Tag Archive for 'unitrans'

Commuting to campus: bikes and more

Published by Russell Reagan on February 14, 2010 in Davis Bicycles! Column. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Published in the Davis Enterprise, Friday, Feb. 12, 2010

By Kristin Lovejoy

Kristin Lovejoy, a UC Davis graduate student who administered the Campus Travel Survey for the past two years, shows off a crowded bicycle rack in front of Wickson Hall on Wednesday afternoon. Lovejoy’s typical commute to campus is a bike-train-bike combination. Photo credit: Wayne Tilcock, Davis Enterprise

The identity of Davis as a bike town — and indeed the experience of biking here — is inseparable from UC Davis as a bike-oriented university. The bike movement in Davis started with university leadership back in the 1950s, and today students and employees at the university clearly make up most of the cyclists about town.

But as a bike university, how is UC Davis doing?

Answering this question is one of the motivations behind an annual survey conducted by the university each fall. Continue reading ‘Commuting to campus: bikes and more’

Bringing the Bike Back!

Published by Sydney Vergis on January 25, 2010 in Opinion. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

As I have gotten more involved in my UC Davis Transportation masters program, I have been thinking more and more about how biking has been declining in mode share (specifically related to Davis) over the years. While the establishment of Unitrans may have helped this trend, certainly a lack of consistent investment in bike infrastructure, external commuting, and cultural shifts (see “[intlink id="6" type="post"]Earbud Citation: Is it necessary?[/intlink]”) have not been positive contributors. In 2008, I put together a campaign piece called the “Three Point Plan to Bring the Bike Back,” as a way to raise awareness as to some options available to the City to help reverse this trend- it is included below (and some bullet points may have become antiquated by the passage of time); but if you have ideas on how your local government can step up, I would love to hear about them. As you can see below, bike safety is very important to me (I was hit while on my bike in downtown Davis, when a car blew through a stop sign- always wear your helmet, kids!)- so other paradigms welcome! Continue reading ‘Bringing the Bike Back!’

Are Unitrans buses more aggressive than they used to be?

Published by Mont Hubbard on January 19, 2010 in Opinion. 7 Comments Tags: , .

On a winter Tuesday morning in mid-January in severe (blustery and rainy) weather conditions I was riding my bicycle on the UCD campus in a chain of other bicycles westbound on Hutchison Dr just east of the Main Library bus stop. A stopped bus on the H line put on their left turn signal, started up, and began and continued to pull into the westbound traffic lane, forcing me and another adjacent cyclist into the oncoming, very traffic-filled eastbound lane. For several seconds (5-8) we were directly beside the bus, probably 2/3 of the way to the front, and the bus slowly but insistently essentially forced us out of the lane. The driver seemed to think that all they needed to do was signal their intentions and that it was our obligation to stop and/or get out of the way. Afterwards I looked behind me and observed that the bus could have waited 3-5 more seconds and had a clear lane to pull into. Continue reading ‘Are Unitrans buses more aggressive than they used to be?’