Long Beach Becoming A More Bike-Friendly Place

By Emily Savage
Staff Writer

While cars line the roads and highways, emitting dangerous toxins into the air, Long Beach officials are working on a grab bag of plans to remind people they have another option — bicycles.

Long Beach definitely is a bike-friendly city, said Transportation Programs Manager Sumire Gant.

Gant listed natural reasons like flat geography and consistently good weather, but also mentioned the bike path along the beach, along with other bike routes.

Currently, the city’s East-West Bicycle Route Connections and Signage Program is in its final stages of design, Gant said. The designs will go to the Transportation Commission in June and bid for construction in December.

The bike lane includes routes along the San Gabriel River on Willow Street to Studebaker Road and Atherton Avenue to Ximeno Avenue. The citywide signage portion will include a number system which links up to a map of the city and signs that say where bicyclists should turn. If all goes according to plan, construction will begin in 2009, Gant said.

In addition to routes and signs, the Transportation Bureau recently installed 100 new, purple bike racks along Fourth Street. There will be 200 more installed in the coming months.

Another reason Gant called Long Beach bike-friendly is because it is the first city to have a Bike Station. There are now Bike Stations in Berkley, Palo Alto, Santa Barbara and Seattle.

Created in 1995, Bike Station offers bicycle parking, repairs and tips to members and those just passing though. It’s located downtown, on First Street between Long Beach Boulevard and Pine Avenue — near the Long Beach Transit Mall and its connections to the Blue Line and bus service.

Bike Station’s annual fee is $20 and includes 24-hour bicycle parking, 50% bicycle rentals and bike-sharing opportunities. Nonmembers are free to use the attended parking during the day and get help with repairs.

Bike Station Executive Director Andrea White described it as a “community cycling center.”

White, who comes from an international business background, has been with Bike Station for four years and said she came to Bike Station because of her passion for the environment.

She said Bike Station has some lofty new plans, including expansion of the building and services.

“It will probably be about a year but we’ll have a changing room and showers,” she said.

Bike Station also is helping people in a different way as part of the WINTER (Women in Non-Traditional Roles) program. The program teaches women skills in typically male-dominated fields.

Bike Station is partnering with them to provide alternate transportation and to teach about bicycle repairing. At the end of the program, the instructors gave the women a brand new bicycle and took them out for a bike ride. The station is set to participate in the program again.

“These women are really turning their lives around,” White said, “I’m really glad we did it.”

Bike Station also gets involved in environmentally conscious events like Bike-To-Work Week in May, White said.

Manager Dominic Dougherty said Bike Station oversees around 150 repairs a week and averages four bikes parked in the facility daily. White said there are currently around 70 members and they can accommodate 50 more.

Dougherty said he worries about the safety of bicyclists in Long Beach and feels that motorists aren’t aware of their presence in the streets.

Gant and the Transportation Bureau worry about the same problems, she said. She talked about creating Bicycle Boulevards on smaller streets for people who want to keep off the main, traffic-heavy roads.

“We want riders to be fearless commuters,” Gant said. “We want people to feel safe when they’re riding.”

Another goal Gant expressed was for everyone to be a part of the bike-sharing program city employees will soon be provided. There will be a locker outside City Hall where city employees can borrow bikes to go out on meetings and short trips, instead of using their cars.

For details on the East-West Bicycle Route Connections and Signage Program, visit www.ci.long-beach.ca.us/pw/traffic. For details on Bike Station, visit www.bikestation.org.

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