Category Archives: Press

Protected Bike Lane Amendment Adopted by SM City Council

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On Tuesday, October 13th, Santa Monica City Council unanimously adopted the Bike Action Plan Amendment adding protected bike lanes to the Current 2011 Bike Action Plan. We were humbled and grateful for the youth that spoke so passionately and articulately at the online meeting — despite the late hour — in support of expanding protected bike lanes and safety for our community, workers, students and visitors.

Broadway Protected Bike Lanes

We’d like to thank City Staff for their meticulous work preparing the Draft Plan and the Santa Monica City Council for their continued direction and support to expand healthy active transportation options in Santa Monica along with necessary infrastructure and safety improvements for people walking, biking, scooting or driving cars. Together – with commitments like this – we can and must continue to prioritize improving safety for all, particularly our most vulnerable road users.

You can click these links to:
View the Staff Report
Watch the meeting – scroll to item 8A under the video to jump to the item.
Visit Info page Bike Action Plan Update: Protected Bikeway Network – Project Goal
DRAFT Bike Action Plan Amendment



Also Check this out!
Ocean Avenue Project – Protected Bikeway and Expanding Outside Dining

Happy Birthday Breeze Bike Share!

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Three yeas ago Santa Monica led by launching Los Angeles County’s 1st public bike share — Breeze, presented by Hulu!

Congratulations Santa Monica and Breeze,
& Happy Birthday #3!

With shared mobility rapidly expanding with new technologies — we congratulate Santa Monica and Breeze bike share for leading the charge by improving the built environment with safer more visible traffic lanes paving the path for expanding new mobility options. Shared mobility that is more environmentally sustainable, help reduce our carbon foot print, traffic congestion and single car trips —and support our growing network of public transportation and shared mobility options. #GoSaMo 

Earlier 2018 Santa Monica, along with 3 other systems led again — rolling out LA’s 1st regionally integrated bike share — with Bike Share Connect! Bike Share Connect combined 4 independent systems into one regionally connected and seamlessly integrated network which spans across over 34 square miles, from Venice Beach to Hollywood and Highland. 

With the ground work laid and the spark of new mobility lit – this past year we have seen even more mobility options launch — motorized scooters and e-assist bikes — with surely more to come. Find out more about Santa Monicas’ Mobility Pilot Program here. 

The milestones are just beginning! Here are a few — 

The Share Mobility Pilot is part of the Santa Monica City Council and our community’s shared strategic goal and commitment to promote a safer, more sustainable multi-modal city of the future. This also pairs with the Council’s adoption to implement innovative Vision Zero approaches to ensure public safety and work to eliminate roadway collisions.

Ribbon cutting
1st year stats
2nd year stats
Bike Share Connect network
Thank you Hulu

Operation Firefly!

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The New Season Begins!

Join us – volunteer today for local distribution Operation Firefly.

Operation Firefly’s season officially begins when the days get shorter and the clock rolls back  and goes until Spring”forward” – we join LACBC’s and their regional partner distributions by giving away bicycle lights and educational information locally for FREE in Santa Monica.

Scheduling is in progress – Sign up today: Volunteer@SMSpoke.org

Action Alert: Safer Streets LA

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CallToAction6thStreetSq.jpgSanta Monica Spoke joins LACBC and Los Angeles Safe Streets Advocates to call on Councilmember Ryu to Make 6th Street Safety Improvements

Walking or biking on 6th street between Fairfax and LaBrea feels like walking next to a highway. Cars, encouraged by the design of the roadway, consistently speed, and crashes are a frequent occurrence. Children and families who walk and bike to school, work, museums, and health centers must traverse broken glass and metal detritus left behind by vehicle collisions.

In 2012, a 74-year-old woman was hit by a car and killed while walking near the intersection of 6th and Hauser. Since then, two more of our neighbors’ lives have been taken by dangerous roadway conditions on 6th street between Fairfax and La Brea. The time for redesigning this section of 6th street is now.

If you don’t already know bike and pedestrian initiatives and projects are being opposed by organized groups of influence like https://keeplamoving.com/ and http://fixthecity.org/
We need to show our human power, rally support for improvement that will help our city connections. Some of you may be familiar with the deplorable conditions that the 4th street “Bike Route” in Los Angels is currently in, 6th street has the potential to be a safer alternative. If nothing else we need to show our power in numbers in support for road diets and for councilmembers who support them.

For the past five years, community leaders have been focused on this problem, completing community walks, town halls, and meetings to work out a traffic design solution that would make the street safe for all to use. This ultimately led to the September 2016 unanimous vote by the Mid City West Council’s Board of Directors to implement a reconfiguration of 6th street between Cochran and Fairfax.

Safer6th.jpg

This would slow traffic by reducing the road to one lane in each direction, and allow for bike lanes and enhanced pedestrian crossings. Despite this vote, and the fact that the project is shovel-ready, Councilmember Ryu has consistently delayed taking action.  He has now proposed an alternative plan for 6th street, which would merely install left-turn pockets at certain intersections, leaving other dangerous intersections untouched.  

Please call, tweet or send a letter to David Ryu asking him to take action on safety and infrastructure improvements on 6th Street. On Saturday, October 21, we encourage folks to attend a community meeting about the project to make your voice heard. 

Insights from Bogota, Colombia in Santa Monica

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SPECIAL EVENT:
Help close out Bike Month with exciting stories by Chris Morfas on his work in Bogota, Colombia, one of the Americas’ Leading Bike & Transit Cities

What happens when a city builds 200 miles of protected bikeways? How did CicLAvia get its name? Lessons from Bogota, Colombia one of the world’s most interesting cities for bicycling and placemaking boasting 5.5 million transit trips and 600,000 bike trips per day!

We will hear about this and more from Chris Morfas who since 2014 has been Senior Advisor to Despacio, a nonprofit based in Bogota, Colombia, a city with rates of transit and bicycle use that are among the highest in the world. Morfas is a longtime transportation reformer, the founding executive director and former Board Chair of the California Bicycle Coalition (CalBike), a senior policy coordinator with the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. At CalBike, Morfas directed award-winning successes that launched the nation’s strongest Safe Routes to School program, Complete Streets policy, and the innovative Bicycle Transportation Account that funds bike infrastructure like bikeshare and more.

Don’t miss this evening with delightful snacks, delicious Sierra Nevada beer, sweet raffle prizes and exciting tales of travels and transportation from Chris Morfas.

Thank you to our event sponsors: Pocrass & De Los Reyes, Tern and Sierra Nevada.

The tickets are on a sliding scale donation and support Santa Monica Spoke and the California Bicycle Coalition. Nobody turned away for lack of funds.

Stay up to date on the event here

Despacio, is an NGO based in Bogota, Colombia that advances sustainable mobility internationally via research, advocacy, and training; its recent publications include robust studies of bicycle and motorcycle use in Latin America. Chris helps Despacio with organizational structure, program development, and outreach. He will regale you with tales of Ciclovia, TransMilenio, and more while carefully avoiding any bragging regarding his much-improved salsa dancing.