This is KPBS midday edition I'm Moureen Cavinaugh. If you are searching for your helmet to participate in San Diego's bike to update you have a little more time. The event which was scheduled or tomorrow has been postponed. That's because rain thunderstorms and lightning are in the forecast tomorrow. Standing is will get their chance at the end of the month to take part in the yearly bride and it's aimed at getting people out of their cars to see what it's like to travel to work or play or shopping on their bikes. Most of our great getting around San Diego on bicycle is easier than it used to be, we're not exactly Copenhagen yes. Getting more people to commute I bike is an essential part of the county in cities I met action lands. It's not clear exactly the car culture what evolve into bike friendly environment. Joining me are Andy Henshaw his executive director of the San Diego County bike coalition, welcome to the show. Binky. Elizabeth Cox is marketing education signature with Sandag welcome think you're coming in because Bike into her day is postponed because of the rain. Don't people in other cities Ike in the ring? Certainly. Bicycling can happen year-round and instead on Portland and happens rain or shine. But here,[ Laughter ] There are other factors such as thunder and lightning and concerns and it's a cautious and safe decision. We support that. We also want bike to work Day to be a really impactful event with thousands of bicyclists are going to participate. We really want to say a big -- see a big day. This is the second year it was postponed. Last year because of the fires. Bear much an important decision happened there as well because Could you feel there's a curse? [ Laughter ] All of me is national bike month. We like about bicycling for all of me and be out. Tell us what happens on a typical bike to work Day how many people participate? I will take that one. Last year we had 8700 people participate on bike to work Day, a log date total of 272,000 bike miles during the month of May. This year we were planning on 100 corporate tops tomorrow between 6 and 9 AM. With the decision made this money to move back to work take to May 29 where the process of calling all those pitstop host to make sure they can still make it again on the 20 night so we can let bike riders know what to expect her What happens at those pitstop speak a bikers get freebies, correct? Yes. They are supported with refreshments. With volunteers in support and encouragement. There's a lot of small businesses that cannot and do special things for them that day and they really are excited to be a part of this whole movement to get more people bicycling on this one particular day and hopefully be up to Recently the city of San Diego made) me changes. Tell us if you would about the bike share program and the bike lanes that we are seeing around town for the The city has done good things as you said. The bike share system is the most visible and probably the largest system to rollout nationwide and happened at the beginning of the year so it is 1200 bicycles are planned for the first phase citywide. Edwin Hodge 80 -- 1800 bikes in at 180 stations citywide. It's really a transportation system that's convenient for people to call a bike out, take it from one place to another, and really use a bike for short trips rather than a car. Generally when we say a short trip smart chip, we're talking about 2 miles or less in the systems are set up to be convenient and accessible in that regard. In addition the city continues to put in place a wider bike lanes, looking at opportunities to narrow streets that are too wide, looking at more ways to make it different to encourage more people to bicycle which helps our climate action and goals which helps our varmint which helps reduce greenhouse gas. It keeps our committee healthy and fun. How much easier is it to bike around other areas of San Diego. I have other cities made infamous Throughout the entire region there's 1340 miles of bike that have been built this many more to come. Several are working on other projects in concert or on their own. You can actually visit as D.com website for interregional bike therefore you to find it where you come bike in your community and find the Representative for bike to work Day on that day has opened the How big a role do bikes play in the future of education in San Diego County. It's important or San Diego cessation of governments the regional -- biking is deftly one of those modes in addition to driving on the highways and local roads, carpooling in then politico our Board of Directors in 2013 approved the transmit early action program which is a 10 year plan that's funded with $200 million from transmit to build 77 miles of grace over the next decade. We are a couple years into that process right now, definitely we feel if you build it they will come. Looking for to increasing the rate because At those short trips, 4% of the chips we take on a given day or the weekend less than 2 miles. What is going to the dry cleaners to pickup a prescription drug to the library, Inc. about twice about getting behind the wheel of a car or getting honesty of the bike. I recently spoke with the man who took on the challenge of biking through 81 different countries. Jamie took out some time to relate his expenses about the bike really cities he has seen. Thank you for joining us. My pleasure. Your book a bicycle built for 2 billion talks about an adventure of a