May Is Bike Month: Are You Ready?

Each year Yolo TMA leads an initiative throughout Yolo County to encourage people to ride their bicycles for work commute, errands and recreation. May Is Bike Month – also known as Bike Commute Month – has become a bit of an institution in our region. Public employees, private businesses, the university and schools throughout the county sign up to participate and log their miles on the www.mayisbikemonth.com  website in order to reach that magical, one million miles ridden mark.

While a million miles may sound a little farfetched, take a look at the results for 2008:  Region-wide (Yolo, Sacramento, Yuba, Sutter, Placer and El Dorado counties) total miles pedaled equaled 1,242,215. That busted the one million mile goal wide open! Yolo County accounted for 105,262 of those miles which were pedaled by 651 participants.

We are finishing up our May Is Bike Month events calendar which will be available at the start of April. You can bet, like every year, we will host the Bike-to-Work Breakfast in Central Park and work to collect May Is Bike Month registrations at various “Energizer Stations” at the Davis Farmers’ Market and in West Sacramento. And, once again, we’ll give away May Is Bike Month T-shirts and inner tubes for those who have signed up on the website or at the Energizer Stations. We’ll also work with employers who want to host a free, 1-hour Safety Cycle Clinic for their employees. These clinics are led by certified cycling professionals to keep cyclists safer and them to get the most out of their rides.

May is fast approaching, so if you haven’t given any thought to getting your bike tuned-up in preparation May Is Bike Month, now is a great time to do it. Don’t wait to get started. Below are a few of our bike shop members where you can take your bike for a tune-up:

B&L Bike Shop: 610 3rd St., Davis, CA 95616
Freewheeler Bicycle Center: 703 2nd St., Davis, CA 95616
Ken’s Bike & Ski: 650 G St., Davis, CA 95616

Visit www.mayisbikemonth.com, or contact Bob Andosca at Yolo TMA bob@yolotma.org for more information.

Remember, May Is Bike Month!

Geoff Straw
President, Yolo TMA

May Is Bike Month Activities

Yolo TMA, in cooperation with many of its Yolo County partners, has prepared a slate of May Is Bike Month activities to encourage cycling and fun. Along with free T-shirts for those who sign up and log their miles on the mayisbikemonth.com website as part of Million Mile May – a region-wide effort to pedal one million miles – events will also include giveaways at various Energizer Stations and the annual Davis Bike-to-Work Breakfast in Central Park.

Bike Month Events

Bike Month Recognized by County, City

The Yolo County Board of Supervisors and the City Council of West Sacramento will present proclamations to Yolo TMA President Geoff Straw proclaiming May Is Bike Month and recognizing Yolo TMA’s efforts to encourage cycling especially during this celebrated cycling month.

• City of W Sacramento City Council Meeting: April 15, 7:00 p.m. City Council        
• Yolo County Board of Supervisors Meeting: May 5, 9:00 a.m. Board of Supervisors Meeting        

Yolobus Increases Fares April 1

Riverfront Streetcar Project Update

The Riverfront Streetcar environmental study is nearly complete, with certification by the West Sacramento City Council likely to occur this spring.

Way2Go! has kept readers updated on the progress of the project.  The cities of West Sacramento and Sacramento, Yolo County Transportation District and Sacramento Regional Transit District worked together to successfully complete the Downtown/Riverfront Streetcar Feasibility Study. The study determined that a streetcar is a feasible option for this region. With many redevelopment projects in the planning and construction phases, and with exciting community destinations in the downtowns of Sacramento and West Sacramento, a streetcar system is a viable option to bridge and connect this community.

The study evaluated factors to help determine whether a streetcar system is technically and economically viable for our community, including the following:

• Identified possible streetcar routes and key destinations
• Analyzed potential ridership, development impacts, traffic, parking, and utilities
• Outlined cost estimates, financing options, and how to build, operate and manage the system
• Recommended further design and engineering if the project is deemed feasible

Now that the streetcar has been deemed feasible, and all appropriate elected bodies have approved the study, the project team is wrapping up Phase II, which includes a detailed environmental analysis and additional community involvement. Public hearings were held in October 2008 to solicit input concerning the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and the Final EIR is nearing completion. In support of this project, voters in West Sacramento approved a sales tax and an accompanying advisory measure to fund streetcar operations.

For more information about the Riverfront Streetcar, visit www.riverfrontstreetcar.com

Take the Train and Save $$
UC Davis Faculty and Staff Save 15% on Amtrak

Give yourself a break from driving – take the train and relax!  Whether it’s commuting to campus or planning a fun trip with your family, Amtrak California invites UC Faculty and Staff to save 15% now through December 13, 2009 on single ride tickets.  Blackout dates and restrictions apply.  Please visit www.taps.ucdavis.edu to learn more.

Transportation & Parking Services (TAPS) rewards UC Davis faculty, staff and students that use an alternative mode of transportation when commuting to campus.  Train & transit commuters receive an $18.00 subsidy on their monthly commute passes, two complimentary parking permits, and are eligible for the Emergency Ride Home Program.  To learn more, please contact Mary Maffly, Transportation Demand & Marketing Coordinator:  mlmaffly@ucdavis.edu , 530.752.MILE, or visit www.taps.ucdavis.edu  Commuter Services.

