Biking Columbus

Icing a person

2012-02-25T09:15:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I was at a poker game showing off my l33t skills. For those of you not well-versed in l33t speak, that means elite skills. And by elite skills I mean I was the 2nd person out of the game of 8-9 people. But at the beginning of the game I saw something that I had never seen before.

There's a thing out in the world called being "iced." It is when someone gives a Smirnoff Ice to a person and the recipient has to kneel on one knee and chug the entire drink. There also involves a bit of hiding of the drink but Urban Dictionary doesn't contain this part of the ~~game~~ thing.

I was vaguely aware of the term but I was of the impression that it was more or less a fairy tale. Yeah, sure. Werewolves come out on full moons and ice people. Lo and behold I saw it happen. And it wasn't just a standard 12 ounce bottle of Smirnoff Ice. No, it was a 40 ounce bottle of Smirnoff Ice.

The guy being iced dutifully chugged the entire bottle. I was also surprised to hear that this group of friends regularly iced each other. Just remember kids, sometimes fairy tales are true.

Cool getting-iced-while-ice-fishing link of the day:

Confidence

2012-02-24T08:00:00.002-05:00

Biking takes confidence. A biker who isn't confident will have unpleasant rides. But on the flip side, it's alright to be nervous or scared occasionally while biking. I say this because some regular bicyclists might give the wrong impression of the awesomeness that is biking.

While trolling on the message boards on Columbus Underground, I was interested in a post made during a discussion about bike lanes (emphasis added):

You shouldn't be maneuvering around parked cars. If you are riding correctly, 3rd and 4th are a dream to ride on because people have plenty of lanes to go around you. Although it would still be intimidating to some that they are going so fast in some areas.

It's true that a straight path is the right path in most cases. Try not to maneuver around parked cars but depending on the conditions, maybe there's 5 blocks before the next parked car, you might want to be in the parking lane.

However, there is a misconception that riding correctly would make 3rd/4th, or any street, a dream. For those who read regularly, you may be aware that I take the lane. Once while on 3rd I had a scary incident as a driver tried to merge into my lane. 3rd suffers from too many lanes and a driver might not know which lane leads to what and will be more apt to change lanes last minute because he/she is in the wrong lane.

That's not to say that roads are inherently scary. It's to say that there is risk no matter where you are and whether you are riding a bike or driving a car. Crashes happen every day and riding as appropriately as possible for a situation will minimize the chance that you'll be in a crash.

I don't mean to scare anyone but it's better for a bicyclist to be very vigilant. Yes, worry about those cars who are slowly stopping at the next intersection. Worry about the people turning left in front of you. And in between the potential conflicts, enjoy the ride.

Cool stop-action-music-video of the day:

Biking at Night

2012-02-23T08:00:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday I made a public service announcement about the Columbus Bicycle Subcommittee meeting and how the Green Lane Project would be discussed. The Green Lane Project will involve 6 selected cities to collaborate in bike planning, specifically for cycle tracks and protected lanes. The City of Columbus had until February 23 (today) to submit a notice of intent and has until March 9 to submit the application. At the meeting, Columbus announced that it would apply to be one of the 6 cities involved in the project. That's kind of cool.

After the meeting, I had to transport myself home in a stiff headwind at 7:15 PM. My first thought is always to take the bus home but then I remembered that COTA costs $2.00. I decided to bike down Broad Street because it is one of the more direct routes to my home.

First, I normally don't bike that often at night, especially on a multi-lane road like Broad Street. Per usual I highly recommend a lot of lights so you can easily be seen. I especially recommend this spoke light because it really makes you visible and it gives you street cred.

Second, the meeting was somewhat heated about bike lanes and cycle tracks, and the commute allowed me to use the Broad Street bike lane which normally I avoid. I still have conflicted feelings about them. On one hand I liked having my own space to bike in. On the other hand I didn't like all the grit and debris which collects in the lane. On the one foot I like how there's no parked cars in the bike lane. On the other foot I don't like dealing with intersections and potential conflict points, with I-70 being the biggest concern.

But hey, I made it home without incident using a main road w/ and w/o bike lanes, and residential streets at the end. There's a wide realm of possibilities and really you just need to make it work for you. That's what I did and I feel fine.

Cool bike lane educational video of the day:

On the Right Track from Mayor Sam Adams on Vimeo.

Parking Lots in Downtown

2012-02-22T08:00:00.012-05:00

Last week, I looked at historic aerials of downtown Columbus since 1959. I also implied that skyscrapers were to blame for parking lots along with the freeway. I didn't research it so I think it would be interesting to investigate how much destruction came from the freeway construction and how much came from the skyscrapers. This first post on the subject will look at the current parking situation.

What do I think of parking? I understand that people will drive places and that parking is a necessity. In urban areas which are densely populated/visited, parking lots are a poor use of space. If a person has to walk for multiple blocks to get past surface lots, it negates part of the purpose of living in a densely area. So overall, I am of the opinion that parking garages are alright; parking lots are bad.

Cbus Cycle Chic had an interesting post about parking spots in the downtown article. According to the post, there are 100,000 downtown workers and 73,000 parking spaces. She also included a map of where parking spaces are located.

Slightly less related, Columbus Underground recently had a post about whether Long Street and other streets should become 2-way streets. Long Street and Spring Street have some of the most egregious offenders of amount of surface lots.

Anyway, I've made a map of where surface parking lots are. The methodology is pretty simple although I chose a odd boundary for my "study" scope, but it covers most areas that are considered downtown. I used Google Maps satellite view and made shapes around surface lots. Parking garages or buildings with parking lots on top of the building are not included. It took enough time as it is to draw 272 shapes for parking lots.

Without further ado, here's my map:

Surface lots in downtown circa 2010. See here for interactive map.

In the future I plan to update this map to include parking garages. It's interesting in the skyscraper mecca of Riffe / Huntington / Leveque / 5/3rd / Rhodes there are few surface lots. Instead, there are mainly only parking garages. I also plan on making a similar map based off of the 1971 aerial to see how things have changed.

Cool Scrubs-what-come-before-part-b link of the day:

Another Subcommittee Meeting

2012-02-21T19:14:00.000-05:00

This is a quick public service announcement for the Columbus Bicycle Subcommittee meeting which will be held tomorrow, February 22, 2012, between 5:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M. at 109 N. Front Street on the ground floor. Of note on the agenda is the Green Lane Project. The project is sort of a collaboration of 6 cities selected based on an application and a focus will be for cycle tracks / protected bike lanes. Grant money will also be available to the 6 focus cities. Free money is always kind of cool.

Below is the agenda of the meeting:

Call to Order
2.       Previous Meeting Notes
3.       New business
a.       Henderson Road Shared-Use Path
b.      Green Lane Project
c.       Traffic Signal Detection of Two-Wheel Vehicles
4.       Old Business
a.       Downtown Action Plan
b.      MORPC Regional Bikeways
c.       Update on Dublin/Urlin/Watermark Spot Improvement
d.      Bike Parking Shelter Update
5.       Parking Lot Issues
6.       Other Business
7.       Adjournment

Cool how-to-pronounce-Haute-Couture link of the evening:

Public Transportation - Elementary School Edition

2012-02-21T08:00:00.007-05:00

The Hilltop has a surprising amount of small parks. In this episode, I investigate Lindbergh Park and adjacent school, Lindbergh Elementary - home of the Lions!

Lindbergh Park is on Briggs Road and is more or less across the road from Briggs High School.

Red Square is the point of interest. Also, Google spells it "Lindberg." Oops!

The park is not super fancy or anything like that. It is a large open field with some trees on the perimeter. It also has a soccer field and an asphalt path with several entrances encircling the playing field. But something crazy that I saw was this half fence that was outside the front of the elementary.

What?

The only purpose that would make sense for this fence would be some kind of child corral in which students wait for their buses. Wouldn't it be weird if they made adult bus riders wait behind a fence like that?

Cool how-to-pronounce-Chipotle link of the day:

The Fear of Cars

2012-02-20T09:43:00.000-05:00

It's surprising the amount of honking which comes out of cars. If you're stopped at a red light and wanting to turn right, the car behind you is liable to honk at you to start turning faster. You could have totally turned then! Now I've gotta wait another 15 seconds to get home!

Another common honk is when someone doesn't start moving when the light changes to green. I'm more sympathetic to a quick honk for this purpose but occasionally a person will lay on the horn which is ridiculous.

For car to bicycle interactions, motorists sometimes honk prior to passing. This doesn't concern me too much, but it can be jarring to be biking along and then suddenly hear a honk. 99% of the time I know if a car is behind me and I always assume that the car is preparing to pass me. No need to honk. I get it, I'm slower than you.

Bicycle to car interactions aren't as audible. There can be hand waving, shouting, and the possible hitting of a car door with a fist, but overall these are rare. I only condone actions which will prevent crashes and as such I have only shouted out "Ahiuhwieoj!" (nonsense) a couple of times.

One reason I'm not keen on road rage is that I'm pretty patient. I know that I'll get to my destination eventually as long as I don't crash. The second is that there is an uneasiness of yielding the right-of-way to bikers/pedestrians. A car is 3,000 pounds. A person is 150 lbs. A bicycle is 30 lbs. We rely on laws and social norms to have a functioning traffic system but if a motorist doesn't want to yield to a biker/pedestrian, the motorist won't.

This long post all leads to a sickening video that was shot in England. According to this article from the BBC (the NPR of Britain), a bus driver and bicyclist were having a heated exchange about the bus driver driving too close to the cyclist. During a stop, the bicyclist propped his bike against the bus while arguing. The bicyclist starts to ride again and then the bus swerves and hits the cyclist.

It's kind of hard to tell what the bicyclist is doing so close to the center of the lane, but you can definitely see how much damage a motorist can do if the intent is there:

Historic Columbus

2012-02-17T08:00:00.004-05:00

As some of you may be aware, Columbus is turning 200 years old this year. To celebrate this occasion, I thought it would be cool to look at some historic aerials of Columbus.

Thankfully, the internet has a site called Historic Aerials. Since planes weren't discovered/invented/perfected until the 20th century, the first historic aerial of Columbus on the site is from 1957. The population was likely around 450,000 people at the time and people were loving life despite not having freeways. What did Columbus look like?

Columbus in 1957 - Historic Aerials

It's hard to tell, but the only sign of a highway is freshly dug soil on the Whittier Peninsula around where Scioto Audubon Park is located. But time stops for no one and we will next flash forward to 1971 when the Columbus Innerbelt (70/71/315/670) is complete.

Columbus in 1971 - Historic Aerials

So right away you can see that some of the connectivity of the houses has been lost, especially along the I-70/71 split. I-670 largely ends after intersecting with I-71 and I-70 stops on the other side of the river. SR-315 was doing surprisingly strong already. But time again kept ticking to 2006 to bring us this:

Columbus in 2006 - Historic Aerials

The freeways are even more developed. If you go to the sight and zoom in on the aerials, you will notice that the amount of parking lot space increases. This is probably largely attributable to skyscrapers but also partially due to cars coming to complete prominence.

I have nothing profound to say but the Columbus of 45 years ago looks much more attractive to this biker and to an urbanite in general. It's kind of sad at how many properties were necessary to destroy to create the highway systems. But don't worry, we'll be spending a total of $1.6 billion to make sure this freeway keeps chugging along.

