Thursday, November 29, 2018

LimeBike Pilot: Last Chance to Comment

Mercer Island ran a 3-month bikeshare pilot program with LimeBike this summer, testing out a fleet of approx. 25 E-Bikes on MI.

While the bikes can still be seen on the Island, the official pilot period has ended.  
In 90 days, over 1,200 riders took approximately 4,100 rides totaling almost 4,000 miles!

The City is collecting user and community feedback to help Council decide on next steps.

If you haven’t yet taken our quick online survey, please do so today, as it will be closing soon!

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Cities Struggle with Adding E-Scooters to Their Transportation Mix

Bike share companies have found that e-scooters are both more profitable and expand the size of urban markets.  Several bike share companies hope to introduce e-scooters to Seattle and Puget Sound cities.

Introducing scooters has resulted in a backlash or at least controversy, because the current infrastructure and regulations are not yet designed to accommodate them.   The hyperlinks below connect to videos and articles describing situations on the West Coast, New York, Paris and London.

-Seattle 
-San Francisco  (Bike share company perspective)
-New York
-USA   (Overview with quotes from Elon Musk)
-Paris
-London


Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Use the Dutch Reach to Save Cyclists' Lives

Urban cyclists face the daily risk of 'doorings' when a driver leaves opens his car door as a cyclist passes by.  This can be drastically reduced if drivers use the "Dutch Reach" to open their car doors.  It means simply using one's right hand to open the door which forces the driver's body to turn and see oncoming cyclists.  

A British Columbia study indicates that doorings are the car-to-cyclist crash type causing the most injuries to cyclists.  

Learn more at www.dutchreach.org.

Monday, October 8, 2018

Safety Concerns Drive Seattle E-scooter Policy

Seattle has told the E-bike companies that they will have to wait for permission to operate the E-bike trial projects are completed.  Like most cities, the current infrastructure was not designed for alternative modes of transportation. 


"A little over a year ago, Seattle led the nation, becoming the first major city to open its streets to shareable bikes that didn’t need docking stations and could be left almost anywhere.
A year later, Seattle has taken the opposite tack with a similar technology that’s proven more popular than the bikes."

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Aubrey Davis Park Master Plan Starts Soon


Aubrey Davis Park
Aubrey Davis Park
Aubrey Davis Park is a 90+ acre, 2.8 mile long recreation and transportation facility straddling Interstate 90 on Mercer Island.  The land is owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the City of Mercer Island (City).  A key facility of the park is the Mountains to Sound Trail which links Bellevue and Seattle.  The park facilities are approximately 25 years old.  Capital reinvestment needs, regional growth, demographic trends, the construction of East Link light rail and King County Wastewater’s North Mercer Sewer Upgrade have contributed to the need for planning services for this park.  WSDOT and the City are jointly developing this master plan, with the City acting as lead agency.  

You can help shape the master plan by participating in surveys and meetings. To be added to the plan’s email list, send an email to paul.west@mercergov.org.

Volunteers needed Sept. 25-27 to count people who walk and ride bikes

Each year, the number of people who choose to walk, ride bicycles or take other active travel means as their mode of transportation is increasing in Washington. How do we know? Volunteers annually count the number of people who walk or ride bicycles at selected locations during a three-day survey. For those who would like to help, volunteer registration is now open for this year’s survey, which starts Tuesday, Sept. 25.  
This data informs the transportation decision making at all levels.  Volunteers are vital to the success of this project:  about 400 people are needed for the count.  For the 2017 count, volunteers tallied more than 63,500 people biking and walking in communities across Washington. In 2017, the number of people who walked, biked or used other active modes increased 4 percent over the 2016 count.

Friday, August 31, 2018

NIM's Information Booth at MI Farmers' Market Updates Public on City's Plans

Neighbors in Motion held a information booth at last weeks Mercer Island Farmers' Market to advise residents about signage improvements in the city's North-South pedestrian/bicycle route.   A final section of the route or "Missing Link" in front of Island Park School is scheduled for design via public process next year in the city's Transportation Improvement Plan.   

NIM will have another booth at the September 30 market.  NIM is grateful for Mercer Island Community Fund's sponsoring this effort.  

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Winners and Losers in Seattle Dockless Bike Share Pilot


The two ride-hailing giants are among three companies that each applied for a permit to operate dockless bike shares on Seattle’s streets — which is to say, free-standing bikes that riders can pick up with just a few taps on their phone screens.

JUMP (owned by Uber), Lyft and LimeBike (who has been operating here for the last year) are all seeking to operate bike shares in the city over the next year, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) said Friday.

Lime Bikes is currently running a pilot on Mercer Island.

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Using Bike Share? Check the brake cables before you ride.

Video of a vandal cutting bike share brake cables in Sodo.  Seattle police investigating. 

Basics for Aspiring Bike Commuters.

Have you always wanted to be a bikecommuter — but needed a little help when it comes to suiting up and facing Seattle traffic?
 Meet StarterKit from Seattle Times, a gear guide for the rest of us. Think of it as a kinder, gentler introduction to the bare essentials you’ll need to take on the Northwest’s most popular sporty hobbies.

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Thursday, August 16, 2018

MI Chip Sealing Update

Chip Sealing update
On Monday and Tuesday, chip seals were placed on 78th Ave (SE 34th to SE 39th), SE 53rd Place (ICW to EMW), EMW (SE 68th to WMW), and SE 68th/SE 70th Street (84th Ave to WMW).  Today, all of those locations were swept to pick up loose gravel.
Next week (Aug 20th), crews will return to fog seal all of these locations.  A fog seal is a thin coat of liquid asphalt which helps with chip adhesion.  It will also turn the road black.  Additional sweeping will occur ahead of the fog sealing (to pick up loose rock).  Fog seal needs time to dry, so crews will likely work in one- to two- block increments of a single lane, let it dry, and then move on.  I expect the fog sealing will take 4 to 5 days to complete all locations.
The week of Aug 27th we will install new pavement markings.  This will complete the project.
Depending on rock shedding, we may need to sweep the locations one more time in mid-September.
Clint Morris 
Street Engineer

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Mercer Island's E-bike Share Pilot Adds Two More Locations



The city is adding two more locations:  1) MI Congregational Church (45th and ICW) and 2) another at the NW corner of the South End QFC Village area (at corner of SE 68th Street and 84th Ave SE.  There locations are not yet shown on the map.  More information. 

Please use the bikes but don't leave them where they block sidewalks.