Cyclegram Nov/Dec 1992

Newsletter of the Bicycle Coalition of the Delaware Valley

PATCO Agrees to Tryout
For Bike-on-Rail Program
It took two years, but the Coalitionfinally
convinced the agency to let bikes on trains.

Oficers of the Philadelphia Police Department's bicycle patrol pose with their 21 -speed Schwinns.

Coalition Helps City Police
Get Bicycle Patrol Rolling
Philadelphia Police have trainer. The Coalition also
started bicycle patrols in donated police-on-bike
Center City with help from manuals and videos.
the Bicycle Coalition.
Police cite many benefits
In a letter to the Coalition, of bike patrols: faster
Center City
response time
D i s t r i c t Police say the new in congested
Commanding
areas; better
bicycle
patrol
access
to
Officer
Lt.
W i 11i a m
givesthema
alleys, parks
Schmid wrote, "special edge" in
and plazas;
fighting crime
b e t t e r
"Because of the
help of ...y our
interaction
organization,
downtown.
with
the
the
Police
public than
Department's Bicycle Patrol patrol cars; wider coverage
is now a reality."
than foot patrols; and quieter
Coalition member Gihon approaches to surprise
Jordan worked with police criminals.
for more than a year to help
Bike patrols also have
institute the program and is economic advantages now the officers' bike
(Continued on p.2)

After two years of
Coalition lobbying, the
PATCO High-Speed Rail
line will open a one-year trial
bike-on-rail program in
November.
The program gives the
Delaware Valley the most
bic ycle-accessible
rail
network in the nation.
Although the PATCO line
is only 14 miles long, it
provides a critical link
between SEPTA lines and

New Jersey Transit trains
from Lindenwold to Atlantic
City. The PATCO line also
will provide a crucial
nighttime link for cyclists
over the Delaware River and
a fast connection between
the New Jersey suburbs and
Center City Philadelphia.
For a permit application,
write to Robert G. Schwab,
PATCO General Manager,
Administration Building,
Lindenwold, NJ 08021.

City Agencies: Connect Trails,
Improve Facilities for Cyclists
The Fairmount Park
Commission and the City
Council Transportation
Committee have each
released an ambitious plan
for a citywide network of
bikeways.
The two agencies have
submitted the plans to the
Bicycle Coalition for review
and comment.
The Fairmount Park plan,
the more detailed of the two,
calls for a 12-foot bike path
on the median of Roo.Boulevard in the .;ast
and entire r systems
for F-' .
and Cobbs
1 1 ~

Creek parks. The plan also
calls for improving existing
trails and completing the
Valley Forge Trail.
It also places a high
priority on building a bicycle
trail connector at the
Wissahickon
Falls
interchange, where the
Wissahickon Trail meets the
Manayunk Towpath and
Kelly Drive.
The Faim~ountPark plan
proposes tying together the
city's five major parks
through a network of
connecting recreational

(Continued on p.2)

Cvclearam. NovemberIDecember 1992 13.2

Coalition Helps Bicycle Patrol Roll

Upcoming Events
Monthly Meetings:
General membership
meetings are held the
second Monday of each
odd-numbered month
from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at
the offices of Clean Water
Action, 1518 Walnut
Street in Center City.
Take the elevator to the
13th floor, with your
bicycle, if you prefer.
The next general
membership meeting is
Nov. 9.
Coalition
board
meetings are held the
second Monday of each
even-numbe red month

(Cotztinued porn p.1)

and focus on internal
business. The public is
welcome.
The next board meeting
is Dec. 14.

CycZegram Deadline:
Deadline for the
JanuaryIEebruary
C y c l e g r a m is Nov. 30.
Deadlines are the last
Monday of odd-numbered
months.

Mailing Party:
Mailing parties are
scheduled for Wednesday,
Nov. 25 and Wednesday,
Dec. 30. Call 215-5453350 to confirm dates,
times and location.

Cyclegram is published bimonthly by the Bicycle Coalition of the
Delaware Valley, P.O. Box 8194, Philadelphia, PA 19101. The
Coalition is a volunteer, non-profit organization working to improve
conditions for bicycling throughout the tri-state area, promoting
bicycling for transportation and recreation, and dedicated to a
balanced transportation system. Coverage of an event not sponsored
by BCDV does not constitute an endorsement. Cyclegram may be
reproduced in whole or in part provided prominent credit is given to
the Bicycle Coalition of the Delaware Valley.
Cyclegram is printed on recycled paper using soy ink.

.

