Movement on Bike Rental Systems; Induced Demand and Evaporation on Garbage - Bits

Here's an interesting tidbit a reader passed along from Eugene. There is movement on the statewide organization that may also be operating Salem's bike rental system in the future.

Cascadia/Forth hiring in Eugene - via FB

You may recall back in February a note about Cascadia Mobility taking over the systems in several cities. Here is concrete evidence it is happening. In Eugene, Cascadia/Forth is recruiting a mechanic and outreach manager.

Jobs for Eugene bike rental system

The jobs look to start early this summer.

Public information is still thin. Forth is all about the EV Mania and does not mention the bike systems yet on their website. So the bikes are very secondary and after-thought at the moment. Cascadia Mobility remains shadowy with no public website. 

But thing take time to ripen and mature.

In any case, this is something to watch and hopefully is a harbinger of a revival here in Salem.

Two-way protected bike lane in Eugene - Twitter

In a pleasant coincidence, the other day our Cherriots Board Chair tweeted out a modest proposal. It's nice to see their new attention to biking.

If we want more biking and less driving, and for non-experts (like tourists who might want to rent a bike!) to feel comfortable and safe on bike, all our busy streets need upgraded bike lanes.

The City needs to be developing plans for upgrading unprotected, old-school lanes on busy streets, and for entirely new lanes on busy streets that lack them. If we want fewer miles driven and less carbon pollution, old-school lanes won't make a big enough impact.

It is relevant that Eugene has a pleasant low-traffic bikeway on 12th, just one block to the north of this busier stretch of 13th. Both/And. We need redundancy in the bikeway system: Parallel low-traffic alternatives as well as protected bike lanes on busy streets.

Tuesday's front page

Probably we shouldn't make too much of this, but it's interesting to note briefly.

In a proposed solution to messy garbage cans, the City makes an argument for induced demand. More cans induced more use and more garbage.

From the piece:

[T]he city’s memo pointed to the trash cans that used to be located near the elevators on each floor of downtown parking structures. These cans were frequently filled by people dropping off garbage from their cars — not from downtown businesses....[Sheri] Wahrgren said in the memo. “When the cans were removed, the messes went away.”

That's an indirect statement of induced demand and then evaporation for garbage. The concept is true for car travel: When we build new roads or new lanes, drivers fill them up. When we remove roads or lanes, traffic evaporates.

It would be nice for the City to think more about the parallel.