Those who took part in the Bike Commuting Challenge (part of Bike Charlotte!, May 4-13) saved a total of $536 in gasoline (or $2,600 in total car costs). Other fun facts below.
Thanks to John Cock (The Lawrence Group) for forwarding results of the Commuter Challenge from Bill Clark of the Bicycle Commuter Mentor Program.
Altogether, we had 77 cyclists, 26 new cyclists, 22 female cyclists, and around 250 commutes made at an average of 7.5 miles each way! For that week, some quick math shows that we:
--did not drive 3,750 miles during that week;
--saved $536 in gas between all of us (or $2,600 in total car costs);
--kept 3,500 - 4,300 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere (about the weight of a car); and maybe got a little bit of exercise!
Some highlights of this year's results include:
--Top workplace participation for a small workplace: TKM's Best (TKM Associates) with 100% participation!
--Top workplace participation for a large workplace: The Midnight Ramblers (The Charlotte Observer) with 2% participation. Yes, only 2% - but there are a lot of folks at these large businesses to convince to bike, and 2% is a great percentage.
--Top non-businesses group participation: The Greenway Go-Getters (The Greenway Advisory Council) with 100% participation and The Bicycle Advisory Council with 87% participation!
--Most riders in a small workplace: Charlotte Department of Transportation with 6 riders!
--Most riders in a large workplace: Bank of America's Gateway Village Team with 11 bikers!
--Most riders in a non-workplace: Wesley Heights Neighborhood with 4 riders!
--Most number of new riders in a small workplace: Full Blast Face Meltery (REI Pineville) with 3 new cyclists!
--Most number of new riders in a large workplace: Charlotte Observer with 4 and Duke Energy with 3 new riders!
--Most number of new riders in a non-workplace: The Portaro Family with 2 new riders!
--Most number of female cyclists in a small workplace: The Park and Wreckers (Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Planning Department) with 2 female cyclists, one being seven months pregnant and biking every day! (Way to go, honey!)
--REI also had 2 female riders!
-- Most number of female cyclists in a large workplace: Piedmont Natural Gas and Gateway Village with 3 female riders!
--Most number of female cyclists in a non-workplace: Team Diva of the Dirt Divas Mountain Bike Club with 3 female cyclists and Wesley Heights Neighborhood with 3 female cyclists as well!
The teams which are the envy of all bicycle commuters and whose members live the closest to work include LG Love (The Lawrence Group - 1.5 mile average distance), REI (2 mile average distance), and The Drafters (The Housing Studio with and average driving distance of 3 miles).
The team that is way more dedicated than the average human being is the Charlotte Bicycle Advisory Council with an average commuting distance one-way of 19 miles!
A special recognition to the US Bankruptcy Court for getting the judge on a bike?!
Final recognition to a Bank of America team called Pigs CAN Fly for having the best team name, to the Heartwood Tree Service guys for always being there and showing a great performance, to Duke Generators and The Portaro Family for showing the media how it's done, to Smokin' in Spandex for their enthusiasm and to the captains of BikURS, eC Riders and Crown Club Cruisers for dealing with the most number of excuses!
If you're a cyclist and wondering about how to bicycle in Charlotte, visit the Charlotte Department of Transportation's Bicycle Program web site. Or try B.I.K.E.S., a local bicycling advocacy group.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Great Bike Commuter Challenge -- Read Your Name Here
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21 comments:
>>Altogether, we had 77 cyclists...
Wow, 77 in out 1.8 million residents?
I am surprised we weren't on the cover of TIME magazine. LOL
Seriously, I love biking. But you would have to be a complete idiot to ride to work in commuter traffic. Explain to your orphaned kids and widowed wife that you saved $50 on gas.
You would think a warm weather city like Charlotte would be a great place for bike paths, but there are none to be found. That stupid little painted line on the side of the road with a picture of a bike in it does not qualify.
