April Economides returns to the Silicon Valley to talk about Bike Friendly Business Districts

April Economides of
Green Octopus Consulting
photo:womenonbikessocal.org

Last week Thursday, April Economides of Green Octopus Consulting returned to the Silicon Valley to speak to a packed house (the house being the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce) of about 50 attendees. I last saw April at the Grand Opening of 359 State Street, a new cycling lifestyle shop in Los Altos.

For the last two years April has been bringing the concept of bike friendly business districts to the four districts of Long Beach California. Working with Bike Long Beach, the districts draw cyclists to the area with events, promotions, ample bike parking, along with valet bike parking for some events.

BikeLongBeach.org
Twitter

Since cyclists who are either car-free or car-lite tend to have more disposable income $6,000 to $9,000 per car depending on the car, the districts have been focusing on attracting those customers locally. Attracting those customers would bring an intensity and vitality that is lacking from many cities traditional business districts.

What's amazing about the City of Long Beach however isn't just the Bicycle Friendly Business District promotion but the way the city not only has embraced cycling as a practical, alternative form of transportation but the way in which it promotes and delivers information related to cycling in the city.

To a cyclist (or transit user, or pedestrian) new to a city it is difficult to find information on cycling in one place, delivered in a straight forwards style. Try this: type in _________ Department of Transportation filling in the blank with you city name. Go to their "Transportation" page, usually a public works or traffic page. Look carefully and see how prominently a cycling subheading is displayed if, at all. Here are some examples

San Jose
Long Beach
New York
Portland
Santa Barbara
Denver

As you can see most city webpages contain little if any information. Bicycle and Pedestrian Advocacy groups are of little help as well, and really are not set up to provide a quality user experience while in the city. Tourism agencies or councils are geared towards traditional sightseeing as well. In the case of San Jose, there is no tourism organization, the bicycle coalition focuses mainly on advocacy, and the city transportation page focuses mainly on their wonderful safety program for school age children.

One city does stand out (and I'll write about this later) and that is Santa Barbara, with their Car-Free Santa Barbara program, one of the only programs that I am aware of.

BikeLongBeach.org

Although there is a very vague connection between the city of Long Beach's official web page and BikeLongBeach.org, the city has done an amazing job of making cycling information accessible to tourists and residents alike, as well as to experienced cyclists and novice cyclists. If anyone knows of any other webpage as in-depth as this one please contact me.

The website is broken down into basic bicycling categories such as Biking 101 which includes topics such as bike laws, bike security and safety, commuting, riding at night, and many other topics but also as an area devoted to bicycle planning which covers the more wonky, policy related topics. There is also a blog to keep readers up to date on rides, tours, and events. The get involved section has topics on bicycling community, volunteer opportunities, and bicycle friendly workplaces.

Many cities could benefit from a close collaboration with the city transportation staff, the city's economic development departments, business and business districts, transit and train lines, cycling and other alternative transportation groups to provide information on cycling in the city to help answer questions on bicycle parking, bike routes, bicycle promotions, as well as travel packages.

I'm sure cyclists would be excited to have special deals at hotels if they arrived by bike or if events will have valet parking, or if their favorite restaurant is offering a cyclists special. Long Beach has been at the forefront on promoting local business to cyclists. Let's just hope this is the start to many more city initiatives.

Thanks again for stopping by April.