Morning Commute – 1/2

The writing is on the ground

The Morning Commute is an occasional look at meetings or other #BikeSpecific discussions and stories happening in the District. It also looks at interesting bike, scooter, or urban related ideas or concepts from other places across the globe that could possibly work here. Again, this isn’t journalism, just fun.

Today’s commute includes:

  • Scoobie?
  • Bridge over the river Arizona Avenue
  • DPW enforces the law
  • Happy New Year

2020.

Congratulations!

You have another opportunity to do more, to make your commute safer and to contribute to making our region a better, safer place!

This means more than just talking about what you don’t like about biking on the interwebs it means more than just being angry -it means building something. It means after work meetings, talking with transportation departments, elected officials, and talking with people who don’t agree with you. It means fighting for want you want, but being aware that some people have legitimate concerns about a changing world and where they fit.

#BikeDC should not just be about you or the people that you know who bike – it’s about everyone who moves. Everyone includes pedestrians, scooter users – and even those dreaded motorists. We are going to have discussions, sometimes heated ones, about what it means to make our roads safer. How we respond can be the key to building a coalition that is engaged and excited about rebuilding our human movement networks so that they are safe for all of us, regardless of race, income, location, or affiliation.

In 2020, Bikespecifc will work to build connections within the region so that we can all move forward and help build streets that put people first.

Hope to see you on the trail.

Meeting to Reconstruct the old trolley bridge over Arizona Avenue. DDOT will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 to discuss a project regarding the Pedestrian Bridge and Connecting Trail over Arizona Avenue, NW. This bridge is a key link to the potential Palisades Trail, a proposed re-purposing of the abandoned Glen Echo trolley right-of-way from Georgetown to the Washington Aqueduct, or there abouts.

The meeting will begin at 6:45p in the Key Elementary School Cafeteria, 5001 Dana Pl NW, Washington, DC 20016 and will provide an opportunity for community members to learn about the final proposed design recommendations and provide feedback to help inform the next phase of design development. More about the project can be found on the DDOT website.

Look out, it’s zombie scooters. In cities along the cascade coast of Washington and Oregon, a new mobility start up will build e-scooters with cameras, a steering motor, retractable training wheels, and a controller so that a remote operator can drive them to alternative locations. While this assumes that the scooters are upright, which many times they are not, the scooter will move at less than 5 mph to a new location by remote operators, who could be anywhere what has steady connections to 4G cell service.

According to the article, other companies like Uber and Segway Ninebot have similar technology under development. Scooters with fully integrated remote driving capabilities will enter the market in the first half of 2020. No word on when or if this technology will come to our region. Sightline

Scooter Luggage? Perhaps you’ve seen this at an airport: a person lugging a massive suitcase through an airport. Maybe it’s not just a suitcase. The Drive

DPW will use new enforcement techniques for bike lane enforcement. Starting this month, the Department of Public Works will begin enforcing the law. As previously reported, the the Bowser administration and District Department of Public Works added 26 new Parking Enforcement Officers to enhance bike lane safety in support of the city’s Vision Zero DC initiative.

Specifically, they will begin a pilot program in late January that will focus on drivers who block bike lanes. a key change is that DPW will use camera to identify vehicles in bike lanes and mail tickets vehicle owners, even if they drive away. Fines could total $65. WJLA

Love-Hate Relationship With Scooters As Virginia Law Takes Effect. According to an article in the Patch, Virginia will allow jurisdictions to regulate e-scooters, even if localities don’t adopt their own regulations. If a locality does adopt a regulation program, e-scooter companies such as Lime, Lyft and Uber’s Jump must receive approval before deploying their e-scooters on the streets. Patch

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