New shuttle bus service to serve downtown Oakland – ContraCostaTimes.com.

For those of use working in DTO, it is great to see a shuttle starting up to get around.  Having this available helps access Jack London, Old Oakland, the Uptown/Arts district and Pill Hill!  Easy to use to shorten otherwise long walks and a nice alternative to riding sometimes.

Hope this is just the first of many improvements in downtown to make it easier to get around without a car.

“(Councilmember) Kaplan said she and other city officials also hope that new bus shuttle can be the first step toward developing an electric streetcar system to the downtown some time in the future. Streetcars ran in downtown Oakland in the 1940s.”

Oakland needs your input on the proposed plan for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Come to one of six community meetings. Similar to light rail without tracks, BRT features bus-only lanes, level boarding and fare payment at stations to achieve faster and more reliable service.

Here are the meeting locations, dates and times:

• January 11: 6-8pm, Fruitvale Senior Center (3301 E 12th St, Suite 201)
• January 12: 6-8pm, Eastside Arts Alliance (2277 International Blvd)
• January 21: 6-8pm, East Oakland Youth Development Center (8200 International Blvd)
• January 26: 6-8pm, Faith Presbyterian Church (430 49th St)
• January 27: 11am-1pm, Hearing Room 2 – Oakland City Hall (1 Frank Ogawa Plaza – Broadway and 14th St)
• January 27: 5-7pm, Hearing Room 4 – Oakland City Hall (1 Frank Ogawa Plaza – Broadway and 14th St)

For more information, visit www.oaklandbrt.com or call 510-238-3792. For transit directions, call 5-1-1 or visit 511.org.

Traffic calming in HarriOak : A Better Oakland.

I was really excited to see V Smoothe’s article on A Better Oakland highlighting the terrific work going on in the HarriOak / 27th St area.  WOBO has been active in this area for a few years now, and the current plan is coming together:

“Harrison Street and Oakland Avenue, as I’m sure most of you are aware, are adorable and primarily residential streets near downtown Oakland that function mainly as super long freeway off and on ramps. 17,000 cars a day speed down these roads with no concern for the speed limit, while bicyclists enjoy basically no special accommodations and pedestrians are forced to use narrow, unlit sidewalks. Although there are plenty of crosswalks, getting across them is, as the draft plan mildly states, a “daunting task” and not one for the faint of heart. (The existing conditions chapter (PDF) of the draft plan outlines these problems in detail.”

There are now 21 comments supporting the Community Transportation Plan (PDF) that outlines improvements that would calm traffic and make the area safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

The intersection at Whole Foods / 27th / Harrison gets more improvements, including TREES.  Thanks to V Smoothe for covering this and to all of you helping to transform these mini-freeways that dissect our community.

A new report released today by Transportation For America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership takes stock of how city streets built for speed and not safety can be deadly to pedestrians. “Dangerous By Design: Solving the Epidemic of Preventable Pedestrian Deaths (And Making Great Neighborhoods)” ranks the nation’s 52 largest metro areas based on a calculated Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) and reveals how investment in pedestrian infrastructure could save hundreds of lives and prevent thousands of accidents each year.

While the report ranks the Bay Area as the safest California metro area for pedestrians, Oakland’s streets are still no walk in the park. Close to 20% of all traffic deaths in Oakland are pedestrians. Given the high percentage, pedestrian safety spending is remarkably low – only 1.5% of federal transportation dollars in California are spent on pedestrian and bicycling facilities. And those most at risk – particularly seniors and people of color – face disproportionate danger that could be reduced through increased investment in pedestrian safety.

“Oakland has come a long way in pedestrian safety over the past decade, but the city’s fiscal crisis has put the squeeze on our public works budget,” said Carli Paine, president of Walk Oakland Bike Oakland. “Federal support for Complete Streets policies and increased funding for pedestrian safety projects are critical to meeting our goals for walkable neighborhoods and safe access to transit.”

Walk Oakland Bike Oakland calls on our local and national decision-makers to support a national Complete Streets policy, and to increase funding for pedestrian infrastructure in the upcoming federal transportation bill. Join concerned citizens nationally to call for safer streets by clicking here!

To read Walk Oakland Bike Oakland’s press release, click here.

For the full report and more information, click here.

Want to help Cycles of Change and the young cyclists of Oakland with just a few clicks? ‘Course you do. As for how, it’s simple:

Brighter Planet donates money to organizations based on votes from you, the Internet public. If Cycles of Change is one of the top vote-getters this month, then they’ll get $5,000. Pretty sweet, right?