Board of Managers: John Dowlin, Nancy Drye, Bob Noland, Sam
Spofforth, Fred Ulmer, Rob Waterland and Noel Weyrich (ex oficio).
Executive Director: Sue McNamara (2151545-3350)
President: Noel Weyrich (215/232-7543)
Vice President: Fred Ulmer (2151527-6287)
Secretary: Rob Waterland (2151854-8137)
Treasurer: Nancy Drye (215P87-9242)
Editor: Bill Shralow (2151627-1566)
Membership Director: Bob Noland (2151483-6547)
Committees:
Auto-free: Jeff Abraharnson (2151662-17 12)
Bike Lanes: Noel Weyrich (2151232-7543)
Rail and Transit: Noel Weyrich (21 5/232-7543)
Traffic Safety: Bob Noland (2151483-6547)
Long-range Planning: Sam Spfforth (215P87-1724)
WucatiodSafety Infom~ation:Sally Berriman (21.51272-5139)
BCDV is affiliated with the League of American Wheelmen.

police can outfit between 15
and 20 officers on bikes for
the cost of one police car.
Schmid wrote that the
patrol has given police "that
'special edge' we needed in
the center city area."
The patrol members Sgt. Walt Livingston and
officers Tanlmy Sperber, Joe
McCabe, Dan Dutch and
Larry Austin - ride 21speed Schwinn Paranlount
mountain bikes.
With
the
patrol.
Philadelphia becomes one
of about 400 U.S. cities with
police on cycles.
Among those with a hand
in creating the patrol:

Schrnid, Sgt. Bob Orr. Capt.
John Collins, Inspector
Frank Pryor, Deputy
Conlmissioner Thomas
Seamon and Commissioner
Richard Neal.
Also playing a part:
Corestates Bank and
Fraternal Order of Police
Lodge #5 pitched in to buy
the bikes and Gold Medal
Sporting Goods provided
accessories.
Thomas Jefferson
hospital provided health
advice and Tim Carey of the
Philadelphia Bicycle Club
and Lee Rogers of Bicycle
Therapy helped train police
in safe riding and mountain
bike skills.

City Agencies Plan Improvements
(Continuedfrom p. 1 )
trails, including a Roosevelt
Boulevard bikeway. The
report notes that a system of
clear, easy-to-follow trails
will enable cyclists move
throughout the city with
ease.
"The creation of a wellorganized bicycle system
will also improve the quality
of life in Philadelphia by
decreasing congestion and
improving air quality," the
park report says. "In fact.
studies have found that
people would be willing to
use bicycle routes more
frequently if they were easy
to follow and provided
connection to major areas of
the city."
The
City
Council
Transportation Comnlittee
has prepared a report

. A

covering transportation
issues for the entire cit)
with 22 major strategies.
including one called
"Encourage Bicyclists."
This section recommends
initiatives for developing a
bikeway
network.
increasing bicycle facilities.
promoting employer-based
amenities
for
bike
commuters, promotiny
safety education, and
con~pletionof the Fairmount
Park recreational trails.
The City Council repon
notes that "social acceptance
of bicycling as a 'true fonn
of transportation' is
continually increasing. As
inlprovements to enhance
safety, security
and
convenience encourage
more bicyclists, social
acceptance will no longer be
a bamer issue."

Cvclearam. NovemberIDecember 1992 p.3

Letter from the President...

Around the World
O n Two Wheels
may

-

It Will Take Plenty of Effort
To Make Plans Bear Fruit

ma1

\

by Noel Weyrich
Over in England they
have a great expression
for "Get going!" They
sav. "Get on
your bike!"
I thought of
this expression
while going
over
the
Fairmount Park
and
City
C o u n c i l
bicvcle
- - - - - - nlans.
both released
in draft form last month.
If we play our cards
right, these two plans will
set the agenda for the
Delaware Valley Regional
Planning Commission
bicycle-pedestrian plan.
That plan, set to be
completed in the next 18
months o r so, will
basically guide bicycle
development in the entire
region through 2015 and
beyond.
And if we all "get on
our bikes," these plans
will become reality.
That's the difference
between regular plans and
plans that happen, you
know. A failed plan is
usually one that everyone
liked but no one broke a
sweat for. That's the
Bicycle
Coalition's
challenge: To break a
sweat on behalf of the
region's cyclists and
make the regional plan
J

Announcing the CycleIRecycle Calendar for 1993.
Compiled by an international coalition of bicycle
advocacy groups, including BCDV, this beautiful,easyto-read calendar features photographs of people around
the world using bicycles as both practical and
recreationalvehicles.
It also illustrates the strides advocacy groups have
and acceptance.
made in gaining bicycle access~b~lity
To get your copy, please send $10.00 to:
Blcycle Coalition of the Delaware Valley
P.O. Box 8194
Philadelphia, PA 19101-8194