Cool link of the day:

Ask some Bikers

2012-02-16T08:00:00.028-05:00

I want to try out a new feature called: Ask some Bikers. I sometimes get set in my ways but there are certainly multiple ways of choosing a route which works for you. In this post, I'm asking my readers what they think I should do or if there are any improvements to my route.

On my evening commute, I bike from downtown Columbus (near Columbus Commons) to the Hilltop (near Mound and Hague).

My evening commute is different from my morning commute (which is a lot more direct) because I don't like going uphill and against the wind on major arterial roads (i.e. west on Mound or Broad St). Instead I take the Scioto trail to Souder Avenue to McKinley Avenue to near the Hilltop-Scioto Connector and get shot out on Steele Avenue which is a parallel road to Broad Street in northern Hilltop. I don't really have a route I've been 100% comfortable with, although I do feel safe on all I've tried. Below is a map of sample routes that I've taken in the past after I turn off of McKinley.

Google map of my routes.

You can play around with the map at Google. The thing about Hilltop is that there are a lot of one-way streets. Broad Street and Sullivant both contain commercial districts which include a lot of on-street parking. Mound Street is beat up by the COTA buses and is uncomfortable riding west.

So with that said, does any one have any suggestions? Preferences? I'm doing it wrong altogether?

Cool Yeah Yeah Yeahs Maps video of the day:

Netflix and the Machine

2012-02-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

For those of you unaware of Netflix, I'm not going to explain it. The year is 2012 and people should know what it is.

Ok, ok, ok. That was harsh. Netflix is a company which specializes in streaming movies/TV shows over the internet. Netflix also provides rental service through the mail if you're into that.

All of that is to say that I've started watching a show called Battlestar Galactica and it has sucked me in. They travel around in space ships, and as everyone knows, space travel is not a mode of travel that this blog covers.

Cool Portlandia

Bicycle Hub

2012-02-14T08:00:00.002-05:00

How cool would it be to have a bicycle hub on the west side? Wait, what's a bicycle hub? I have no idea.

From some online PDF

What are some of the possibilities? According to this unattributed document for the Camp Chase Trail Bike Station, Frisbee golf, parkour, rock wall, interactive art, park and ride for the trail, survival course, dog playground, sand sculpture pits, volleyball, safety town, and a skate ball. You may even be able to drink Willy Wonka's fizzy lifting drink there.

For those wondering where this magical place would be located, it'd be on the west side next to the casino along the Camp Chase Trail. The great thing is that City of Columbus owns the land in question so no land acquisition is necessary. In case you're curious, here's the few from a thousand feet:

Green triangle = Hub location

The great thing about this is that MORPC is in the process of doing a long-term regional bikeway prioritization plan and the Camp Chase Trail received a high prioritization score, partially because it is on the Ohio to Erie Trail (Cincinnati to Cleveland).

The bicycle hub itself is still a long way off. It's gained lots of local/public/private endorsements, but the trail itself looks like it won't even be constructed to Sullivant for at least 2 years. Without the trail being connected, it's kind of hard to convince people to use a bike hub if there's no way to get there.

The good news is that the future is getting closer every day.

Cool Valentine's promo of the day:

Get engaged with Pizza Hut

Car Columbus

2012-02-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

I find it interesting that there is no verb "to car." I was about to make the title "Carring Columbus" which looks weird and "Caring Columbus" makes me care too much. So while we have a verb for non-motorized transportation which matches a corresponding noun, such as "to walk" or "to bike," we have nothing relating to the car itself. Instead, one drives.

Grammar aside, I drove this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. I'm always surprised at how easy it is to get around town, and a research paper which compared Columbus to 15 other metros indicates that Columbus is the city which wastes the fewest hours stuck in traffic. Check out the Dispatch for more about Columbus and the report.

I've noticed that the surface roads aren't backed up that much during my commute, but getting on I-70 from Mound Street backs up quite a bit. Therefore, my personal Columbus experience backs up the report.

Cool (?) father berating his daughter by shooting her laptop link of the day:

Long Week - Bike Stories

2012-02-10T08:00:00.003-05:00

I don't really have any good topics to talk about today, so I'll tell you a story about my dad's and aunt's experience with a cyclist.

In the early '70s, my tweener dad and his younger sister were downtown doing whatever it is young people do downtown. As they prepare to go home, there's a disagreement about where to wait for the bus, so my aunt goes on to one street and my dad goes to another street.

A few minutes later, my dad sees my aunt come crying/screaming from around the corner. Obviously concerned, he asks her what's the matter. Allegedly, a person on a bike stopped for a second, wrapped his arms around her to beat her chest like King Kong, and then mounted his bike and went on his way.

Who knows the veracity of the chest beating, but maybe bicyclists aren't natural allies to pedestrians. Or are they?!

Cool Star Wars music done by barking dogs link of the day:

Poor Judgement

2012-02-09T08:00:00.002-05:00

The morning commute on Wednesday was pretty snowy. As such, it was miserable and it was really my fault for going through with it.

This week my posts have been about taking a chill pill and calming down. I'm pretty good about chilling about traffic laws, but I am overly confident on weather. When I arrived at work, I had snow frost on my eyebrows. That reinforces the point that I should be more diligent about respecting the weather.

The main problem stems from the fact that when one looks outside the window at snow/rain, it doesn't look terrible. But as soon as one starts biking in the elements, it seems to come down harder which hurts one's face.

All this really serves as a reminder that experienced bicyclists make mistakes sometimes, too. Occasionally you'll have to swallow your pride and bus/drive to work. It's really not a big deal and you will be all the wiser for it.

Cool Clint Eastwood Chrysler ad of the day:

Sidewalk Safety

2012-02-08T08:00:00.012-05:00

Pedestrians are a natural ally of the bicyclist so I often lookout for my walking brethren. Recently, there have been 3 pedestrian deaths caused by the pedestrian being struck by a vehicle. A homeless man struck and killed on East Broad Street near Hamilton Road, another man was struck and killed on West Broad Street near Wilson Road, and a third man was struck and killed on Morse Road.

Interestingly enough, the Dispatch ran an article on February 4 about the 23 pedestrians killed in Franklin County in 2011, the most in "recent memory," whatever that is. According to the Dispatch articles, the pedestrian appeared to be at-fault in each of the cases, but in the Morse Road incident, at least one person hit the pedestrian but did not stop.

I made the mistake of looking through the comments of the articles and was surprised by the pedestrian blaming going on. The number 1 complaint was of how lazy the pedestrians are by not going the 100 yards to the crosswalk. Do you know how far 100 yards is? It's 91.44 meters! 100 yards is the size of a football field, many people have seen one up close and it is not a short distance. If one's final destination is directly across the street, but one has to go to the crosswalk and back, that's 200 yards! AKA 182.88 meters!

But really, let's look at the definition of lazy:

la·zy (lz)

adj. la·zi·er, la·zi·est

1. Resistant to work or exertion; disposed to idleness.

2. Slow-moving; sluggish: a lazy river.

3. Conducive to idleness or indolence: a lazy summer day.

4. Depicted as reclining or lying on its side. Used of a brand on livestock.

Jaywalkers might be inconsiderate or impatient or trying to get someplace quicker (just like people in cars), but it's lazier to sit in a car than it is to jaywalk across the street. If one has to slow down or brake for someone crossing the street, all that means is that one will have to sit for another 10 seconds. Ugh, how tiring.

My other complaint is that the Dispatch neither investigated how the situation could improve. It's easy to blame pedestrians for wearing dark clothing and jaywalking. But maybe there's something to be said of the distance to crosswalks or if sidewalks are present. Or how pedestrians have the right-of-way at most intersections. It would have been a much better case of investigative journalism rather than the standard "pedestrians suck" treatment.

Cool "While my guitar gently weeps" ukulele cover of the day:

Riding in the middle of the night

2012-02-07T08:00:00.003-05:00

This past weekend I played poker for over 3 hours before biking home. First, I was the 2nd to last person to lose his chips. Second, when I left it was already midnight! [Editor's Note: Cole did not turn into a pumpkin.]

To bike from Grandview to the Hilltop, you have two options. The first option is to take surface streets and take Grandview Avenue to McKinley Avenue. The second option is to take the Hilltop-Scioto Connector bike path. I decided to take the bike path because I didn't want to deal with the road conditions of McKinley Avenue.

I took the green line

It is really creepy to be on a bike path at night. I'm a city boy and street lights are a part of life. On the path it is dark except for the lights on your bike. Plus, I'm never sure if I'll run over or into a homeless person because they are known to be around bike paths, especially around bridges and/or downtown.

The path normally looks beautiful:

But at night the ghosts come out:

What this all means is that if you want to bike at night, you should be prepared.

Have a lot of lighting.
Stay in well-lit areas if possible.
Know different routes and route conditions in case you bike at night
Bike with a friend. I would have surely been more confident with another person.

Cool Take On Me cover by 5 accordionists video of the day:

See you when I get there - Calm Down

2012-02-06T08:00:00.003-05:00

One well known secret about biking is that it takes a longer time to bike than to take a car in the vast majority of routes. In my second post, I discussed how my 6 miles commute to work takes 20 minutes driving and about 35 minutes biking. That's a significant premium but the workout I get and the low cost of biking outweigh the time difference.

More to the point, biking is a different beast than driving. First, cars simply drive faster. Second, it's easy as a motorist to have the mentality that I can get there on time if I just go faster and all it takes is a lead foot. There are not significant gains made by speeding, but speeding does give some peace of mind because you are trying.

For bicycling, you really need to be of the mindset that you'll get there when you get there. Crashes happen and biking for speed dims awareness for traffic, at least for me. And if you stop at red lights (you should be!), the average speed is what matters and the stops will take back a lot of gains made by going faster.

I have no real awareness of time during my rides but I do know that I slowly but surely get to my destination, and that's all I really need. If I'm late, then I should have left earlier and that's a good mentality no matter what mode of transportation you are using.

Cool Hey Ya! cover of the day:

A small park

2012-02-03T08:00:00.002-05:00

I really like using Google Maps because it shows land parcels which helps to show contiguous land property. One day while enjoying my free time I see the following park:

Overview of Stephen Drive Park

Green line = entrance, red line = inaccessible entrance

This is a really small park, people. It is only 0.90 acres. For reference, Goodale is 32.71 acres, Schiller is 23.45 acres, and Westgate is 46.30 acres. Even Rhode Island (776,960 acres) is bigger than Stephen Drive Park.

How did this park come to be? I don't know. It appears that the developer of the area at the time, Elaine Development Co., sold the land in 1973 which was then given (bought?) by the City of Columbus for $840. Regardless, I had to investigate.

The entrance to the south from Michael Ct. was completely fenced in. WTF? Thankfully the entrance from W. Stephen Drive allowed me to enjoy the park.

To be honest, it wasn't terrible. If I lived around the park I would love it. Otherwise, it's kind of hard to get to and there's not a lot to do. But I think that this is the type of park we should start to work towards. Now that I live in a house, there's lawn that must be mowed. Do I care about my lawn? Of course not, it's grass! But I do like the idea of a place to chill outside and that would be the lawn.

Cool link of the day:

Spring Beckons

2012-02-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

Winter Winding Down

The weather the past few days has been nothing short of amazing and that means that my love affair with public transit is coming to the end. All hail bikes!

