Stimulus Bike

Here's An Idea: Bike Corral or Oasis

With millions or billions of dollars going towards infrastructure improvements, bike parking could be one of the most economically stimulating of them all. There are two designs I will focus on here: a bike corral and a bike oasis.

Bike Corral
A bike corral changes on-street parking from cars to bikes, by just adding a bike rack to lock on to, and possibly signage and markers to lower the risk of cars bumping into the racks. What was once 2 parking spaces for cars can become space to park 25 bikes; even two minivans can't hold that many people! The pros are numerous: with more people able to park in a small area, the nearby stores will get more business from customers that were able to bike to the store instead of paying all the costs of a car and parking on-street. The only cons are that street cleaning equipment such as street sweepers and snow plows cannot manage that area. But a shovel and a broom can handle those issues without too much hassle. According to the users in the video from Streetfilms, it also empowers more people to ride when there is equality in parking. Pedestrians should also love this because it means fewer bikes locked to sidewalk items like streetlights, trashcans, and parking meters. What other option could be so easy and cheap, and bring in more business for local shops?

Bike Oasis
The bike oasis is a similar type of parking design, but has a slightly different use and purpose. A bike oasis would be put in an area of extended curb, so that cars would be diverted away, but street cleaning equipment can still do its job. The bike oasis also includes a small roof structure to protect bikes, and can include maps of the area as well. This would be a bit more costly than a bike corral, but compare that to trying to add a new highway to deal with congestion and this is a drastically cheaper solution. A bike only uses about one-tenth of the amount of space as a car on the road, so why spend billions to expand our roads when we can just spend a small amount to accommodate for the small vehicles on the road that don't use any gas or have toxic smog-forming emissions?

Congratulations to Seattle for their Department of Transportation that is going to be installing several bike corrals. They just released a statement saying that every neighborhood will get one or two spaces converted for bike use, coming as soon as the middle of February. Read about Seattle's new on-street parking here >>. Imagine if more U.S. cities was able to hire more workers to change our streets for the better, stores could hire more people from increased sales, and 95% of Americans were able to buy a bike from the Making Work Pay tax cuts coming from the stimulus bill. Sounds like a great idea to me!

Stimulus Bill Passes with Amendments in the House

The House amended and passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan but still without support from republicans. House democrats drafted the bill, as President Barack Obama urged for a bill that would receive support from both parties, but even with some parts catering more towards republican wants, there were no votes support from the party. The final vote was 244 to 188. Obama is still hoping for a few more changes to get support all around: "I hope that we can continue to strengthen this plan before it gets to my desk... We must move swiftly and boldly to put Americans back to work, and that is exactly what this plan begins to do." The bill as passed by the House includes $607 billion for infrastructure and other direct spending measures, and $212 billion in tax cuts. Earlier predictions for the tax cuts were much higher, and republicans wanted to see less spending and more tax cuts. While overall it appears that this bill will help American's keep and create jobs there is a lot of room for improvement still. Let's hope that the Senate can make that happen.

Making Work Pay Credit
Under the Ways and Means Committee, the details of the Making Work Pay Credit are still unchanged fromthe draft version. American's can expect to receive 6.2 percent of earned income or $500 ($1,000 in the case of a joint return) whichever is lower. The specifics on how this will work are still not clear, but it is apparent that this will come in the form of reduce tax withholdings over 4 months time. This amounts to around $60 per paycheck.

Stimulus Bike
So far Stimulus Bike has about 40 people make the pledge to use their tax credits towards supporting bikes either for themselves or others. This website has been featured on more than 15 other blogs now and issteadily receiving hits. Thanks for helping this resource grow! Even if you stumbled across this site just looking for stimulus details, click around and check out our resources, supported petitions, and the pledge.

Stimulus Bill: From the House to the Senate

The stimulus bill draft by the House has been floating around for us to see, and unfortunately showed a stronger support for highways than public transit and finding ways to create jobs without expanding unnecessary pieces of our infrastructure. Past projects to add roads to ease congestion have - in almost every circumstance - resulted in the same congestion problems. That's why it is so unfortunate to see the House asking for $30 billion to go towards highways while only $10 billion going towards public transit. The argument that comes up is that roads and bridges are sub-par and in desperate need of funding to be fixed. In reality, stimulus money that is headed for roadways can easily be advertised as fix-up projects, but then be spent on adding a new lane in attempts to ease congestion. This is exactly why we should be looking to alternatives to expanding highways, such as trains, buses, and livable streets - places where we can walk and bike and be part of traffic instead of a nuisance to traffic.

Recently the Senate posted a press release online outlining their plans for the stimulus bill. The transportation part is as follows:

- $27 billion for formula highway investments.
- $8.4 billion for formula investments in public transportation.
- $5.5 billion for competitive grants to state and local governments for surface transportation investments.
- $1.3 billion for investments in our air transportation system.
- $1.1 billion for investments in rail transportation.

So highway funding has dropped $3 billion, but transit has also reduced a significant percentage from $9 billion to $8.4 billion. Consider Oberstar's original call for $20 billion needed for transit related projects, and $8.4 billion (although still a heck of a lot of money) is pennies compared to what it should be.

