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Town of Herndon’s Dennis Husch proposes conficating locked bikes

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

Faab, set out an email alert on a story in the Fairfax Times which talks about Dennis Husch’s proposal to confiscate all bicycles that are chained or tied to trees or sign posts in public rights-of-way. I sent an email to the Mr. Husch and the Town of Herndon Mayor and Council.

Dear Mr. Husch

I am a home owner in the town of Herndon and I bike over 100 miles a week.

I was alerted to an article in fairfaxtimes.com by Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling which talks about your short sighted comments on confiscating bikes locked up in the Town of Herndon.

Bicycling is a critical component to making a livable community. With gas prices hovering around $4, bikes are a truly viable alternative to cars for short trips under two miles for almost everyone. We need to be putting in more bike racks, improving Bike facilities on roads, and encouraging more biking not making a Herndon a biking no go Black Zone that confiscates bikes.

Bikes are not just used by illegals, they are used by low income families, through high incoming families as a vital transportation link. Many people use bikes for commuting to there jobs and are forced to lock their bikes to a tree or sign post because there are no secure alternatives. I challenge you to walk on the W&OD trail and you will see huge diversity of people using bikes, not just illegals.

I regularly bike in Herndon and lock my bike to a bike rack or to any solid secure object if a bike rack is not available. In fact parking meters and parking signs are my favorite if a bike rack is not available.

By proposing

“establishing a town policy to confiscate all bicycles that are chained or tied to trees or sign posts in public rights-of-way; and removing pay phones along a section of Elden Street and other areas.”

You are directly targeting my bike, a legal, tax paying town of Herndon Resident.

The Town of Herndon should be doing everything in it’s power to encourage biking within the town limits. We need to be introducing legislation that mandates good quality reverse U style bike racks at ever business. If they are mandated to put in a certain number of car parking spaces then they should be mandated to put in a certain number of bike racks. Arlington County which is highly rated as a livable community has a website at http://www.bikearlington.com/ and have published some excellent guidelines on which bikes parking that I suggest you review at http://www.bikearlington.com/parking.cfm

If you have any questions about bike related issues in the Town of Herndon area please feel free to contact me. I regularly attend the Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling meetings and I am a Washington Area Bicycle Association member, and I have been biking and commuting by bike for over 25 years.

We will see what kind of response I get.

Update:

Here is a link to the FAAB blog post, it has an interesting comment from the user CouncilmanHusch. I think we have a challenge, document every location in Herndon that needs a bike rack and see if he lives up to his promise. My wife’s response is that the Walgreens at 603 Elden St. Herndon, VA 20170 needs a bike rack. She had to lock her bike to the no parking sign at that location.

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Posted in Bicycling, VA | No Comments »

Bike Rack at Wolf Trap

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

I posted a couple days ago about my journey to Wolf Trap and the response I got when I asked about bike racks. Turns out that they do have a bike rack.

I got the following response from Wolf

Good afternoon,

Your message was shared with Foundation staff and Wolf Trap National
Park Service representatives and sub-sequentially it has been brought to
our attention that a bike rack has been made available this entire
summer season for events at The Filene Center. The location is just to
the right (south) of the Main Gate before entering the venue.

We sincerely apologize for the oversight regarding this matter. Wolf
Trap is committed to delivering our programs with the best possible
service. We realize that one bad experience is enough to keep you from
returning. We appreciate your patronage and will continue to do all we
can to create the best possible Wolf Trap experience for our patrons.
Thank you again and we hope you will be back for a more enjoyable
evening under the stars at Wolf Trap!

Best regards.

So it looks like they do have a bike rack, so as promised I have changed the title on the original posting. Please let me know if you use it, I didn’t spot it when went to my last concert.

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Posted in Bicycling, VA | No Comments »

UPDATED: Cycling not recommended to Wolf Trap

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

UPDATED

I am attending a concert tonight at the Wolf Trap Center in Virginia, and sent the following to the contact email on their website

Hi,

I am attending a concert tonight at the Filene Center center, Do you haveany bike racks or safe place to lock a bike during a performance. I looked on the website and didn’t see any mention

thanks

I got the following prompt response, which unfortunately is not good news

Thanks for writing. Unfortunately without direct access to and from bike trails or light volume traffic routes into the park it would not generally be considered safe or easy for bicycle riders. No dedicated bike racks are available in the park, although if you choose to arrive by bicycle you could certainly lock it to a fence or other permanent fixture. You may need to consult with Park Police or a Ranger on site to be sure you are not in a restricted area. The good news is Metro service via shuttle bus is available for all Filene Center performances (except the International Children’s Festival).

Filene Center Performances

The Wolf Trap Metro Shuttle Bus Express provides service to all Filene
Center shows (except the International Children’s Festival).

1. Take Metrorail’s Orange line, any of the convenient Metrobus Routes (3B, 28A and 28B), or drive to the West Falls Church Metrorail Station.

2. Hop on the Wolf Trap Metro Shuttle Bus Express, which leaves the West Falls Church Metrorail Station every 20 minutes starting two hours before each performance. The last Shuttle leaves the station at
showtime. Round trip fare is just $3.00 per person (exact change required). The Shuttle Bus is wheelchair accessible.