As regular readers are certainly aware, I really like riding the bus, but I like biking even more. Mainly I love having no time constraints. If I want to leave at 5:43 PM, that's when I'll leave. I do not have to wait until the next bus comes at 6:00 PM.

Here's my last edition of COTA stories for the season:

While waiting on the bus after leaving work, there's this weird drumming sound which is apparently coming from #OccupyColumbus. Then this guy comes by and leers at me for a few seconds before asking me if I've seen Mission Impossible. I hesitated before replying that I had seen it. He just kind of nods and walks to another guy and asks the same question. The new person had seen it and for whatever reason, they had a lively conversation about Mission Impossible.

I saw my bus take off before I could get to the stop. My only hope is to get to the stop by COSI. I run my little heart out but I peter out around the Main St. bridge. I keep trying to motivate myself to keep moving but I'm SOL. Shortly after I see the #3 pass me on the bridge. I have to wait about 20 minutes until the next #6 comes by. At this point I realize I need to get into shape.

I am on the bus and a woman behind me occasionally hums to her tunes. All of a sudden I hear her say, "People are so fucking rude." What?! I keep looking forward because it'd be rude of me to look at her after that. Later, the bus is packed and people are trying to get out and I hear the same woman say, "People are fucking stupid. They just need to say 'Excuse me, I'm leaving.' It's stupid."

Cool link of the day:

What's up with a bike blog talking about buses and highways?

2012-02-01T08:00:00.002-05:00

This blog started with a simple purpose: to talk about how awesome I was at biking and life. However, it turns out that I only have so much shit to say about biking. This issue was compounded by the fact that I haven't biked regularly since the end of November.

But there's something more than that. Is it possible to bike when there's snow on the roads? Yes.

Source: Wikipedia

Is it possible to bike when it's raining like crazy? Yes.

Source

Can I bike miles upon miles? Sure, but there's not a great picture to show it.

Although all of these are extremes which Google conjured, I'm not interested in biking in any kind of heavy snow/rain conditions. I can buy studded tires for my bicycle to go out in icy/snowy conditions, but cars still have difficulty stopping. The benefits, a miserable, cold bike ride, don't outweigh the perceived/real risks.

For rainy days, I have a complete set of rain gear. Rain pants, rain booties, rain gloves, and a rain jacket, it works to an extent but 6 miles is a long commute. I still get wet and even worse, my face gets wet. I hate when my face gets wet. The benefits, a miserable, wet bike ride, don't outweigh having a wet face.

And for long commutes, I feel like 6 miles one-way is long enough. I feel like most of my commutes should be no longer than 30 minutes, and 6 miles is towards the high end of that range.

The point is that sometimes biking doesn't cut it. A bike ride can be lots of fun but it can also be miserable. Sometimes you need an alternate transportation mode which makes complete streets and complete transit options very important. Sometimes you need a long range (car, bus, train), mid range (car, bus, bike), or short range (bus, bike, pedestrian) options.

Cool link of the day:

A night with Nick Offerman

2012-01-31T07:13:00.000-05:00

On Monday night, I explored campus (The Ohio State University) en route to watch Nick Offerman (AKA Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation) perform.

While I could talk about bikers on sidewalks, streets, and everywhere in between, you really want to hear about Nick Offerman. He was hilarious and it was a feel-good show in which he teaches life lessons. One of which was to eat all of the red meat that you can. Another was to carry a handkerchief because you never know when you'll have to switch out something involving guns.

It was also nice to hear about how much he loves his wife, Megan Mullally of Will and Grace. In fact, he did a beautiful song for her 50th birthday about rainbows where he used colors in various word plays, including "orange you glad I didn't say..."

The other thing he promotes is his love of wood work. Almost every piece of advice included some tidbit of wood work detail. He even made a DVD of how to make a canoe which people have bought thinking it was a joke. It's not a joke and it's not funny, according to Nick Offerman.

Finally, the question you've all been waiting for, how long does it take him to grow a Swanson 'Stache? It takes him about 6 weeks because it takes time for the hair to grow from beneath the nose to over the lip.

Cool link of the day:

Flat Tires

2012-01-30T08:00:00.018-05:00

Most bicyclists probably know that a flat tire is more or less caused by the inner-tube going flat either by puncture or an improper seal. What's an inner-tube you ask?

For the longest time, I had no idea of what the specifics were for a bicycle. There's a wheel, a tire, and a mythical inner-tube which keeps air in it. I finally learned what some of the components were when I suffered through a flat tire.

It was the luckiest kind of flat that one can get. I heard a loud bang in the middle of the night which I investigated. My tire had a glass shard in it and was completely flat! I believe the glass came from riding on bike lanes earlier that day. This was a complete fluke as most flats happen on the road.

It's difficult to change an inner-tube the first few times but after awhile, you'll get used to it. There's plenty a videos online of how to change it, but for now here's a list of tools that you'll need to change a flat tire.

Bicycle tire lever - The smaller the width of the tire, the more difficult it is to pry the tire off to access the inner-tube. A lever makes the job do-able although it can still be a slight pain.

Spare inner-tubes - You can also patch up a punctured tube, but if you're on the road, an actual spare inner-tube works best because you don't have to worry about finding where the tube is flat. I carry two because one time I was unfortunate enough to suffer two flats. A tube has to be sized right, so you'll probably want to go to a local bike store to purchase them, or you can look at the sidewall of your tire and buy it based on those specifications.

Portable bike pump - If you're trying to replace a flat, you'll obviously need to inflate it somehow. All portable bike pumps aren't a true substitute for a floor pump, but you should at least be able to get to your destination.

Tube patch kit - I have a patch kit which is more or less a sticker. I keep it on me as a quick fix but if I have additional flats, I would use a more heavy duty patch kit in the future.

Those are the basics of on-the-go kits. I would also suggest that you use routes by public transportation when possible and carry change or a pass so you can use it in a pinch.

Link of the day (not me if you're curious):

What's the deal with helmets?

2012-01-27T08:00:00.004-05:00

A minor cycling controversy is helmets albeit most people are pro-helmets. I, for instance, always wear a helmet because my girlfriend tells me that I have a pretty head. The problem that some cyclists have is the emphasis that is placed on helmets.

For instance, in a situation where there's a car-bicycle crash, the first thing most people do is blame the bicyclist. The second thing they do is ask whether or not the bicyclist had a helmet or not. I find myself doing the latter as well because it's reflexive.

A similar thought with car-car crashes would be if a passenger was wearing his/her seat belt. Most people do not instinctively ask that question. Sure, if the person wasn't wearing a seat belt the reaction would be a little bit more, " The crash sucks but people should wear their seat belt." In other words, there is not enough sympathy for bicyclists involved in crashes.

Hopefully, in the future, we can get people to say," That sucks that the bicyclists was in an accident. I do hope that bicyclists will consistently wear helmets in the future."

Cool link of the day:

Bike lanes and downtown - How does Columbus fit in?

2012-01-26T22:00:00.006-05:00

Edit 1/28/2012: I wasn't happy with the title. I apologize for the harshness of the original title.

I often try to give the impression that I don't care about stuff, but honestly, I care a lot. I care that a reader can feel assured that he/she can state facts found on this blog and be able to quote this blog without making an ass of his/herself. Sure I joke around, but I am optimistic that our school system has educated people to know when I am joking about historical figures.

I will summarize my beef so that readers who are uninterested in bicycle gossip can live their lives. A press statement (discussed below) had some inaccuracies whilst reporting on the state of bicycling in Columbus. With that said, Columbus could be a lot more bike friendly which includes increasing bicycling infrastructure.

Recently, Consider Biking has been working on "Connect the Core" which aims to add bicycle lanes or bicycle tracks downtown. Within their summary, the cost for 12+ miles of bike lanes would cost ~$140,000, this is less than what we've been spending on the bike shelters. Although I'm iffy on bike lanes, that's a relatively good price and sometimes a city should just dive in.

One part of the push is using a recent report released by the Alliance for Biking and Walking. One fact included in the Consider Biking press release is that "[The report] also shows that Columbus is the 2nd largest city without on-street bike lanes in downtown." This news has also traveled to Columbus Underground with this headline: "Report Says Columbus is Second Largest City with no Downtown Bike Lanes."

The problem with this statement is that the report's scope of work does not focus on the downtowns of the 51 cities studied. Searching for the word "downtown" returned only 3 instances of the word within the report. Looking closer at the data shows that Dallas is the only city studied which has no on-street bike lanes. According to Census Data (through Wikipedia), Dallas is the largest city studied which has no on-street bike lanes. From there, it's easy to extrapolate that Dallas is the largest city studied that has no bike lanes downtown.

Columbus is the 15th largest city by population. What about the other 13 cities? As I said, the report by the Alliance for Biking and Walking did not include any breakdowns of downtown areas. I suspect that the least dense places would be least likely to have bike lanes downtown.

City	On-Street bike Lanes	City Population Rank	City Density (per sq. mile)	Bike Lanes Downtown
New York	407	1	27016	Yes
San Francisco	100	13	17169	Yes
Chicago	115	3	11844	Yes
Philadelphia	431	5	11380	Yes
Los Angeles	167	2	8092	Yes
San Jose	400	10	5359	Yes
San Diego	325.5	8	4020	No
Columbus	20	15	3624	No
Dallas	0	9	3518	No
Houston	206	4	3501	No
San Antonio	236	7	2880	?
Phoenix	371	6	2798	Yes
Austin	168	14	2653	Yes
Indianapolis	59	12	2270	Yes
Jacksonville	320	11	1100	No

The above chart is of cities with populations greater than Columbus arranged from least dense to most dense. Using Google and looking at the "Bicycling" layer of Jacksonville, FL yields this map:

Jacksonville has no bike lanes downtown according to Google Maps

A quick Google search for Jacksonville and downtown bike lanes also leads to this article (Dated August 10, 2011):

"'No bike lanes downtown, but cobblestones? Come on.' — graffiti on a small building at Fishweir Park.
The author obviously hasn't found an appropriate forum to express himself, but he did raise a couple of legitimate public policy issues. So, I asked City Hall for an explanation.
Since most streets are too narrow for bike lanes, Mayor Alvin Brown's spokesman says, they're being added when roads are built or widened. You don't see them downtown because roads there were built before they became fashionable."

Indianapolis and Austin both appear to have bike lanes in their downtown. San Antonio has a disjointed connection of bike lanes downtown. Houston does not have bike lanes within their inner-belt:

Blue = innerbelt. See Google maps for more.

Even according to Houston's GIS system, the inner-belt only consists of signed bike paths and multi-use pathways which is all that Columbus has downtown. Hell, even downtown San Diego doesn't look like it has bike lanes downtown:

Blue = Inner-belt/Ocean. See Google Maps for more.

The takeaway message is that according to a recent report by the Alliance for Biking and Walking and Census data, Dallas is the largest city without bike lanes. According to personal research done by Biking Columbus, Columbus is the 4th or 5th largest city without bike lanes downtown, albeit most large cities have multi-use paths downtown and the term "downtown" is difficult to define.

See below for what Columbus looks like:

See Google Maps

How to roll

2012-01-26T08:00:00.023-05:00

The last couple of days have been nice enough to bike and that means it's time for another bike lesson. When you see urban bicyclists, many of them have their pants rolled up. This is to prevent oil/grease from getting on your pant legs. It also avoids the dangerous situation of pants getting caught in the bike chain. You generally only need to roll the right side where the drive train is.

