Bicycling Transportation in LA - Term Paper Example

Insoo Paek (504498847) Urban Planning 121 Jonathan Mason TA: Rebecca Crane 5/7/15 Bicycling Transportation in LA As urbanization began, itbrought both good and bad features of urban cities. Due to the excessive migration of people from rural settings to urban areas, many problems arise because of the towering population density within urban cities. Global health is one of the issues worth noting in society today as it brings up issues on environment, human health, resources, and so on. These issues have adversely affected the transport sector in the city of Los Angeles. Bicycle transportation could be a relevant and viable remedy to these problems in a number of ways. LA transportation systems Every city has its unique outward appearance, achievements and goals whose accomplishment is desired. For example, New York City has one of the most active economies in the world and is a one of the world’s densely populated cities. A description of the city by New York City’s transportation commissioner Sadik-Khan gives a glimpse of her vision for the city’s future. According to her, New York City sets the pace for the rest of the world in areas concerning fashion, food security and finance. She however adds that this achievement should not be taken for granted. She says that for economic development to advance, a number of key economic aspects should be addressed. Such aspects include the building of streets that make the City more navigable and compelling for both businesses and local residents (Sadik-Khan 1) On the other hand, the streets of Los Angeles constitute its most significant public asset. 15 percent of the land in Los Angeles is composed of streets.Los Angeles is in the process of a transformation. According to the Mayor, Eric M. Garcetti, the city requires streets that will initiate proper communal relationships by providing sites where people can congregate and enjoy themselves. He adds that this is the reason why his initial executive directive came up with the Great Streets Initiative. The mayor also mentions that his Back to Basics agenda aimed at creating an economy that is more stable and making LA more suitable for settlement. The agenda also intends to make City Hall more efficient and effective. (Great Streets for Los Angeles) LA transportation situation In 2014 September 30, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) released its new strategic plan which is the Great Streets for Los Angeles. On the forefront of the plan is Vision Zero, which is aimed at reducing traffic fatalities and increasing safety in streets. It will improve traffic flow through the upgrade to the Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control (ATSAC) system, and efficient parking that would ease car congestion (Newton and Linton 1). This is not the only plan being implemented but there are a number of other strategic plans like the Neighborhood traffic calming, car sharing, dedicated bus lanes, transportation demand management, reducing disabled parking placard abuse, bike sharing, an improved bikeway network, and so on. Despite of all the good efforts and improvements, always a problem has to be identified and addressed. In my opinion, bicycle transportation has the much-required potential to solve transport problems. Advantages of bicycle transportation The use of bicycles is an ancient form of transport, but it has not been given much attention by people and government. Bicycle transportation has great a potential to be applied in different fields because of its simplicity and flexibility. Bicycle transportation is beneficial to people’s health. Even cycling over short distances is a good way to ensure that people who are always busy do some healthy body exercise thus maintaining good health. Secondly, it is beneficial to the environment. This is because it does not incorporate the use of fossil fuels. Therefore, it is fully pollution-free. Its use will reduce the greenhouse caused by emission of gases into the atmosphere. This is possible because use of bicycles will reduce traffic delays and interruptions to traffic flow thus contribute further to the reduction of toxic emissions from vehicles. It would also be advantageous to the economy.Transport is a second largest sector in household and industrial expenditure. Buying a car does not involve the cost of purchase only but also bring about the cost of maintenance that is rather expensive. Bicycles are cheaper than cars and this creates room for savings to be attainable. People who own cars should also consider using bicycles as an alternative when the use of cars proves to be uneconomical for example over short distances. Mutual social benefit is one of the notable merits of bicycle transportation. While 10% of the world’s population can afford to purchase cars, 80 percent of the population can only afford to purchase bicycles such for example the unemployed people, low income earners and majority of the young population. The use of bicycle transport encourages and creates social interactions in the society and establishes serenity and peace in local communities since it can be applied in recreation. Bicycle riders cause fewer accidents thus bicycle use is safer when moving around residential areas where the negative effects of heavy traffic is undesirable. Lastly, cycling improves transport. Bicycles cause less damage on roads because they are lighter than vehicles. Many households are within distances that can be covered by cycling so instead of using public transport bicycles can be used since they are more efficient and flexible (Arundell). Therefore, application of bicycle transport has been on the rise in major cities because of its attractive merits. Bicycle population Because of its many benefits, bicycle transport has been advancing to greater levels. Based on the Census data for the year 2000, since that year interest in bicycling has continued to grow and the 2008 American Commuting rate rose from its level in the year 2000 that was 0.61% to 0.90%, which is a 48% increase in 2008. Adults are not the only ones who use bicycles. It has been reported that 70% of all children between the ages of 5 and 14 ride bicycles (LADCP 29). People ride bicycles for different reasons. Such reasons include maintaining body fitness, recreation, commutation, sports and so on. Los Angeles is fortunate enough to have an environment in which cycling can be efficiently done.The city has a favorable climatic