Bike Racks and Bicycle Art on Display in City Hall

The Flower Show has ended, but not your chance to see the beautiful bicycle racks coming to Center City later this summer. The racks have moved to the Art Gallery at City Hall (did you know there was an art gallery in City Hall? Well now you do!) for a three-month installation.

This installation will feature two racks which did not make it into the Flower Show. And complimenting the racks like a fine wine pairing will be Bike p'ARTs, a collection of art utilizing bicycle parts to explore themes of sustainability, health, and the urban environment. The art in this new collection is contributed by eleven local artists: Regina Kelly Barthmaier, Robert Barabos, Charlize Katzenbach, Jennifer Lynn, Gerry Marron, Eric Mozes and Donnell Powell of Color My Sidewalk, Elicia “Eel-Eye” Avenue, Scott White, Kendal Wilkins and Raphael Xavier.

There will be an artists reception on April 9th from 5:00-7:00 pm in the gallery space.

Success! Amtrak Commits to Improve Bike Parking at 30th Street Station

No more lonely or improvisational bike parking at 30th St

Your voice was heard! As we reported earlier this month, bike parking at Amtrak's third busiest station has been seriously constrained. Spurred by the 184 people who signed our petition, we have been in a dialogue with Amtrak staff about the issue. Amtrak recently made the following comments and commitments:

First, Amtrak explained that bike parking is "not ideal....[due to] two major improvement projects happening at the station right now – West Plaza Project and Installation of a Sidewalk Canopy System. The two projects are limiting the amount of space that we have around the station for bike parking."

Amtrak then committed take the following actions:

• When the West Plaza Project on the 30th Street side is completed in November, it will include spaces for at least 80 bikes. They will accomplish this by installing ten new racks (each rack can hold 8-10 bikes). 
• For the 29th Street side of the station, Amtrak will install six bike racks that each hold 8 bikes, for 48 total spaces. (Special thanks to the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities, aka MOTU, for providing Amtrak with the six racks.)
• MOTU and University City District (UCD) will assist Amtrak in the removal of abandoned bikes.
• To address the incidences of Vespas and motorcycles parking at the bike racks, the Amtrak Police Department is stepping up enforcement and will ticket or tow them if they can’t get the owner to move the motor vehicle.

We thank Amtrak for being responsive to bicyclists' concerns and pledging to improve bike parking at 30th Street Station. A big thanks also to MOTU and UCD for stepping in to help Amtrak remedy the problem. We are looking forward to seeing these improvements implemented shortly, we hope in time for the Thanksgiving travel weekend.

Our Favorite Mayor's Office of Transportation & Utilities Is Throwing a Birthday Party

Now, we've known our fair share of Mayors Offices of This and That. When you're a 40-year old bicycle advocacy organization, you meet a lot of people, and a lot of offices. Hell, there are stories we could tell you...the trouble we got into with some Mayors Offices back in the 70's...heh...do you know what a Squirrel Clap Kit is? No? Well, we're not going to tell you. Go ask PennDOT, or your mother. We live in tame times, today. That's all we'll say about that right now. *clicks tongue*

But we're here to tell you about our favorite Mayor's Office of Transportation & Utilities. MOTU, to their friends. And we're friends. Definitely. Definitely good friends. MOTU lives here in Philly, and they are turning 5 years old in October! Can you believe it?

To celebrate, MOTU is throwing itself a bunch of celebrations. Normally, that might seem kind of tacky - but if you know MOTU, you know they're real laid back. They just like to have fun, and when fun isn't being had, they make it happen. Can't fault them for that.

What do they have planned? Well, grab your party calendar and add the following to your social docket:

October 9
MOTU at Nerd Nite
Join members of the MOTU Family as we raise a glass to bikes, trains and airplanes.
7:00 PM | Frankford Hall | 1210 Frankford Ave
Information here

October 14
First Person Arts StorySlam
Theme: "Journeys"
7:00 PM | World Cafe Live | 3025 Walnut Street
Information and tickets here

October 21
MOTU at 5
Celebrate the release of MOTU's Progress Report
MOTU releases its five year progress report. Join MOTU and First Person Arts for an evening of story-telling with special guests and celebration of the great work we have done over the past five years.
7:00 PM | Free Library | 1901 Vine Street
Free tickets here

See below for a transcript of the speech MOTU gave to the room last night after we all chanted "speech!" for 30 seconds, and the event flyer. It's a transcript, so the stuff we shouted mid-speech is in italics. In unrelated news, we have a headache like whoa and these fluorescent lights are brutal this morning.

Registration Open for Philly Pedestrian & Bicycle Summit

Interested in the future of walking and bicycling in Philadelphia? The Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities (MOTU) has opened registration for their day-long summit coming up April 30th.

Transportation is becoming a big deal in Philadelphia. We are not a city of cars - we are a city of people trying to get places. MOTU is holding a summit to discuss and demystify Philly's plans, strategies, and purposes for how it manages foot and bicycle traffic.