Occasionally I hike mine up like Huck Finn, but it's not the most hip. People could also wear super skinny jeans or use boots over their pant legs.

On the other hand, I flash back to the '80s and use the "Pinch Roll." I could show you how to do a pinch roll, or I could just link you to eHow on an article about doing it. I wish I were more vigilant because I have too many pants with grease stains on them. People, please learn from my mistakes.

More on the ODOT I-70/71 Meeting

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

While sitting through the January 19, 2012, ODOT public meeting about the I-70/I-71 split, I was impressed with how many suits were there. I expected a bunch of Olde Town East (OTE) residents complaining about the freeway. Instead there were about 6 OTE residents and a lot of governmental officials.

For those of you unaware, ODOT is split up into various districts. Franklin County is in District 6 which works out of Delaware County. The Deputy District Director Ferzan Ahmed had a lot of things to say about why the projects were delayed. Here are some of the ways that ODOT will try to save/obtain money to speed up the process:

Reduce ODOT operating costs
Utilize the Ohio Turnpike as an "asset" (i.e., privatize it)
Public-private collaboration

When I have some time, I plan on doing a boring post about how I dislike the idea of privatization of the Turnpike. But for now I'm going to focus on how Deputy Director Ahmed is kind of partisan. I only know that I'm a liberal because people tell me that since I support universal healthcare, am against for-profit schools, and believe that defense spending should be much smaller, I am a liberal.

That's why I think it irked me when the Deputy Director said that the State of Ohio became fiscally responsible at the start of the administration. Last time I checked, the State of Ohio is Constitutionally required to balance its budget. And promising all the road projects is different than spending money on them. I can promise every reader a gold bar but I am only bankrupt if I follow through with that promise. Since said promise is not a contractual obligation, I can pander all I want.

Next up: Bicycling is cool (except when it's not)

Cool link of the day:

The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers
Get More: SOUTH
PARK more...

COTA 2-Trip Ticket

2012-01-24T08:00:00.002-05:00

I recently received a comment on the blog about the 2-trip ticket for COTA which was introduced at the beginning of the year. For those of you unfamiliar with the 2-trip ticket, it is a pass which allows 2 trips on the bus. The benefit of these cards is that you do not have to worry about exact change.

I would characterize the start of the 2-trip ticket as a very soft release because there is no mention of it on their online fares webpage or on their "complete" rate-card. The commenter wanted to know where one could purchase the 2-trip ticket so I was game to find out.

I spent my benjamins for you, the reader.

On Friday, before graduating with my MBA from the Elevator Brewing and Draught Haus, I dropped by the main COTA building at 33 N. High Street to get a pass. When I asked for the 2-trip ticket, the woman at the register seemed surprised, even nonplussed, but to her credit she was aware of the tickets and knew exactly where they were.

I asked her and another employee about how popular they were. The woman helping me said that they weren't popular at all. The other employee told me that not a lot of people know about them, either. I also asked if they were available outside of the main pass sales office and they believed that I could only purchase it at the pass sales office. COTA should definitely look at additional advertising the passes along with selling them around the city as they do with day, week, and 31-day passes. As for the 2-trip ticket itself:

Expires 12/31/14 if you can't read my terrible picture

If you're curious about the fine print, this is on the back:

"2 Ride & Transfer Ticket.

This Pass is valid for two trips on COTA buses. May be used on different days. COTA and its retail outlets are not responsible for lost, damaged or stolen passes. Cash refunds are not available.

COTA reserves the right to deny transportation services to any person who knowingly evades payment of the fare of a public transportation vehicle, Section 2917.41 ORC. This card remains the property of the Central Ohio Transit Authority."

I will not be using it until at least March when my 31-day passes will be kaput. I'll let you know then if anything weird happens with the 2-trip ticket.

Cool link of the day:

Bonus I-70/71 Split Post

2012-01-23T21:59:00.000-05:00

Last week when I was protesting the protest of SOPA, I attempted to investigate the source of the widely publicized $1.5 billion cost of the I-70/I-71 Split Fix project. The first 5 Phases of the project was projected at $816.1 million. Hidden in the Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC) project delay was a 6th Phase of the Split Fix for the 315/70/71interchange for a cost of $836 million. Here's the scope of work:

Source: Slides from January 19, 2012, Public Meeting

So in other words, the estimated cost of the "Split Fix" is $1.652 billion dollars. (Source: TRAC List)

Project ID	Description	Cost ($ Million)	Previous Start	New Start
Franklin I-670/I71	Phase 1	$200.0	(Construction ends in 2014)	n/a
Franklin I-70/I-71	Phase 2 East Interchange	$261.7	2014	2025
Franklin I-70/I-71	Phase 3 East Trench	$109.7	2015	2028
Franklin I-70/I-71	Phase 4 South Trench	$158.2	2016	2032
Franklin I-70/I-71	Phase 5 East Freeway	$86.5	2016	2033
315/70/71 Reconstruction	Modify I-71/I-70/SR 315 interchange	$836.0	n/a	n/a

	Total Cost	$1,652.1

That's a lot of smackers.

Bikes and the I-70/I-71 Split

2012-01-23T08:00:00.003-05:00

Because I live, breathe, and eat this blog, I went to the I-70/71 ODOT public meeting on Thursday. As regular readers know, Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the "Split Fix" have been delayed from 2014 to 2025 and 2015 to 2028, respectively, so this meeting was a bit premature. Today I will focus on the plans and how it will relate to biking and urban living.

My impression is that the first priority for the re-model was traffic flow. The main focus are the feeder/ on-off ramps. For the streets parallel to I-71, they are creating a new "urban avenue"called Elijah Pierce Boulevard on the east side and an expanded and extended Lester Drive on the west side. For the streets parallel to I-70/I-71, Mound Street and Fulton Street. All of the streets are one-way.

First, it's interesting that ODOT considers "urban avenues" to be one-way streets. I prefer not talking in euphemisms, so I prefer them to be called "enhanced feeder systems." I say enhanced because they interestingly incorporated bike lanes in all of them and most roads have on-street parking incorporated as well.

They actually look kind of nice but I do have a couple of comments. First, the bicycle lane is directly adjacent to the parking spots. This would place bicyclists in danger of being "doored" which is a term used when someone opens a car door which a bicyclist runs into. Second, I don't like that a pedestrian crossing I-71 would have to cross a feeder street, I-71, and then another feeder street before getting to any buildings to work/live/eat/commerce. Sure, it's only ~300 ft of walking, but crossing two intersections and waiting for the pedestrian crossing right-of-way is not an ideal way of urban living.

Link of the day:

(Don't bike where this asshat was, but go here for more of the story.

One more ODOT bash

2012-01-20T08:00:00.026-05:00

Having started this blog in late October 2011, I had little idea about what was happening in Columbus's transportation world. I've attempted to catch up with the I-70/71 "Split Fix" information out there and I found this survey at the meeting on August 9, 2011:

That's what ODOT surveyed for? A few aesthetics? Pardonnez-moi, but I don't give a merde about those things. Instead, I would have preferred full, High Street styled caps along Spring Street or Long Street and taken whatever for the aesthetics.

Also, you can see a biker riding on a sidewalk in the renderings above. ODOT, it's illegal for bicyclists to ride on sidewalks in Columbus. As the Department of Transportation, you should be aware of these things.

Next, I have a beef with renderings of places with a lot of pedestrian activity. I am doubly frustrated when an organization, which specializes in models that predict how many cars are estimated to be on roadways, to willy nillily put pedestrians all over sidewalks in predicted images. Do I think the "Cultural Walls" which will be found on Spring and Long Streets will have this much pedestrian interaction?

Source: ODOT

No.

Cool link of the day:

Racism

2012-01-19T08:00:00.007-05:00

This blog doesn't usually go into social issues, but during the long Martin Luther Kind Day weekend I decided to research Rosa Parks. I was always familiar with the overall story: A black woman was sitting on the bus. A white passenger got onto the bus later and black woman was asked to stand in order to make room for the white passenger. Black woman refused and was arrested for civil disobedience. Obviously, Wikipedia is the source for what follows.

That's all true but it's more dastardly than that. Montgomery, Alabama, home of the event in 1955, had seat segregation where a certain amount of seats were reserved for whites at all times and there was a sign labeled "Colored" to indicate where black people could sit. The de facto practice was for bus drivers to move said sign back when there were not enough seats for white people.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks sat in the "Colored" section but the white people section filled up. When additional whites boarded the bus, the bus driver moved the "Colored" sign behind where Ms. Parks was sitting and he waved her to move from the seat. She refused and was ultimately arrested.

For those of you unaware, black people use COTA with some frequency. I, on the other hand, am color blind but people tell me that I'm white because I bike on the right side of the road. Regardless, I have thought about that scenario on the bus this week and I am at a lost to explain what Americans were thinking just 57 years ago.

First, I could not fathom a bus driver demanding the "coloreds" to give up their seat for me. Secondly, I would feel morally wrong if I allowed the bus driver to make such a demand. In the years prior to the end of segregation (1965), I don't know how people could treat each others with such disrespect.

Finally, it's not like this happened in the distant past - it was only 50-60 years ago which is in living memory. Segregation is more of a tarnish on United States history than most people give credit for.

Cool link of the day (the black crows were nice to dumbo!)

SOPA or not, here I am

2012-01-18T22:59:00.000-05:00

So while the rest of internet took the day off, I am posting twice. What what what?!

Recently I've been critiquing ODOT but one thing I wanted to research was the price tag of the I-70/I-71 "Split Fix." Earlier today, I identified 5 phases of construction with an estimated cost of $800 million. However, the number I'm familiar with is $1.5 billion for the fix. What's the deal?

This is what I found out at first:

Jimmy Wales, say it ain't so!

Thankfully Google still allowed searches and that's where I found the source of the problem:

I was the source!

After a little bit more digging at Columbus Underground, I found that an Editorial made by the Dispatch that proves that I didn't make up the number:

"The desire of Near East Side residents for "caps" on the bridges over the highway that will be rebuilt with the I-70/71 interchange is understandable.
But so is the plan by the Ohio Department of Transportation to build only one cap for now, while designing other bridges so that caps could be added later, if funding and economic development for them arise.
The cap on N. High Street over I-670, site of a Hyde Park restaurant and other shops, is a huge improvement over the chain-link fence that preceded it and has been a boon to the Short North area.
Leaders of the Near East Side would like to see the same for the many freeway crossings in their neighborhood. No other part of Columbus was hit as hard by the dislocations caused by building the interstate highway system in the 1950s and 60s. Freeways created impassable gulfs that broke up neighborhoods.
But caps for all 12 of the bridges in the I-70/71 project would unacceptably inflate the cost of rebuilding the split, already north of $1.5 billion, and making the tangle of crash-prone roadway safer has to be the first priority."

Thanks, Dispatch, for not fully supporting High Street like caps, but I'm still curious about where this number comes from.

Cool link of the day:

ODOT To Everyone: FOFF

2012-01-18T08:00:00.005-05:00

ODOT had a press release yesterday and delayed most large road construction projects a number of years. Here's a quote:

"After a year of discussing the looming transportation financial crisis facing Ohio, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) today released funding projections that could result in pushing back by decades some of the state’s largest construction projects.

ODOT staff made the recommendations during a presentation to the Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC), a bi-partisan group responsible for approving funding for the State’s largest transportation projects.

