Bicycle Advisory Committee Meeting Notes

January 8, 2008
BAC Members Present: Linda Aeder, Matthew Arnold, Alicia Crain, Sharon Fekety, Tom
Gainer, Keith Liden, Shamus Lynsky, Jack Newlevant, Robert Pickett, Tom Ralley, Shayna
Rehberg, Kathryn Sofich, Ian Stude
BAC Members Absent: Todd DeNeffe, Mark Ginsberg, Andrew Haliburton, Brooks Koenig,
Staff (PDOT): Roger Geller, Caitlin McCollum, Jeff Smith
Guests: Chris Achterman, Tom Anderson, Gregg Everhart, Eric Hesse, Lydia Kowalski, Colin
Maher, Jonathan Maus, Michelle Poyourow, Tom Rousculp, Drew Wyant

Announcements
• Tomorrow afternoon, Council will hear the proposal for the Safe, Sound and Green Streets
initiative. Matt will be testifying on behalf of the BAC.
• Shamus made a motion to elect Matt as the vice chair of the committee; Keith seconded. A
vote was taken. There were seven full members present and all were in favor. Matt is the
new Vice Chair.
• Lydia Kowalski came to the meeting to share with the committee her line of reflective
clothing. She designs and makes reflective clothing that doesn’t look like traditional safety
wear. She uses PET filling that doesn’t make them look reflective to the naked eye, but
when hit with light are very visible to motorists. She wanted to share the information with
the committee, not only to introduce them to her product, but also to help spread the word
about being more visible.

Introductions
All five new members were present at the meeting and asked to tell a little bit about
themselves:

Tom Ralley
Tom has been attending BAC meetings for quite some time. He is a retired mathematics
professor from PSU. His wife is the principal at Lent Elementary School and when the CCC
started a bicycling program there and needed a volunteer, Tom stepped up. He’s been involved
in the Bike Master Plan rides as well as the SW bike boulevard rides. He wants to help continue
the good work of the committee.

Ian Stude
Ian has also been attending meetings for some time and has always found them informative.
Ian started cycling about five years ago after his car no longer became an option. After
volunteering with Shift’s carfree day in 2002, he discovered a wonderful network of like-minded
folks. He currently works at PSU as their Transportation Options coordinator, encouraging
cycling, walking, taking transit and all alternative modes. He is very excited to be here because
the committee does such great work.

Robert Pickett
Robert’s first experience on a bike was delivering newspapers as a child. He also spent time
bicycling in Japan and making deliveries in Portland. He now works for the Portland Police

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Bureau and works for the southeast precinct and on the bike patrol. He hopes to help answer
questions and facilitate communication and understanding about the Police Bureau. He feels
that bicycling promotes community.

Kathryn Sofich
Kathryn moved to Portland from New York eight years ago and was delighted to discover that
she could easily ride her bike to work. She works for Metro councilors Rex Burkholder and Rod
Park. Kathryn lives in North Portland and is interested in the health aspect of cycling.

Alicia Crain
Alicia moved to Portland from the Midwest, where everyone drives. She lives car free and is
interested in urban planning. She was interested in joining the BAC because it is important to
have avenues for people to be able to provide input.

“Old” members were also asked to introduce themselves.

Shayna Rehberg
Shayna has been on the committee for a few years. Professionally, she is an urban planner,
and appreciates that people seek advice from this committee. She would like to see the
timelines for input improved (i.e. not hear about projects when it’s almost too late). Shayna is
a member of the WTS (Women in Transportation Seminar) board.

Keith Liden
Keith has been on the committee for many, many years and the committee has made a lot of
progress over time. He is a southwest resident, and always trying to make that area better.
Keith is very involved in City policy development, serving on citizen advisory committees for the
Bike Master Plan (original and current update) and the TSP.

Sharon Fekety
Like Keith, Sharon lives in southwest and has been on the committee for a long time. She
belongs to Portland Wheelmen and Portland Velo clubs. She is very interested in the South
Waterfront development and TriMet’s study on the safety of bike paths crossing light rail tracks.

Tom Gainer
Tom has been on the committee for a few years, and has also served on the BTA board and the
Lloyd TMA bike committee. He is looking at the big picture – what is it going to take to get us
to “Europe”. (Roger added that Tom was instrumental in getting the Portland platinum effort
moving.)

Matt Arnold
Matt is a former bike racer. He worked as an intern for PDOT years ago and now is a planner
and urban design professional. He is most interested how policy and physical design affect
cycling. Matt has been on the committee for about three years.

Shamus Lynsky
Shamus moved to Oregon 15 years ago, and gave up his car. He got involved with the BTA in
the 1990s. Shamus likes in North Portland, and wants to see the “bike love” spread there. He

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is interested in funding issues and wants to see City action (not just talk) that truly supports
alternatives to single occupancy vehicles.