Coalition's 1991 Election Survey
Is Praised in National Magazine
The Bicycle Coalition's
1991 Philadelphia election
strategy
was
given
prominent play as a model
of smart lobbying in the
August edition of Bicycling
Magazine.
Nelson Pena's Bike
Advocate column quoted
Coalition President Noel
Weyrich
extensively

regarding the Coalition's
strategy of extracting
promises from candidates
and following up when they
reachoffice.
The magazine printed
five questions from the
Coalition's Fall 1991
questionnaire
for
Philadelphia mayoral and
City Council candidates.
(Continued on p. 5 )

r------7

happen.
There is no shortage of
creative thinking in these
two documents. I had
never heard
of a bike
t r a i l
proposed for
the median
of Roosevelt
Boulevard,
but such a
trail would
provide an
extraordinary linkage
between lower Bucks
County and the Northeast
parks. Pennypack and
Tacony Creek. The City
Council plan lists a
variety of employer-based
amenities for bike
commuters that could
provide important models
for the region.
It is heartening to see
our friends in City
Council and the parks
consider these and other
proposals. But I also
know too well that ideas
are a dime a dozen, and
that, frankly, these things
don't stand a chance of
becoming real if the
Coalition does not
continue to grow bigger
and stronger.
We've
already
quadrupled
our
menlbership to 800 in the

w l e a r a m . November/December 1992 p.4

Coalition Lobbying Pays Off
As PennDOT Rethinks
Delaware Avenue Bike Lanes

Phoro by Ken Yamviak

Sue McNamara, an artist who lives in Center Ciry, is
the new1executive director of the Bicycle Coalition.

Coalition Gets New Exec. Director
The Bicycle Coalition has
a new executive director,
Sue McNamara of Center
City.
McNamara replaces Jeff
Abrahamson, who held the
post for two years.
McNamara has been
involved with the Coalition
for the past three years. She
is a graduate student in the
ceramics residency program
at the University of the Arts
at Broad and Pine.
Before returning to
school this fall, she had
worked for three years at the
University of Pennsylvania

as coordinator of summer
programs for high school
students.
Previously, McNamara
taught second grade at a
public school in Camden,
N.J. and also taught art at a
school for disabled children.
Abrahamson.
who
recently
joined
an
investment firm as a
computer analyst, directed a
membership drive that
swelled the Coalition's
ranks from 160 to more than
800 members in the two
years he served as executive
director.

Letter from the President....

Making Plans Blossom Takes Sweat
(Continuedfiom p. 3)
past two years and won
some significant victories,
but we've got to keep
growing to meet the
challenge of seeing all these
plans to implementation:
I wrote this last fall and
I'll write it again: If you
went traveling this summer
and saw bicycle anlenities in
other cities that left you
discouraged about this

area's relative bicycleunfriendliness, you must
understand that nothing you
saw elsewhere happened
without a concerted effort
by local cyclists.
And nothing will happen
here without the same kind
of concerted effort. Help us.
Call and offer to volunteer.
Get your friends to join.
Tomorrow is ours if we
"get on our bikes" r-day.

The Coalition then
Persistent lobbying by the
notified PennDOT in
Bicycle Coalition has
August that it would
prompted PennDOT to send
consider
filing a federal
its Delaware Avenue road
lawsuit to block the project
designer back to the
if it did not include safe
drawing board.
nonprovisions
for
Following a September
meeting with representatives motorized vehicles.
Federal tax
of the city and the
dollars
will pay
Federal
PennDOT had
Administration,
80 percent of the
P e n n D O T
ignored
project's cost
instructed the Coalition pleas and federal law
designer for the for more than states that air
quality, energy
Delaware Avenue
I m ~ r o v e m e n t lo
efficiency and
Proiect to review
NOW,the
the needs of the
theplans and "see agency
has
sent
s 0 c i a 11Y
if bicycles can k
itS designer
disadvantaged
accon~modated,"
must
be
back to the
considered in
according
to
William
drawing board such projects.
The Coalition
to - .
assistant secretary
is
also seeking
for
bike lanes.
engineering.
the support of
state and federal
The coalition
has been pressing f o r lawmakers Rpresenting the
bicycle lanes on each side of area. T h e $17 million
the road when it rebuilds
project
will
rebuild
Delaware Avenue next year.
Delaware Avenue from
PennDOT has resisted
Reed Street in South
Coalition appeals for more Philadelphia to Richmond
Street in Kensington.
than 10 months.