The TRAC is wrapping up a year-long process of receiving and reviewing applications for transportation funding projects throughout the state. The TRAC received 72 applications in 2011 for new transportation projects totaling nearly $10 billion. Planning, design and construction of various phases of additional projects totaling $2 billion is already underway. However, ODOT only has roughly $100 million per year to spend on new construction.

ODOT is funded completely with state and federal motor fuel tax and has seen that revenue shrink over the past several years. As vehicles become more fuel efficient and fuel consumption decreases, so does the amount of revenue generated to pay for Ohio’s infrastructure and create jobs."

What does this mean for Columbus? Phase 2 of the I-70/I-71 "Split Fix" has been delayed from 2014 to 2025, Phase 3 of the "Split Fix" has been delayed from 2015 to 2028, Phase 4 from 2016 to 2032, Phase 5 from 2016 to 2033. Additionally, there were a few other projects delayed such as an additional lane of High Street near Lazelle Road which was delayed from 2014 to 2019. For comparison, Phase 1 of the "Split Fix" started in 2011 and is planned for completion in 2014.

First of all, who had any idea that there were 5 phases planned for the "Split Fix"? Second, the last 4 phases are an estimated total of $616.1 million while Phase 1 is $200 million. That's a lot of smackers. Especially since the rush hours only affects 6% of the year assuming 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening.

Overall, I question of how necessary Phase 1 was if the remaining phases were so easily delayed. Have you seen the scope of work that will be modified by Phase 1?

Source: ODOT and here's another picture

That's a pretty small area for $200 million. Plus it's one bottleneck among 4 within the Inner-belt. If we can wait an additional 11 years for Phase 2 I would argue we could wait indefinitely for any of the fix.

Cool link of the day (if only traffic planning was like Sim City):

Split Fix

2012-01-17T08:00:00.018-05:00

I had a 3-day weekend to research what the deal was with Martin Luther King Jr. Apparently, he founded Lutheranism after posting 95 theses on some door. Then, some 400+ years later in 1968, he was assassinated for having a dream. I do the research so that you don't have to.

But overall, I've done a poor job of preparing a post for today and I don't have much to say. But the Dispatch had a recent article discussing the I-70/I-71 split:

"Future phases of Downtown highway reconstruction likely will be pushed back when the Ohio Department of Transportation updates its priorities list next week.
On Tuesday, ODOT plans to convene a nine-member panel that since 1997 has helped set the state’s road-building priorities.
Since taking office last year, Director Jerry Wray has said that Ohio’s plans are far too big for its budget."

As an occasional driver of the "Split," I can attest that it does become busy and that everyone who drives it will complain about it. One thing that would have been interesting to try would have been to attempt shift switching/flex time so that workers would have the option to arrive downtown between 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM. The highway has a peak demand problem and as such it seems like we were too quick to move on to spend $1.5 billion dollars to fix a problem that affects us 1/12 of the day.

That's just me though.

Cool link of the day:

More on Shelters

2012-01-16T08:00:00.002-05:00

I've talked, talked, and talked about how bleh I was on the bike shelters that were being installed. For those who tire of my million links, there are two phases of bike shelter installations which should result in a total of 19 bike shelters for a cost of $545,000. Here's a map of the first 10 shelters planned to be installed:

Interact with the map here.

To be honest, the shelters look pretty nice. The problem is that they cost about $30,000 per shelter. A recent article in the Oregonian has this to complain about bus shelters:

"Should a simple bus shelter -- basically a few benches covered by a roof -- cost as much to build as a three-bedroom house?

That's a question that is provoking outrage and official embarrassment in the southern Oregon city of Grants Pass, which this week signed off on a project to build five bus shelters at an estimated cost of $106,000 apiece."

The United States of America is in an apparent shelter war which will not be satisfied until we spend in the millions per shelter. The crazy thing is that they aren't all that impressive. They're similar to our incomplete bike shelters:

Credit: The Oregonian Timothy Bullard / Daily Courier

City planners everywhere, please hear me. People in bus shelters want to be protected from the elements and if possible, it'd nice to have heating fixtures. People using bikes in inclement weather don't need their bikes to be protected from the elements.

Cool link of the day:

Grammatical Lesson

2012-01-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

An oft-used word on this blog is "nonplussed." I had always thought that the word meant that "one felt meh." I was wrong.

non·plus (nn-pls)
tr.v. non·plussed also non·plused, non·plus·sing also non·plus·ing, non·plus·ses also non·plus·es
To put at a loss as to what to think, say, or do; bewilder.
n.
A state of perplexity, confusion, or bewilderment.

So the other day when I talked about the neighborhood kids being nonplussed towards me, they are not in complete bewilderment when I pass them on my bike. Instead, they are stoic as they are:

Sto·ic
[stoh-ik] Show IPA
adjective
1.
of or pertaining to the school of philosophy founded by Zeno,who taught that people should be free from passion,unmoved by joy or grief, and submit without complaint tounavoidable necessity.

Finally, I have a couple of public service announcements to make. COTA is going to hold public meetings on the possible re-alignment of the #3, #6, and #10 for when the west side casino is up and running. There is one on January 17, 2012, at 6:00 PM at the Westland Library and one January 24, 2012, at 6:00 PM at the Hilltop Library. I plan on attending the second one.

The other announcement is that there will be another Columbus Bicycle Subcommittee meeting on January 25, 2012, between 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM at 109 N. Front Street Columbus, OH.

Cool link of the day:

Go here for a bunch of cool stats on bicycling!

Bus Rapid Transit

2012-01-12T08:00:00.002-05:00

In December, I discussed the methods COTA was using to improve service. One method was the use of bus rapid transit (BRT) which is a route which can have signal priority, meaning the bus would stop at fewer to no red lights. BRT is all the rage as it is significantly cheaper than light-rail and has comparable travel times to light-rail as well.

Anyway, the Dispatch recently had an update on it and really, it's still looking like 2015 will be the soonest before it's operational:

"The Central Ohio Transit Authority will hit the road next month to begin gathering ideas for public-transportation improvements between Downtown, the Northeast Side and beyond.
A new service that’s quicker than a local-route bus but makes more stops than an express route remains the most-likely option. It’s called 'bus rapid transit,' and it’s rapidly gaining favor nationwide and already has been implemented in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Boston, Kansas City, Mo., and other cities.
It’s often described as light-rail on wheels, a step up from regular bus routes but cheaper to start than train or trolley service."

I think that in conjunction with this, it would be a great idea for Columbus to integrate other public transit during the "Split Fix" on I-70/I-71. People will likely be commuting between north Columbus to downtown for the forseeable future. We might as well build integrated rail on the freeway like Chicago or integrate bus stops next to interchanges to reduce congestion on our major north-south route.

Cool link of the day:

I like to bus

2012-01-11T08:00:00.011-05:00

While waiting for necessary brake repairs on Friday, I was stuck using the bus. Part of the hell-raising plan included going to Brazenhead's in Grandview (actually Columbus but you know what I mean). It was great since Brazenhead's is located on 5th Avenue and the #5 goes down 5th Avenue. Unfortunately, my bus didn't have a speaker system announcing the stop locations so I left one stop too early.

Oops.

Not a big deal but one thing that I noticed was the complete lack of marked crosswalks for pedestrians as it was a 7 minute walk between marked crosswalks.The most widely overlooked law in human creation is the fact that pedestrians have the right-of-way at all unmarked crosswalks, too. That means that if you are at an intersection and there are no traffic signals or signs prohibiting pedestrian crossing, pedestrians have the right-of-way (Ohio Revised Code 4511.48 and Columbus Municipal Code 2171.01(a)). Since rush hour traffic is not conducive to a pedestrian asserting his rights, I crossed prior to the intersection due to a lull in traffic.

That's a long-ass way between crosswalks!

Columbus - maybe adding an additional pedestrian crossing between these intersections would be helpful. 5th avenue isn't really wide enough to be a major arterial road so you might as well pedestrianize it.

The next stop of the night was Tip Top which I got to ride with some one (so long suckers!). After calling it a night, my girlfriend and I caught the #3 bus home at ~11:00 PM. Again, it was packed by the time we left time which makes me question if more frequent service should be provided for the #3 post-10 PM.

But hey, I made it home after a night of debauchery and COTA was responsible for it. That's pretty cool.

Cool link of the day:

Map made using GPS of a route a person took.

Winter Waddles

2012-01-10T08:00:00.006-05:00

The winter months have been slightly unkind to my boyish figure. I stopped biking just before Thanksgiving and I've averaged a pound a week due to those fascist, holiday feasts. Thankfully, we've had beautiful weather the past few days as some people have noticed. I woke up on Friday to this wonderful forecast:

A high of 53? What? Get out of here!

I forewent the bus and got on my bike to make the morning commute. At first it was exhilarating to feel the wind against my face and travelling 3-4 times faster than what I did walking. Then I started feeling guilty for not taking my bike to the shop because it was time to get some brake work done. Don't worry - this isn't a segue into a story about a crash.

During lunch I gave in and took my bike into a local bike store, B1 Bicycles in this case. I left my bike there over the weekend and picked it up Monday after work. The brakes were crisp and the derailleur shifted tighter than it had ever shifted. It was like a new bike with a frame from the mid-1980s.

On the return commute on Monday, I was stoked to try out my new spoke lights. Below is a brief example of a multi-colored light in action:

Pretty cool right? Well, even the usually non-plussed neighborhood kids loved it and one asked me if he could have it. The obvious answer was no even if he had offered me $150.

Cool link of the day:

Bike Share 101

2012-01-09T08:00:00.018-05:00

Last week I talked about Consider Biking's proposed bike share siting locations but I failed to discuss what a bike share entails. The term "bike share" is rather broad and could have many implications. Thankfully, there have been some large cities around the country which follows a basic template which I believe would be used to implement Columbus' plan as well.

Let's talk about the "bike" part of it. All of the bikes will be the same exact model. The bikes are made to be adjustable, although mainly with the seat post. Secondly, they're designed to be easy to use so they have hub gears which are low maintenance and normally require twisting the handle bar to shift gears and is overall very easy to use.

The "share" part is very different from what one would assume. Most bike shares have short-term plans aimed at tourists like a 1-day or a 3-day plan but they sometimes require a hold on a credit card for a large amount ($1000 in Washington DC's case) in the event that the bicycle is not returned. A membership of a longer duration, such as a month or a year, normally does not require the hold on the credit card because it requires a more in-depth registration which allows the operator of the bike share to have an address to attempt to get their bike back, if need be.

Source

After you pay whatever fee for the day, 3-day, month, whatever pass, you "rent" a bike from a bike station and have 30 minutes to return it to any bike station for no fee. However, if you go over that 30 minute time limit, be prepared to pay some money. You could return the bike at an intermediate stop and immediately check out another to get 30 more minutes of fee-less biking.

Membership and Usage Fees (Washington D.C. program)

Membership Fee
24-hour	$7
3-day	$15
30-day	$25
Annual	$75

Usage Fees (Washington D.C. program)

Ride Time	Total Hourly Fee 24-hour and 3-day Members	Total Hourly Fee 30-day and Annual Members
0 - 29:59 min	FREE	FREE
30:00 - 59:59 min	$2.00	$1.50
60:00 - 89:59 min	$6.00	$4.50
90:00 - 119:59 min	$14.00	$10.50

Pricing for the Washington DC program

There are the basics. If you're interested in more info, Portland, of course, has a great resource of bike share programs and you can also visit some websites of cities which already have them:

Washington DC - Capital Bikeshare
Denver, CO - Denver Bike Share
Minneapolis, MN - Nice Ride MN
Montreal, Quebec, Canada - BIXI (Pratiquez francais!)