Keep an eye out for details on the new $5.5 billion for competitive grants for surface transportation. The Senate Appropriations website has no further details at this time than the press release, which does not go in depth on this portion of the bill. There is a good chance that this could go towards projects to make 2-wheeled transportation get more notice, but it is all chances at this point. Check out the PDF of the press release from the Senate Appropriations website.

Share Your Stories

Share Your Story!
Do you have a story about your bike, your commute, your advocacy, or what you plan to use your stimulus money for? We will feature stories from time to time, so please email them (with a picture if possible) to [email protected] or leave a comment below.

Let me share mine:
From Andy in Ithaca, NY
If the ground is mostly dry in winter, I take the road racing bike. I bought this used for $600 in NH on Craigslist, having never ridden on a road bike before. I knew that I would be moving soon, and was looking for small cities that were relaively bike-friendly and easier to be car-free. I landed in Ithaca, NY, sold my car, and commute to work each day on this bike or an old mounain bike if the roads are bad. I like commuting by bike, but I feel like I need to just get out and ride occassionally so that I don't associate bikes with just commuting - since I find riding on weekends and a few weekdays very fun and rewarding.

I added aerobars so I can keep up with the cycling club I joined, waterbottle cages (who knows why it didn't come with these), and the rear light. I mount a headlight on the end of the looped aerobars, and strap the battery to the base of the aerobars for the occassional ride at night, and when even leaving work at 4:00pm was getting dark. My Garmin GPS can also mount on the end of the aerobars, which is great for mapping where I have been. The gearing is 52/40 by 11-23 which has made my legs much stronger from 800ft of climbing on my everyday! I could have gotten a bike with 3 chainrings, but this really keeps me fit, and I don't get much exercise other than cycling.

I plan on using my extra $500 of tax cuts towards upgrading parts on my bike. I've got a small list of "defferred maintenance" and a few extra parts I want to buy, such as new handlebar tape, a few new cables, and more cleaning products like soft brushes that can clean around brakes and gears better. This bike is 5 years old and still looking good (other than many small dings to the frame from locking it around town) and I hope to make it last many more years!

Support Stimulus Bike

Now that we have a new president, information about the stimulus plan and the tax act will be hitting the news more often and with much more depth as it progresses. Stimulus Bike will post all of the latest updates, straight from their sources. You can rely on us to translate the "legalese" documents into plain English so that you know exactly what to expect in the coming months.

Our website and blog are quickly growing, and we hope to grow even faster. You can subscribe to the blog feeds by clicking the orange RSS icon on the right, so that you get updates as soon as we post them. If you have friends, family, or co-workers that are interested in putting their stimulus tax cuts to good use, email them a link to the site!

Want to help out? Stimulus Bike is currently seeking a blog writer and an outreach coordinator. Email us at [email protected] if you are interested in volunteering your time. We are also accepting donations, in any amount, to pay for web hosting and upcoming features such as polls and email campaigns. You can donate by PayPal using this button.

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure LIVE Thursday 10am

Thursday, January 22 at 10:00am there is a live webcast of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Infrastructure Investment: Ensuring an Effective Economic Recovery Package
This hearing will "examine how infrastructure investment contributes to job creation and economic recovery. The hearing will address infrastructure across the Committee's jurisdiction, including highways, bridges, public transportation, rail, aviation, ports, waterways, wastewater treatment facilities, and Federal buildings." - according to their press release.

We're hoping for more talk on public transportation and less support for expanding our highways. Isn't Stimulus Bikes about cycling and not public transportation though? Well, it's a fact that when a city has more ways of getting around, that cycling becomes safer and more popular. For example, when cities can expand their bus service, they can also add bike racks on the front of the buses as they do in many cities. Some cities also allow a special lane for buses and bikes to share. This allows urban cyclists to get around by bike for shorter distances, and hop on the bus to get further or up hills. Teamwork!

The House's Transportation website has a button to click tomorrow at 10am to tune into the live webcast. Check it out here >>

Details on the "Making Work Pay" Tax Credit

American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009
Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) of the House Committee on Ways and Means has released details of the tax breaks and other benefits. This will be formally introduced within the next few days. Read what Chairman Rangel said about the benefits involved:

"The critical state of our economy calls for swift, comprehensive action and this package will provide relief to all communities and all sectors of the American economy. This recovery package will provide tremendous tax relief, health care and job training benefits for families struggling to make ends meet, while also giving businesses the boost they need to create new jobs. We have also designed specific provisions to help State and local governments fund critical infrastructure projects to improve our roads, schools, bridges and airports, while also maintaining and creating good-paying jobs for working families. This package was developed with strong coordination between the House and Senate leaders, President-elect Obama and his economic team. I look forward to working with all parties involved toward a swift passage."