pattern with ambient temperatures. Los Angeles is ranked second in the ratings for the use of bicycle transport in the United States. LA bicycle transportation carriage The bicycle plan was initiated in Los Angeles in 2010. The plan was initiated to bring about improvement and enhancement in the use of bicycles in the city. This is aimed at establishing bicycling as a safer, healthier and enjoyable mode of both transport and recreation. Towards that, end the finalization of the 2010 plan. It initiates policies and relevant programs whose purpose is to increase both the number and type of bicyclists in the City. The reason for this being the need to make every street safe for bicycling and to make Los Angeles a bicycle-friendly city (LADCP). Due to the implementation of the bicycle plan formulated by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning’s (LADCP), the city has attained a substantial Bicycle-Friendly Community (BFC). Los Angeles experienced a substantial 41% increase in the Bicycle commuter trend between 2007 and 2008. This data is expected to reach 23% in 2015. In 2005, the population that had already purchased bicycles accounted for 19.8 million bicycles. This accounts for a significantly exceeds the number of cars purchased during the same period by 4.4 million. The increase in the number of bicycles purchased was caused by therapid development of BFC. Neighborhood network that comprised ofbicycle friendly streets and bicycle lanes was extended. Even today, LA continues to provide more and more bicycle parking (racks, lockers) in both the public and private organizations. The connections to transit that were provided also increased bicycling. For example, there was introduction of bicycle carriagespace on buses and trains. However, if the rate of increase in bicycling continues to be dominant, the bicycle population will be so large in the future and may exceed the capacity of packing space available for bicycles. The increase thus necessitates the formulation of other measures that would counter the potential problem. Buses and trains cannot be able to carry many bicycles at the same time. In addition, the bicycle parking space available for use by the public is not enough for all. Every individual in a city cannot own and ride their own bicycles thus alternative modes should be sought. In my opinion, the bicycle-sharing system is the perfect alternative that can remedy the shortcomings related to bicycling in the city. Bicycle sharing Bicycle sharing has a number of advantageous aspects, and for this reason Los Angeles has adopted the bicycle-sharing system. Metro is advancing the efforts of introducing a regional bike sharing system, expected to be initiated in Los Angeles in a years’ time. The bicycle sharing Request for Proposals formulated by Metro were released in December 2014 with the bids expected to take course on 27 January. By June this year, the full actualization of a 1000-bike system is expected to take place in Los Angeles. This is because of the earlier nine-month projection of the implementation period. The process of split funding could later bring complications to the process of expanding the plan to other municipalities (Linton).The first good aspect about bicycle sharing system is that it is much cheaper than other transportation systems. Contrasted to other transport kinds, it is much cheaper for use by the public. As time goes by, especially in urban cities, there is a high level of inequality. Bike transportation and the Bike-sharing system can significantly reduce the cost of housing in Los Angeles in case the size of land available for parking is increased. Shared-use mobility just like the sharing of both bicycle use and care could extensively cause the owners of new housing schemes to lower the rents they charge. The lowering of the rents charged in new developments can be attributable to the reduction in the parking space required for bicycles. This is in accordance to the information remitted by Stuart Cohen on Live Ride Share’s platform on the issue of establishing an integration format between land uses, housing and shared mobility. Cohen made a demonstration of this integration to the audience. He did this by formulating a theoretical project that had no parking system at first and compared it to when the application of three diverse parking formats. The formats constituted three parking configurations namely surface parking, podium parking and underground parking. He went ahead and outlined the effects that each of the configurations had on rent. If a 7% return rate is taken to be what the developer receives, the rent charged increased from 800 dollars to 1,350 dollars every month for a house with a single bedroom. If the new developments adapt car share services, residents will no longer be expected to pay extensive parking fees. The reason for this is the fact that by sharing cars, less cars will be in the parking zones.The occupants of the developments could easily share the few cars that are available when need arises (Islas & Linton 1). The bike sharing system cannot work efficiently in low-density cities. The system is best suited for densely populated cities like Los Angeles. In addition, on an annual basis, Los Angeles receives many visitors thus the bike sharing system will be the most appropriate system for use by the tourists. Work cited "Cycling Benefits."(Department of Transport and Main Roads). Queensland Government, 27 June 2014. Web. 07 May 2015. "Great Streets for Los Angeles."Scribd.Los Angeles Daily News, n.d. Web. 07 May 2015. Isias, Jason, and Joe Linton."Streetsblog Los Angeles." Some Highlights From Yesterday’s Live Ride Share Conference.Streetsblog LA, 24 Feb. 2015. Web. 07 May 2015. Linton, Joe. "Streetsblog Los Angeles." Metro Regional Bike Share Expected To Open In Downtown L.A.In 2016.Streetsblog LA, 8 Jan. 2015. Web. 07 May 2015. Los Angel EsDepa R T MentOfCi T Y Pl A Nni Ng. "2010 Bicycle Plan." (n.d.): n. pag. Los Angeles Department Of City Planning. Los Angeles Department Of City Planning, 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 7 May 2015. Newton, Damien, and Linton, Joe."Streetsblog Los Angeles." LADOTs Bold New Strategic Vision: Eliminate L.A. Traffic Deaths By 2025. Streetsblog LA, 30 Sept. 2014. Web. 07 May 2015. Sadik-Khan, Janette. "New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan Describes Her Vision for the Citys Future." Bridge-and-Tunnel Vision. Slate, 8 Aug. 2011. Web. 07 May 2015. Read More