Next up: This blog will get rid of the next up feature after this post.

Cool link of the day:

Beware Infographics

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

Like most Americans, I believe anything that I read on the internet. If it weren't true, it wouldn't be there. Therefore, it must be true. As such, I was slightly confused when I read that infographics might not always be accurate. An infographic is a super cool thing like this:

When I first read this infographic, I almost made motorists smell my farts. I mean, biking does so much good that it will save Portland $400 million in health care costs. As I was preparing to waft my flatus (not to be confused with Flattus Maximus) at others, I read this from Megan Mcardle of the Atlantic:

"However, if you look at the source paper for those amazing biking stats, you'll see that the data is handled a little ... weirdly. They have one source for the biking stats, another source (which I can't find) for the obesity stats, even though the paper contains data for both--and, natch, whatever data source they used puts the US obesity rate much higher than the paper (and than the OECD figures which are the standard comparison). They only show you data for Germany and Holland--with good reason. Australia, which has similar cycling rates to Germany, has a much higher obesity rate, as does the fairly bike-friendly UK.

As for air quality, it's not even possible to say what percentage of air pollution comes from automobiles in the US--it depends on the location, and the pollutant. But it isn't even close to true to say that 50-90% of all air pollution comes from automobiles; the EPA says that "up to half" of all air pollution is emitted by motor vehicles, but that category includes things like construction equipment, and I don't think anyone has yet come up with a way to substitute a bicycle for a crane. Moreover, on important particulate measures the US actually has better air quality than most of Europe--thanks to our lower density and, in some cases, to tighter and more effective regulation."

At first I was in complete denial. Ms. Mcardle is a libertarian sour pus and her only apparent joy in life is cooking and a $1500 food processor/blender/scale/heater; what would she know of stats? But that's when I read that one of the sources had the domain of arxiv.org. I don't care if it's affiliated with the Cornell University Library (it is), that's just a weird domain name. Not to mention links to www.portlandmercury.com and treehugger.com. It is widely known that Portlanders and Treehuggers are smug and we all know that "smug" is a euphemism for being untrustworthy. Trust me, I read it on the Internet somewhere.

Next up: A look at Cincinnati transit

Cool link of the day:

Infographics in early 19th century. What's a Turkifh Empire? (Public domain source)

Proposed Bike Share Siting

2012-01-05T08:00:00.026-05:00

Yesterday, I used foreshadowing to imply that I would talk about Consider Biking's proposed bike share kiosk siting. And by foreshadow, I mean that I said that I would talk about it. So here I go.

Go here for interactive map

The first part of bike shares is to consider what is the main purpose of them? Will they be targeted at tourists? Will it be for residential? Will it be for end-of-transit travelling? These are not mutually exclusive, but since downtown proper is sparsely populated, I would consider that residential is the least likely reason to use the bike share. I think maps are usually more helpful, but sometimes it's interesting to break out a table:

Larger Area	Specifics	Count
Greater Downtown	Total	39
	Brewery District	4
	German Village	3
	Nationwide Children's Hospital	1
	COSI	1
	Arena District	7
	CSCC/CCAD	5
	State House	11
	Franklin County Courthouse	5
	Grant Hospital/Columbus Library	2
Franklinton	Total	1
	Franklinton Cycle Works	1
Olde Town East	Total	3
	Columbus Public Health	1
	Franklin Conservatory	1
	King's Art Complex	1
Short North	Total	3
Grandview	Total	1
Ohio State	Total	16
	South Campus	5
	Mid-Campus	3
	North Campus	3
	West Campus	5
Upper Arlington	Total	1
N. High Between Hudson and Morse	Total	5
	Overall Total	128

The disclaimer is that I am a terrible counter so the overall totals could be slightly different and I some of the neighborhoods/areas could be up for debate. Regardless, I like the plan.

The few changes I would suggest are:

I would add more kiosks at Grandview/greater Grandview. There are a lot of people there and they would likely use it as it is very bikeable there. Suggested locations are Grandview Yard, 3rd Avenue & Olentangy Bike Path, 3rd Avenue & Grandview.
The kiosks north of Lane Avenue seem a little far north. If there is demand for kiosks that far north, I would prefer them closer to the Olentangy Bike Paths in order for them to work as Bike & Park which would be intended for drivers/commuters to park and bike to their final destinations.
There could be more kiosks in the Olde Town East area such as around Yellow Brick pizza.

Again, despite my usual snarky demeanor, I like this proposal and am very interested in following how this initiative progresses.

Finally, yesterday I suggested that the Google Transit options might not be up until January 12. Thankfully, I was wrong and it's back up and running. Merry Christmas?

Next up: The problem with infographics

Cool link of the day:

http://ronpaulswanson.tumblr.com/

Oops!

2012-01-04T08:00:00.018-05:00

Like COTA, I wasn't prepared for the New Year. I took the last week off of work and in my enjoyment, I forgot about my faithful readers. I apologize. For COTA, they forgot to update their transit feed in time to provide transit directions through Google Maps, which is the method that most of my friends use to plan trips. According to our overlords at Google, a transit agency should route changes at least two weeks before implementation. COTA submitted the information on December 29 which means that we might not have Google map planning until January 12. For now, Google suggests walking for transit options:

Enh.

Going forward, I want to change the direction of the blog a little bit. So starting next week, I'm going to do a weekly posts of the following:

Admiring/critiquing transit maps maintained by other agencies
Bike "Culture"
Bus "Culture"
Bicycle maintenance
Wild card

Plus, since a blog is basically a diary/soap box, if there's a topic outside of transit that's interesting to me, consider it blogged about.

For now, I checked out an intriguing update from Consider Biking and it appears that they are looking at a Bike Share program for Columbus. I'll discuss it more once I have more time to review it but I am definitely interested.

View interactive map here

Next up: Bike Share comments

Congratulations to Meredith Joy of Yay Bikes! for being awesome last year:

2011 People's Choice Award - Meredith Joy from CFF - Central Ohio on Vimeo.

Holiday Post

2011-12-23T08:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I erroneously posted that Christmas is almost here. While true, I forgot to mention that it was the 3rd day of Hanukkah and today it is the 4th day of Hanukkah! That's right faithful reader, you have culture. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

What this really means is that it's time to think about not only what we need, but also what we want. For instance, I wouldn't mind a Big Dummy or a million dollars.

Overall, though, I just want to have a good time with family and friends. Hopefully transportation will not be an issue and we will get to our destinations safely. I sincerely hope everyone has a great holiday.

Next up: An extended break (Expect regular postings on January 3, 2012)

Cool link of the day:

Walking

2011-12-22T08:00:00.001-05:00

I was going to talk about how awesome walking is, but then I remembered that it's not that awesome. It's pretty slow actually, and most other forms of transportation are faster. However, every day you will be guaranteed to walk, so that's too bad. Where are the Segways?

In my first post, I talked about how I walked to work and it took me about a half hour. I knew then what I know today, I would probably be a millionaire and also would have biked.

I would tell myself, Self, go into bonds and secured funds because the stock market is about to go down. Secondly, once it bottoms, buy lots of other stock. Thirdly, stop walking to work. It's a waste of time. Also, skinny jeans are cool. Buy some. Frodo lives!

Snark aside, walking can be a good alternative if your trip is less than a half mile. With biking, you have to deal with bike locks, tire pressure, looking cool, etc., whereas with walking you just walk out the door. Hence the term walking.

That's all I have today. Keep on trucking.

Next up: Christmas is almost here.

Cool link of the day:

COTA Express

2011-12-21T08:00:00.004-05:00

On Monday I found myself getting on the COTA #58 to Dublin to meet some people at Max and Erma's. The first thing of note is that I have never been nervous on the bus until that ride. Our driver was crazy and was actively weaving in and out of traffic. In practice, though, we got to the stops ahead of time and it was kind of cool, to be honest.

The interesting thing about it was that at the City Center garage load point there were only 3 people on the bus. But by the Nationwide loading point at Spring and Front, there were 20 people on the bus so that was kind of impressive.

The weird thing about the Express routes is that it's always hard to tell where they stop. The same can be said about the local stops, but it's especially difficult for the express.

Some ambiguity exists.

From my investigations of stop locations, the following are the overall stop locations followed by the Dublin area stop locations.

Closeup of stops on #58.

So first, I've learned how to include route lines from COTA on the map. Second, there are more stops than what is easily identified in the COTA map. I would suggest including simple "dots" where all access points are to the Express routes.

Next up: Walking

Cool *health* link of the day:

Bikeless Winter

2011-12-20T08:00:00.007-05:00

As some of you may recall, I have been busing to work since November 29 and I haven't really looked back because quite frankly, it's cold. It's not poop-your-pants cold, but it's cold enough be be uncomfortable.

To be honest, it's been really nice to not have to worry about anything for the commute home. While biking is relatively safe, I still have to follow traffic rules and as such, I can't completely zone out. On the bus however, I get to zone out while being in a temperature controlled climate.

Oddly enough, on Monday I saw three different bikers on the road. One biker was changing between sidewalk biking and riding on the streets at will. As a reminder, biking on the sidewalk is illegal in the City of Columbus but I am much more sympathetic. Bikers, if you are on the sidewalk, stay on them and ride slowly. Bikers, if you are on the road, stay on them and ride with what's comfortable.

The second biker was riding on the road on the right side of a multi-lane one-way street. His intent was to turn left but did not signal. On top of that, he stopped in the crosswalk of the next intersection, stopped, and then re-oriented himself to the cross traffic direction. This isn't a complete disaster but if I were a driver and saw a biker position himself in front of me, I wouldn't be happy.

The third biker was biking slowly on the sidewalk and got off his bike right before the crosswalk. Unfortunately for him, my bus driver was having none of it and held up the crosswalk for a good minute. In the one case that the biker was following the rules (more or less), he gets ignored.

Next up: Another note about COTA

Cool link of the day:

Grids 101

2011-12-19T08:00:00.027-05:00

I am a very big fan of the grid system. A grid system is basically a road system where there's a lot of intersections making right angles. Older parts of cities normally exhibit this kind of system, likely because of its efficiency when there were no motorized vehicles. It's efficient because there should be little backtracking because the grid leads you to where you need to go. Grid systems normally slow down traffic, due to the number of intersections, which is great for biking and walking.

Some of the the grid system in downtown Columbus

One problem with the grid is that the 4-way intersections are more crash prone than other intersections because they have more possible crash possibilities. But as previously mentioned, traffic is traveling somewhat slowly which reduce the severity of injuries. Cul-de-sac developments decrease frequency of 4-way intersections but instead require larger arterial roads in which cars much travel at higher speeds.

The black lines show segregated areas. The red lines are non-arterials roads

The above picture shows 3 N-S major arterials and 2 E-W major arterials. Since the non major E-W and N-S routes, shown in red, are difficult to navigate without an intimate knowledge of the area, most traffic will be drawn to the major arterials. Additionally, some cul-de-sac developments are segregated from other roads. These areas are shown with black lines.