News from Across California…

Project Could See Tahoe Basin Cleaner and Greener

With a human footprint left on Lake Tahoe and subsequent environmental policies intended to keep the basin healthy, a South Shore man hopes his ideas for a sustainable community may be chosen in a Google-sponsored contest.

Using Internet technology that could be run by solar energy, Garry Bowen has submitted a plan for Google’s “Project 10 to the 100th”, a grant program designed to help revitalize clean, sustainable communities. The project can be found at www.project10tothe100.com. The contest was developed in celebration of Google’s 10th anniversary.

The idea is this: With an abundance of bike trails around Lake Tahoe, Bowen wants to see solar powered kiosks, powered by Google, located around the trail systems.

These free-standing kiosks would provide an innovative, off-the-grid way of connecting nature with technology and encourage people to travel by bicycle to learn about Lake Tahoe, Bowen said.

To get the project off the ground, Bowen said it would cost about $2 million in seed funds, which Google’s Project 10 to the 100th is offering to winners.

The kiosks would be readily accessible, and would provide history and environmental information about the lake, with the use of intricate maps, factoids and graphic elements.

This idea is consistent with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s policies that incorporate alternative transportation and environmental education, Bowen said.

“Conceptualizing multi-use free-standing kiosks that would educate an ever-increasing visitor base in both overall and specific sustainability concepts, while at the same time allowing an insightful shift in transportation modes makes a leisurely and informative bike ride with members of one’s family a dream realized,” he said.

Google began narrowing down the applications for the Project 10 to the 100th on March 17. As of a recent report, more than 100,000 entries had been submitted. If Bowen’s project stays in the running, people can vote for it at www.project10tothe100.com.

For a Western Interstate, Alternative Fuels Beckon

The Seattle Times reports that the governors of California, Oregon and Washington hope to create a “green freeway” along the 1,382-mile, heavily-trafficked Interstate, with stations for fuels like biodiesel, ethanol, natural gas and even hydrogen. There would also be charging or battery-swapping stations for electric cars.

The availability of alternative fueling stations has been a chicken-and-egg barrier to the development of many fuels like natural gas, which is prevalent mainly in a few coastal cities and in Utah.

According to the Seattle Times article, Washington is further along in its plans than Oregon or California (see this information from the Washington transportation department) and could move ahead this summer.

This also would be the first time that businesses were permitted to operate at rest stops along the Interstate. Plenty of federal and state permits are needed before the project goes forward.

In Nevada, state senators are also discussing ways of potentially bringing alternative fueling stations to Interstate 80.

“‘What kind of incentives can we offer? Where we want to get is to make these fuels available not only to the state vehicles, but also the general public. That’s the ultimate goal,’” said Mike Schneider, a state senator from Las Vegas, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The Seattle Times report says that Christine Gregoire, Washington’s governor, has had a meeting with Better Place, a company that aspires to build networks of electric cars.

Cal Air Resources Board Proposes New Fuel Standard

The California Air Resources Board released a draft regulation recently to require the use of alternative transportation fuels in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

CARB released the proposal for the Low Carbon Fuel Standard that would promote alternative fuel use and enable the state to meet its emissions reductions goals. Fuel producers, importers, refiners and blenders will have to start providing fuels to meet the standard starting in 2011. The standard is based on calculations carried out by CARB’s staff on the greenhouse gas emissions that can be produced by the production, transportation and use of various types of fuels.

One of the goals for enacting a new fuel standard is to replace 20 percent of the conventional fuels used by cars in the state with cleaner alternatives such as electricity, biofuels, natural gas and hydrogen, the CARB said.

The proposal is one of a series of regulations that CARB is drafting to meet the mandate of the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, a sweeping legislation designed to cut California’s greenhouse gas emissions to the 1990 levels by 2020. The transportation sector, from fuel production to tailpipe emissions, is responsible for generating 40 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, the CARB said.

CARB issued a master plan last December for carrying out the climate change law. The plan included a program to cap and trade carbon emissions.

The proposed fuel standard will sure elicit strong opposition from some fuel makers. In fact, an ethanol advocacy group last October objected to the metrics used by CARB staff to determine what types of alternative fuels would pose more environmental harm than others.

The sticking point was the inclusion of the impact of indirect land use, such as emissions that resulted from clearing forestland for farming energy crops. Measuring direct land use impact would look only at the emissions that come from growing and turning crops into fuels.

Another ethanol group called Growth Energy reiterated the same objection. Measuring indirect land-use impact would unfairly punish ethanol makers, the group said.

CARB recently passed other regulations aimed at reducing emissions, including one that requires big rigs truckers to add filters to their existing fleets between 2011 and 2014. A new law that took effect in January limits the amount of time long-haul truckers can idle the engines in order to cut emissions

———

Yolo Transportation Management Association is a private, nonprofit organization serving employers throughout Yolo County by offering alternative commute programs and rideshare education. For more information contact Yolo TMA:

Bob Andosca
530-669-1446 office
209-786-5114 fax
bob@yolotma.org
www.yolotma.org