Amazing that we dump $300 million into an arena nobody wants, and $600 million into a light rail noboody will use, but there is nary a bike path, which is just a cheap piece of asphalt.
I would gladly ride my bike 10 miles each way to work if there were a dedicated off street path.
I say we get rid of the light rail tracks and build a 9 mile bike path instead. Someone might actually use it.
BTW, Mary...
What bar will you be drowning your sorrows in come November when the light rail govco slush fund is repealed? LOL
Want off-road paths on which to bicycle? Then get behind the county's greenway plan. Parts of it are in place but most of it isn't. For example, you'd be able to bicycle along Little Sugar Creek from Cordelia Park (almost in NoDa) to downtown, past CPCC, past CMC, through Freedom Park and south to S.C. The Cordelia to 1-277 segment is in place. East Morehead to Park Road Shopping Center is in place.
And some of that nasty, waste-of-taxpayers' money $50M the city of Charlotte spent to improve streets and sidewalks along the South Corridor light rail line is building a dedicated bike/ped path to run clear from uptown to the Arrowood industrial park.
You may wish to get rid of the LRT tracks but without them that lengthy bike path wouldn't exist.
"You may wish to get rid of the LRT tracks but without them that lengthy bike path wouldn't exist."
I can't wait to hear the logic behind this statement.
Was it not at all possible to have a bike path without there being rails in close proximity? Is there some magical relationship between a 6 foot wide strip of asphalt and a set of parallel steel rails?
Saying "You may wish to get rid of the LRT tracks but without them that lengthy bike path wouldn't exist." is like saying "You may wish we hadn't spent $150 billion going to the Moon but without doing that we wouldn't have these neat-o Moon rocks in a lab in Houston." It's possible to get Moon rocks (or a bike path) without having to spring for the No-Expense-Is-Too-Great, Sooper-Deluxe package.
Clay, what made the path next to the rails easier to accomplish is that CATS now has access to the right of way. Either it owns the ROW (through the city) or it has agreements with the railroads that own the ROW.
Obviously, as a fan of biking and walking I think it would be grand if the city (and the county) bought ROW wherever they can, to build greenways, off-road paths, etc. But that gets really, really expensive.
Mary, you miss the point. ::sigh::
It is almost painful to read your writings. The pure lack of comprehension is astounding.
Last anon is correct.
Say it with me now: "We can have bike paths independent of light rail lines. If we really wanted bike paths everywhere, it would be simple to require that all new roads include space for adjacent bike paths, just as is already done for sidewalks. And in other places, we can buy land (or perhaps offer a tax incentive to private landowners for use of their land) in order to get access to land to build bike paths on. AT NO POINT does any of this require an expensive train set to be built."
See? That wasn't so hard to do. And it didn't cost me $620M to say it. You say "really, really expensive", but the truth is that what I propose above is much, MUCH less expensive than light rail.
Bike paths that are set apart from the streets would be great. Or allow adults to ride on the sidewalks -- nobody is walking on them. Only fools would try to bike on Sardis Road or Randolph Road during rush hour. Yet, these inconsiderate jerks do it. They block traffic and if you do manage to pass them, they pass you on the right at the next traffic light. Just shoot 'em and get these jerks off the road.
Tear up the waste of money light rail, sell the steel for scrap.
Who the hell wants to bike on South Blvd???? To be robbed by the latin kings or the MS13??
Build the bike paths in Ballentyne where you don't get shot at, so I can ride to work once BofA and Wachovia move to Fort Mill.
LOL.
'County' and 'plan' are oxymorons, with an emphasis on the word 'moron'.
If you are trusting 300 year old billie goats like Parks Helms to plan anyting, I feel sorry for you.
His 5 year plan is 'don't die of old age'.
There will never be any serious effort to build bike paths, because McCrory and Co are going to live or die by the South Blvd light rail line.
Why build competition? There are so few riders and so little demand (other than real estate developers looking for subsidies to rebuild rundown properties) that the only way to prop up mass transit is to FORCE people to use it. Bike paths would conflict with that.
