Palo Alto residents are invited to leave their cars in their garages in exchange for a fresh-air, pedal-powered commute as part of the Bay Area's 24th annual Bike to Work Day this Thursday.
More than 100,000 people across the Bay Area are expected to participate in this year's Bike to Work Day, which will be Palo Alto's 19th, according to Silicon Valley Bike Coalition Executive Director Shiloh Ballard.
"Every year we want it (the event) to grow," Ballard said.
From 6:30-9 a.m., bicyclists can visit one or all of four city-sponsored energizer stations that will all be managed by volunteers:
• Alma Bike Bridge at Alma Street and Palo Alto Avenue.
• Wilkie Way Bike Bridge near Monroe Drive and Miller Avenue.
• Downtown on Bryant Street near City Hall.
• California Avenue near the Caltrain station, which city officials expect to be the busiest location for commuters.
The four stations are each offering different perks -- from free bike tuneups at the Alma Street/El Palo Alto bike bridge to free pancakes cooking up at the Wilkie Way Bike Bridge. City representatives will distribute information on planning and transportation projects at the City Hall location. All stations also will offer canvas musette bags, snacks and other giveaway items while supplies last. The city encourages bikers to budget extra time on their route for these stations.
"It's that one day a year when it's completely normal to ride your bike (to work)," Ballard said. "We want everyone to feel comfortable trying it out... to entice people into throwing a leg over a bike."
The four city-sponsored stations are among the total 21 energizer stations across Palo Alto and Stanford University, some operating as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 9:30 a.m. A complete map of all the stops in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, compiled by the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, can be found here.
For more information on the event, visit bikesiliconvalley.org/btwd.
Bike to Work Day in the Bay Area is sponsored by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Kaiser Permanente and 511.org.
Comments
Old Palo Alto
on May 8, 2018 at 10:47 am
on May 8, 2018 at 10:47 am
[Post removed.]
Midtown
on May 8, 2018 at 11:01 am
on May 8, 2018 at 11:01 am
Midtown obstacle courses for bikes and cars are dangerous.
Be Safe! Avoid the "bicycle routes".
Cars and bikes should not share the same lane. Great bike routes separate bikes and cars. The midtown bike route abomination fails this simple test.
City Hall need to LISTEN to us. We LIVE HERE. We BIKE HERE. We DRIVE HERE. We WALK HERE.
We DO NOT WANT TONE DEAF PR.
We want our safe streets back.
STOP THE STUPIDITY.
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on May 8, 2018 at 11:12 am
Registered user
on May 8, 2018 at 11:12 am
[Post removed.]
Duveneck School
on May 8, 2018 at 11:56 am
on May 8, 2018 at 11:56 am
This will be good for residents to see how our city has been overdeveloped and there is way too much traffic. Or maybe no one will bike because they don’t want to be hit by an out-of-town driver cutting through our city.
Midtown
on May 8, 2018 at 4:03 pm
on May 8, 2018 at 4:03 pm
[Post removed.]
Registered user
Escondido School
on May 9, 2018 at 12:01 am
Registered user
on May 9, 2018 at 12:01 am
Lots of reasons to bike: It's greener, and it's healthy because you stay active, and it's a great way to to reduce your carbon footprint -- and it's fun! And once a year, people who bike get rewards for biking if they stop by energizer stations along the way (no pancakes if you aren't biking,sorry). This is a Bay Area wide event, powered by volunteers. Maps and lots of resources here: Web Link
And [portion removed] consider this: all of the bicyclists who choose to bike to work in or into our fair city mean there are fewer cars holding you up at a traffic signal, and more parking spaces available for your use. Please do your part to share the road safely with pedestrians and bicyclists, they are legitimate road users and a lot less dangerous to others than you are in your motor vehicle, especially on a residential street.
And yeah, I stop at stop signs, signal turns and yield to those with right of way, and I made sure my children did the same, and I drive when I need to, as do they.
