deb on September 24, 2009, at 08:36AM – #2

A public campaign to teach bicyclists and vehicle drivers how to share the road, avoiding the road rage (from both bikers and drivers) that sometimes ends in violence. Would also be great to teach bus drivers that they are not in competition with bikers.

Dawn on September 24, 2009, at 09:06AM – #3

Agree with the above two comments, in particular the education campaign. Adding more bike lanes would be an improvement as well.

Pedestrian on September 24, 2009, at 09:08AM – #4

I was just thinking before this article that my building needs to offer a safe, locked area for bicyclists to park akin to how the drivers have garages and parking structures (even for a fee).

I live in a converted residential hotel, and all the bicyclists have to take their bikes into their tiny rooms/apartments. And it's not fun having to share the elevator with them either. They need a designated room in the building where they can safely be parked/stored.

MarkB on September 24, 2009, at 09:50AM – #5

My best suggestion: recruit Janette Sadik-Khan to head the LADOT and give her plenty of authority.

Walt on September 24, 2009, at 11:13AM – #6

Create Bike Only Boulevards on 2nd Street, Pico Blvd., HOPE St., and bike/trolley street on Broadway. 1000 Bike Lockers downtown. Public bike stands / repair stations with tools and pumps ( like the one that was at the LA River center in Cypress Park) to be instaled at downtown parks.

VW on September 24, 2009, at 11:35AM – #7

Take a cue from Long Beach and pilot bicycle sharrows (regular travel lanes with markings indicating that bicycles belong and have primacy), perhaps as couplets where feasible: Spring/Main; 8th/9th, 2nd Street, 4th Street, Broadway from civic ceter to Chinatown. This would avoid the whole "desiarable but not feasible" fiasco currently facing the bicycle master plan. No lanes added or taken away, only paint.

ubrayj02 on September 24, 2009, at 01:51PM – #8

Current Los Angeles Municipal Code allows any commercial lot with 10,000 active sq. ft. of commercial uses can swap up to 2% of required car parking for bike parking.

A great bonus for Downtown would be the ability for an arbitrarily low amount of active commercial sq. ft. (say, less than 1,000 sq ft) to be allowed to substitute ... I don't know, 80%? 90% (?) of it's required car parking.

This would allow small restaurants, bistros, and other businesses that normally have high parking requirements (or now-vacant commercial spaces that would require the filing of a variance to be allowed to operate without "required" car parking) to put together a bunch of quality bike parking (13 bikes fit well into one car parking space).

A couple of things would happen: (1) Lower capital costs to start a small business in Downtown LA (2) Induced demand for bicycling, as bike parking would become more ubiquitous (3) More bicyclists = safer streets for all road users (less bikes on sidewalks, more bikes in the streets, and more polite drivers).

It is budget neutral, or potentially positive, as it has the potential to modestly increase the sales tax and business license tax revenue to the city by helping spur small shops to open up.

This could work well in other areas (Colorado Blvd in Eagle Rock for example), which has a special set of mixed use zoning requirements that make it impossible to affordably develop the small lots into "mixed-use" lots (as per the specific plan's intent) due to the over-the-top parking requirements for even low levels of commercial activity.

rachel nelson on September 24, 2009, at 04:48PM – #9

um. bicycle fest? a street fair with food & bicycle art (inspired by or using actual whole/partial bicycles) and possibly grants for artists to spend a day trolling about the city in a pack as a mobile (and fashionable) work of art. ow.

Ankur on September 24, 2009, at 04:59PM – #10

Bikes are visible in downtown - the downtown patrol in purple is visible everywhere.

But - no one respects them and considers us as transportation. If they were to enforce laws and give tickets to people who cut of bikes, honk, etc!

Also, a city sponsored ride through the east side. For kids, downtown residents, @ a slow pace, like the acura ride. Make riding bikes fun again and not dangerous!

Christa on September 24, 2009, at 05:08PM – #11

Valet bicycle parking (with red carpet included).

Ann on September 24, 2009, at 05:10PM – #12

Bicycle parking garages with lights, security guards, and music streaming in the background.

smitty on September 24, 2009, at 05:27PM – #13

What about a Bike Share system? It's been quite popular in Europe for some time now, and is finally starting to make viable inroads in North America.

The principle is similar to Zipcar. For those not familiar, you have a subscription account and are charged a nominal fee to pickup (or drop-off) a bike at various locations placed strategically throughout the city/neighborhood.

Being that a majority of destination trips are usually local, you charge based around time used, a sliding scale of half hour increments to deter extended trips and assure there are always plenty of bikes available.

Reservations and checkouts are automated using either a smart card or cell phone system.

The pick-up/drop-off locations are specifically tailored to the bike models to prevent theft, and the bikes are painted bright colors to deter disassembly.

In the automobile test tube that is Los Angeles, I imagine you could begin by placing them at frequent locations in high density areas (imagine one PU/DO location in every Downtown neighborhood). As the program gains traction, you can expand to other parts of the city that express interest.

Bill on September 24, 2009, at 05:28PM – #14

Downtown is a friendly place to ride on the weekends. However, once you're done riding finding a legal place to lock up a bike is not easy. More bike racks are needed throughout downtown.

Ele Munjeli on September 24, 2009, at 09:30PM – #15

Steep congestion pricing combined with bikeways, greenways, parking and events to encourage bike/ped culture. Congestion pricing works! And it sends a message to the car people about the real cost of automobiles in the environment. The question always comes up as to how to pay for bike improvements; economically, we need to discourage drivers as well. When gas prices really climb, more people bike- if we raise the price of driving in a particular community, we would build a dense block of cyclists in a defined location.. a voting block, and a cultural touchstone.

Bert Green on September 24, 2009, at 11:52PM – #16

Completely remove all parking requirements for any commercial or residential property. Let the developer decide whether or not to provide parking. That would allow for bicycle and pedestrian only developments. Especially near metro train stations.

Noe on September 25, 2009, at 12:44PM – #17

Congestion pricing is a superb idea for Los Angeles. Traffic reduction and increased revenue for the city, like in London.

I hope people don't just leave comments here but are sending their pleas, concerns, suggestion to the City.