We could have built bike paths from SC to Virginia for what we are spending on 9 stupid miles of track that I have no doubt will go unused, and be covered in gang graffiti within months.
Heck, those monstrosity concrete overpasses are ALREADY covered with rusty water stains drippinng down the sides. Can you imagine in 5 years what this will look like??
Go to Atlanta. The MARTA system looks like an old dirty train from a 3rd world country.
Mary,
Thanks for publicizing this information. Those that ride their bikes to work ought to be congratulated. I wish that I could ride to work but going east on Independence would not work on a bike. I did enjoy the 25 mile ride through Charlotte held on Saturday of Bike Charlotte week and it was fun Everytime you ride on the streets, you gain more confidence and become comfortable on the roads.I have tried to ride more as it is great exercise to ride a bike and much more fun than walking on a treadmill while reading a book. It exercises not just your legs but your arms and shoulders as you climb hills. Bikers can be creative to find safe routes to ride. To get to my barber shop on Central Ave, I ride through a combination of bike lanes, lightly traveled roads and through neighborhoods. It's a 13 mile round trip and I feel great after riding it.
The greenways are a fantastic to ride bikes. You get to enjoy nature while exercising. My favorite greenway is the McAlpine Greenway as it's the longest.
Charlotte is slowly transforming itself into a bike friendly community. It's difficult converting a system that has been focosed on cars for so long.
To all of you poison spouting, nattering nabobs of negativity responding to this blog, have you ever in your life, said anything positive? You will not have a long, healthy life with that attitude. You will shrivel up and grow into grouchy old men and women.
Frank, on behalf of us "nattering nabobs of negativity":
We're not negative about everything. There are many aspects of Charlotte that I (and others) like quite a bit, otherwise we probably wouldn't be here. Even when things are good, it's OK to complain about things you don't like or when you see things turning in a negative direction.
I can't necessarily speak for others, but I am negative when it comes to people making statements that have no logical basis in fact or reality... such as the implication here that if it weren't for light rail, we couldn't have bike paths.
The fact that the light rail's ROW makes it easier for certain bike paths to be constructed is duly noted. However, I will point out that that is a VERY expensive prerequisite. It's like buying a Ferrari (the light rail) and having the dealer throw in a pair of fuzzy dice (the bike path) for the mirror.
If you're so inclined, you can buy fuzzy dice without having to buy a Ferrari first.
Clay,
I believe the point was the light rail system is being designed to be compatible with bikes which is good. The city's design philosophy is changing from being focused on cars only to multiple uses such as bikes and pedestrians. I don't believe anyone was making the point that light rail makes bike lanes possible.
I'm glad that you and the other nabobs are not negative about everything because that can't be healthy, maybe impulsive is a better term.
Frank,
I agree with Clay-"it comes to people making statements that have no logical basis in fact or reality" is what we like to complain about. Not many other worries or complaints from this nabob.
I would rather be a nabob (a wealthy man) rather than a peon (denoted a person who travelled by foot rather than on a horse).
Thad
Frank, Mary said (and I quote her, again):
"You may wish to get rid of the LRT tracks but without them that lengthy bike path wouldn't exist."
Mary states it pretty clearly: Without the tracks, there would be no bike path. This statement is patently false. It is possible that there could have been a bike path without the tracks. Sure, the bike path would have cost more without the tracks also being there, but the cost of a bike path by itself would have been far, far less than the cost of tracks and a bike path.
Now: Why did Mary phrase that sentence like that? Is it because she just wasn't careful choosing her words (which is a problem, considering that she's a journalist), or is she subconsciously (or consciously) demonstrating her bias in favor of light rail?
It seems a common tactic by the pro-LRT faction that they will use any little excuse to justify the massive and unnecessary expense that LRT entails. "Hey, look at the cool bike path! Look at the cool public art! Wow, 500 people rode the LRT today! Hey, now we're a World Class City! [sotto voce]Please ignore the $620M price tag that's attached to all of this."