lifetime. How you reached out to people all over the world to share a bicycle ride with you. Right now I like your expertise on the practical side of a grading. Since you have written in cities all over the world, can you tell us which cities you got to be most like me? All throughout Europe, there's such a large of the structure out there. You go to Copenhagen, Denmark, etc. these are the cities that model that we could all strive to be like. Specific bicycle lanes and stoplights in stop signs and pedestrians aren't allowed in those lanes nor our cars. I'll throw your, you'll find them the more north you go. How could a city like San Diego which an ingrained car culture become more like me? On my trip I was able to run into some cities that were able to go from more of a car culture to morbid bike culture. When I was in Hungary and Budapest, that used to be quite a car culture and really comes down to the committee coming together in leadership forming. There are some leaders as able to meet that they eat breed and sleep advocacy. You have a lot of events and do a lot of critical mass events with naked people together to come out and write all over the place and wreak a bit of panic but that helps as well their message is they need more bike lanes and it don't just want them but they will demand them. What are the community benefits of having lots of people getting around on bicycles instead of their cars. Obviously the pollution can go down, that's -- you also have a healthier community and happier community. Writing bikes is a happier way to move around to talk to any cyclist and they will say that. You feel better, emotionally though better physically, more people writing bikes tend to be happier 20. If you wait to the well-being in Europe and Scandinavia -- Scandinavia tend to be happier because they are on their bikes and outdoors more. Image happier and healthier. Thank you so much because I've been speaking with Jamie his book is called a bicycle built for 2 billion Back with me in a studio and the director of San Diego County bike coalition, Elizabeth Cox market and medications manager with Sendak were talking about bike to work Day. This year has been postponed to May 29. As we heard, some of the most bike friendly cities in the world were built before the advent of the automobile. We are at a disadvantage in that respect, isn't that correct? There are a lot of Kenyans throughout San Diego County as well and I have in their highways built up and run them over the past few decades trying to traverse and get around there. The regional plan is out for jobs, right now I will be adopted later this fall. The regional biking network plan that will guide us really lays out that remark how many new bikeways can be built out the region to connect segments of existing bikeways you currently can't from point a to point B. I think you can get 8.1 or two but not all the way. The early action plan is significant interpreting those key segments. In an urban setting, we are trying to do this in reverse anyway oddly. I think we are changing the balance and really pushing for more infrastructure will get people bicycle riding in those opportunities and why should they pick up a connect people to places and businesses. Studies have shown when you put these infrastructures in the urban environments, they are not only good for the environment, they're good for the economy. They give exposure to retailers and businesses in a whole new way. In places like DC in Chicago and New York, even the most urban environments, they are putting in these types of protective bike lanes in making an impact on business in the committee. In trying to reconstruct San Diego until bike from a city, sometimes the new rules run into some problems in the new 3-D rule for drivers to leave a 3 foot clearance between the car and bikers, it really is not physically possible in some neighborhoods, how would you say that is working out That is a new statewide law. It's an awareness for more people on bicycles to be on the roadways. If there isn't enough space, people need to remember to slow down and pass when it is safe to do so and that is how the Barbie's because In North Park when there are two cars going, yet multi-cars going in there parked cars parked and there's a bicycle rider, it gets pretty hairy at sometimes. F1 needs to be mindful of our roadways and there are more bicycles -- bicyclists out there and you need to be responsible. And be aware of everyone who is using our roadways so we can be said. Is also the people who don't want to see more bike lanes put in. For an example, I committee planning group in Mission Hills recently rejected a plan to take up parking spaces and put in bike lanes instead. What argument do you make to people who oppose those plans? I think first and foremost, some things people don't realize is it takes a few years to build a backward. It's not just be a cement truck out or can a green paint, there's a process to it. The lifecycle of the bikeway can be 2 to 4 years in yesterday with the luminary and sharing in planning and going into environmental final design and ultimately construction, the project you talk about is a pretty significant reach effort over the past couple years and as a result of feedback we received from that committee group in a couple of others, were taking it back to the transmission committee on June 5 to seek more direction from them as to how they would like us to proceed