Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Reminder: Ciclovia / Chasing George Bike Ride –– May 21

Get ready for the Ciclovia and "Chasing George" Bike Ride this Sunday!
A detailed schedule is now available, see below; consult the attached flyer (PDF) for a Ciclovia map and details for registering for the Chasing George Ride.

Hope to see you there!


11:46 AM: NJ Transit train #7833 scheduled to arrive in Trenton. Members of East Coast Greenway will escort participants to starting point, the Douglass House at Mill Hill Park
11:50 AM: Check-in & waiver signing
12:00 PM: Updike Farmstead opens. 
12:15 PM: Jeff Laurenti will give an introductory Ten Crucial Days history to start the ride
12:30 PM: Ride departs, with George leading the way
1:00 PM: Ciclovia starts
1:30 PM (APPROX): George and the "troops" arrive at the Quaker Road marker. Roger Williams will give a 5-10 minute concluding talk about the Battle of Princeton.
2:00 PM: Conclusion of Chasing George
4:00 PM: Ciclovia ends. East Coast Greenway members will escort participants to the Dinky, if needed


Further reminders:
Wheels Rodeo on Saturday May 20
Bike To Work Day Friday May 19


On Tue, May 9, 2017 at 12:30 PM, Princeton PBAC wrote:
George Washington features prominently at Princeton Ciclovia 2017, on May 21.

Preceding the Ciclovia, Chasing George is a 10-mile bike ride hosted by the Historical Society of Princeton. The ride goes along the D&R Canal State Park path, in the spirit of the route Washington took the morning of January 3, 1777 to fight in what became the Battle of Princeton. It starts at 12:30 at the Douglass House at Mill Hill Park in Trenton. For details and free registration go to the Chasing George Eventbrite page. Come ride and learn!



The Chasing George ride joins the Ciclovia at 1.30 at Quaker Road

The Ciclovia itself is at 1-4pm on Quaker Road, between the Quaker Meeting and Mercer Mall. The road will be closed to cars. Feet and wheels of all kinds (except car wheels) are welcome. Parking is available at the Quaker Meeting or at Mercer Mall. The Ciclovia is a free event.

Special activities at the Historical Society's Updike Farmstead include sitting in a Durham boat from Washington Crossing Historic Park, meeting Revolutionary War re-enactors, and viewing historical talks and displays by area history organizations. 


These events are made possible by:


Princeton Future meeting May 20

Princeton Future is hosting a meeting addressing the question "Where will Princeton be in 20 years?". Topics on the table include transportation, housing and public spaces. The meeting takes place on Saturday, May 20, 9am - 2pm in the Community Room of the Princeton public library.



Backgrounder (including timeline) in Town Topics article.
Details of the meeting here.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Bike To Work Week 15-19 May 2017

Bike To Work Week 2017 is 15-19 May,
and Friday 19 May is Bike To Work Day.

You can pledge to bike to work / on errands with GMTMA (the Greater Mercer Transportation Management Association), which also has a Bike To Work team challenge for employers. For the photographers among us, there is a "Visions of Bicycling" photo contest.

For those who are new to commuting by bike, GMTMA has lots of great tips. If you register as a bike commuter, they offer an Emergency Ride Home program in case you encounter a major problem on your bike commute.




If you can't get to work by bike, GMTMA has a wealth of information on greener ways to commute, including a carpool program that helps you find drivers or passengers. The Emergency Ride Home program covers cases where you need to arrive at work earlier or leave later than your commuting partners. And they have a Green Commuter Rewards Program. What's not to love?


REMINDERS AND A DATE CORRECTION:
Bike To School Day for Johnson Park School is on Tuesday, May 16.
Bike To School Day for Riverside School is Tuesday, May 23, NOT on May 18 as indicated earlier.
(Days for Community Park School and Princeton High School still TBD).

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Ciclovia / Chasing George Bike Ride –– May 21

George Washington features prominently at Princeton Ciclovia 2017, on May 21.

Preceding the Ciclovia, Chasing George is a 10-mile bike ride hosted by the Historical Society of Princeton. The ride goes along the D&R Canal State Park path, in the spirit of the route Washington took the morning of January 3, 1777 to fight in what became the Battle of Princeton. It starts at 12:30 at the Douglass House at Mill Hill Park in Trenton. For details and free registration go to the Chasing George Eventbrite page. Come ride and learn!




