Century City Bike Recommendations

8/12/2019 Century City Bike Recommendations

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Century City Photo by Basil D Soufi. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Case for Improving Bike Parking, Bike Amenities, and BikeSafety: Another Component to Greening Century CityIn recent years, Los Angeles has seen a dramatic shifting of the tides when it comes tobiking. A new generation of Angelenos from white collar office workers to hip,

environmentally conscious and tech savvy workers is increasingly embracing biking, asbike safety improvements are made to streets and bike amenities like Santa MonicasBike Center have come online, and as the massive success of CicLAvia has taken off. Oneturning point for bike safety improvements was former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosasexperience having his arm broken while biking after a dangerous car driver cut him offawake up call for the City that changes were needed. Bike safety is an urgent issue forpublic health and welfare of Angelenos.

Making Century City Bike Friendly:Recommendations for Serving Commuters Needs

by David Murphy, President of Angelenos Against Gridlock

http://endinggridlock.org Twitter: @EndingGridlock

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Key Recommendations for Building Owners & Managers

Place bike parking racks at street level. Steep ramps down to and back up from bike racksdeep down in underground parking garages make access difficult for bikers, who dont havethe benefits of an engine but rather have to muster muscle power to fight a steep ramp toleave at the end of a long workday. Some buildings currently have racks at street level, whichothers astoundingly have theirs buried deep down at the bottom level of their parkinggarage, which is simply unacceptable.

Make sure the bike racks provided are of the correct type. Replace hard to use,unsecure models. Its important that the racks let the biker lock their bike frame to the rack,not just the front wheel, which can be instantly removed in seconds by a thief, freeing thevaluable bike frame to be stolen. Bike theft is a serious issue, and landlords must replace racksthat by their design or by their placement too close to a wall allow only the front wheel andnot the frame to be locked.

o Park a Bike has a useful roundup of different types of racksand the pros & cons: http://bit.ly/1hP8BkY . They also have asome additional guidelines at http://bit.ly/1saD9Cl

o The Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionalspublishes an extensive guidebook ($45) for selecting bikeracks. See http://www.apbp.org/?page=publications

Post signage directing bike commuters and visitors to where the bikeparking is located. If car drivers get wayfaring signage directing them to& through the garage, bikers deserve signage, too. Its frustrating to rideup to a building with nary a hint as to where the bike parking is hidden,having to pedal around back and forth hunting for racks. Signage insidegarages (such as the example at right) should be postedcheap readymade bike parking signs are available online (just search Google). And

exterior signage visible from the street should also indicate directions forbikers (a simple a bike symbol and an arrow, perhaps, mounted on thebuildings parking entrance signage). Remember: bikers have to exert muscle power for everypedalits important they be given directions so they dont waste their time hunting for bikeparking.

Bikeshare system : Century City leaders should make available space, and fight for the areato get numerous bike share stations once the regional system is finally being built.


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If possible, locate the bike racks where theyll be under the watchful eye of parking orsecurity staff, or at least install a security camera. Bike theft is a big problem. At the veryleast, assign your security and parking staff to patrol the bike parking area.

Provide self-service bike repair tools, or rent space in your building to a full service bikecenter.

o Self service bike repair racks: Simple, compact bike repairracks with tethered tools have been installed by UCLA(http://bit.ly/wEdBit ) and others so bikers can tighten bolts, fixflats, and inflate tires, and Century City high-rise landlordsshould install these next to bike parking, too. (Providereplacement tires (sold by the parking attendant office or frontdesk security staff, or in an existing vending machine or adedicated one such as those provide by Bike Fix Station(http://bit.ly/1v8neTj ). Having repair options is criticallyimportant it once took the author an hour to hobble overto the nearest bike repair shop by bus in gridlocked traffic,because there are no options right now more locally. AGoogle search finds all-in-one options like Deros Fixit rack, the Bike Fix Station(http://www.bikefixtation.com/ ), etc. (We dont endorse any particular vendor, butthese are some options that a Google search turns up, as examples.) Read more aboutthe need for these in our post on Streetsblog ( http://bit.ly/wEdBit ).

o Better yet, Open up a full service Bike Center. Santa Monica, Long Beach, and evenClaremont have bike centers, but Century City doesnt yet and it needs one. Seeappendix. Especially in preparation for the subway stop, a bike center providingstaffed bike repair service, and/or other amenities like showers and secure bikeparking, should be built.

Other specific suggestions:

To serve the needs of employees who want to bike around to get lunch at cafes in differentoffice buildings, bike racks should be installed outside of streetfront retail cafes in officebuildings. Attach signs saying for short term use, if capacity is limitedin Vancouver, for

instance, one finds racks labeled designated for short term use on sidewalks, and racks forlonger term use tucked away. These will also help meet the needs of restaurant delivery bikersand courier bikers.

Buildings should insert notices in their building outreach newsletters informingemployees of bike amenities, and urging drivers to give bikers plenty of room on theroad. In 2013, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the "three-foot rule" law, requiring drivers togive three feet clearance when passing cyclists. This is important to avoid the kind ofinjury that former Mayor Villaraigosa experienced after a driver cut him off.


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SAMPLES OF HOW TO DO IT RIGHT AND HOW NOT TO DO IT:

THE BIKE-FRIENDLY HALL OF FAME:Samples of buildings that get it right:

SunAmerica Center (Equity Office): racks at street level, on the side of the building adjacent to thevalet parking driveway, plus four bike lockers.

Constellation Place (JMB): street level racks near the entrance to the parking structure.

THE HALL OF SHAME:Examples of the kind of bike amenities that need improvement with names redacted to protect the guilty!

A building on the 1800 block of Ave of the Stars has extremely unacceptable bike parking. Bikeracks are all the way down on level F of the parking garage deep down in the basement, requiringa laughable journey down many series of ramps (and then a very draining ride back up when youleave). And the racks are not screwed in tightly, and are pushed against the wall so that wheels cantfit and the racks arent useable as intended.

A building on the 1800 block of Century Park East has no bike racks at all people use the alleyor use the racks at another neighboring building.

ITS CRITICAL TO CARE FOR BICYLISTS NEEDSAngelenos are increasingly choosing to bike whenever possible. Biking is the ultimate zero-emission,green, active transportation choice, and its important that Century City landlords and civic leadersdo everything possible to support the safety and needs of employees who commute by bike, as wellas local residents who bike to get around the area.

We urge landlords to re-evaluate ways to upgrade their bike amenities in consultation with tenantswho bike to work, and to see bike amenities as a marketable building amenity in a competitiveleasing environment.


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APPENDIXBike Centers/Stations Elsewhere: Why Not Century City, too?Bike Center Santa MonicaA partnership between City of Santa Monica, Metro, Bike and Park,Perrys, Segway LA, and Sustainable Streetshttp://www.bikeandpark.com/city/santa-monica Bike and Park is Chicago-based and also runs Chicagos McDonald's Cycle Center in Millennium Park.

Bikestation Runs Bikestations in Long Beach; Washington, DC; Palo Alto, and othercities.

http://bikestation.org

In addition, FAST: Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic (FAST) is working onmobility hub proposals for a variety of areas in the Los Angeles area. Their staffcan be reached via http://fastla.org/ .

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Century City Bike Recommendations