New Haven Independent

City Dissed on Bikes; Feiner Offers Advice

by Allan Appel | May 2, 2008 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

As word cycled down to the New Haven bike community that the League of American Bicyclists had denied a “bicycle friendly” designation to the city, the message from the Devil’s Gear domain was: There’s more we can do.

The message came from Matthew Feiner, proprietor of Devil’s Gear, the Chapel Street bike shop and bicycling community hub and new, flourishing satellite repair station on Audubon Street.

At his Audubon store, Feiner, an agreeable high energy multi-tasker, consented to a brief interview Thursday with a reporter while he worked on a cycling machine that looked like an old Peugeot, and as he also chatted with a customer who brought in another bike for repair. (“You want to change that chain? … I recommend now or within 300 miles. But definitely before it gets to a 1 percent stretch …Oh, and shall I replace the handlebar tape as well?”)

NHI: So what do you think of the “honorable mention”?

MF: We were hoping for a bronze, but all in all I think it’s OK. It’s a good start. It really puts us on the map.

NHI: How do you think New Haven is doing bike-wise?

MF: The mayor and the city are doing a lot. Of course there’s a lot more that can be done. I like the idea of the city putting up bicycle racks, at municipal buildings. There should be much more of that. But you know bikers have a responsibility too.

NHI: What do you mean?

MF: They need to become more active. I have customers coming in here all the time and when we talk they say jokingly, but not so jokingly, I think: What are you, meaning me and the organized biking community, doing for us? My answer is to say: What are YOU doing? If I call City Hall about an issue, they’ll say, ‘Oh it’s Matthew Feiner again.’ They need to hear from many more people who value biking in the city.

NHI: What should people be saying to City Hall?

MF: Well, actually, I think it’s DOT, the Department of Transportation, the state, that we should be talking to as well. Take Driver’s Education.

NHI: What about it?

MF: We can complain and complain about drivers dooring bikes — and I think that’s the biggest reason people give not to bike — but you need to attack that through education. I think there are one or maybe two questions on the driver ed exam about bicycles. People need to learn at that level, when they get licenses, to share the road.

NHI: What else can the state do?

MF: Well, in the anti-dooring department, those bike lanes, while it’s sure good to have them, they’re far too narrow. They’re not really bike lanes, they’re dooring lanes. They should be widened.

NHI: Have you and the coalition and others talked to the state in this regard?

MF: Oh, sure, but believe me they always say there’s just no room on the road to widen the lane. I can assure you that the requirements of garbage trucks are more prominent on the radar of DOT than bicyclists.

NHI: Any personal experiences that come to me that highlight other issues?

MF: Yup, bus drivers. I was riding down Chapel not long ago, and this CT Transit bus driver was driving me toward the curb. Finally, at the light, I bunny hopped up onto the sidewalk, and when he opened his door, I said, ‘You’ve got to share the road. You almost killed me.’ His reply was: ‘I’ve got a schedule to keep.’ Can you believe it? Those guys need to be educated too.

Hannah Roush came in the store then. She’s affiliated with the New Haven Bike Coalition. While she tried on some helmet fashions, and brandished a wrench or two at a reporter, she added that the biggest bee in her bonnet, or helmet, was that automobile drivers double park beside vehicles in commercial loading zones, thus taking over the bike lane, and forcing riders out into heavier traffic. Which prompted Feiner to look up from the chain he was working on.

MF: And I can’t tell you the number of people, smart educated ones, who think bikes legally belong on the sidewalk.

NHI: Tell me your thoughts on helmet-wearing, since Hannah has such a nice one on.

MF: Legally only kids have to wear them, but, frankly, you’re right, that vanity might be one reason more people don’t wear them. I have a customer who, I noticed, is always taking her helmet off, and in fact she takes it with her, but rides with it dangling from the handlebars. I asked her why, and she said it messed up her hairdo. Well, I answered, more than your hair do will be messed up when your skull is fractured all over the sidewalk.

NHI: OK, Matthew, to conclude, what specifically would you want the city, where there’s more action than the state, to move?

MF: The city should promote Bike To Work Day in a bigger way. It should offer incentives, like discounts on health premiums, to its employees. It should really educate how good biking is not just healthwise but economically and so forth. There’s a lot that needs to be done on the education end at all levels, and that has to work hand in hand with enforcement.

NHI: And how’s the new store doing?

MF: Oh, really good. We’re fulfilling a real need that I sensed, which is an easy to approach, on-the-spot repair station downtown. Lots of people are using us.

NHI: And I’ve heard you’re going to be doing some bicycle ed down here yourself.

MF: That’s right, Wednesday nights we’re offering a repair class, starting at 7:00, but you have to sign up for it in advance. And, as the weather gets nicer, we’re going to organize some group rides, starting from here, following the canal trail. Should be terrific.

