Recommendations

As a signal of UMD’s commitment to reaching its transportation and climate goals, DOTS retained the Toole Group— a civil engineering and planning firm— to analyze the feasibility to create a bicycle compatible campus. Toole Group created a comprehensive plan recommending $1.1 million dollars to be spent over a three-year period. The structure of the objectives has been organized into four areas: A connected campus, a safer campus, a sustainable campus, and an engaged and aware campus. [6.]

In addition to the Toole group study this paper consulted Sevgi Erdogan, a Doctoral candidate from the civil engineering school, the graduate assistant and liaison for the transportation department. She has worked for DOTS for 2 years and during her tenure the number of bicycle registrations and overall ridership has increased. (Source: Interview Erdogan) In May she released the results to her two-part student/faculty/staff survey which profiled the transportation methods of the campus population. The survey proved to be a starting point for understanding the decision making process of commuters and how bicycle ridership can be increased. (Fig. 3) These findings are an excellent starting point for determined what policies are working, what needs improvement, and what concerns still need to be addressed. [1.]           

Connected Campus

             Creating a Bicycle System

The university needs to update its facilities and infrastructure to adapt to the bicycle as a vehicle on the road. This includes creating off campus multi-use trails, shared bike lanes, sharrows, roadway markings, multi-use intersections and widening sidewalks in addition to curb improvements.

Multi-use trails allow bikers living 1-5 miles in distance from campus to connect to local roads while avoiding main high-speed traffic and potentially dangerous primary highways. According to Ergodan’s survey, bad roadway connections were the critical concern of faculty and students alike. By increasing the number of multi-use “hiker biker trails” such as northwest branch, sligo creek, and paint branch, bicyclists can reach campus while avoiding higher volume roads.

Shared bike lines and “sharrows” can help to alert motorists, bicylists and pedestrians of proper bicyle locations. These shared roads afford transit to move predictably which results in safer travel. These sharrows are used on smaller low speed streets where cars and bicycles can co-exist.

On larger streets bicycle lanes are a segment of the road that can be dedicated to the bicycles prescence. This prevents bicylists from riding on the sidewalk, jockeying for space in the road and allowing vehicle flow to remain constant. Bicycle lanes are often 5 feet wide which allows them to be accomodated relatively easily.

While the main effort of the project is to direct bicycles to the road, in certain cases sidewalks should be widened to allow transportation through campus. Sidewalks are primarily for pedestrians and bicycles can be hazardous when riding on them. Widening the lanes will decrease risk of collisions which can be particulary violent due to the drastic difference of pedestrian versus bicycle speed.

Intersections and curbs need to be redesigned to bring clarity and visibility to all vehicle operators in these instances.

            Bicycle Parking

Bicyclists are unsatisfied with the parking options available to them. According to The University of Maryland Bicycle Advisory  Group (BAG), “32.9% of respondents to the DOTS Transportation Survey who lived within five miles of campus identified provision of “more secure or covered parking” as an improvement that might encourage them to bicycle to campus. This opinion was particularly marked among bicyclists (defined as those who owned a bicycle and had ridden it in the past year). Of this population, 40.8% said that more secure or covered bicycle parking would encourage them to ride” [5.] To solve this problem a variety of solutions are available that are cost effective and feasible to implement. The study recommends a centralized bike station, cages provided in major parking lots, lockers, covered stations, and more bike racks at major buildings.

            A centralized bike station could provide a hub of activity that would host amenities promoting bicycle culture. This bicycle hub would ideally be in a central location such as the stamps student union, nearby roads and trails. Inside the station bicyclists could find registration desks, repairs, lockers, food and beverage, showers, as well as information about bicycle safety classes, rental programs, route sharing ideas, alternative transportation options such as metro, Shuttle UMD, and day parking passes. This centralized bike station would also serve as a landmark that would increase visibility throughout the Maryland campus.

Bike cages that allow access through student ID swiping need to be more prevalent. (Fig. 1) These cages assure riders their bike will be safe while in class and that their vehicle is accounted for in a safe well-lit area. Currently there is a bike cage in the Mowatt Lane garage that also stores scooters and rental bikes. More of these stations need to be created to service greater parts of campus and encourage ridership. The yearly parking cost is affordable but more incentives for people to ride should be created. (Fig. 4) These incentives could be discounts, recommendation coupons and benefits for frequent riders.

