The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Cyclists seek to wield serious pedal power

By Steve Enders

They literally roll into Sunnyvale City Council meetings--some clad in spandex bike shorts--holding their helmets in one hand and city staff reports in the other.

Others arrive with shirts tucked in, looking like they just got out of a board meeting at their respective businesses.

They come to listen and speak their minds at City Council meetings on some of the most debated and complex issues that involve Sunnyvale's roads.

Collectively, they are known as the Bicycle Advisory Committee, and lately they've wielded influence on some key council issues.

The BAC is composed of seven members and falls under the auspices of the city's Public Works Department. Members meet every other week to discuss ways the city can promote bicycles as a means of alternative transportation. Individual members often attend council meetings to ensure the group's collective decisions are made clear to the council.

Specific issues they've recently tackled include reducing the number of lanes on Mary Avenue to make way for a bike lane; disallowing car parking on the Sunnyvale stretch of Homestead Road to let cyclists through more easily; and creating a 5-foot-wide gap on the Central Expressway on-ramp to ease cyclist access.

The city established the BAC in 1991 to qualify for about $90,000 a year in extra funds from the state's Transportation Development Act (TDA). The money comes from sales tax revenue and is plugged back into counties' efforts to develop and support public transportation.

To get the extra funds from the TDA, cities including Sunnyvale had to develop a formal Bicycle Plan and establish a group like the BAC.

But now, the group has evolved from a vehicle to obtain road revenue into a primary player in city road issues.

BAC chairwoman Linda Eaton says the group has changed significantly over the past seven years.

"In '91, the city wanted to apply for the funds, so it was like, 'OK, OK, do what you need to do to get the money--adopt a Bike Plan,' " Eaton said. "But things are different now. Cyclists are speaking up.

"Our members have become very politically savvy," she added. "They know how the city staff works and are lobbying for issues. I don't think [city] staff liked us at first when we were formed."

Mayor Jim Roberts said the council does take the BAC's concerns into account, but added that it must always keep in mind the small number of cyclists on Sunnyvale roads.

"We have a lot more cars than bikes, and if we can figure out a way to accommodate [everyone's needs], then we'll do that," he said.

Roberts cited Mary Avenue as one example of how the council worked with the BAC, neighbors and motorists to produce a positive result for all. The council decided to reduce the number of lanes on a one-mile stretch of the road and install a center turn lane. This, the council said, would slow traffic down on the street and provide more room for bikes--a win-win situation for everyone who uses the road.

Roberts said the BAC has also helped to educate the council on cyclists' needs.

"Yeah, I think they keep us up to date. It's not like we were ignorant before, but they do a good job."

Eaton said the group's primary purpose is to educate the staff on bike safety issues. Also, she said they try to work with Sunnyvale Public Safety officers to clarify existing bicycle laws.

"In Sunnyvale there are so many narrow lanes that are not safe. So sometimes cyclists use the middle of the lane for that stretch and then move back over [to the side to let cars pass]. The police don't like this," Eaton said.

She said the laws for cyclists are vague, so the BAC tries to work with police to clear up differences of opinion about the laws so that cyclists don't end up getting ticketed for those types of infractions.

According to an informed city survey conducted in 1996, 80 percent of city residents say they would consider riding a bike to their destinations if the city were to become more "bicycle-friendly."

Being bicycle-friendly, Eaton says, means creating bike lanes or at least more shoulder room to avoid getting "doored," a term cyclists use to describe their worst nightmare--running into a car door that has been flung open unsuspectingly.

At one recent council meeting, a member of the BAC made everyone in the chamber wince by explaining that getting "doored" is like riding into a concrete wall at 20 mph.

Also, she says cyclists are afraid of traffic being too close and traveling too fast.

The cyclists might just have to keep putting up with their on-road nemesis in Sunnyvale--the automobile.

According to Sunnyvale transportation planner Jack Witthaus, the cyclists are very small in number, especially when compared with the number of autos that use city roads every day.

According to the 1990 U.S. census nine-tenths of 1 percent of Sunnyvale citizens rode their bikes to work, Witthaus said. He's not sure what the numbers are now but acknowledges they have probably increased.

"That certainly isn't a big proportion," Witthaus said of the old survey. "The city wasn't developed with bicycles in mind."

But the BAC's duty is to change that, he said, by promoting ridership and growth in cycling.

"Cyclists are out there," Eaton said, "just not as many as cars."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, March 11, 1998.
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