For those interested in these activities or in further talks with the Devil, New Haven’s oldest and largest bike shop, so the site says, here’s the link: http://www.thedevilsgear.com/

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Comments

Posted by: DowntownNewHaven | May 2, 2008 7:00 PM

There is definitely more work to be done to make New Haven bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly, and Matt is correct to point out that modest investments of time and resources in this will have a huge payoff. Luckily, Downtown New Haven has huge potential, and in many ways, is already a great place to walk and bike. Just look at the number of people already biking to work on any nice day here.

The work that Matt, and Mike Piscitelli and others are doing will have a major impact on everyone who lives or works in New Haven. All over the world, bikeable, walkable town and city centers are becoming extremely desirable places for residents and jobs to locate (particularly well-paying jobs, like technology, design, and legal and financial services), because of the simple fact that people hate getting into a car if they don't need to. Suburban areas are rapidly decaying. Given that gas is forecast to hit about $10 per gallon next year, and continue to climb from there, that trend will only increase. If New Haven and the State of Connecticut don't work together to change things as quickly as possible (i.e., starting this year!), we are all going to suffer the consequences of having obsolete transit systems and backwards land-use policies.

It pains a lot of people out there to think, quoting the press release linked to above, that 36% of state transportation funds are spend on highway expansion (as opposed to rebuilding existing roads that are crumbling), while less than 1% are spent on pedestrian/bicycling resources. Other major cities are creating a 21st Century transportation system -- why is Connecticut so far behind?

Posted by: John Fitzpatrick | May 3, 2008 11:00 AM

Two things the city can do to make cycling safer:

1. Maintain the streets better. Lots of times the road where I need to ride has pot holes or crappy patches. This forces me to choose between riding farther out in the lane or going over the holes and bumps and risking wiping out and getting sent under somebody's tires.

2. Keep the streets cleaner. I often have to swerve farther into the lane to avoid broken glass. Sometimes the traffic doesn't allow this and I have to ride through the glass. This is worst in March, because the streets haven't been swept since November. Why exactly can't the city sweep the streets in the winter? It's not as if we get that much snow.

Posted by: LiverLover | May 3, 2008 11:12 AM

First of all, sincere thanks to all of those individuals who are doing their collective best to make safe bicycle commuting a reality in New Haven.

However, it is important to note that this is in fact one of the biggest problems in our city. New Haven is a small city with fantastic resources. Culture, diversity, and sophistication are present well beyond what might be expected of a city of New Haven's size.

Yet this enlightened state not only does not apply to the rights and safety of cyclists and pedestrians, but rather flies in the face of them. Without a doubt, New Haven is the single worst bicycle and pedestrian commuting city in which I have ever lived. Examples follow:

1) The number of bicycle lanes on New Haven streets is pitifully low. More importantly, these lanes exist primarily on streets in which their need is low.

2) The police treat cyclists and pedestrians like expendable commodities. I blame the police chief and his superior the mayor for this. What is my evidence for such an audacious claim? Last Friday I stood for a 5 minute period at the corner of College St. and S. Frontage Rd. to observe traffic. I counted 5 cars using mobile phones held to their ears, 4 cars clearly running through red lights, 4 cars stopped at intersections well into the crossing lanes, and at least 10 cars driving at what seemed to be more than 20 mph beyond the speed limit. How many police (either walking or in vehicles) - none? And this was less than two weeks after the tragic pedestrian traffic death of a Yale student.

3) The behavior of cars browbeating bikes onto the pavement is frightening. OK, pal. If you drive close to me and blast your horn, I will indeed be likely to cower in fear and retreat to the sidewalk. Even a SmartCar can kill me many times over.

4) Trucks and cars routinely park in areas that they do not belong. Parking in non-designated areas is not only illegal, but it is also quite dangerous. Last week, an office company's truck parked on the sidewalk outside the Temple Medical complex, forcing pedestrians into the traffic of Frontage Rd. immediately as it leaves the highway on April's rainiest day.

I am sure that other examples will be provided by others, but this post is getting very long. Mayor DeStefano has done a fine job of leading this city, but he has failed miserably at making this city an example of bicycle and pedestrian rights. This must change.

Posted by: REEL NEWS | May 3, 2008 12:05 PM

In December, we did a video news story about bikes in New Haven.

Story here.

Posted by: DingDong | May 3, 2008 2:29 PM

"The mayor and the city are doing a lot" -- are they? What have they done?

Posted by: poppea | May 3, 2008 10:32 PM

As a new cyclist, I want to second John's call for better street maintenance. What good are bike lanes if they are riddled with deep potholes? Moreover, we need a network of bike lanes-- a single bike lane that doesn't connect to any other is little better than no bike lane at all. I can't say I'm surprised that New Haven failed the bike-friendly test.

Posted by: david streever | May 4, 2008 9:06 PM

I think the mayor CARES quite a bit, but I haven't seen it translate into actual work.

The mayor's office is starting, though--I do understand that they have formidable obstacles to overcome to do some of it, but ultimately I think that cycling is just not the top priority.

I wonder how much of that we can blame on ourselves? When doing the LAB application, an issue that was noted was that many of the services typically provided by cities were provided by ECC.

City Dissed on Bikes; Feiner Offers Advice

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