The study determined the lack of bicycle racks at many key buildings and off campus housing. The university wants to meet a 9% ridership role by 2012 and to meet that goal the bicycle parking needs will be 1 bike space to every 7 beds in Residence halls, 1 bike space to every 12 seats in Classrooms, and 1 bike space to every 20 seats in Offices. This is a worthy alternative considering 12 bicycle spaces can fit in the same room allotted for one car parking spot. [6.] As the university looks for ways to save money on expensive parking lot/garage construction this issue will become even more relevant.

Coordination with local authorities

The University is not alone in this effort to increase bicycle use and the challenges that face its transportation and climate efforts. Other local authorities such as the City of College Park, WMATA (Metro), in addition to local planning, transportation and park commissions in surrounding counties and the district have a vested interest in this issue. Collaboration between these government agencies in the program’s nascent phase would alleviate challenges now and down the road in terms of jurisdiction, bureaucracy and policies. [6.]

 Coordination with local transit authorities

In addition to local authorities UMD needs to expand existing transit options as alternatives to bicycling on days of inclement weather. This includes metro, ShuttleUMD and other public transport options in the region. As the purple line nears approval, this will bring another public transit option directly to campus, providing a critical link between Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties. Transportation must allow access from local areas to public transit stations. Stations must provide safe, clean, and secure stations, racks and lockers. ShuttleUMD, the Purple Line, MARC train or Metro must all provide bike racks and availability on the systems themselves.

Safety

According to Ergodan another of the obstacles mass bicycle ridership faces is the safety concern of students and staff. Students and staff are worried about their ride both to and on campus. These fears could be allayed through a greater police involvement, crash detection, as well as safety and education classes.

Police involvement on campus could aid bicyclists on proper ways in which to operate their vehicle. This includes where to ride, tips on bicycle behavior, and how to interact with pedestrians and motorists. Police could assist the university by understanding dangerous areas in terms of motorists or security issues. These police officers could serve as a liaison between the Maryland community and administration.

In addition to these tips and advice, formal classes and educational sessions could be offered to inform novice riders on the proper way to share the road. By creating classes students and staff would benefit from the experience of the officers’, bikeumd members’, and other classmates’ information and experiences. This would also be a chance to increase visibility to the program.

Crash detection needs to be adequately monitored. With the data of where the accidents are happening planning authorities could adapt, fix and rehabilitate these problem areas. With increased data and measurement devices DOTS and local jurisdictions will have a better chance to solve the problem. Further analysis could improve existing areas promoting an even safer ride.

Riders must be innately aware of correct road behavior to reduce accidents. Education and efforts to steer bicycles to the roads and off the sidewalks is vital to a safer ride. Bicyclists must understand the role of predictability and safety. When riders behave and follow rules akin to cars they are significantly safer. Bicyclists riding with the flow of traffic on the street have a relatively equal risk of being involved in an accident as an SUV or Van, however when the same cyclist rides on the sidewalk they increase that risk 180 %. This is due to the fact motorists often do not look, nor can they see a vehicle coming from that area of the road. The cyclist further raises his risk of accident by riding against traffic by 360%. If the cyclist is riding on the sidewalk against traffic they raise their risk of being hit by 430%. This is due to the sidewalk being designed for the pedestrian and there is often not enough room to accommodate both. [4.] The bicyclist often erratically will jump into the street as a result confusing motorists or even causing accidents. Counterintuitively bicyclists should strive to ride on the road with traffic, and of course always wear a helmet.

Sustainable Efforts

By increasing bicycle use the university can impact its pledge to reduce carbon emissions. With a significant increase in registration, locker use, station use and overall implementations of the other recommendations made in this paper, the university can make an honest claim of its efforts and progress to combat climate change. Ridership could be thought of as a major contributor to these efforts in terms of students being the vanguard of alternative transport options, less carbon emissions and less dependence on oil. Being in a university setting many progressive students today are passionate about the environment and climate issues. Using the bicycle program data, and registration numbers the Office Of Sustainability could present convincing evidence of their progress.

Informed and Recognizant

Ergodan is happy to see the progress made in the bicycle program since she has been involved. She believes as much of the obstacles in her way are physical as they are communicative. [1] DOTS has taken efforts to increase outreach, inform, promote and engage the campus in its efforts to make UMD a more bicycle friendly campus. Many of these efforts are already effective and continuing to gain success and popularity.

