner city pay more just to get around.

VIA Receives only a 1/2 Cent Sales Tax

Compared to other cities such as Dallas, Houston, and Austin and even San Marcos which receive a full cent sales tax. Under the charter that created the agency, they can only collect ½ cent sales tax to pay for transit operations. Every time you buy a soda, a t-shirt, or any other retail item at a store here in San Antonio and only municipalities that pay for their services, do you pay for VIA. This is the reason why they cannot provide overnight bus services, and why they consolidate the bus services into combining bus routes in the Line-up services at 10:30pm, 11:30pm and 12:30am. But with such a limited funding source, they're still able to provide 15 minute services on many of it's routes and expanded services to other routes when they're able to just like they did recently to several routes. I have never know VIA to cut services unless they absolutely had to and when they were able to, they brought it back.


There's a lot of people here in San Antonio that equates VIA = Sucks. And I'm not immune to this for I write what is wrong with VIA all the time. I recently wrote a two part series on how VIA could improve their image and services, Part I, and Part II. Yes they need to improve this and that here and there, but it's small things and many times it's out of VIA's hand for they're lacking the resources to fix that problem in the first place like overnight bus service, or a lack of a grid street pattern outside Loop 410. While I was in Fort Worth, I found three things VIA could do to improve things (Image 38-9 thru 38-11) but you have to remember folks, we have a very good system and a system that is easy to understand. I would never want the route numbering system Fort Worth has nor their bus stop signs. That would simply work to keep San Antonio Lame and VIA for the most part works on Keeping San Antonio Real. 

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38-10

38-11

Images:
38-1: A 515 Bus Stop at the corner of Southcross Ranch and Copperhead LN looking South.  Illustrating the number, the no Sunday service,and Bus Stop ID Number.
38-2: The T Bus Stop in Fort Worth across from the Fort Worth convention Center on Houston St.
38-3: A illustration I designed showing how VIA determines how they number their bus routes.  It's rare to find this same technique in numbering routes in other cities.
38-4: The Spur at it's bus stop at the Fort Worth Intermodal Center illustrating the bike rack they have on board compared to VIA's Primo which allows bicycles inside the bus.
38-5: VIA's bus schedule showing how easy it is to read the map and the timetable. 
38-6: The T number 1 route map showing how confusing it is to figure out where that bus goes. 
38-7: VIA's bus fare structure, showing how simple it is and cheap to ride the bus.
38-8: CapMetro's fare structure showing how confusing it is to use.  
38-9:  Currently VIA doesn't allow people to put any item over the front wheels.  However in For Worth on the T, people routinely put things over the front wheel to keep the walkway cleared.
38-10: I found this humurous sign on the buses in Fort Worth.  Seems like we could do the same thing here in San Antonio
38-11:  Currently VIA doesn't  have a garbage can on the bus, but in Fort Worth, the placed one right behind the seat next to the back door. 

Cyclist In Suits, San Antonio Needs you to attend / What's Happening....

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!

Cyclists in Suits - Texas' Bike Lobby Day

Join us in Austin on March 30

The time is almost here-- register now to attend Cyclists in Suits-- Texas' Bike Lobby Day! On March 30, people from around the state who ride bikes will flood the Capitol to visit every legislative office. 

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.)

We can't wait to see you in Austin on March 30! Register now to attend Cyclists in Suits and be sure to share this email with all your friends who ride bikes! Learn more here.

2000 Bicycles Stolen

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.

Image 37-1  Source: Rivard Report

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. 

Now there are several videos out there on how to lock up your bicycle properly including a diagram that is posted (Image 37-1) Make sure you watch all those videos and get a good lesson on what not to do when locking up your bicycle.  The videos that are all posted here are called in order:  Bike Theft 2012, How to Properly Lock Your Bicycle With a Bike Lock (with Hal Ruzal from Bike Habitat NYC), How to lock your bike securely, and finally How to Break a Masterlock U-Lock bicycle lock.  All these videos will help you out in making sure your bicycle stays yours and not someone else.

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.

The Green Lanes in SA are a Joke

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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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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 in the 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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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.

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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. 

Hemisfair Goes Backwards

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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." 

Andrew Price recently said in a Strong Towns Blog Post quote:

"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. 

Advice on Improving VIA Part II

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.

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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.

I first heard about making bus rides free when I heard about what happened in Austin during 1991 and 1992.  The problem with this is that it didn't attract the choice users like they CapMetro wanted, (people who use public transit and also have a car to drive) but instead it attracted the homeless and others who wouldn't normally ride the bus dubbed as "problem riders."  So naturally, they got rid of free bus rides.  But in Tallinn, Estonia, not to be deterred by what has happen in Austin, TX and everywhere else it was tried, they decided to keep the bus fares, however, if you happen to live in Tallinn, then you are entitled to free bus rides. Here's my question, why can't we do the same thing here in San Antonio?

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.