baltimore City Peddles to Catch uP
By Rick Sanchez
It is a crisp Tuesday morning in early March. The steam billowing out of the manhole covers on the corner of Fayette and Gay Street in downtown Baltimore is being wisped around from all the commotion of the morning rush hour. Buses pick up passengers at the corner bus stop while being swarmed by a multitude of single-passenger cars rushing by. In this scene of organized chaos and noisy combustion, on a worn but sturdy hybrid bike, a single cyclist pedals her way brazenly, but cautiously, to work.
Caitlin Doolin, the recently appointed Pedestrian and Cycling Planner for the Department of Transportation of Baltimore City, practices what she preaches. An avid cycler, Doolin has been tasked with implementing Bicycle Master Plan, Baltimore’s roadmap to what many hope is a safer cycling future. This vision of street renovation makes cycling and walking a viable choice for a city currently dependent on combustion transportation. In 2006, the Baltimore Bicycle Master Plan was created and the cycling community was excited about the changes that it would provide. Cyclists were hoping for safer roads through the existence of bike lanes and bike paths throughout the city. However, from 2006 to 2014, very little of the Bicycle Master Plan came to fruition. Doolin has been hired to change that. Doolin’s first step in achieving this: leading by example.
“Biking is my main form of transportation,” she said. “I don’t do it recreationally for exercise, I don’t have clip in’s, or a racing bike or anything like that. But it is the main way that I get around for sure. “ No matter the weather conditions, Doolin cycles around Baltimore City to get wherever she needs to go. Doolin said that only 1 percent of Baltimore commuters cycle to work, which is a low statistic compared to other cities in the United States that have adapted cycling commuters into their traffic infrastructure. When she arrives at the D.O.T, she places a U-lock on her bike to the last outside beam of the empty green bike rack in the front of the building. For the rest of the day her bike will sit there alone, a stark difference to the surrounding parking garages that are jam-packed with cars. Doolin enters the building, takes the elevator to the fifth floor and walks through the metal frame glass doors of the Transit Bureau Office. She greets her coworkers with a smile and arrives at her cubicle. Her copy of the Master Plan is a slightly tattered 11x17 booklet that is only held together by mini black metal binder clips. It sits in front of her all-in-one Dell computer. Her cubicle is no more than five by five in diameter, with walls made of hard foam, covered in tanned cloth. These walls are adorned with a map of Baltimore’s transit system, some flyers and a few personal photos. This is Doolin’s command post.
GEARS OF CHANGEDoolin's cubicle is surrounded by three others, and the setting does not provide much inspiration. There is a sense of ‘make 'more with less,' and every day she does just that. This is a crucial skill, especially in a city that requires $50 million annually to repair its sidewalks, but, according to the D.O.T., the city only has $3 million to do so. This lack of city funding turns out to be an ace up Doolin's sleeve.
“To give you an idea, a major project in the Bike Master Plan is the downtown bike network which involves 2.6 miles of cycle track and over 10 miles of bike lanes, and that costs $1.2 million,” Doolin said. “There isn’t another type of transportation mode where you can get that type of mileage out of $1.2 million. It is really low cost stuff in the big scheme of things.” Baltimore City has already broken ground on Roland Ave with the creation of a cycle track. This is to be followed by Maryland Ave cycle track and the Pratt and Lombard St bike lane improvements in the Fall of 2015. The future plans of Baltimore’s cycling expansion are dependent on the state's review.
This low cost project will not only assist the city by providing a safer option if residence decide to choose cycling as transportation, it also offers benefits for local business. “From an economic point, cycling has been shown to increase the economic vitality of streets,” she said. “Car traffic drives by businesses, while bike traffic and pedestrian traffic is more likely to stop.” Cycling traffic and pedestrian traffic not only help street level shops, they also have had a big impact on multination corporations. Cycling traffic and pedestrian traffic not only help street level shops, they also have had a big impact on multination corporations. “The Vice President of Constellation Energy said that they basically have mini headquarters in Austin, TX, New York and Baltimore,” Doolin explained. “And they cannot get young staff to come to Baltimore because younger people don’t want to live in a place where they have to drive into work. They want to live in a place where they walk or bike to work. “ Cheap cost in infrastructure growth, increase in local business and more residents choosing to live in the city are all direct benefits of adding safe biking areas to the city. However, Baltimore is still lagging behind. “It is not a matter of if we do this; it is a matter of when,” she said. “The fact that it is happening in every other city around us at an aggressive speed is an indicator of that.” Baltimore’s lackadaisical pace is dangerous for it’s residence.