This hierarchy of roads is somewhat efficient for motorists but for walkability or bikeability, it leaves something to be desired. From personal experience, I try to avoid major arterials while biking and as a motorist I am somewhat anxious when turning from neighborhoods to the arterials.

There are other grid systems - which I learned through a certain online encyclopedia source - but instead of confusing myself, I will focus on the grid and the cul-de-sac systems in the future. In the meantime, maybe I should talk about biking more on Biking Columbus.

Next up: How I feel about not biking

Cool link of the day:

Pizza Cutter

Riding the bus Part II

2011-12-16T08:00:00.015-05:00

I've got a few more bus rides under my belt and that means that I have some COTA stories!

Guy with a large satchel made from a blue, down jacket gets onto the bus. Initially, I take him as a down-on-his luck homeless person but I assume most homeless people are down-on-their-luck. He combs his hair with a hair pick and then looks inside his satchel. Surprisingly, he finds a toothbrush and takes it out. It's not completely clean so he rubs it with his finger and starts brushing. He has a disgusted look on his face due to what I presume is a foul tasting toothbrush sans toothpaste. The man sitting next to homeless dude starts getting agitated and looks wishfully at empty seats. Then, homeless dude starts barking non-sense and the man sitting next to him gets more worrisome. The next stop the man sitting next to him moves to a different seat. Oddly enough, the woman in front of homeless dude is rolling cigarettes and give homeless dude one. I get off at my stop and never look back.
Bus stops at the designated bus stop and exchanges passengers and starts to move. Man, walking nonchalantly 50 ft from the bus stop, yells at the bus driver to stop. Bus driver surprisingly obliges and waits for the man to meander to the bus. The following exchange happens:
Man: In too much of a hurry to stop?
Bus Driver (BD): Sir, you were not at the designated bus stop.
Man handing over ID: What? I was right by it!
BD looking at ID: Sir, is this you in the ID?
Man indignantly: What?
BD: Sir, this is not you.
Man takes ID back: I am going to go talk to your supervisor about this. This is terrible!
BD: That's fine but get out, I've got to get these people home!
Man gets off bus while mumbling. Bus passengers laugh and cheer.
My girlfriend and I get on the #3 at 9:15 at High and Broad and the bus quickly fills up to standing room only. I was impressed at how much demand there was for the bus even at 9:15 on a Thursday evening!

That's all I have this week. Have a good weekend people!

Next up: Confusion with grid systems

Cool link of the day:

COTA Public Meeting

2011-12-15T08:00:00.016-05:00

I went to the proposed service change on Tuesday to find out one thing: does COTA have a multi-pass system now? The short answer: yes.

As a part of their service announcement, COTA cheekily included the additions of "Trip Ticket" and "2-Trip Ticket." These sounded like a small step towards a multi-pass system that everyone has pined for but there was conflicting information.

Nowhere else on their website mentioned these passes so it appeared that there might have been an "oopsy." Well, I did high-end research and found out that yes, they're just like multi-passes. Apparently, after Columbus City Schools stopped busing the charter students around, the charter schools wanted to extend transportation to students but did not want to pay the small premium on a "Day pass" (cost: $4.50 versus a 2-Trip-Ticket cost of $4.00). Starting January 2, 2012, COTA is beginning to open up this pass to non-students as well. Hip, hip, hooray.

Other things I learned:

There are a handful of Express routes which do a reverse commute, i.e., downtown to suburb. These routes are not that popular and have largely been cut back.
COTA, municipalities, companies, and everyone else realize that buses tear up roads/parking lots. I thought that it was a dirty secret but it turns out that everyone has eyes and recognizes that the potholes likely have relationship to these large buses going around town.
COTA gives a pretty good presentation. They definitely know what they're doing.

One last update:

	Local	Local Monthly	Express	Express Monthly	Multi-Pass System	Annual Ridership (millions)
Pittsburgh (PAAC) *	$2.25	$90.00	$3.25	$130.00	10 for $22.50	66.1
Cleveland (GCRTA)	$2.25	$85.00	$2.50	$95.00	5 for $11.25	44.7
Cincinatti (go Metro)	$1.75	$70.00	$2.65	$106.00	No	19
COTA	$2.00	$62.00	$2.75	$85.00	2 for $4.00	17.2
Indianapolis (IndyGo)	$1.75	$60.00	n/a	n/a	10 for $17.50	8.8
Dayton (RTA)	$1.75	$55.00	n/a	n/a	10 for $15.00	8.8
Akron (Metro RTA)	$1.25	$50.00	n/a	n/a	No	5
Toledo (TARTA)	$1.00	$40.00	n/a	n/a	25 for $22.50	3.5

*Light rail has a surcharge of $0.75 but the inner downtown is free.

Next up: More bus stories

Cool link of the day:

4 Deer Saved From Certain Death

Yielding the Right-of-Way

2011-12-14T08:00:00.003-05:00

As you may recall, I am no longer biking for the winter and am instead more of Busing Columbus. This means that I am the lowest of the low: a walker. There are few sidewalks in the Hilltop area and as such I am relegated to sharing the road with motorists and "asshat" bicyclists.

The rules of the road are pretty simple. Motorists must yield the right-of-way at all marked and un-marked crosswalks (read: any intersection). If a poor pedestrian is forced to use the road, the pedestrian must yield the right-of-way to vehicles.

Both of these requirements are interesting. The problem with motorists yielding the right-of-way is that they sometimes do not truly yield. Plus, it's hard for a pedestrian to trust the motorist because a 1.5 ton car is a lot more powerful than a person and it's better safe than sorry.

On the flip side, I have a belief that it is a personal right to be able to walk anywhere there's a public right-of-way. Therefore if I decide to walk from Hilliard to Gahanna for whatever reason, I should be able to get there without yielding. I know that this isn't the most practical position and I probably wouldn't even advocate the law which says that vehicles must always yield to pedestrians. What I am saying is that we can put a man on the moon but we cannot properly sidewalk our urban areas. It's kind of a shame.

Next up: I go to a COTA meeting

Cool link of the day:

Ask a Biker

2011-12-13T08:00:00.009-05:00

This blog post is entitled Ask a Biker, it is really just me making up a question. To my intrepid readers: ask me questions and I'll put them here.

The question: I'm new to biking. How can I get from Victorian Village to Columbus State Community College?

I used to live at Buttles and Dennison and this would be a great commute. First of all, avoid High Street between Buttles and Fulton..A biker has to chose between the slow, slow bus lane and the lane which transports the cars avoiding the slow, slow buses, so it's best to avoid High Street if possible.

Secondly, use Park Street. Sure there's a lot of Chach bars between Goodale and Vine Streets, but for commuting it's pretty nice.

Finally, Nationwide Blvd is pretty nice. For the most part it is marked with "sharrows" and is signed as a bike route. Use it and you shouldn't pee your pants too much.

Overall, it's a pretty easy route to use but be sure to test it out during non-peak hours. If you're uncomfortable during non-peak hours, you might want to try a different route or use car/bus/walk routes instead.

View Victorian Village to Columbus State Community College in a larger map

Next up: Yielding the right-of-way

Cool link of the day:

Biking Dichomoty

2011-12-12T08:00:00.003-05:00

Many people ride bikes during childhood. The prototypical child bike is a single-speed mountain bike with a coaster brake where you pedal backwards to activate the brake. With this bike you are told to stay on the sidewalk, or else! And you know what? It's fun to bike on the sidewalk to go on short trips. The danger isn't too bad because you're on a crappy bike that's not build for speed and it's not like you have somewhere important to be.

Then, you turn 16 and are able to drive. The driver's education courses primarily talk about motorist rules and you never find out that it's illegal to bike on sidewalks but you don't care because you're driving and yelling at bicyclists to "Ride on the sidewalk!" If you do decide to revisit biking, you will tentatively trek out on the sidewalk on a faster and better bike than you had in your childhood.

This is not to say that parents should require kids to ride on streets. What I am saying is that more public awareness is necessary if we want bikers to follow the rules. If legislatures want bicyclists on the road with motorists, they should require drivers learn about interactions with other vehicle types on the road, including bicycles and motorcycles.

Fortunately, my neighborhood does not have many sidewalks so even pedestrians can piss of motorists because we're walking in the street.

Next up: Ask a biker

Cool link of the day:

Last Unofficial COTA Map of the year

2011-12-09T08:00:00.001-05:00

I've talked local, crosstown, and express COTA routes and provided maps for weekday service but I'll be honest, it was a pain in the asparagus. I prayed to Google and it gave me Fusion Tables which is another way to get geographic data on the web.

I digress into boring programming details. Instead, let's look at the map.

Play with data here.

So there are a few things to notice. Routes with frequent service are larger than the rest. The #1 is white, the #2 is Yellow, and #10 is turquoise. If you click on a stop, you get information about which buses stop there, how many stops occur, and which type comes (local, express, or crosstown). Blue dots are for local only, red dots are for express only, green dots are for crosstown only, and brown means a mixture of the three. Finally, you can add a filter to get different info. For local routes, choose "Route Types" and Starts with "Local" and you will see routes only served by local bus routes. For individual route, choose "Local and Crosstown Routes Served" and "Contains" "#X -" where X is the numbered route.

There are a few to improvements to make. At terminal ends of routes, the park and rides are counted twice because they are a destination and start of two different trips. Also, I would like to add layers so that people could get more specific information with route lines on the map.

Enjoy.

Next up: ANOTHER WEEKEND!

Cool link of the day:
Yay Bikes! How We Roll

COTA Making Progress

2011-12-08T08:00:00.026-05:00

Yesterday, I talked about goals of transit and a transportation term called level of service, of which I know little. Today I'll talk a about something I know a little bit more of which is reading power point slides off of COTA's website.

COTA offers 3 routes with relatively frequent served (10-15 minutes) which include the #1, #2, and #10. If you're interested in these in depth, I recommend this Xing Columbus post as his map is a lot better than the map provided below:

While something could be said about the areas covered by frequent service, I'm instead concentrating on what COTA is attempting/attempted to do to make service better for these routes which make up 50% of the ridership.

COTA #1 Cleveland Avenue / Livingston - Investigating - They are in the process of public outreach to determine the best path forward for the northeast corridor (Cleveland Avenue). The study will last between November 2011 and August 2012 so it's something to keep an eye on. It's focus is bus rapid transit (BRT) which is a route which can have signal priority, meaning the bus would stop at fewer to no red lights. Another improvement is an off-bus fare collection system so you can pay while you're waiting. If all goes to plan, this COTA presentation says that Columbus could have BRT by in 2015. You can also check Xing Columbus post, too.

COTA #2 High Street / East Main - Failed While Reaching for the Sky - COTA (and Columbus) wanted some kind of rail system for downtown. One idea was light rail connecting Polaris to downtown which I believe was brought to the voters in the late 90's in failed. The second idea was a streetcar between Downtown and Campus, this too did not succeed. These are the high brow ideas that were unable to get through to us and you can see the most recent article on the failures here. Unfortunately, I don't think many changes have been to the #2 in the intermediate.

COTA #10 Broad Street - In Progress - COTA has also been investigating reducing the amount of bus stops for each route. In September 2011, COTA made changes to multiple stops and we'll likely see how successful they were in improving service times when they ultimately attempt to reduce stops on other routes. This was the lowest hanging fruit.

Next up: One last attempt with a maps

Cool link of the day:

What is the goal of public transit?