The project you’re voting to fund is Cycles of Change’s work at Bret Harte Middle School in East Oakland. This bicycle education/distribution project gives kids from low-income families the opportunity to earn their own bicycles, learn safe riding skills, and go on exciting bike adventures. Participants learn basic bike mechanics, engage in service projects (such as community gardening and creek restoration), and rebuild a recycled bike to use as their own sustainable transportation.

Here’s the best part: you get three votes at Brighter Planet. You can spread them around or use them all for one project! Personally, I voted three times for Cycles of Change – once for the kids, once for Cycles of Change, and once for the love of cycling. And since November is all about voting, here’s a great opportunity to do some! To vote for Cycles of Change, click here.

Thanks for voting!

Thanks to the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, we’d like to pass along the following tips for safe walking at Halloween:

Guidelines for Safe Walking at Halloween

1. Parents and Adults Should be Involved

• Young children need a parent or other adult to go trick-or-treating with them. There is no magic age when children are old enough to walk alone. Parents need to judge when their children are mature enough to go without an adult.
• Review crossing safety rules with children. Tell them:
  • Even when adults are looking, always look for cars for yourself.
  • Stop at the curb and look left, right and left again for traffic.
  • Wait until no traffic is coming and begin crossing. Keep looking for traffic until you have finished crossing.
  • When crossing the street at an intersection, obey traffic signs and signals and look for yourself to see if cars are coming. Look left, right and left and then behind you and in front of you for turning cars.
  • Walk, don’t run across the street.

2. Cross Safely

• Choose the safest routes to walk.
  • Pick places where there are sidewalks or paths separated from traffic if possible.
  • Look for well-lit streets with slow traffic.
  • Remind children to watch for cars turning or pulling out of driveways.
• Limit the number of street crossings. Avoid crossing busy or high-speed roads.

3. Be Visible

• Think visibility. Wear bright colors, use retro reflective materials. Carry flashlights. In bad weather, visibility is even more important.
• Choose homes that welcome Halloween visitors. Look for well lit driveways, walkways or paths to the front door.
• Do a costume check. Can the children walk easily in the outfit? Make sure the masks or head gear allow the children to see clearly what is around them. Be sure they can safely negotiate steps on dimly lit walkways.

4. When taking a group of kids trick or treating:

• Have a good ratio of parents/adults to children. For young children, consider 1 adult for every 3 children.
• Arrange the adults so that there is an adult in the front and one in the back. This is to prevent children from getting ahead or lagging behind the group.
• Plan how to cross streets:
  • Avoid busy, high-speed or multi-lane roads.
  • Give children exiting the street room to enter the sidewalk area.
• Remember children are not miniature adults:
  • They often act before thinking.
  • They have one-third narrower side vision.
  • They can’t judge speed.
  • They are shorter than adults and can’t see over cars and bushes.
• Make sure the children understand what is expected of them. Have a plan for dealing with disruptive kids.

5. Messages for Motorists:

• Drive slowly through residential streets and areas where pedestrians trick-or-treating could be expected.
• Watch for children darting out from between parked cars. Watch for children walking on roadways, medians, and curbs.
• Enter and exit driveways and alleys carefully.
• At twilight and later in the evening, watch for children in dark clothing.

If you want a printer-friendly version of these safety tips, we’ve got two options:

• PDF file (.pdf) http://bit.ly/19ySlB
• Word document (.doc) http://bit.ly/2uiWYe

Happy Halloween!

Yeah, yeah, we all know that climate change is a big problem and walking and biking is a great solution.  Right?

Since today is Blog Action Day 2009, with a focus on Global Climate Change, I wanted to add the WOBO blog to the chorus of online voices calling for action, as a reminder that our work to improve Oakland’s neighborhood quality of life through walking and biking has impacts not only our community but also our global community, from New Orleans to Nigeria.

Transportation accounts for 28% of greenhouse gas emissions nationally, and 38% in California.  Every trip you take that is accomplished by bicycle or foot helps keep carbon out of the atmosphere and make our future that much cooler.

It’s estimated that, thanks to our inaction over the past 30 years, sea level WILL rise (not maybe) 1-2 meters as a best-case scenario.  Every bike lane and crosswalk we stripe in Oakland means that coastal communities – in California, Louisiana, Bangladesh, everywhere – will face fewer relocations, fewer deaths from flooding and extreme weather events, and fewer social injustices from the unequal way that these problems are falling on the shoulders of poor and minority communities.

