Keep On Nagging!

It was a surprise and an honor to be nominated as one of five candidates for "Greenways Champion" - the individual who has most advanced the cause of safe streets in Seattle in 2014.  As Gordon said in introducing the nominees, I wear a lot of hats, including this rather neglected "blogger" hat!

So in honor of this nomination, and in recognition of the actual well-deserved winner, Tom Fucoloro of Seattle Bike Blog, I thought I should blog about a past nag that has been, you might say, nagging at me.

On April 14, 2010, I sent the following message to Macy's department store through their website:

I notice that your website links to a Mapquest site that gives driving directions to your stores.  In Seattle, as I'm sure in many other locations, your store can be reached very conveniently by public transit(the transit tunnel, which carries our beautiful new Link Light Rail as well as buses that serve the entire metropolitan area, runs right through your store), as well as by bicycle and on foot. It is a shame that your website tells customers that the ONLY way to shop is by car!  I have seen a number of commercial websites with links to more comprehensive tripplanners.  Google Maps now includes walking, public transit and biking directions; our King County Metro has a web-based trip planner than can be added to a website.
I travel by bike, transit and by foot, and it can be very challenging to find the best route to my destinations. Just this morning, I was waiting for a downtown bus when I noticed a tourist puzzling over a tourist map.She was trying to find the Macy's store, which was only 4 blocks away.  A link on your website could have helped her find her way by foot from her downtown hotel.
Please let me know how you will address this concern.

A few days later I received this encouraging reply:

Dear Merlin, Thank you so much for your email inquiring about public transportation to our Macy's stores.

We apologize for the inconvenience to those not driving but we are very glad you pointed this out to us. We certainly will look into adding these services to make shopping more accommodating for all of our customers! In the meantime, Google Maps is a great alternative and as you pointed out, has more options than MapQuest.
Stay tuned for more exciting changes and additions to our website.Thanks again,Jennifer
JENNIFER GOTHELFManager, Macy’s Visitor Services and Tourism11 Penn Plaza, 11th Floor, New York, New York 10001

Well, time went by.  I checked in with Jennifer about the exciting changes, she reassured me they were coming.  More time went by.  Nothing changed.  On January 31, 2012, I sent this note (Kimberly had responded to an earlier nag):

Hi Jennifer and Kimberly,
How discouraging!  A visitor arriving at the Seattle-Tacoma airport, curious about taking a trip into town to go shopping, might check the Macy's website for directions to the nearest store.  And this poor soul would STILL not learn that the Light Rail train from the airport goes DIRECTLY to the basement of the Seattle Macy's store!  Your website still gives directions that are of use only to people traveling by car.  And by the way, your next-door downtown competitor, Nordstrom, now offers public transit directions on their website!
You might also be interested to know that less than 50% of the people who work in downtown Seattle arrive there by car.  If you want them to shop in your store, give comprehensive directions for people using ALL modes of transportation!

Again nothing changed.  A year and a half later, on July 12, 2013, I sent this exasperated note:

Today I read about Macy's great promotion for the Maison Jules Fall collection - giving away beautiful bikes!! So I checked your website again (first time since last year) thinking perhaps you had decided to include directions for people who travel by bike, and/or by transit or on foot.
I really honestly don't understand why Macy's would want to encourage people to drive to shop.  Especially in Seattle, which is the number 2 bicycling city in the US, and where fewer than half of the folks who work downtown arrive by car.  And your store has a Light Rail station in the basement!  Don't you want international travelers to zip over from the airport by Light Rail to shop for the Maison Jules Fall collection?  and win one of those lovely bikes to ride a few blocks to the Pike Market?
It's very easy to add multimodal travel directions to a website.  Google Maps includes walking, biking and transit as a matter of course.  Please pass this request on to your webmaster.  

I didn't even get a response, and after that I gave up.  I didn't even look at the Macy's website again until last week.  And there to my amazement,  I found this:



Multimodal directions via Google Maps!

Was my three-and-a-half year nagging campaign successful?  Or has the world of transportation just shifted?  I'll let you decide.  And meanwhile, I'll keep on nagging!