2011-12-07T08:00:00.006-05:00

If you care about urban planning, you should start reading The Atlantic Cities immediately. It's not a new Boardwalk Empire or anything. It focuses in on urban living with reporting that is rarely seen. While the Dispatch complains about how terrible the commute is, Atlantic Cities has an article about the role of transit compared to daily planning.

Apparently, there's this magical thing called Level of Service (LOS) which I thought was completely made up. A quick google of it came up with this wikipedia entry which proves it real. Basically, a traffic engineer calculates the delay a vehicle would experience at an intersection. New road projects investigate LOS impacts and since increasing delay of cars is shunned, it's more difficult to receive funding if the finalized project increases delay.

The interesting thing about LOS is that alternate projects such as bicycling facilities, pedestrian crosswalks, bus prioritization, etc. would adversely impact the motorist. So while a new project may increase livability, it is automatically at a disadvantage because car has been king for so long. Additionally, the LOS inherently increases the possibility that roads will continually get larger without much of an increase of livability.

The Atlantic Cities Article mentions that the goal of transit in San Francisco is "transit first" meaning that public transit, bicycles, walking, taxis, vanpools, etc. will be prioritized over automobile traffic.The LOS criteria got in the way of that "transit first" goal, but now San Francisco is working towards a new criteria which incorporates multi-modal transportation. I think that's something to strive towards.

Next up: How this relates to Columbus

Cool video du jour:

Elitism

2011-12-06T08:00:00.014-05:00

There's much ado about an article entitled "Are urban bicyclists just elite snobs?" It's really more thoughtful than the title, but it made me wonder if I am an elitist snob.

I'll admit it. I'm a snob just a lil' bit. Beyond the money saved and the calories burned, I am proud that my commute is environmentally friendly. That's not to say that I get to work and set up a shrine worshiping my commitment to the environment because I do that when I get home. No, I just feel that biking is a very healthy mode and that everyone should join me. If everyone were biking, the commute would be much safer, people would be healthier, and we could prioritize fuel use for the transportation of goods or more long distance trips. But that's when I realize that you can only do what you can and that bicycling might not be that appealing to people because sometimes it's not fun.

Speaking to what the article really rails against - running red lights - bikers should never do it. It makes us look terrible and according to an article in The Atlantic Cities, a study of an intersection in Portland showed that 47% of bikers ran red lights compared to 7% of motorists. That's insane to me. Just because you're reducing your carbon footprint doesn't mean that you have a voucher to break traffic laws. I hope that my fellow bicyclists will expend the extra energy to stop at traffic lights in order for communities to continue adding bicycling infrastructure.

At Columbus Underground, this elitist snob article is a forum topic. It's been tame so far but I'll keep track of it to see just how we, the cyclists, are thought of.

Next up: More about public transit

Cool link of the day:

Riding the bus

2011-12-05T08:00:00.004-05:00

I've never been much of a bus rider. I've always driven/been driven to school and during my professional life I've walked or biked. So it's definitely been a new experience to depend on the bus for commuting purposes. Here are some of the things that I've liked:

The sense of relief when I see the bus coming.
Being able to zone out while riding the bus.
The COTA monthly pass is so much easier than having to have $1.75 (soon to be $2.00) on me.

Some things that I do not like as much:

Waiting for the bus. I don't think that the bus is on time that often so I feel like I'm wasting some time while waiting.
I'm not as physically active but that's more by design than it being COTA's fault.

Some things that could be improved:

Real-time stop information so that I know when the bus will come.
Quicker cash exchange system. Some times it takes a really long time for someone to put all their change into the collector.

Overall though,I like using the bus, so that's good.

Next up: Some random thoughts

Cool photo of the day:

Enlarge

The Express

2011-12-02T08:00:00.006-05:00

I've covered crosstown routes and local routes which means I only have the express routes left. Although many may guess what the purpose of Express Routes are without explanation, I'll explain.

An express route is a bus route which has fewer stops than the local routes. Sometimes, they may follow similar local routes but skip many of the bus stops. Other times, they may be at a location not serviced by local routes such as New Albany or Canal Winchester. Many routes also have a Park and Ride to entice commuters. Finally, all but 1 regular route goes to Downtown and the one exception goes between Hilliard and OSU.

I was interested in the time saved using Express routes and was surprised. The Local #2 and Express #31 have stops at the Crosswoods Park and Ride which is near the North High Street and I-270 intersection. Both routes use High Street. Express #32 also stops at the Crosswoods Park and Ride but uses I-71. Using the bus schedules and Google Maps, this is what I found out:

Time to Travel Between Crosswoods to High Street & Broad Street
	Time (minutes) fastest	Time( minutes) Rush Hour
Local #2	45	63
Express #31	42	50
Car on High	28	--
Express #32*	37	38
Car on I-71	20	--
*Uses I-71 instead of High Street

I thought the #31 would always be a lot faster, but in off-peak times it only beats the #2 by 3 minutes. I know that people that choose the #31 will probably stop prior to downtown, but I want to do further analysis to see how necessary some of these routes are.

I've compiled the stop information for the Express routes below. The colors mean nothing other than to try to show unique routes. The crosses mean the lone route going from Hilliard to OSU.

Click here to play with map

Again, I am unaffiliated with COTA and this map is not endorsed by COTA in any way. All opinions in this post are mine and are not shared by COTA. The map was made using data from data for Google Transit available here.

Next up: Another weekend!

Cool link of the day: Languages of the tweet

The Cold

2011-12-01T08:00:00.020-05:00

Today was the first day of the cold, cruel winter. It was windy with a hint of freezing. Not only that, but I saw a few bikers at the Columbus Bicycle Subcommittee meeting who decided that it was too cold.

First, it made me appreciate that some of the more committed members of Columbus bicyclists sometimes don't bike all the time. We're not crazy! Second, it made me wonder about some of the temperatures that Columbus experiences.

I went to Weather Underground to do some investigating and I looked at data between January 2009 and January 2011. Here's what I found relating to how cold it is, using the daily lows as my guiding light:

Temperature	Average Days per Year
Low less than 10 F	9
Low Between 10 F and 20 F	31
Low Between 20 F and 30 F	45
Low Between 30 F and 40 F	65

If it's warmer than 40 F, you can probably bike. It's once it gets colder than that which makes me worry. If you can't stand temperatures less than 40 F, you would need an alternate mode of transportation 150 days a year, but really it all depends on what you can tolerate.

Next up: One more post about COTA routes

Cool photo of the day:

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Thinking about Winter

2011-11-30T08:00:00.008-05:00

I have no powerful insights about the winter. Primarily, it's cold and sometimes there is snow or ice on the ground. So my main concerns won't cause you to lose your breath:

Hands get really cold.
Face gets pretty cold.
Feet can get pretty cold.
Everything else will start to sweat

With point #4 in mind, you have to dress based on distance. If you are going a couple of blocks, put on your arctic gear. But if you're going 3+ miles, you'll have to decided between being cold early or overheated later. I prefer keeping sweat to a minimum, but to each his/her own.

If you're really interested in biking in the extreme cold, I suggest Icebike because they have very in-depth strategies with dealing with a variety of weather types. If you're curious about how I roll:

Wear awesome gloves. Because you use your hands to operate the brakes and gears, a warm pair of gloves are necessary.
Wear a hat or possibly a balaclava (face mask). A balaclava makes you look like a ninja but also allows flexibility in uncovering your face if you need to cool down.
Wear winter boots. One trick to try is to put on your shoes as soon as you get up to warm them up before riding. If your toes are cold when you start riding, they probably won't warm up.
Be prepared to unzip your outerlayer to cool down. It's cool.
If you decide to bike in snow, make sure you have proper equipment such as studded tires and possibly disc brakes. If you're unprepared to have the proper equipment, you may want to choose the bus or a car for the days which ice could be a problem.

I salute those of you who will continue biking throughout the winter. It takes a certain je ne sais quoi which I do not have.

Next up: Just how cold is Columbus

Public Service Announcement: Bicycle Subcomittee Meeting tonight at 5:00

Cool photo of the day (hat tip my girlfriend):

Do what you can

2011-11-29T08:00:00.003-05:00

Before I get to deep into proper biking attire for miserable weather, I need to make a public service announcement.

Biking can be fun but it is not glamorous. During the summer you will arrive at your destination and people will ask, "Why are you all sweaty?" During rain events you will arrive at your destination and people will say," You look like a drowned rat and I should know a thing or two about drowned rats." During blustery days you may be passed by pedestrians even as you are pedaling with all of your might.

All this is to say that if something doesn't work for you, try something else. Maybe bring a change of clothes if you are sweaty or wet. Maybe use the bus if the weather is bad. Maybe use a car during parts of the year *gasp*. For me, I am going to use the bus during winter. Life is just too short to be miserable and everyone has the power to chose something different.

I believe that this is true in aspects outside of biking. I could eat healthy and cut out sugar to be more healthy but I like sugar and I am content with my health. I could stop playing video games but then I wouldn't know how Zelda ended.There are many more similar examples of where I could do more but I am content with where I am.

This is all to say that I highly recommend biking but if someone tries it and doesn't like it, I won't nag them to continue biking. I have a friend who I continually suggested biking to work because it would have been a relatively safe and easy commute. One day he biked to work but it didn't work for him. The only time I brought up biking since was when he told me that he was walking 3 miles from work because he was without a car for one evening and had no viable bus option.

Just do what you can and occasionally try new things. The good thing about all that sweat during biking is that you're burning more calories and that means you can eat more Chipotle guilt-free.

Next up: Winter commuting

Cool link of the day:

The Winter Cometh

2011-11-28T08:00:00.004-05:00

Due to my somewhat unkempt beard, many people mistake me for a hipster or, less occasionally, the uni-bomber. Therefore it surprises people when I tell them that will not bike for the winter. In fact, I have COTA bus passes ordered for December, January, and February.

Much to my chagrin, the weather has taken a turn for the worse. The 5-day forecast has rain and snow in it and that means that I am officially done with biking for 2011. While this would mean nothing to me when I had a 2 miles commute, the 6 mile commute makes me too pissy to deal with rain and gloom everyday.

Weather hates bikers. Sometimes.

But have no fear, my fiercely loyal readers. I am a firm believer in different modes of transportation and I will primarily be discussing COTA along with inclement weather biking during my bike hibernation. I will also spend time learning what a bike consists of besides metal.

So in the near future, look for me in the gym to replace my hour bicycle commute.

Next up: What winter gear I've worn/wanted

Cool link of the day:

You've all seen it by now but this is awesome.

COTA Crosstown Routes

2011-11-25T08:00:00.002-05:00

Because I am in the middle of a turkey coma, today's post is going to be pretty short. On Monday I discussed local bus routes Columbus and provided a map. I've also prepared a crosstown map of COTA routes and that's below. If you click on the link and then click on any stops on a route, you'll be able to see how many buses stop there per weekday:

Click here to play with map

The crosstown routes serve the purpose of connecting Local routes outside of going downtown and also to partially serve OSU. Since I live on the Hilltop, I see room for improvement. We specifically need a north-south route which would connect the 15, 3, 6, 10, 5, and other crosstowns. In essence, it would be a Hilltop-OSU crosstown.

Again, I am unaffiliated with COTA and this map is not endorsed by COTA in any way. All opinions in this post are mine and are not shared by COTA. The map was made using data from data for Google Transit available here.

Next up: It's cold!

Cool link of the day: