Carey's Newsletter

The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission bill, BL2022-1449 was deferred until February 2023 after we had a discussion with Diana Alarcon, Director of NDOT. She believes that the Vision Zero task force, which has not yet been appointed, will fulfill the same purpose as a BPAC.

Councilman O’Connell the lead sponsor agreed to defer the bill after Ms. Alarcon promised to create a sub-committee to the VZ task force for biking and walking that would include members who are not on the task force.

I am skeptical (as you might guess) but we agreed to the proposal to give NDOT an opportunity to prove they’re serious.  The first marker is who they appoint to this Task Force. I know several particularly good people who have applied and should be appointed.

One of the issues I raised with her is the bike and scooter share RFP that is being prepared. She assured me that the VZ Task Force will be involved. I’ve done some research and cities that have a much higher bike utilization also have a robust bike and scooter share. Seattle has 2,500 e-bikes and 4,000 scooters. Denver has similar numbers and Austin has 6,500 scooters on the street.  We have 1,500 scooters, 200 docked e-bikes and will eventually have a few dockless bikes.

Nashville has forced BCycle out of the parks and agreed to a pilot with only 75 dockless e-bikes. A recent study in Atlanta found that a reduction in number and hours of scooters and bikes increased traffic. Who would have guessed.

I’m told the dockless e-bike pilot will begin on November 14. There may be some kind of kickoff event and I’ll make sure you know. I rode the Bird e-bike Sunday and it was pretty impressive but it was brand new.

As always feel free to contact me if you want more information.

Carey

615-828-6551