Old Palo Alto
on May 9, 2018 at 9:56 am
on May 9, 2018 at 9:56 am
[Post removed.]
Leland Manor/Garland Drive
on May 9, 2018 at 10:01 am
on May 9, 2018 at 10:01 am
The most dangerous streets for bicyclists to ride on are the newly constructed bike boulevards.
Midtown
on May 9, 2018 at 11:12 am
on May 9, 2018 at 11:12 am
We think the new bicycle boulevards are really great as long as bicyclists follow the arrows and ride in the middle of the lane, instead of weaving in and out of the parked cars along the curb
Adobe-Meadow
on May 10, 2018 at 5:19 am
on May 10, 2018 at 5:19 am
OK, I'm getting tire of unproven claims about safety.
Bring the data! Show how accidents have increased. Accusations
of everything are here on the boards. If your argument has teeth, you'll be able to prove your point, that accidents are up in these specific areas.
I get that they feeeeel unsafe to some, but if you're going to make a valid argument that they are unsafe, that will come with accident data. Otherwise, it's just more whine that needs cheese here on the msg boards.
another community
on May 10, 2018 at 9:03 am
on May 10, 2018 at 9:03 am
I have heard people say that they feel safer biking in San Francisco than they do in Palo Alto. I think this is because the volume of cyclists in the city forces cars to be cognizant of other people on the roadway, whereas peninsula drivers are used to cars and nothing else on the road.
Midtown
on May 10, 2018 at 9:30 am
on May 10, 2018 at 9:30 am
Palo Alto is incredibly safe, safest place on the planet. Accidents will always happen, such is life in our fast-paced reality.
A lot of people here have an extreme bubble mentality, I've been here for decades and I've fallen victim to that bubble mentality as well, that is why I understand it. But acting like traffic engineers can come up with magical "traffic calming" solutions that will save lives has backfired spectacularly, hasn't it now?
We need to better appreciate how safe and privileged we really are living here instead of the endless whining on the forums and people claiming that the streets of Palo Alto are some kind of treacherous, deadly landscape.
"Safety" is more of a feeling, but the truth is, you are never safe! Remain vigilant!
College Terrace
on May 10, 2018 at 1:38 pm
on May 10, 2018 at 1:38 pm
@Unsafe claims need evidence “ I'm getting tire of unproven claims about safety. Bring the data! Show how accidents have increased “
And I assume you have data to show otherwise?
You simply need to have walked and ridden thes streets for several decades as I have to see the changes. In the 80’s I could ride my skateboard down the middle of the street for blocks without encountering a moving car. Today I’d be deliberately hit by a driver that is trying to prove a point. This happened to me last year and the driver said I had no business being in the road and they didn’t have to, and weren’t going to stop.
It’s stuff like that you folks in denial are blind to. Drivers do not believe they should have to share the road, and they will be damned if they’re going to for a bicyclist, pedestrian or a dumb hippy fool on a skateboard like me.
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 10, 2018 at 6:27 pm
on May 10, 2018 at 6:27 pm
The 50 year long battle to make Palo Alto a bicycle utopia has been lost due to a self-inflicted fatal wound.
Bicycling advocates lost the battle decades ago when they drank the developer Kool-Aid and foolishly started believing a denser more urban Palo Alto would be a more bike friendly Palo Alto.
The very expensive and poorly planned government bicycle infrastructure bicycling advocates received in exchange for their support for urbanization will never make up for the loss of the ability to safely share overcrowded streets with motor vehicles.
Barron Park
on May 11, 2018 at 5:44 am
on May 11, 2018 at 5:44 am
OMG, I rode to work for the first time yesterday and it was amazing! I rolled past so many areas where I would normally be waiting in stand still traffic, and at times I would catch myself actually SMILING and ENJOYING my commute.
When I got to my office I was in an amazingly good and upbeat mood and it seemed to last all day. I'm SO hooked om this. Thank you Palo Alto and surrounding cities for the continued improvements in the bike infrastructure.