“On average, 120 cyclists a year, go to the hospital from getting hit by a car (in Baltimore City.) And that has been pretty steady,” Doolin said. “And that is what happens when you don’t put good infrastructure; numbers stay pretty steady. So the data is pretty compelling that there is just not a perceived safety problem, there is a real one.” Doolin has been hit four times while commuting on her bike, something that she accepts as a risk for cycling in Baltimore City. “Only one time have I had property damage, and the other three times just a sore elbow. But you know I am the bike planner I don’t report it.” This doesn’t deter her from her goal. Even though there are hurdles and challenges towards growth and safety for cyclists in Baltimore City, Doolin recognizes that Baltimore City is at a turning point. "As far as biking being able to be successful in Baltimore, you have a city were 34 percent of households who do not own a car,” Doolin said.” You also have a city where half the population is under the age of 35. So, you have a car-less young city. I mean talk about the perfect demographic for biking.” THE TWO-WHEEL APPROACH.Kristen Janiszewski is part of that 34 percent that do not own a car.
Janiszewski used to live in Washington, D.C. While in D.C. she could not afford a car and relied on a notoriously, punctual public transportation system as her main form of commuting. When Janiszewski moved to Baltimore in 2011 to continue her nursing career, she quickly realized that public transportation would not be an option. “On weekdays when everyone is trying to commute, the bus is 20 minutes late and then there is three of them in a row, and I could not comprehend how that was acceptable,” Janiszewski said. As far as she was concerned, Sundays were the worst day for transportation. “I even relegated myself to taking cabs on Sundays, and even those would not show up when I called for them. One out of six was my going rate.” The lack of transportation left Janiszewski with one choice that was within her budget. She purchased a bicycle, and it became the only form of reliable transportation to get her to her work 3 miles away at the University of Maryland Medical Center. “It was a way for me to take my transportation into my own hands and be self-reliant.” This choice of transportation changed her life. Once she started cycling through the streets of Baltimore, Janiszewski realized that there was so much more to Baltimore that walking or taking the city circulator was not showing her. “I fell in love with the city after I got my first bike.”
Janiszewski decided that she wanted to do something about the lack of cycling knowledge in Baltimore so she joined Bikemore, a non-profit organization that was founded four years ago. “The reason why Bikemore was started was because there was no city focused advocacy group at the time,” Janiszewski said. ”And to make Baltimore a more livable and bikeable city.” One of Bikemore’s main focuses is to help those who fall in the category of ‘interested but concerned’. These people are characterized by the fact that they usually drive everywhere in the city but also own bikes and are interested in riding more often when short cycling commutes are possible. This would include commutes to local grocery stores or going to see a friend at a coffee shop. By increasing the safety and awareness of cycling in Baltimore City, Bikemore assists those who are ‘interested but concerned‘ by portraying cycling as an easy alternative to driving in the city. “To make it safer, you need to encourage more cyclists,” Ron Cassie a senior editor of the Baltimore Magazine said. Having covered the Baltimore city cycling scene for many years, Cassie has had the chance to observe trends. “There is also this effect that the more cyclists, the safer it gets for everyone else as well. Drivers become more aware of cyclists, the more the road becomes safer for people who are out there.” Baltimore is a city where the majority of its inhabitants live in row homes. As Cassie explained, row homes house single families with multiple cars. With multiple cars per home, the number of cars in the streets only leads to more congested traffic. The willingness to trade in a car for a bike can lead to better economics for small businesses, solve road congestion, as well as improve the over all safety for both drivers and bike riders. To continue this positive trend, all Baltimore City needs do is to continue embracing the needs of the cycling community. The fresh outlook of the new Pedestrian and Cycling Planner, the continued growth of a non-profit organization and journalist who helps bring cycling to the masses are all markers that Baltimore is headed in the right direction “It is not a fad, it is going to be very important to the survival of Baltimore City's transportation system,” Doolin said. “So it is not a matter if everyone wants to get on board, it is a matter of when, and slowly but surely it’s happening.” |
“Biking is my main form of transportation." "You also have a city where half the population is under the age of 35. So, you have a car-less young city. I mean talk about the perfect demographic for biking.” “I fell in love with the city after I got my first bike.” “To make it safer, you need to encourage more cyclists.” |