3. Returning, the Shuttle departs Wolf Trap 20 minutes after the performance ends (no later than 11:00 p.m., Sunday through Thursday). The last train for Downtown and New Carrollton leaves the West Falls
Church Station at 11:32 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and at 1:32 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

For more information on Metro’s hours of operation, the Wolf Trap Shuttle Bus, or Metro’s One-Day Pass, please call (202) 637-7000 (TDD: (202) 638-3780). Or, visit Metro’s Web site at www.metroopensdoors.com.

We hope this helps,
best wishes.

On looking at google maps I could bike from Wolf Trap to the W&OD Trail. Taking Trap Rd south then turn right onto Clarks Crossing and follow it to the trail. Am I crazy for even thinking about this?

The Alternative is I leave my bike at West Falls Church and then take the shuttle back after the concert then take the 980 home.

UPDATE: July 29th 2008
I got the following response from Wolf

Good afternoon,

Your message was shared with Foundation staff and Wolf Trap National Park Service representatives and sub-sequentially it has been brought to our attention that a bike rack has been made available this entire summer season for events at The Filene Center. The location is just to the right (south) of the Main Gate before entering the venue.

We sincerely apologize for the oversight regarding this matter. Wolf Trap is committed to delivering our programs with the best possible service. We realize that one bad experience is enough to keep you from
returning. We appreciate your patronage and will continue to do all we can to create the best possible Wolf Trap experience for our patrons. Thank you again and we hope you will be back for a more enjoyable evening under the stars at Wolf Trap!

Best regards.

So it looks like they do have a bike rack, so as promised I have changed the title of this post.

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Posted in Bicycling, VA | 1 Comment »

Metro Buses Late 25% of the time

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

Ever wonder where your bus is? The Washington Post is has a story on a new system that WMATA was put in place that allows them to track how buses are doing.

For the first time in its history, Metro has figured out how late its buses are. They are off schedule more than 25 percent of the time, and some of the worst performing routes are late more than 50 percent of the time.

At least they know where the problems are

Other measures include coordination with regional transportation departments to set aside more dedicated bus lanes and traffic signal technology to help get buses through traffic, he said. There is a dedicated bus lane for the heavily used 70 and 79 routes from Silver Spring to downtown D.C., but other vehicles are often double-parked in the lane, he said.

Enforcing and ticketing cars parked in bus stops and bus lanes is a must to make Public Transportation work. I would also be in favor of reducing the number of bus stop on busy streets. They should should also look at how large the area for bus stops are. I frequently see buses loading and unloading from the main traffic lane instead of pulling into a bus stop.

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Posted in DC, MD, VA, WMATA | No Comments »

SF Police Training Video

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

We need to have something like this for Virgina, DC, and Maryland

http://www.sfbike.org/?bikelaw_sfpd_video

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Posted in Bicycling, DC, MD, VA | No Comments »

WMATA Regan National stop out of service this weekend

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

WMATA is performing major track work this weekend

This weekend, Metro will undertake a major track rehabilitation project on the Blue and Yellow lines that will heavily impact service between the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Braddock Road Metrorail stations. The stations will remain open, but the track between them will be closed, so customers using the Blue and Yellow lines should add 30 minutes into their travel plans to allow to transfer to a shuttle bus to get through the affected area.

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Posted in VA, WMATA | No Comments »

Take another look at buses for commuting

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

The Washington Post has article on using buses as an alternative to driving.

Buses may lack the hipness of subways or light rail, but they are the best hope for accommodating large numbers of new riders quickly and affordably. To harness the increased demand for mass transit, officials are turning to new ways of delivering and marketing their bus service.

When looking at public transit we need identify the major routes, then use local connections, walking, biking, and local buses to feed into those major routes. Washington has metro area already has the metro which act as major trunks, we should be looking for the gaps and filling them with express buses, bus rapid transit, light rail etc. The Washington area does best when linking buses to the metro, we need to do more with rapid bus links to make interconnected journeys possible.

It sounds likes WMATA’s Catoe gets it and is already working to this goal.

Expanding and improving Washington’s bus service is critical to shift some of the pressure off the rail system, which is packed during rush hour and has little room to add longer or more frequent trains. Catoe has proposed an extensive network of express buses that would use shoulders or bus-only lanes to help meet the region’s immediate transportation needs.

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Posted in Bicycling, MD, Uncategorized, VA | No Comments »

DC Bus rolls into appartment building

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

The Washington Post is reporting that a WMATA Bus rolled into an apartment building.

A Metrobus crashed into an apartment building in Alexandria last night, rolling away while the driver was outside the vehicle trying to manually close its malfunctioning doors.

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Posted in VA, WMATA | No Comments »

Biek Lanes coming to Westmoreland Street between Chain Bridge and Kirby roads

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

The Sun Gazette is reporting that bike lanes are coming to Westmoreland Street between Chain Bridge and Kirby roads

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Posted in Bicycling, VA | No Comments »

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