Jack Newlevant
Jack has been cycling for a long time, spending time racing in Chicago and riding around
London. He has been volunteering for Metro since his retirement and helps various jurisdictions
with bike maps (Metro, Washington and Clackamas counties). He is an advocate for trails and
lives in southeast.

Roger said he is excited about this committee and is pleased with the geographic diversity as
well as mix of experiences and ages we now have. He wanted to introduce a few other people
who are not committee members but attend regularly.

• Michelle Poyourow is now attending each meeting, representing the BTA.

• Gregg Everhart works for Portland Parks as a trail planner.
• Jeff Smith works for PDOT in the Transportation Options Division and offers a wealth of
experience, as he has been working for the City on bike issues for many years.
• Jonathan Maus writes the blog BikePortland.org and is a great resource for this committee
and the bike community.
• Caitlin McCollum works for PDOT and keeps this committee running smoothly.

Roger let all other non-committee attendees know that they are equal participants in the
discussions at meetings and he values their presence.

TriMet Bicycle Survey

Colin Maher and Eric Hesse with TriMet came to the meeting to share some of the results from
the survey taken last summer and fall regarding bicycles on MAX trains. The purpose of the
survey was to collect information on where, when, why and how TriMet customers access light-
rail by bike as well as how many do so. In August, passengers with bikes on the trains were
asked to take a paper survey; an online survey was also made available. 1,992 on-board
surveys were distributed, with a 21% response rate. 1,173 people filled out the online survey;
over half had made a bike-MAX trip before. Overall, there were a lot of responses and a lot of
data to sort through.

Colin passed out a printout of a power point type presentation outlining the results of the
survey. One of the big questions TriMet wanted to find out was “how many bikes are there on
MAX?” Based on the on-board survey, 3.8% of passengers brought bikes on board, which is a
significant number.

Question: How many people are there on a train usually (i.e. average number of passengers)?
Answer: It is difficult to compare, because the number of bikes were counted once they were
on board, and usual passenger counts are done by boarding. We haven’t got it down to the trip
level yet; more data analysis is needed.

The percentage of bikes on the train varies greatly depending on the time of day. There is a
“reverse commute phenomenon”. For example, at the Beaverton Transit Center, there were a
larger number of bikes heading outboard. This is likely because passengers need their bikes to
get to their final destination.

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One of the interesting facts discovered is that passengers with bikes average traveling 2.3 miles
to get to the MAX station, compared to .25 to .5 miles for bus travelers. Keith pointed out that
this may be because it takes the same amount of time to ride two miles as it does to walk a half
a mile.

A few other interesting facts:

• Counts were taken in November as well, to see if season/weather is a factor. There was
not a large drop overall. (Though Colin acknowledged that the weather was very nice when
the counts were done.)
• The main reasons people take their bikes on MAX have to do with distance. Most agreed
that the overall trip distance was too long to bike only or that their final destination was too
far from the MAX station.
• Those given on-board surveys were asked their final destination, and there were clusters in
downtown, Beaverton and Hillsboro.
• If people were not able to take their bikes on MAX, then they would drive to make their trip.

There are still more questions that TriMet would like to answer, and it would be great to have a
focus group follow up on some things. We do know that people use the combination of modes
because it really makes their trip possible and that there is at least some interest in (parking)
facilities. They also have the sense that the number increases dramatically at peak hours,
resulting in increased conflict (more will be known with the trip data is analyzed).

The results demonstrate a need to accommodate bikes on board because these are needed
trips and the ability to bring a bike on board expands TriMet’s ability to get more people to sue
the system.

Questions:

Q: Has a similar survey been done for buses?

A: It’s a good idea; there are capacity issues there as well. TriMet has been looking at bike
racks that fit three bikes, but none of the current designs are acceptable (bikes fall off, and the
size increases the bus’ turning radius too much). There are a higher number of registered
complaints from people who can’t get on a bus with their bike over not being able to get on a
train.

Q: Do you have a comparison between trip distance for people with bikes versus those without?
A: Not at hand. I can get that information.

The group also had a discussion about the proposed design for the new (type 4) cars that will
be used for the green line. The hook is accessible only when the seats are up. Eric recognizes
this is a problem (for the disabled community as well) and is talking with others in TriMet about
it.

Sharon asked if there was any update on the dangerous intersections survey. The scope of
work has been defined with the consultant. Operations is taking the lead on this; Eric can get
more information.

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The committee thanked Eric and Colin for coming to the meeting and sharing this information.

What’s On Our Plate for 2008?

Though the group had nearly run out of time, Roger wanted to give a quick overview of some
possible items for 2008. He passed out a memo detailing possible projects and programs for
members to take on as part of their “portfolio”. Having specific BAC members assigned to
projects helps the committee be better informed and improves relationships with City staff.
Roger will likely follow up via email to see who might be interested.

Meeting adjourned at 9:10 p.m.