Two weeks before the Bike Day Celebration we got one of the first Zigo bikes to hit the market. I put it together in time to give it away to the winner from the October Walk + Bike to School Day volunteer raffle.
The Bike Day event was a great success and even though our raffle winner had to work through it she came at the end to pick up her awesome prize.
Tonie Q. was excited to try out her new wheels and we look forward to hearing how it works for her. The Zigo seems to be a great vehicle for families wanting to bike their kids to school.
Zigo wants to get one up to Portland next so they are offering a 40% Discount for the first person in Portland to buy one from their Online Store using the Coupon Code: portland.
The school year is coming to end but the Eugene SRTS program will continue to work, finishing up a new website, working on the education program, firming and building on current projects, celebrating the Blackberry Jamboree family ride, Kidical Mass rides, and more!
We'll also be moving this blog to the new site soon so stay tuned!
You are subscribed to the Eugene SRTS E-News because you signed up at a local event, participated in an SRTS event, or you work with a partnering organization. If you would like to be removed please send a request to "Unsubscribe from SRTS E-News" to rhodes_sh@4j.lane.edu
If you would like more information about the National SRTS program go to: http://www.saferoutesinfo.org and stay tuned for the new Eugene SRTS site!
Blane Lyon Provides Safe Routes Theme Songs
"I want to walk"
"ride my bike"
San Francisco Bay Area musician Blane Lyon recently produced two upbeat, hip, and modern Safe Routes to School theme songs titled “I want to walk” and “ride my bike”. He originally created the songs for use in Santa Rosa, California, a location where the Safe Routes to School National Partnership is working as part of our Local School Project. Blane has now generously made these songs available for use in schools worldwide through the Safe Routes to School National Partnership’s website.
A poet since the age of 13, Blane Lyon has written more than 150 songs and performed more than 500 live concerts. He has always used his art to highlight social and environmental causes and has recently written a series of environmental "theme songs", including the two songs for Safe Routes to School promotion. "I love to write songs that are funky and that spread good thoughts and actions. There is so much good work to be done. It helps to be together and inspired and I think dance music is one of the most contagious and inspiring things on earth," says Lyon.
The Safe Routes to School National Partnership thanks Blane Lyon for his generous contribution. We urge schools and organizations using Blane’s songs to provide him with credit, and to link to his website, www.blanelyon.com. His album, “All People”, is available on iTunes too. As many say, “it takes music to make a movement!”
Today designbridge gave their final Studio Presentation on the three projects they are working on through the Architecture Dept. at the University of Oregon.
A small but fun Kidical Mass this month. The rain only sprinkled once at the very end but we enjoyed a bit of sunshine too. Just that little bit inspired us to head to Prince Pücklers and the nice playground behind it for a bit of freeze tag.
The warm months are coming soon, looking forward to bigger groups and getting more Kidical.
Active Transportation Education in Eugene
Current Program & Details:
Currently a Bicycle Safety Education program is run by the Bicycle
Transportation Alliance, based in Portland, Oregon. The BTA has run
the program since 2000 and has reached thousands of students in the
Eugene/Springfield area.
There are approximately 50 Bikes and several hundred helmets in the program
(purchased over a series of years starting in 2000). Bikes are in
various stages of repair ranging from semi-new to non-functioning.
Repairs are carried out approximately once a year and coordinated by
the local Bicycle Education Director.
The bike educators teach mostly at middle schools, focusing on the 6th
grade but have also taught 7th and 8th graders
as well as 5th graders in an Elementary school. The BTA
has a BikeEd curriculum based on the League of American Bicyclists
program and is approximately 9 hours of instruction that goes from
the classroom setting to the final day of a “community ride”
where the students apply the material learned in the classroom and in
‘parking lot drills’ into on-street riding in their
school neighborhood.
The BTA also has pedestrian safety education curriculum that has not been
brought into the current program.
The Bicycle Education Director works in the Fall and Spring in schools
that they contact and build relationships with. All but one Director
have come from the City of Eugene River House program and have
received support from the City with the use of office space, a
computer and the Recreation Department trailer to move the bikes from
school to school.
Storage was at a City building until it was torn down. Locations have since
ranged from school district buildings to their current location at a
private storage area that is donating the space to the program.
Partial funding for bike storage and travel trailer has been received from
the ODOT SRTS Program.
Ten League Cycling Instructors were trained last year in Eugene including
one PE Teacher from Roosevelt Middle School. That school now has a
sustainable bike education program with their own fleet of bikes and
ALL 6th graders going to Roosevelt will be trained in a 9
session course.
The Issues:
Storage-
Shuffling bikes from the schools to storage and back again requires
more time and effort than if a dedicated storage trailer were used.
Space still needs to be acquired to park the trailer and a vehicle
used to tow the trailer.
The position is a full time position only in the Fall and Spring. No
work is being done in the Summer and Winter and therefore employees
must find their own work during that time and this has lead to a high
turn-over rate.
The high turn-over rate mentioned before has contributed to a loss of
‘institutional knowledge’ and in the ability to grow the
program to meet the needs of the community.
The Positive Outlook/The Future:
The BTA understands the issues presented above and is supportive of the
growth of the program but because of their distance from the program
and their attempt to grow in areas not currently served (in more
rural areas) they are not able to allocate the time needed to grow
this program.
TheBTA has been supportive of and encourages the idea of a local agency
“taking over” the current education program. Both Lynn
Mutrie, the SRTS Coordinator for the BTA and Scott Bricker, their
Executive Director, have encouraged ‘local control’ of
the program and are willing to work on a smooth transition. They
would like to see the continuation of the BTA Curriculum and
attendance by the local educator in the BTA’s yearly training
for educators.
With a full-time Safe Routes to School Program manager at the 4j School District and an active SRTS Team made up of City, School District, LTD, LCHAY, and other community members an infrastructure of support for a complete Bicycle & Pedestrian Safety Education program is growing.
One of the four goals of the SRTS Team is to “implement
developmentally appropriate bicycle and pedestrian safety education
curriculum into the 4J/Bethel School Districts” and they have
formed an Education Subcommittee to work on this.
One model would be to create a full time “Active Transportation
Educator” that would expand the current program to include
basic pedestrian and bicycle education during the winter to
elementary schools (focusing on 2nd & 3rd grades) and the potential
inclusion of adult bike education in the summer months
(with the LAB’s “Smart Cycling" material). BikeEd classes for
the middle schools would continue in the Fall and Spring.
Besides the BTA, City of Eugene, and school district assistance the Jane
Higdon foundation has already expressed an interest in funding a
traffic safety education program and private, federal, state, and
local support for a traffic education program is very strong.
Items for Consideration:
Could this new “Active Transportation Director” be a GEARs position?
What would be required for GEARs to make their first full-time hire?
What would the job description be and what would the hiring process look like?
What would the short term and long term funding options be?
What will the city involvement continue to be?
What kind of MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) needs to be reached with
the BTA to take over this program?
What kind of insurance would be needed? Would the League of American
Bicyclist “LCI” insurance work for this kind of project?
If so, how can we make sure to get only certified LCI instructors?
If not, what insurance is the BTA using and what is the cost?