The Chasing George ride joins the Ciclovia at 1.30 at Quaker Road

The Ciclovia itself is at 1-4pm on Quaker Road, between the Quaker Meeting and Mercer Mall. The road will be closed to cars. Feet and wheels of all kinds (except car wheels) are welcome. Parking is available at the Quaker Meeting or at Mercer Mall. The Ciclovia is a free event.

Special activities at the Historical Society's Updike Farmstead include sitting in a Durham boat from Washington Crossing Historic Park, meeting Revolutionary War re-enactors, and viewing historical talks and displays by area history organizations. 



These events are made possible by:



Monday, May 8, 2017

Bike To School Day

Princeton's public schools are celebrating Bike To School Day 2017 according to the following schedule:

Community Park School - TBD

Johnson Park School - May 16th

Littlebrook School - May 10th

Riverside School - May 18th

John Witherspoon Middle School - May 10th

Princeton High School - TBD


Yes, that's THIS Wednesday, May 10th for Littlebrook School and the John Witherspoon School! We will post updates for CP and PHS as the details become available.

Parents, please remember that under New Jersey law: Young people under the age of 17 are required to wear an approved helmet when cycling, roller skating, in-line skating, or skateboarding.



The Princeton Bicycle Advisory Committee encourages families to join in these events, and asks drivers to be mindful of all cyclists – and especially our children riding to and from school.



Sunday, May 7, 2017

Mercer County Master Plan - Bicycle Element

Mercer County NJ is considering including a bicycle element in its Master Plan. A report on the level of traffic stress analysis on the proposed bicycle corridors is now available; the PDF file (20MB) is annotated by Dan Rappoport, a PBAC member.


Friday, May 5, 2017

May is Bike Month

Perfectly timed for beautiful weather and flowers bursting into bloom, May is National Bike Month. In a proclamation of 24 April 2017, Mayor Liz Lempert has declared May 10 to be Bike To School Day and May 19 to be Bike To Work Day in Princeton.

More details of the events will be coming soon (some Princeton schools will celebrate Bike To School day later than May 10). For now, please mark your calendars:

May 10 – Bike/Walk to School Day
May 15-19 – Bike to Work Week
May 19 – Bike to Work Day
May 20 – Bike Rodeo, 400 Witherspoon Street
May 21 – Chasing George / Ciclovia, Quaker Road



Tuesday, May 2, 2017

You are a Bike Ambassador, every time you ride your bike

This past weekend, the Princeton Bicycle Advisory Committee had a table at the Princeton climate march, as well as at Communiversity 2017. We showed maps of the Bicycle Master Plan, and of the ongoing Parking Study, and talked with lots of people. Most are enthusiastic about the Bicycle Master Plan.

But a few dissenters openly stated that they were against more bicycles on the roads: "They're dangerous! they swerve, they ride on the wrong side of the road, they think they can do anything!"

Okay – those of us who ride Princeton's streets know that only an unrepresentative handful of us (the foolish ones) ride that way: it *is* dangerous!

But it's like Hasan Minhaj said at the Correspondents' Dinner, addressing the free press that's under sustained attack from the president:

"You gotta be on your A game. You gotta be twice as good. You can't make any mistakes. Because when one of you messes up, he blames your entire group. – And now you know what it feels like to be a minority."

And guess what: as bike riders, we are the minority on the road - right now, anyway. So we all need to be bicycle ambassadors, we all need to be on our best behavior. Because if one of us messes up, it's all too easy to blame all of us, and for the car-centric to say things like "We'll talk about bike lanes once the bike people have learned to behave themselves on the road."

So please do the right thing. Which is the safe thing!
Wear your helmet. Be predictable. Ride on the right (this is New Jersey not England). Do not ride on the sidewalk in the central core of Princeton where the stores are. Do not use Princeton's streets for training for your 300 mile road race: in town, high-speed cyclists are scary for drivers, other bikers and pedestrians. And in general: follow the rules.

While you have a right to be on the road, you don't have a right to invent your own rules! As a reminder: the rules in New Jersey, today, may be different from the ones you grew up with. Take some time and read the very legible New Jersey Bicycling Manual. Read it with your kids.




And be aware that not all drivers have studied the NJ drivers' manual section on how to share the road with bicycle riders. Who don't understand what sharrows mean, and get angry that you are riding in the middle of "their" lane.

A lot of this kind of friction will be resolved once we get safe bike infrastructure with clear signage. Until then, ride according to the New Jersey rules. Besides the car-centric, our children are watching.