March RCA highlights

The Rochester Cycling Alliance, Reconnect Rochester's bike workgroup, gets together every month to talk bike advocacy, road/trail projects, outreach and education. We'd love your support as we work towards a bike-friendlier community. Here are some highlights from March:

Hi everyone, Happy Spring! We hope you're enjoying the rising temperatures and recent days of full sunshine. There's a lot happening so let's dive right in:

First off, our hearts go out to the family of Kerry Traver, who was struck by a vehicle while riding his bike on Thursday night, March 11th on Jay Street. Kerry succumbed to his injuries and is the first cyclist fatality in the City since September 2017. The RCA has reached out to the family and if there is an opportunity to install a ghost bike memorial with an accompanying ceremony, we'll let you know.

Several RCA regulars attended this year's annual League of American Bicyclists' National Summit, which was held virtually. It was a wonderful opportunity for cyclists all over the country to connect and share ideas. 1,100 people tuned in, setting a summit record. If, as we suspect, the annual summit will be hybrid henceforward, we highly recommend tuning in for it each March. If you haven't seen this particular presentation, definitely check out LAB's interview with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Reconnect Rochester and RCA staff, board members and volunteers had meetings this month with representatives in Albany and Washington DC to discuss legislation to increase funding for active transportation projects and increase safety for vulnerable road users. Now is a great time to reach out to your representatives and push for their support for these important bills.

This Women's History Month, check out the May Bragdon Diaries Project at U of R: An avid cyclist & amateur photographer, Bragdon (1865-1947) cycled up to 13 miles a day. Her diaries document Rochester's active biking community at the turn of the 20th Century.

With skyrocketing e-bike sales and so many new e-bikes becoming available at low price points on Indigegogo and Kickstarter, we want to draw attention to a couple issues: To begin with, we've seen many e-bike brands fold in recent months. Too many manufacturers are here-today and gone-tomorrow. So you might not be able to receive support for past purchases if/when something goes awry, especially with electronics. Second, some bike shops around the country are refusing to service e-bikes at all, even if the e-bikes have standard components. So we recommend that you do your research and go with a brand you have reason to believe will have staying power. Moreover, there are currently state and federal bills for e-bike rebates that, if passed, would bring better quality, reputable e-bike brands more within many consumers' reach. Check out Bike Here's recent podcast on the E-BIKE ACT.

Just a reminder that if you're out riding and encounter a parked car in a bike lane, that it is a ticketable offense now. Please call 311 for those violations and the City's Parking Violations Bureau will send someone out (during regular weekday hours only). Even if the driver is not ticketed or - more likely - leaves before the PVB gets there, 311 will record the call as an issue. The least we can do is get the data in the system.

One of Rochester's most exciting developments is the Inner Loop North Transformational Study. There are two upcoming public meetings on Wednesday, March 24th: one at 12pm, the other at 6pm. We encourage you to tune in and share your ideas.

The City of Rochester recently unveiled a Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights in hopes of improving children’s connections to nature. Please take their survey here and chime in that kids should be able to bike safely to parks and nature.

Brighton broke ground last week on substantial improvements to the Auburn Trail. The section from Highland Avenue to the Pittsford town line will be widened, made ADA compliant and resurfaced with stone dust, similar to the Brickyard Trail. We're excited to see widening connectivity like this in our region's trail network!

Rochester's new bikeshare vendor, HOPR, will be launching soon, this time with pedal bikes, e-bikes and scooters. To help with the roll-out and the creation of "virtual" hubs, RCA volunteers are hitting the streets to update the City's inventory of bike racks.

There are three upcoming events to help you prepare for National Bike Month (May): This Wednesday, March 24th, tune in for the Community Design Center's March lecture from Nidhi Gulati on equitable mobility. On Saturday, April 24th, Jesse will be teaching his fun intro bike class for the Central Library over zoom. If you know someone in the interested-but-concerned crowd when it comes to biking, this is the class for them! The date for our annual bike infrastructure update has changed to Wednesday, April 28th. Email Jesse today to register for this opportunity to learn what's in store for this riding season.

We look forward to biking with you soon.

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1115 East Main Street, Door 4, Rochester, NY 14609

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