Getting Old? Ride a Bike!

Look at this fun photo - a couple of grey-haired people with bicycles, smiling with delight.  It's the cover photo for a "healthy aging" supplement in the Seattle Times this morning, and I eagerly paged through looking for articles about riding bikes when old.

The article headlines were promising: "Put yourself on the path to a longer, healthier life," "Today's senior center is at the heart of an active lifestyle," "Centenarians reveal their secrets to a long and happy life," "Enjoying retirement in a home that's suited for an active life."  And on the next to the last page, there's another picture of happy old folks riding bikes.

So what does this special, bike-themed newspaper supplement have to say about seniors riding bikes?  Aside from the charming pictures, nothing.  And many opportunities were missed.  For example, the "nest egg" article above is full of ideas for saving money.  How about ditching the car and riding a bike?  Not mentioned.

The active lifestyle at "today's senior center" includes fitness programs, line dancing, bowling, tap-dancing, visiting the FBI office in Seattle and going on cruises - but not riding a bike to a nearby cafe.

Centenarians' secrets to a long and happy life include keeping up with exercise; "more than half walk or hike...some even run outdoors or play team sports every week."  As for boomers, on their way to being centenarians, "nearly 3 in 4 walk or hike each week, ... 13 percent run outdoors or play team sports."  Doesn't anyone ride a bike?

One article discusses transportation options for seniors who want to age safely at home.  Seniors are advised to "investigate transportation options in your area so you can maintain an active social life ... Finding new ways to get around, even after you are no longer driving, may allow you to stay engaged and active."  Why not mention bikes as transportation?

And even the article titled "Put yourself on the path to a longer, healthier life" somehow overlooks bikes.  We're advised to "keep active...by walking, swimming, dancing or gardening."

It's a sad fact that in the United States, very few people over 65 ride bikes.  But that doesn't have to be the case.  In the Netherlands, where bikes are used for nearly one fourth of all trips overall, people depend more on bikes as they age.

figure from "Walking and Cycling in Western Europe and the United States," by Ralph Buehler and John Pucher, Transportation News, vol. 280, May-June 2012, p. 36

It's a strange irony that images of happy old people riding bikes are chosen to represent the concept of healthy aging, but the real act of riding a bike doesn't enter at all into the discussion of how to stay healthy in old age.  I guess I'll just keep riding my bike, and encouraging my aging friends to do likewise.

On Wearing Bright Clothing While Walking

We are often advised to wear bright clothing while walking, especially when walking at night.  This is so important that the Department of Transportation, in its reports on collisions involving people walking, classifies victims according to the clothing they were wearing:  "mixed," "dark," "light," or "missing"  ("missing??"). There are also a couple categories for different types of reflective clothing.

In Seattle, lots more people wearing dark or "mixed" clothing are hit while walking than people wearing light clothing, and in 2011, only six people wearing reflective clothing were hit while walking (Seattle Department of Transportation 2011 Traffic Report, p. 7-21).

I do see a lot of people walking around at night in dark clothing.  For example, people coming out of the Seattle Opera and the Pacific Northwest Ballet at night often wear dark clothing.  This is also true of symphony patrons at Benaroya Hall.

For the sake of safety, these organizations should provide reflective vests for patrons to wear as they walk out onto the street.

It would also be advisable for those of us who park our cars on neighborhood streets to keep reflective vests in our cars to wear when walking to our homes.

The Traffic Report mentioned above does not give any information about the color of cars involved in collisions.  I have noticed a lot of dark-colored cars driving around at night.  Seattle Department of Transportation should look into this.

It's Not an Accident

It's not an accident when a person driving a pickup kills a person crossing the street.

To the Editor of the Seattle Times:

Yesterday I participated in the candlelight vigil for Sandhya Khadka, who was killed when a person driving a pickup truck struck her as she crossed the street in an unmarked crosswalk.

Your story in today's paper incorrectly states that "there is no crosswalk at the intersection."  In fact, by law every intersection without a traffic signal is an unmarked crosswalk, and people driving cars or trucks are required to stop for people who walk across the street.

