GUEST COLUMNIST: Respect for bicyclists

It is most unfortunate that two tragic accidents had to happen in order to draw attention to the problem that has plagued our campus for many years. Bicycles have been considered as an incidental convenience for some travelers, but not a recognized as a component of the transportation system. Nothing has been done for bicyclists except banning them from some paths and providing a few bicycle racks. Treated as a non-entity, some bicyclists travel without obeying any traffic rules: They do not stop for red lights, they ride against traffic on one-way streets and swing through pedestrians on sidewalks. Some reactions are then that they should be banned from some streets and sidewalks; yet, reckless driving or jaywalking does not create calls to ban cars or pedestrians! The attitude that bicycles are teenager toys used also by some eccentrics is an anachronism from the 1950s. Many cities have changed that attitude drastically and introduced measures to make bicycles not only an accepted, but preferred, mode of travel for certain types of trips. Bicycle travel is now encouraged and used extensively in many cities across the country as an extremely efficient, safe, convenient and environmentally desirable mode of travel. University campuses are typical areas where bicycles, combined with walking, are a superior mode to cars for many categories of trips. The University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of California at Davis, Ohio State University and dozens of other universities have elaborate systems of bike lanes, paths, signals, separation and protection from vehicular traffic, provision of bike storage areas, lockers, etc. And they enforce the traffic rules. Students use them by the thousands and campuses are lively and human-oriented, rather than paved by roads and encircled by parking garages. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, known as ISTEA, and its successor from 1998, emphasize the need for promoting different modes of transport, particularly in urban areas. The funding they provide has enabled the City of Philadelphia to plan and begin implementation of 300 miles of bicycle paths. Better treatment of pedestrians and introduction of street designs which tame vehicular traffic, used extensively in many cities, are beginning to be introduced in some parts of Philadelphia. Our University should plan traffic taming designs and encourage construction of bicycle paths on all major streets, such as Walnut, Spruce, 33rd, 34th and 38th, and implement bicycle paths on several wide sidewalks. Clearly designated one-way paths on wide sidewalks are common in many European and Japanese cities. They have not been introduced in Philadelphia yet but our University is in a unique position to introduce this innovation, which can be considered experimental for a year. For example, Walnut Street should have a westbound (with traffic) bicycle path on the roadway, and a 5-foot-wide designated bicycle path on its south sidewalk for eastbound bicycle travel. Such paths would greatly increase safety in comparison to the present conditions where, even on the north sidewalk of Walnut Street, with heavy pedestrian traffic, bicycles travel in both directions across its entire sidewalk width. This brings us to another fundamental point. As mentioned, some bicyclists presently behave as if their bicycle gave them the right to travel everywhere at all times, creating not only nuisance, but a safety hazard. This is plainly an illegal behavior, explicitly prohibited by traffic laws. Why is this behavior so flagrantly ignored? For the same reason that many drivers drive on Walnut Street at over 50 miles per hour: inadequate enforcement. Education of bicyclists about these laws followed by a rigorous enforcement by police is another component of actions needed to transform the bicycle travel from a "nuisance" to a desirable, favored and encouraged mode of travel in the campus area and across the city and region. The Facilities Committee of University Council, of which I am the chairperson, has proposed comprehensive steps in this direction. The major Campus Planning Project presently underway has a great opportunity to change the present neglect into a creation of an efficient and attractive, human-oriented campus in which bicycles play a significant role. Replacing the obsolete mistreatment of bicyclists by the University and city by treating them as legitimate, desirable and responsible participants should be only one component of a new, comprehensive approach to a set of coordinated transportation policies that encompass pedestrian, bicycle, transit and vehicular traffic. A set of policies toward these modes, which have not existed until now, must be established if the goal of a livable, attractive and human-oriented campus is to be achieved. This is the task that the University cannot afford to postpone any more.