Next Week City Will Present Report On Controversial 10th Street Bike Lane

The City is recommending removing parts of the 10th Street
bike lane

Philadelphia's most talked-about bike lane is finally getting its own public meeting. The Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities is holding two open houses to discuss the results of the pilot 10th Street bike lane program.

Tuesday, May 22nd 2012
5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Chinese Christian Church and Center,
225 N 10th St.
Basement meeting hall will be used, entrance on Spring St.
Chinese interpretation services available.

Wednesday, May 23rd 2012
4:30 PM to 6:30 PM
SEPTA Food Court
1234 Market St.
Basement Level

What will happen to this street? The City is recommending the following:

• remove the bike between eastbound Vine Street and Filbert Street
• Replace with shared lane markings in left travel lane
• Update and refresh bicycle lane markings between Ride Ave and westbound Vine Street, and south of Market Street to Lombard Street 

We encourage everyone to attend these meetings to hear the City's presentation of its data and share your comments and feedback.

Calling Volunteers To Help The Chinatown Bike Lane

Volunteer opportunity!

We are partnering with the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation to conduct a shopper survey in Chinatown. We are looking for volunteers interested in making our city's bike lane decision-making more informed.

What's involved:

• Speak to shoppers in Chinatown about how they arrived there
• Record responses on paper
• Shift slots are flexible in length, time of day, and day of week
• Speaking Mandarin or Cantonese is not required (but extremely helpful!)

One of the lessons of our February meeting with PCDC was that there is not enough data about the 10th Street bike lane. No one has investigated what percentage of Chinatown shoppers arrive by bike, by foot, or by car. Knowing this will make future decisions impacting the 10th Street bike lane more informed.

Interested? Contact our volunteer coordinator Steve by phone (215-399-1598 x707) or by e-mail. All volunteers will receive one of our I Bike PHL t-shirts, a great accessory for springtime bike riding! You can also attend our volunteer training tomorrow night to get trained on street outreach and sign up for projects like this one.

Recap Of Yesterday's Discussion On Chinatown Bike Lane

We had a full room last night for our Philadelphia City Cycling Committee meeting. In attendance was Charles Carmalt (City's Pedestrian and Bicycle Coordinator) and three people from the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC): Executive Director John Chin, Special Project Manager Xie Ge, and Main Street Manager Diana Lu.

It was a productive, lively meeting. PCDC is being inundated by concerns from Chinatown merchants that the removal of a traffic lane is significantly hurting their business. The merchants contend that traffic is more snarled, discouraging Chinatown's significant out-of-the-city customer base from driving to Chinatown to shop and eat. John and Diana also relayed Chinatown merchants' perception that they do not see the bike lane being used enough to justify its disruptive presence.

Support Bike Lanes By Shopping Chinatown

And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth...

This Saturday was an important turning point in the ongoing conversation about bicycling's role in Philadelphia. On Saturday, the Streets Department laid down the 10th Street pilot bike lane between Spring Garden and Market Street. This finishes the 10th Street lane between Spring Garden and Lombard, giving bicyclists a much-needed southbound route through Center City.

Why is Saturday important? Because there is now a bike lane through Chinatown. Until Saturday, there was only a plan for a bike lane through Chinatown. The difference? Real bike lanes generate data (imaginary bike lanes generate rage). The City will evaluate the lane over the next few months to determine its effectiveness as a bike route and its impact upon traffic flow.

What can you, Philadelphia bicyclists, do? You can show your support for such bike lanes by eating and shopping in Chinatown. The City will be watching for the hypothetical traffic disaster predicted by armchair traffic engineers, but Chinatown business owners will be studying numbers as well. Much of the opposition to the lane is based on the unfounded belief that removing a car lane is bad for business. Studies have found the opposite to be true. Should Chinatown businesses grow due to the bike lane, that will be an incredibly powerful motivator for future improvements in bicycling infrastructure.

Chinatown's many retail stores and (delicious) restaurants are just as easy to visit by bicycle as by car (probably easier). The neighborhood around Chinatown already has one of the highest bicycling rates in Philadelphia. We are optimistic. So patronize Chinatown by bicycle and prove that bicyclists are consumers not to be overlooked. The City just made it much more convenient for you to do so.