1. A part of the reason for NYC having more bicycling – more places to go that are w/in bicycling distance for most folks. Calif and other post-motor vehicle cities are spread out.

2. About “bike paths”… Your first sentence has the phrase “on street bike paths.” There aren’t any “bike paths” in California that are on street. The term “Bike Path” refers to an off-street facility primarily for bicycling – though pedestrian uses are usually allowed. On-street facilities include Bike Lanes, Bike Routes and Shared Roadways – like the bike boulevards.

I care about the distinction because in Calif. bicyclists are having to spend big bucks (for us anyway – $45,000 and counting) in legal costs to appeal previous precedent setting court decisions that removed responsibility for the design and maintenance of Bike Paths from cities that installed Bike Path… even when bicyclists are required to use the Bike Path as the only available route. We are mad as hell.

People using a public transportation facility like roads, sidewalks, even Bike Lanes and boulevards have recourse for damages when injured. Not so with Bike Paths… that’s wrong.

See http://www.cabobike.org/prokop.htm for more info.

http://www.streetsblog.org/2006/09/27/another-model-berkeleys-bicycle-boulevard-network/#comment-5110

New York passed a law like this in 2001, whichg also addresses Cedric’s concern above:

http://www.dot.state.ny.us/pubtrans/share.html#1151

However, there is pretty much zero inforcement and almost no education, so drivers all believe they have the right of way. If you want to test it, I invite you to come to any of the unsigned crosswalks in my neighborhood of Woodside, Queens and see if you can get any drivers to yield to you.

Note, however, one danger of an unsignalized ped crossing in a multi-lane street is that if one car stops for the pedestrian, an impatient driver behind can wonder, “why is this car stopping and slowing me down?” Then they swerve around the stopped car and can hit the pedestrian.

Raised in California, I feel entitled to walk in the street, but I definitely keep an eye out for oblivious drivers, and I’m not afraid to shout out Kosmo Kramer’s line, “Hey! I’m WALKing here!”

While it’s true that the west edge of town is extremly hilly, most of the city is relatively flat. The only part really affected byt he hills are the western side of the campus and some very expensive neighborhoods in the hills.

And, of course, the weather is typcially great for bicycling and it is a major college town. So facilities may not encourage much bicycling, based on this example.

One problem with Berkeley’s facilities is that Berkeley is a pretty small town and these facilities all end at the southern and northern boundaries of town. So you really can’t go very far on the boulevards.

Hmmmm…that might explain a lot.

P.S. – Love the blog. It was sent to me by a fan of yours who lives in Minneapolis.

http://homepage.mac.com/trorb/BikeTV/iMovieTheater77.html

Again, it’s culture… and culture can be changed!