When you refer to this tragic incident as an "accident," you imply that nothing could have been done to prevent it.  The Seattle Police call it a "collision."  That is a more neutral term.

Your report states that she was "hit by a pickup" and does not mention that there was a person driving that pickup until several paragraphs later, when you state that the person driving was not impaired.

The language you use to report on a tragedy shapes the discussion about how the tragedy could be prevented.  I participated in the vigil to support Sandhya's grieving family, and to call on our community to work together to make our shared public streets safe for all the people who use them.

Not Dead! It's a Living End!

Some of the liveliest places for walking and biking in Seattle can be reached only by streets marked with big orange "Dead End" signs.  This is the entrance to the Mountains to Sound Greenway trail from the new Beacon Hill Greenway on 18th.  The paint on the street suggests there's something not so dead on that street, but the sign says "Dead End."

This elegant staircase connects Bellevue and Melrose on the west slope of Capitol Hill - poignant one-block reminder of the formerly grand East Harrison Hill Climb, which connected Capitol Hill with downtown.  How do you get there?  Ignore the "Dead End" sign at Bellevue and Republican.

Here's just one more example:  This is the entrance to the bike and pedestrian tunnel along I-90, part of the Mountains to Sound Greenway.  You can just make out the sign marking this major route for walking and biking; not nearly as obvious as the big "Dead End" sign as you enter the street.

One way to fix this would be to add little "except bicycles and pedestrians" signs; I've seen a few.

But I'd rather see something more positive.  A street isn't "dead" when people aren't allowed to drive cars on it.  Taking away car traffic makes the street come alive!  How about a big bright "Living End" sign, with a little warning for drivers saying "No Cars?"

The Broadway Bikeway is Open - But Broadway is Still Closed to Bikes

The first section of the Broadway Bikeway (or Cycle Track, or Protected Bike Lane) opened for bicycles over one month ago.  My friend and colleague Tom Fucoloro documented the opening with this video.  I rode up and down the Bikeway a few times myself, just to convince myself it was real.

One month later, this lovely facility remains pretty much devoid of bikes.  When I rode it yesterday, I saw just two other people in the Bikeway.  One person was riding a bike; the other was a woman in an SUV who had pulled over into the Bikeway to make a phone call.

Why is the Broadway Bikeway so underutilized?  I can think of a number of reasons:  it doesn't really go anywhere; it ends to the north before it reaches the most active commercial section of Broadway, and to the south it ends before it reaches Pill Hill.

But there's another deterrent to using the Bikeway:  nobody has bothered to take down all the signs that say Broadway is closed to bikes.

This sign is posted a couple blocks west of Broadway on the main bike route from downtown:

One block closer to Broadway, I'm instructed to use the sidewalk:

And when I finally get to Broadway, I'm given this confusing message:

The Broadway Bikeway is the most highly visible protected bike lane in Seattle.
Most people who walk, drive cars, ride buses or ride bikes on Capitol Hill have never seen a two-way protected bike path.  How are people supposed to know how to behave in this unfamiliar landscape?

In the world that I imagine, from the minute construction began, there would have been signs announcing that a new, world-class facility for bikes was soon to appear.  Bright banners on the construction wall along the Bikeway would have shown people how to drive, park, walk and ride bikes along the new Broadway. Instead, we just got detour notices, which nobody bothered to take down after the Bikeway opened.  

Please, somebody, take down those signs.  Or is it time for the Reasonably Polite Seattleites to take matters into their own hands?

Intersections: Inconsistent on Twelfth Avenue East

Preschoolers crossing the street at 12th and Olive

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) recently updated several intersections along 12th Avenue East to make it easier and safer for people to cross this busy street.  Today I rode my bike over to 12th to take a closer look at these improvements.

I looked at the unsignalized intersections at Howell, Denny, Thomas, Harrison, Republican, Mercer, Roy and Aloha (construction disrupted the intersection at Olive, so I left that one out except to snap the photo above of a bunch of preschoolers crossing the street).

