Will It Kill My Business? And More!
Hello friends! I have been contemplating trying another format, with more focus on small blurbs on current events, rather than longer editorials. Let me know what you think!
A law creating the Riders’ Transit and Intermodal Advisory Committee has been passed by the Ulster County Legislature. This body will the first of its kind in the county; plenty of transit riders advisory committees already exist in other places like Ithaca, Buffalo and Seattle. The law requires that the majority of committee members will be regular transit riders. It was initially focused only on transit, but was amended in committee to include intermodal issues as well.
This is an important step forward for more public input into UCAT. If you’re interested in joining, you can contact the County Legislative Clerk’s office at 845-340-3900.
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According to the Ride On! podcast, there are currently 300 million 2- and 3-wheeled electric vehicles on the road worldwide. Those micro-EVs displace about 4 times the oil demand than that of the entire global fleet of electric cars. This speaks to the power of the current micromobility revolution and the massive advantage that micro-EVs hold for reducing carbon emissions, especially considering that their cost to purchase, and the cost of supporting infrastructure, are a small fraction of that of electric cars.
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I’m re-blogging this gem from the Albany Bicycle Coalition’s newsletter. Thank you Lorenz Worden for allowing me to share this.
“It Will Kill My Business!”
When people complain about road diets or traffic calming or complete streets, it's important to determine what they're really complaining about. Is it just fear of change? Antagonism toward pedestrians and bicyclists? The fear that free, on-street, tax-supported, parking will disappear? Herds of cyclists blocking "real traffic?" Mobs of rabid pedestrians stopping traffic for the walk light? Or is it a valid fear that changes to the existing road network and layout will imperil the success of local businesses?
Ignoring the other quasi reasons for a moment, let's concentrate on loss of business. During both the Madison Avenue Traffic Calming and Bethlehem's Delaware Avenue Complete Steets movements, there were those who expressed belief that changing the road treatment to be more equitable one would devastate business. Those who made this argument never presented or were unable to present data to show that the addition of bicycle lanes, crosswalks, narrowing of motor vehicle lens, addition of turn lanes or any other of the changes that might go along with the road diet or complete streets alteration really existed. It came under the category if you say it often enough, it becomes a truth. (Fake Truth?)
On the other hand, there is much data to support that traffic calming actually helps business. For a real hardcore set of evidentiary support for bicycle and pedestrian improvements, we need only look to New York City we're under the guidance of the former transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, many miles of bicycle facilities were installed on streets and pedestrian-friendly plazas, bump outs, safety islands, and crosswalks were built. The New York City Department of Transportation then studied the economic impact of these changes. The methodology it used was to do it before-and-after site comparisons of quarterly sales tax revenue on retail businesses. You can't get a much better measure of business success than sales tax revenue changes. It's cold, hard data that can't be cast aside by the uninformed but vocal minority. By tracking sales tax data, using a before-and-after, site-specific approach, when sales tax increased it's hard to argue that pedestrian amenities are hurting business. The same logic applies to the introduction of bicycle facilities. If sales taxes dropped off, you would have an argument that the pedestrian-bicycle presence had a deleterious effect on business success.
But that was not the case. The study report issued by the Department states the following: "It is clear that rolling out safer, more inviting and sustainable streets is rarely detrimental to local businesses and in the great majority of cases can be a boon to them." A naysayer could put forth the argument that New York City is nothing like Bethlehem or Albany or any other upstate municipality. But again, where are the data to support such a statement? Our own Parks and Tails New York organization has completed several studies on the business impact of the Erie Canal Trail – many segments of which pass through urban, business-rich areas. It almost every case, development of the trail has improved the business climate. Here we are talking about the portions of the trail that have businesses on them and not rural, recreational segments. Municipalities and businesses that embraced the Erie Canalway Trail and the people it brings benefited greatly. Similarly, in New York City, business responses have been positive. The whiners and complainers turned into fans and supporters.
From the Economic Benefits of Sustainable Streets – the study “ . . . represents a major step forward in establishing the link between city streets and their myriad impacts on urban life and economics. Armed with this objective, quantitative data, cities can add street design to their economic development strategies and can build support from the business community as allies and advocates for these improvements.” [emphasis added] The report includes citations for other “business impact” studies.