given there is both heavy support as well as opposition to the project because Andy, what is your reaction to that? I think this is a really important project. As I stated earlier there's community benefit to this type of bikeway to everybody. It has far-reaching safety implications not only for bicycle ex-for pedestrians this place making, traffic calming there's important elements that make a committee better and stronger. This opportunity and conversations happening amongst everybody in the bicycling businesses in the neighborhood to come up with a solution in a plan we wanted to before. People are supportive of those things and that's what we all want is a bicycle project that is connected and safe and going to work and help the community be even stronger. The city of San Diego propose climate action plan calls for boosting bike ridership to 6%. We are at about 2% now. How do we get there? I will go back to the structure I talked about and this is what is really creating that needle to move its grading this saber spaces for people to ride in. It's good we are doing bike share and encouraging more ridership, but we have to create the safer places for people to ride. In order to really so comfortable, so the goals of the regional bike plan, is to create those places that are comfortable for people to write them. When we had the example is the uptown bikeway project that has connected projected urban bikeways, that's the type of facility that will get more people writing and make it comfortable and move that mode shared meal from where it is to wear it needs to go. And it's 6% by 2020. Would be your vision for downtown San Diego that was truly bike friendly. Efficacy a lot of people moving around by bicycle you see secure places for people to park their bikes, you see more of these protected bikeways all around the urban core. There's a downtime ability plan looking at just that. That's exciting. To be honest, it's where people are moving to in these urban environments, never specifically our future workforce and talented humming to San Diego was to live in neighborhoods in urban environments that have bikeways that are connected for biking and walking so they don't have to purchase a car. So they can save up to $10,000 a year without having a car. So they can have access to transit. These other types of facilities that will really boost our economy for years to come because it's attracting talent other cities where we should be attracting that talent. Speaking of other cities, time had an article about the nine W. bike cities in the US. San Diego did not rank are you surprised by that. I think we're getting there. To live to be on that list I like and he said if the structure has to come first before you can get people to be comfortable writing a bike. When you think about the spectrum of people who will write about, there's anytime anywhere people like Andy and advocacy groups that live their life I bicycle and that is fantastic. On the other end, there are people that will never get on a bike, you cannot change the mind there's a large group in the middle that we caught interested concern. That's who we are really targeting with these and protected bikeways and projects like and election. The people are ready every day already, that's fantastic, please commit in into the facilities. To get more people comfortable and moving that needle from 2 to 6%, making sure we have a structure to support them. Before we leave, one more time, when is bike to work today this year. It is on May 29. Come on out and get your bikes ready. Over 100 pitstops is good to be made 29 in the early morning so we'll be out there cheering people on and it will be great. I've been speaking with Eddie Henshaw Lisanti Gail -- San Diego bike coalition.
Stormy weather forced organizers to delay Friday’s Bike to Work Day in San Diego.
The San Diego Association of Governments postponed the annual event to May 29 because rain may create unsafe bike-riding conditions. This is the second year in a row that the event has been postponed. Last year, it was rescheduled due to the May wildfires.
Bike to Work Day is part of a movement that urges people in the United States and Canada to get out of their cars, put on their helmets, and see what it's like to commute to work on their bikes.
Government leaders have included biking in their climate action plans across San Diego County. The region has become more bike friendly in recent years, with more bike trails, bike lanes and legislation that aims to protect cyclists.
But San Diego isn't Copenhagen, which has been described as one of the most bike friendly cities. Bike advocates are pushing to make the region even safer for cyclists. They cite the need for protected bike lanes that put a physical barrier between cars and bicyclists, and other safety measures that will get more riders on the road.
Some bike projects proposed by SANDAG have met with resistance in Hillcrest and the College Area.
Elizabeth Cox, SANDAG’s communications manager, urged residents to consider riding a bike for any trips less than two miles.
“About 40 percent of trips we take on any given day is less than two miles,” Cox told KPBS Midday Edition on Thursday. “Just think twice about getting behind the wheel of a car or getting on a seat of a bike.”
Cox said bike riders can now plan their routes with the help of an interactive map that details more than 1,340 miles of bike lanes. The map is available on icommutesd.com.