Topics will include:

• Where and when Philadelphia will get new bike lanes;
• The City's sidewalk cafe regulations;
• How and why the City optimizes traffic signals and manages construction to benefit pedestrian traffic;
• The future of The Circuit and other regional bike/ped trails. 

High-level people from MOTU and regional planning and development agencies will be in attendance, speaking about their work and taking questions from the public.

The summit is free to attend but you need to register in advance.

Click here to register

Click here for the summit agenda

If you have any questions, or to find out more information, contact Ariel Ben-Amos at the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities (ariel.ben-amos@phila.gov or 215.686.9001) or Cassidy Boulan at DVRPC (cboulan@dvrpc.org or 215.238.2832).

Next Wed: Sign Up For Bike Counts & Pepper The Mayor's Office With Your Questions

Oliver wishes to know: when the Delaware
River get bike lanes? 

Our fall bike counts are coming up, and we need help counting all dem bikes!

This is our most popular volunteer activity (well, #2 after staffing our baby penguin tickling station - next location TBD). The more volunteers we have, the greater number of intersections we can count!

To participate, you need to come to a volunteer training night. The next one is coming up next week.

Wednesday, September 5th

1500 Walnut Street, 2nd floor conference room

Philadelphia, PA 19102

6:00 - 7:00 pm

Register to attend here.

Questions? katie@bicyclecoalition.org

Stick around because from 7-8pm we'll have a special guest: Aaron Ritz, Philadelphia's Active Transportation Coordinator. He will talk about the latest bike-friendly developments in the city and take your questions.

Lastly, a note: we mourn the passing of Jerry Nelson, who voiced the beloved Count von Count, our guest blogger from last year.

Charles Carmalt of the Mayor's Office Answers Questions About the Walnut Street Bike Lane

We've heard a couple repeated questions about the Walnut Street bike lane coming soon to...wait for it... Walnut Street. So we ran them by Charles Carmalt, the Pedestrian & Bicycle Coordinator at the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities (MOTU). Here are his answers:

Question: Truly separated bike lane
Why not take a cue from NYC and swap the bike lane and the parking lane, creating a safer bike lane buffered from traffic by a lane of parked cars? This would make the lane safer, and prevent cars from blocking it by stopping or parking in the bike lane.

A Philadelphia First - City Offering In-Street Bike Corrals To Philly Businesses

Philadelphia is taking a major step towards improving its bicycling infrastructure and its economy with a new program they are announcing this week: free in-street bike corrals to interested Philadelphia businesses.

The new corrals won't look like this one on Walnut &
Sydenham, but will provide parking for 12 bikes

We brought the first in-street bike corral to Philadelphia last September, turning one car parking spot into 14 bicycle parking spots. The corral has been a huge success: always in use, and facilitating commuting, errands, and shopping in Center City.

Now the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities (MOTU) is offering 10 in-street bike corrals to interested businesses. 

The application process is open now and runs until May 30th. The racks are free to businesses who complete the application. If your business or property has more demand for bike parking than can be met by sidewalk racks, this is your opportunity to get an in-street bike parking corral in front of your place of business!

Here is the announcement from the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities:

Following the successful pilot last fall of an in-street bike parking rack on Sydenham St. just south of Walnut St in Center City, our office received numerous requests from businesses around the City to provide in street bike parking. Starting this month, MOTU will be soliciting applications from businesses and organizations who want to convert a single car parking space in front of their building into parking spaces for 12 bicycles. We will be awarding up to 10 of these racks free of charge to applicants who prove that they meet the criteria outlined in application packet.

Interested businesses or organizations are required to complete the following steps:

• Determine if their location meets space requirements
• Provide evidence that their location has a high and unmet demand for bicycle parking
• Complete the application form
• Acquire letters of approval from their district City Council representative

One of 80 bike corrals installed in Portland, OR

This program will follow the examples set by peer cities across the country including Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland Oregon, and Milwaukee in which a single car parking space is converted into parking spaces for multiple bicycle parking.

Applications are due May 30th, but those submitted by May 15th will get preferential treatment. Download the application here!

Update on 10th Street Bike Lane thru Chinatown

Here's a quick update from the Mayor's Office of Transportation about the 10th Street bikelane. They have met with some Chinatown business owners and briefed them on the specifics of the pilot program. They prepared a two page, bi-lingual handout and distributed it to businesses along 10th Street north of Market Street. The installation will begin after PennDOT's streetscaping project is finished in early October.

Here are the conditions of the pilot.

• No parking will be removed
• Loading and Unloading will be allowed
• The Pilot program will last 3-6 months

10th Street Bike Lane Pilot Description in Chinese and English

p.s. If you want to encourage Chinatown businesses to support the bike lanes, mention that you use them to get to their store/restaurant.

Philadelphia's Transportation Office Launches New Website

It took a few years, but the Mayor's Office of Transportation (MOTU) finally has its own website devoted to its portfolio of issues: transportation, utilities and sustainability.  Check it out, sign up for their email updates and leave some comments on their blog posts!