We Need Your Input
The PBC has put together a quick survey asking about how you use your bike and what, if anything, can be done to get you on your bike more frequently. Our goal of the survey is two fold:
- We want to better understand the community of cyclists interested in the PBC and our activities
- We want to get some input on where we should focus our energy
Please take a moment and fill out our survey. Thanks to the generosity of The Hub and Providence Cycle, we are able to reward those of you who fill out the entire survey!
Alan Barta said,
05.22.08 at 10:36 pm
Ran this survey of experienced cyclists four years ago, results here…
http://www.nbwclub.org/survey/results_04apr_survey.html
Not much has improved since.
Alan Barta said,
05.25.08 at 1:25 pm
I might also point out that I followed through on Action Plan items 1 through 9. Offered to share my findings with city, town, and state officials.
1. I’ve compiled a complete statewide “pinch point” map, places in the roadnet that are inimical to safe bicycling.
2. All plans for intersection accommodations are in limbo indefinitely. A high percentage of road funding comes from gasoline sales. With a huge increase in pump prices, you’d think more money was around for improvements. It’s just the opposite. By 2010, all state and federal matching funding will go to debt maintenance, so new construction or road repairs will become impossible.
3. Quiet parallel side streets exist, but they are discontinuous. You’d need some small segments of bikeway to tie together. A state law with penalties is required. Urging legislators or RIDOT employees to do their jobs has been futile. The don’t patrol bikeways, and reports of bikeway attacks and deaths are on the rise.
4. Providence Plan has been stalled for a decade. Only a change in leadership (chamber, city, state) will unfreeze it.
5. Without a statewide bicycling plan, no routes will be arranged to take in parks, playgrounds, scenic vistas and schools, thus creating public safety for children and increasing tourism. For the most part, these are public lands you can’t currently access.
6. Personally introduced 250 changes to “Guide to Cycling in the Ocean State” before its 2005 edition. Introduced about a dozen changes to the forthcoming 2008 edition.
7. Cities claim there’s no money for enhanced sweeping and road repair, but don’t get the fact that they could decrease some on non-biking corridors to increase some on biking corridors. Such compromises are delicate, but doing nothing is intolerable.
8. Traffic controls are designed to control the momentum of motorized vehicles. Rollover controls don’t even trip for bicycles. What are bicyclists supposed to do, wait forever? Bicyclists ought to be able to stop traffic whenever it gets in their way. After all, bicyclists free up space on the road. Motorists should ask themselves, “Which would I rather see ahead, a bus or bicycle?” Again, where to put controls would become obvious with a statewide plan.
9. Appeared on radio and television, attended bike events, spoke several times in front of the Transportation Advisory Committee and town meetings, volunteered scores of times for biking events and club rides. Offered to rewrite motor vehicle training manuals. Held 4th local Ride of Silence this year. What are you doing?