The safety features I saw included curb bulbs to narrow the crossing distance, improved wheelchair ramps, freshly painted striped crosswalks, set back stop lines for people driving cars, bright yellow warning signs, flashing yellow lights, median refuge islands for people walking, and parking prohibition near intersections.

These features were scattered among the eight intersections.  Some had no improvements; some had three or four.  No intersections used all of these features.

As I rode north on 12th, here's what I observed.

At 12th and Howell, the stop line for people driving cars is set back about 50 feet from the crosswalk at the intersection.  There's a sign pointing out the correct place to stop, and at the corner there's a big yellow warning sign with a picture of a person walking.

12th and Howell, looking South on 12th

The truck in this picture had stopped for someone crossing the street - as you can see, well past the indicated stop line.  The bright yellow warning sign is just barely visible through the trees at the corner.  You will also notice that there is a painted crosswalk, but no curb bulb to narrow the crossing distance.

I haven't seen stop lines positioned this far from an intersection anywhere else in Seattle; none of the other intersections along 12th have this feature.  While it might be a good idea to leave this much space between moving cars and people walking, unless this feature is used consistently, it seems unlikely to me that people who drive cars will be willing to wait this far back from intersections while people cross the street.

Next comes 12th and Denny.

12th Ave. East and East Denny Way, looking south

The bright yellow warning sign is clearly visible, not obscured by trees.  There's a striped crosswalk with a painted refuge island in the middle of the road.  There are curb cuts, but no curb bulb on this side of the intersection.

Oddly though, there are curb bulbs on the southern side of the intersection, where there's no painted crosswalk.

12th and Denny, looking north

This person crossed between the curb bulbs; that's perfectly legal even though only the north leg of the intersection has the painted crosswalk, the warning sign and the refuge island.

I skipped the signalized intersection at East John and went on to 12th and Thomas.

12th and Thomas curb bulb and parking restriction looking north

Here there are generous curb bulbs at all four corners, with an extended parking restricted area on the southeast corner.

However, there are no painted crosswalks and no warning signs here.

12th and Thomas curb bulb planting

Next we come to 12th and Harrison.

12th and Harrison looking north

Here we have curb bulbs with good curb cuts, a bright, visible warning sign and a painted crosswalk all on the south side of Harrison.  There are no safety features on the north side.

Here's 12th and Republican.  There are no crossing improvements of any kind at this intersection.

12th and Republican, looking southeast

At Mercer there's a school crossing for Lowell Elementary School, although you wouldn't know it from this approach.  You can see there's a yellow flashing light above the street.  Parking is restricted on all four corners. There's a painted crosswalk, but only on the north side of Mercer.

12th and Mercer, looking north

If you look closely, you can just make out the yellow warning sign hidden behind the trees.

Yellow warning sign at 12th and Mercer

Next is Roy, a very narrow street with no crosswalks.  It does have a red curb and a no parking sign at the southeast corner, but I was surprised to note that the parking restricted area was only about two bike-lengths, or eight feet, not the thirty feet standard at intersections.

12th and Roy with eight-foot parking restriction

This intersection, by the way, is one block from Lowell Elementary School and is in a school zone.  Here's the same intersection looking south.

School zone sign at 12th and Roy looking south

At Aloha, 12th Avenue becomes one way heading south.  This four-way stop has a flashing red light and crosswalks painted on all four legs.  It is one of very few places in Seattle with a traffic diverter to prevent people from driving the wrong way.  By reducing turns and cross traffic, this feature also protects people walking here.  (This would also be an opportunity to allow people on bikes to ride against traffic on this very low-traffic, slow speed street, but that belongs in another post.)

12th and Aloha with one-way diverter

After taking all these pictures, I turned around and headed back south on 12th.  This sign reminded me of the biggest danger to people trying to cross the street:

Speed limit on 12th is 30 mph

In summary, 12th Avenue between Howell and Aloha provides a smorgasbord sampling of features that can improve safety at intersections and make it easier to cross the street.  If all of these features were applied consistently, 12th Avenue could be a pleasant and welcoming street for walking, and it would be a nicer place to ride a bike as well.  Is that too much to ask of a city that aspires to be a world-class place for walking and biking?