The BikeUMD blog was started in September 2009. This website offers information about events, advice on safe ridership practices, links to local bike stores, links to University of Maryland resources such as DOTS, useful maps as well as allowing users to comment. This is a valuable tool in promoting the mission of the program and increases awareness and shows Maryland’s involvement in this program.

DOTS bicycling website is an excellent starting point for those interested in riding their bike to campus. The site allows users to register their bike, hosts information about safety/security, provides commuting information that includes maps and common routes, rules and regulations to inform riders of the safety precautions and restrictions to keep in mind, as well as links to shops and resources. The website should go further to increase visits, much like the University of California Davis website, a program that is at the forefront of bicycle friendly campuses. [3.]

As the program is in its infancy this would provide the perfect opportunity to grow with incoming students, including transfer and freshman students. Informing students through mailings providing information about the programs, services and resources available would allow them to arrive on campus with some ideas in place about transportation possibilities. Once on campus during orientation a tour, demonstration, and question and answer session could give further information to curious potential riders. For current students regular educational sessions would allow those interested in the program a chance to become acquainted with its options.

Showers

One of the biggest issues for potential riders is reliable access to shower services. Riders —staff and faculty especially—had an aversion to showing up to class sweaty after a commute to school. The university offers public showers in locker rooms available to all students and staff holding an ID. However the outreach and availability of these lockers needs to be more widespread and publicized. Shower access should be available at a variety of locations in addition to the current sites.

Registration

Bicyclists must be encouraged to register their bikes to allow the administration of their presence on campus. This will help mitigate or alleviate thefts. Bikers can also tell DOTS valuable information about the effectiveness of their current efforts by providing data. Incentives such as booklets of one-day passes, movie tickets, food & drinks could be offered to persuade people to register their bike.

Bike Rental Program

A bike rental program is a useful tool in convincing riders who are on the fence about making the switch to commuting by cycle. Riders could rent bikes by the semester that are purchased annually. The University would provide rental bikes. Volunteer students, already employed by the university, would act as mechanics performing repairs. This would increase visibility once again. Bikes could be donated or sold to the community. The university should replenish and increase the amount of bikes purchased every year. Another option would be a bike share program, allowing students to access public bikes throughout key locations on campus that would allow them to shuttle between important locations for short amount of times. Bike share programs have been initiated in numerous cities and campuses throughout the world. (Fig. 2) These bicycle services would encourage commuters to ride metro. They could then borrow a bike from the rental program to reach their next destination. These bike share locations could be positioned strategically throughout the campus at 5 perimeter locations with high volume. By collaborating with local off campus residences students could take advantage of the program. Commuters worried about taking their bicycle on the bus or not having room to store their vehicle would be assured they would have transportation from transit to their class. These bike share programs could be developed with help from the business school. Students could access the bikes through use of cell phone, student ID’s and other methods. Ergodan states bicycles have been donated to departments with high determined needs. These departments can use the bicycles at their leisure. [1.]

References:

[1.] Erdogan, Sevgi. Personal Interview. 28 July 2010.

[2.] Office Campus Student and Faculty-Staff Bicycling Behavior (living within 5 mile distance from campus) Sevgi Erdogan May 2010

[3.] UCDavis Transportation and Parking Services Website Bicycle Program

[4.] Wachtel, Alan, and Diana Lewiston. 1994. Risk Factors for Bicycle-Motor Vehicle Collisions at Intersections. ITE Journal. September. pp. 30-35.

[5.] Akar, Gulsah, and Clifton, Kelly J. 2008 Analyzing the bicycling conditions at the University of Maryland -College Park Campus

[6.] Toole Design Group. 2009. University of Maryland Campus Bicycle Study.

Brazil Pipoca by alexanderehutchinson

So Critics didn’t love Obama’s White House Correspondence Association’s speech the other night. But it couldn’t have been as bad as this.

Wow a real band making a real video. This would definitely be on my radar in 1997. It has top ten at ten all over it.

“This is awkward…”

Why are the only people coming to the defense of food completely inarticulate after they’ve brought up a polemic topic? If you are going to accost a host with moralizing statements at a birthday party you better be Michael Pollan, have spent your summers farming with ivy league graduates, work at the world’s most famous vegetable garden, or at least host the most enthrallling television show on ABC since lost seasons 1-2.