The Specifics
You can download the 6 page Summary [PDF] or read the full text 328 page version if you are fluent in legalese. Download the full version here [PDF]. A portion of the tax relief summary is below:

TAX RELIEF INCLUDED IN "THE AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT PLAN"
Summary: The tax provisions included in "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan" will provide approximately $275 billion in tax relief for individuals, businesses, and State and local governments.
Making Work Pay" tax credit. The bill would cut taxes for more than 95% of working families in the United States. For 2009 and 2010, the bill would provide a refundable tax credit of up to $500 for working individuals and $1,000 for working families. This tax credit would be calculated at a rate of 6.2% of earned income, and would phase out for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $75,000 ($150,000 for married couples filing jointly). Taxpayers can receive this benefit through a reduction in the amount of income tax that is withheld from their paychecks, or through claiming the credit on their tax returns. This proposal is estimated to cost $145.309 billion over 10 years.

Free Bike Valet Parking at the Inauguration

Looking forward to the inauguration of our 44th president tomorrow? While most of us will be watching from home or work, the 2 million or so who are expected to see the inauguration in person will likely have a hard time getting into the city. That is, unless they have a bicycle tomorrow!

Most every road downtown will be closed, it will be nearly impossible to park anywhere in Washington, the buses and Metrorail will be packed even running on rush hour schedules from 4am to 9pm, but bikes are allowed to get even further on the roads and WABA is offering free bike valet parking - even if you have a trailer. Sometimes it pays to bike!

Quoted from the Washington Area Bicyclist Association:

WABA Offering Free Valet Bike Parking!

Thanks to the generous support of America Bikes, Dero Racks, The District Department of Transportation, and WABA members, WABA will be providing two bike valet stations at the Inaugural event. Just ride your bike to one of our free bike valet stations, hand the attendant your bike, and get a claim ticket with a number that matches the number on the ticket attached to your bike. Your bike remains safe with WABA's trusted attendants.

Read the official press release from WABA>>

Check out a map of security zones and bike routes>>

Visit WABA.org for all the details >>

A Draft of the Economic Stimulus Package Released

After much anticipation of finding out what the stimulus package may include, an official draft has been published at the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations [PDF]. This version estimates $275 billion in economic recovery tax cuts and $550 billion in priority investments. A much easier to read press summary is posted here [PDF]). Here are the highlights of transportation funding:

Modernize Roads, Bridges, Transit and Waterways To build a 21st century economy, we must engage contractors across the nation to create jobs - rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing public buildings, and putting people to work cleaning our air, water, and land. Highway Infrastructure: $30 billion for highway and bridge construction projects. It is estimated that states have over 5,100 projects totaling over $64 billion that could be awarded within 180 days. These projects create jobs in the short term while saving commuters time and money in the long term. In 2006, the Department of Transportation estimated $8.5 billion was needed to maintain current systems and $61.4 billion was needed to improve highways and bridges. Transit: Public transportation saves Americans time and money, saving as much as 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline and reducing carbon emissions by 37 million metric tons each year. [Earlier the article cites, "$10 billion for transit and rail to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption."] New Construction: $1 billion for Capital Investment Grants for new commuter rail or other light rail systems to increase public use of mass transit and to speed projects already in construction. The Federal Transit Administration has $2.4 billion in pre-approved projects. Upgrades and Repair: $2 billion to modernize existing transit systems, including renovations to stations, security systems, computers, equipment, structures, signals, and communications. Funds will be distributed through the existing formula. The repair backlog is nearly $50 billion. Transit Capital Assistance: $6 billion to purchase buses and equipment needed to increase public transportation and improve intermodal and transit facilities. The Department of Transportation estimates a $3.2 billion maintenance backlog and $9.2 billion in needed improvements. The American Public Transportation Association identified 787 ready-to-go transit projects totaling $15.5 billion. Funds will be distributed through the existing formulas. Amtrak and Intercity Passenger Rail Construction Grants: $1.1 billion to improve the speed and capacity of intercity passenger rail service. The Department of Transportation's Inspector General estimates the North East Corridor alone has a backlog of over $10 billion.

The tax cuts will hopefully allow Americans to spend their share on useful goods and services, and what better to put that towards than biking! The funding for other transportation projects looks bleak though - mainly calling for more highways, which is exactly the opposite of what we need. America is slowly growing in transportation options, and many people are living with less cars or at least hoping to. How about some funding for cycling projects that cities desperately need?

Now Featuring Petitions

We are now featuring three petitions. These are from other websites, and are not run by Stimulus Bike. You can read a very brief overview below, or click over to the Sign Petitions page for more detail and new petitions.

The Environmental Defense Fund has a petition to send messages to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid urging them to support a smart stimulus package for environmentally sustainable projects to be funded instead of throwing money at highways.

Rails-To-Trails Conservancy has a petition to President-elect Obama encouraging our stimulus funds to provide bicycle and pedestrian friendly projects in a cost-effective manner.

Lastly, Transportation For America calls for President-elect Obama to make smart transportation investments to "strengthen our economy, create jobs, reduce our dependence on oil, and make it easier for Americans to find the money to meet their growing transportation needs."

If you know of other petitions about bicycling, the stimulus package, or other government spending, leave a comment or contact us at [email protected] and they will be added to our petition page.