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| Bike Trains Roll Past Los Angeles Traffic |
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 train" 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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