Zero Emissions : With a little public help, bicycling could offer a commuting alternative

Why is it that the bicycle, ubiquitous in many areas on the weekends, is so seldom used to commute to work? Sure, no one wants to get to work hot and sweaty. And there are bad smog days. But if there were special bike paths, safe and accommodating, surely more commuters would leave their cars and pedal to their jobs.

Dennis Crowley thinks so. He’s the San Gabriel biking enthusiast who wants to revive the idea of a bike freeway from Pasadena to Downtown Los Angeles, the same route that carried cyclists from suburb to city at the turn of the century.

He’s having trouble selling the idea. At first glance, bicycles may not seem like a building block in a regional transportation network. But as planners look to integrate subways, buses and rail, they shouldn’t overlook bike use. Bicycling, if encouraged, could provide an excellent alternative for commuters, along with some health-building exercise.

First there have to be improvements.

Countywide, there are nearly 400 miles devoted to either off-road bicycle paths or surface-street bike lanes. Measured by sheer distance, the expanse of bikeways is considerable. However, when measured by ease of use, the disparate routes leave something to be desired.

Other cities have led the way. Urban centers such as Boston, Minneapolis and Seattle have encouraged bicycle use by adopting an if-you-build-it-they-will-come strategy. Boston, for example, has an 11-mile city-to-suburb bike path that carries at least 9,000 riders every day. In Seattle, city buses have bike racks on the front for the ride-and-pedal crowd. Outside the nation’s capital, the Washington and Old Dominion Trail, built on railroad tracks that once carried supplies to soldiers fighting in the Civil War, each year lures 2 million cyclists, including many commuters.

Los Angeles, with its mild winters and low rainfall, is a natural for a model bike system. Better cooperation between transit agencies, parks and city governments could help bring the region available funding from the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act.

Federal funding could help finance proposed L.A.-area bikeways such as a connection from the North Hollywood Red Line station and the Burbank Metrolink station to a path along Chandler Boulevard, extension of the coastal trail, a “veloway” along the Santa Monica Boulevard median strip in West Los Angeles and a path along Exposition Boulevard.