Labor Day Weekend Updates

 

"I love the bicycle. I always have. I can think of no sincere, decent human being, male or female, young or old, saintly or sinful, who can resist the bicycle." (novelist William Saroyan)

News and Updates: 

• The city's Transportation Subcommittee met to discuss the lack of transit options in Sierra Madre, which has a disproportionate impact on transit dependent members of our community, such as those too young or old to drive, and others unable to drive. Metro has made the Micro Metro service available to Sierra Madre since July 2020, when Metro suspended bus service to the city. Micro Metro is a local, on-demand vanpool service. It is viable option for some trips, but it has a limited service area. The city wants to explore additional transit options for the community and will be meeting with Metro and other local transit agency representatives.
  

Calendar: 

• Saturday Sept. 9: Ribbon cutting ceremony and bike ride to celebrate the opening of the Union Street Protected Bike Lanes in Pasadena. Pasadena City Hall, 8:30am - 11:00am. Take your bike on the Metro from Arcadia or Sierra Madre Villa station to Memorial Park station in Pasadena. Register here. 
• Sunday September 24: Meet and Greet with CA state Assembly candidate Jed Leano. 11:00am - 1:00pm, Pergola area, Sierra Vista Park, 611 E. Sierra Madre Blvd, Sierra Madre. Families welcome, refreshments served. Much of the funding for transit and active transportation improvements for our community comes from the state, and it's important to have a strong advocate for these issues in Sacramento. RSVP here.
  

Hot Links:

• As a counterpoint to some of the recent scare-mongering about teens on e-bikes in the New York Times, Micah Toll offers a variety of reasons ebikes are good for teens in his article "Why More Teenagers Should Ride Electric Bikes." Safety concerns should be addressed through youth bike safety education and safer infrastructure (e.g., bike lanes), but the upsides far outweigh the downsides. E-bikes are better than encouraging teens to drive, Toll argues: "An e-bike for teenagers means freedom, but it’s also an early lesson in alternative transportation. It teaches kids from a young age that we can move ourselves around in a way that is both efficient and sustainable. We don’t have to burn gallons of fuel to get to school or buy a carton of milk." 
• Vox.com asks, in "Plane vs. Car Safety" why our air travel in the US is relatively safe while our car travel keeps killing more Americans every year. When it comes to car travel, there are three things we can learn from Air travel safety. (1) Do not accept highway deaths and injuries as inevitable. They are preventable; (2) Focus on systemic solutions, not individual behavior. Making streets safer for all road users is more effective than asking everyone to follow the rules. (3) Regulate and discourage the growth of oversized vanity Pickups and SUVs, which are more likely to kill or injure other road users in collisions.