Hi.
I ride a bike about 3 miles to catch the 77X into town. I don't take my bike with me because...well, there's no reason.
I wasn't counted.
I have business on Remount Road a few nights a week that lasts until about 9. Every night I'm there, there's a back up on Remount because of the LRT tests.
Okay. It's 9 at night, I'm waiting on the bus to get me to the Transit Center to catch the last 77X of the night (that's a whole different vent), and cars are backed up on Remount from S. Blvd to the rail. It's testing, I know, but in the 20 minutes I'm waiting, the crossing bars drop at least five times. Cars are backed up from the trestle all the way back to S. Blvd.
Imagine what that's going to be like during rush hours. No way is that short little strech of Remount handle the traffic. So, S. Blvd turns into another parking lot.
And it doesn't take much of a stretch of imagination to see what's going to happen at the other crossings.
If our GovCo could get the basics right, I wouldn't be so dead set against all these little Tinker-Toy projects. But they don't. And I am.
While they keep trying to put jewels in the Queen's crown, they keep missing the point that she needs a shower and a clean set of underwear.
C'mon people! We all have to balance a budget, set priorities, and let some of the frills go. Why can't we be smart enough to hold those who are supposed to be representing us to the same level of responsibility?
GovCo has got to go!
NEWS FLASH:
Pammy & Ron & Mayor McCheese will have LRT running (for at least a few feet)
BEFORE the referendum in November so all ignorant masses will say...
(repeat it with me)
OOH! AHH!
And vote for more.
We could pretty much replace CATS with a solid Rails-To-Trails program, save a few billion dollars, and have bike paths all over the county.
But once a FAT-CATS always a FAT-CATS, I guess.
Mary,
How on Earth do you do your job each day. Reading the ramblings of these pathetic Hillbillies is ever so tiresome.
Keep up the good work and thanks for keeping us informed. Most of the residents of this city are just like you and me. There's only a few that seem to vent out their frustrations on this post. They are the minority.
I just can't figure out for the life of me why such a backward GOP like Clayj would choose to live uptown. Mint Hill, Monroe, Ft. Mill, Rock Hill, Waxhaw or Gastonia would gladly welcome him with open arms.
As for us here in the city, we would like nothing more than to see him run over by the light rail come November.
"I just can't figure out for the life of me why such a backward GOP like Clayj would choose to live uptown. Mint Hill, Monroe, Ft. Mill, Rock Hill, Waxhaw or Gastonia would gladly welcome him with open arms."
Gee, maybe it's because I like walking to Panthers games, or to bars and restaurants, or to the Mint Museum of Craft + Design. Or maybe it's because I'm single and don't yet feel the need to live in suburbia. Or maybe it's because I like living close to where I work.
Or maybe I do it to invalidate your idiotic stereotype that everyone who lives Uptown is a tax-and-spend liberal and that everyone who lives outside of Charlotte is a conservative.
"As for us here in the city, we would like nothing more than to see him run over by the light rail come November."
Nice. If I don't agree with your narrow view of how the world should work, I deserve to DIE, right? People like you make me sad.
Do me a favor. If you want to make snide little comments like "Gee, I hope Clayj gets run over by a train", show that you're a higher lifeform with a backbone and sign your name to your posts for a change.
I'll be happy when government stops wasting our tax dollars on stuff that doesn't benefit at least 50% of the populace.
But hey, don't worry: When the tax burden here gets too high for me to stand, I'll leave and you can have it all to yourself.
There is an old rail line that start's near the Panthers' stadium, goes through Third Ward Park, and up the hill near Bruns Ave. School; where it goes after that I'm not sure. Are there any plans to do anything with it?
Why not to a Rail-to-Trail conversion?
Likewise, the line used by the trolly through uptown continues through NoDa and then out towards (I think) Hickory Grove? Could not that be made into a Railtrail? Also, the line paralleling Old Statesville Road into Cornelius and Davidson.
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