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| Bike Trains Roll Past Los Angeles Traffic |
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Los Angeles is notorious
for traffic jams and aggressive drivers.
Devon Fitzgerald, a cyclist,
is familiar with both.
"A lot of LA folks are in a rush
and it's very easy for them
to prioritize their speed
over your safety."
Bicycles in the city are dangerous
for the cyclist and the driver.
To make cycling safer,
some bicyclists in Los Angeles are commuting together
in "bike trains" like this one.
They draw people
who live and work near each other.
Nona Varnado is co-founder of L.A. Bike Trains
launched in May of 2013.
The number of participants has been growing
along with the number of routes
around the city.
"We specifically design each route
so that we avoid problem intersections."
The routes range
from 7 to almost 32 kilometers.
That makes L.A. Bike Trains unique
compared to other cities,
says Herbie Huff,
a transportation expert
at University of California Los Angeles.
She says, in recent years, urban planners
such as the ones in L.A.
have been trying to encourage bicycling.
"The city has added more bike lanes
in the last two fiscal years
than in the previous 30 fiscal years combined."
Huff says bike lanes provide the flexibility
that a bike train doesn't.
"You know one of the benefits of infrastructure
is that people can come and go
when they want."
"I think that we should have far greater infrastructure
than a few little paint lines on the street."
Varnado likes separated or elevated bike lanes,
but she says bike trains can do
what a bike lane can't.
"We want people to develop
that mental sense of security and confidence
by riding together in a group."
Her aim is to make L.A. Bike Trains
an ingrained part of L.A.,
so people can hop on and off,
just as they would from a bus.
Elizabeth Lee for VOA News, Los Angeles |
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