City May 20, 2010 1:24 PM

Half off if you bring your bike tonight!

Half off if you bring your bike tonight!
This week is National Bike to Work Week and bicyclists have taken to the street en masse. Tonight Green Options Buffalo is holding a celebration for cyclists with "Merge into the Bike Lane".
 
The celebration is the kick-off to a beautiful season but also a year where we will begin to see Buffalo begin to change into a more bicycle-friendly city. In the works are several projects to accomplish this goal including;
 
The third phase of the Commercial District Bicycle Parking program will go into effect which will see 150 more bicycle racks installed across the city by the end of the summer.
 
There are several roads that are being designed with "Complete Streets" in mind; the South Park Avenue revitalization project will include new street lighting, sidewalk improvements, enhanced crosswalks, 400 new trees, and dedicated bike lanes. In addition, Niagara Street will be undergoing a "road diet" reducing the travel lanes and adding a center turn lane as well as bicycle lanes from Busti Ave. all the way up to Ontario Street.
 
This past Tuesday's Council legislation committee approved the creation of a Complete Streets Coordinator for the city. Work still needs to be done to include the position as part of the budget discussion but it is a stark change in our city's leadership recognizing the needs of all roadway users.
 
This is a good start and more is too come. With the cycling season upon us there is no better time to come out and celebrate.  There is a $20 admission but - half off for those who ride their bicycle; a free bicycle valet will be available to park the bikes. Food and Beer provided by Merge, Funky Grooves by DJ Cutler and new to the set list will be the Blood Thirsty Vegans! There will also be a 50/50 and Bicycle Raffle.
 
Hope you can make it!
 
When:  Tonight - Thursday May 20th from 8-10pm
 
Where: Merge Restaurant (439 Delaware Ave.)
 
Who: Buffalo's Cyclists
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hee hee, cyclists get it at half price. love it!

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I think this is great, but does anyone know why there was not a bike lane included in the new main street makeover? Kind of interesting that their is not! Bikes must not be good for our economy. Sounds similar to how street cars were not good for the economy back in the 1920’s. A pretty eco-friendly and efficient system, but was ousted by those who had their money in the automobile industry. I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation for not having bike lanes? : )

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So I took a bike ride today down to the waterfront from Elmwood Village and I was surprised to see that the main street makeover for the area that will include the trains and traffic did have a bike lane! woohoo, but getting there is still tough. I agree with you JSmith that there is not room for both and that you can ride on elmwood and main but its not the easiest or safest due to fast traffic on main street and the state of the roads that are not fixed yet.

replied to liveforever
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And as it was a bike to work day, I rode in as usual and on Delaware, Bidwell, Richmond, Court, Main, Exchange I counted 2 of us riding in.

Now I realize there are other routes and I see all the bikes on Elmwood on the week-en and at night. But we are far from a bike community, but I keep wishing and peddling.

And at this point I'll take anything the city wants to do but I agree Main St was a big disappointment.

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The Main Street issue is a BIG problem. Apparently the street was redesigned just before Complete Streets initiative was passed. It was a big mistake for planners to not be aware that cyclists needed a place to ride, especially since the street connects a series of college campuses. Just plain stupid. The City needs to correct that wrong. Do you really think that they didn't know that the Complete Streets initiative was pending?

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It's not as if cyclists are banned from the street. They do have a place to ride. Most of Main Street is two lanes plus occasionally a center turning lane - more than enough room for cars to pass bicycles if they can't share a lane safely. There's no bike lanes on Elmwood either, but don't let that stop you from riding on it; there's plenty of room and the traffic is pretty slow moving anyway.

I think I would rather have bike lanes than those planted medians, but clearly the designers of the street chose the other option (I don't think there would be room for both).

replied to queenseyes
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Main Street is a mess. I ride from Allentown up Main to TriMain and it is not for the timid.

This is a true story, a friend of mine was actually bumped off his bike this week on Main near Jefferson by a NFTA bus. He was not injured, but a bus did make contact with him.

He actually joked about it at the Merge event last night but there is no reason for this to come close to happening. I ride this route often and feel relatively safe however it just takes one distracted driver to change that and splat.

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