Oil drilling and refining causes health and environmental damage on the ground as well as the ultimate problem of climate change.  Every tank of gas you DON’T buy saves rainforests in the Amazon, preserves clean drinking water in Africa, and keeps smog out of the lungs of communities near refineries.  As the planet heats up, the pollution impacts on people and the environment we be even more devastating as the balance of ecology is made less resilient due to rising temperatures.

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING WALK OAKLAND BIKE OAKLAND and helping make our community part of the solution.  This month, you can get involved – on the ground and in person – to further local efforts to fight climate change:

Saturday, October 24: Global Day of Climate Action in San Francisco

Tuesday, October 27: Oakland Climate Action Plan update at the WOBO Volunteers Meeting

Please join us in making sure that our leaders take the steps we need to address climate change – and know that every day, your time in the saddle or on the sidewalk contributes to the global effort on this issue.

For more information about Blog Action Day 2009 and links to other blogs on climate change, click here.

(Submitted by Shannon T.)

This past weekend, WOBO vols Michael and Shannon headed east to the Rockies for a “Winning Campaigns” training with the Alliance for Biking and Walking. The training, led by ABW staffer Jeremy Grandstaff and LA County Bicycle Coalition founder Ron Milam, was packed with tools and tips for, well, winning campaigns – and since we’ve both been at the forefront of the emerging “Oaklavia/Sunday Streets” effort, we used the practice sessions to scheme the next steps towards making fun, safe, free car-free parkways a reality in Oakland.

In addition to spending two and a half days honing a plan for bringing Oaklavia/Sunday Streets to the Town, we also had many opportunities to share stories and ideas with fellow bike/ped advocates from Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Minnesota.  Other groups are working on diverse goals ranging from changing Minnesota state law to allow bicyclists to turn left on red when they don’t trip the traffic light sensor, to inserting a “Bike Palace” with free, secure parking and showers into the newly restored Union Station in downtown Denver. We’re looking forward to leaning on these awesome, inspiring allies as we work for a better neighborhood quality of life here in Oakland.

Group photo with cow sculpture by BikeDenver board member Lise Neer.

It wasn’t all business, though.  Denver’s re-developed warehouse district has become a hopping scene for nightlife, especially when the Colorado Rockies are playing, and we spent the evenings walking to pubs where a base hit was cause for a conversation-stopping commotion.  The nearby Cherry Creek trail is a bicycle and pedestrian throughway that leads south from downtown, and Saturday afternoon about a dozen training participants took a ride on the paths and streets of Denver.  One of the most interesting locales was the Denver Art Museum, where giant cows lounge on the lawn in front of a recently completed, pointy building intended to reflect the shape of the mountains, and covered in 9,000 titanium panels.  That’s a lot of bikes!

Submitted by Shannon T.

Wow.  Over 80 interested folks came out to hear Neils Jenson’s talk on the development of Coppenhagen into a cycling city.  It was an amazing turnout!  The series of talks and events in Oakland (and SF!) brought out over 160 interested parties, as well as half of Oakland’s city council (IDLF, Nadel, Kernighan, and Quan), senior members of Mayor Dellum’s staff, andSF Supervisor Chiu.

It was a great time, so good to see so many of you out there.  Maybe you read about it on the Examiner, NBC local, or heard about it on KCBS.

Check back soon for video from the events, but for now a few last images will have to do – cheers!  WOBO

Neils Jenson, Copenhagen - and his newest 80 friends Oakland City hall

bikes stacked thick at Oakland City Hall for the talk Monday

Copenhagen is one of the world’s premier cycling cities. But it wasn’t always that way. In the seventies Copenhagen was dominated by automobiles, much like Oakland. Tonight you have the opportunity to hear some of Europe’s foremost bike experts on the subject of how Copenhagen made the shift and how Oakland can do the same.

WHEN: Monday, September 28th from 5:30-7:30pm
WHERE: Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza – Hearing Rm 4
WHAT: “The Story of How Copenhagen Became a Cycling City” presented by Niels Jensen, plus a roundtable Q&A session with four German Marshall Cycling Delegates

WOBO is a local host to delegates from the German Marshall Fund’s Transatlantic Cities Network. They’ll be sharing their experiences and expert opinions on how and why Oakland can become a world-class cycling city. Since there’s both a talk and roundtable, if you arrive late you’ll still get to hear some pretty cool stuff and join in the conversation.