Moyer,

Don't forget to send enclosed postcard
Please take a minute and
fill out the enclosed
postcard to Philadelphia
Conlnlissioner
Police
Richard Neal and then mail
it off.
The police department
has worked with the Bicycle
Coalition of the Delaware
Valley to make police on

bicycles a reality in
Philadelphia (see story on p.
1).
We're often sending out
cards to officials who have
done something, or not done
something, to impede the
cause of cycling. Let them
know we appreciate it when
something goes right.

-

Cvclearam. NovemberIDecember 1992 p.5

Last Minute Cash from Suburban Counties Averts SEPTA Cuts
A quick infusion of cash
from suburban counties has
averted a SEPTA plan to
reduce or eliminate evening
and weekend service on its
regional rail lines.
Just days before a SEITA
board vote Sept. 24, the
suburban counties agreed to
fund SEFTA with $300,000
more than required by a
formula that considers a
recent ridership decrease.
Earlier in September, the
Bicycle Coalition and

dozens o f other agencies
testified at a SEPTA hearing
that proposed service cuts
would be counterpmductive.
Philadelphia city officials
argued that SEPTA could
save money with better
management and by
promoting
off-peak
ridership through programs
such as Bike-on-Rail.
Coalition President Noel
Weyrich testified that
SEPTA can't justify service
cuts because it hadn't

promoted off-peak ridership.
SEPTA proposed ending
weekend service on the
Norristown, Chestnut Hill

East and Fox Chase lines
and vastly cutting service on
otherlines.

C~alifioIlPraised in National Press
(Continuedfiomp. 3)
The questions involved
issues such as a city bicycle
advisory committee, bicycle
routes and impmved bicycle
parking. Those issues are
now
part
of
city
transportation initiatives and
plans.

Pena noted that a
Bicycling reader's survey
found that 83 percent wish
that local government would
support cycling more. He
added that "Wishing won't
create a good riding
environment, influencing
politicians will."

COMMUTER OF THE MONTH: Maintenance Man Larry Monroe
it's okay to ride on if you watch
out for the cars and people
opening car doors. The road is
wide enough, however, to
accomodate the traffic, parked
cars and bicycles, if you are
careful.

Name: Larry Monroe
Age: 50
Residence: 15th and Carpenter

streets. Philadelphia.
Job: Janitor. University of the
Arts, Broad and Pine.
Years bicycle commuting:

Most memorable bicycle
commuting experience: A
long time ago, I ran into a car

Eight.
Commuting frequency: Every

day.

on 15th Street. Someone had
called out to me, "Hey Larry!"
and I looked over to wave. A
car had stopped in front of me.
I hit it and went flying over my
handlebars. I wasn't hurt and
the driver of the car was very
nice. It just reminded me of
how you really have to pay
attention to what you are doing
when you're in the road.

Distance: About a mile and a

half each way.
Route: Broad Street
Reasons for starting: I just
love to ride my bicycle and figured I could start everyday by
doing something I elljoy.
Seasons you ride: All. I usually ride in the rain. I don't ride in
the snow. I don't wear any special foul weather clothing.
Bike: A basic Murray (1-speed
with coster brakes).
Parking: I park my bike in the
Great Hall at the University.
It's a large, beautiful room that
is really the centerpiece of the
school.
Home storage: In the kitchen
of my apartment.
Any special gear: None.

Advice to people who would
like to begin commuting to
work by bicycle: It's a great

thing to do.
Most enjoyable thing about
bicycle commuting: I've k e n

riding a bike to get around
since I was a little kid. I don't
see why people stop doing it
when they become adults.
Besides king fun, it keeps you
in shape!

Biggest commuting gripe:

Broad Street is a busy road, but
photo by Ken Yanoviak

Membership

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1 Name
1 Address
1 City
State -Zip
1Telephone
II I am voluntarily setting my membership dues at the

I following level:
1$100
other

$50

-

$35
$25
($10 limited income)

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Amount enclosed:

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Please also send me
Delaware Valley Comnturers' Bicycle Map
($5.75/$5.25 members)
Bottle Bill T-shirt (LIXL, tan or blue)
($61$5 members)

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Total enclosed:

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Make Check payable to Bicycle Coalition and send toMembership, BCDV, P.O. Box 8194, Philadelphia, PA 19101.

Bicycle Coalition of the Delaware Valley
P.O. Box 8194
Philadelphia, PA 19101

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Inside...
City police start bike patrol with Coalition's help ...............p. 1
PATCO agrees to trial bike-on-rail program .......................p.1
City agencies plan big improvements for cycling ...............p. 1
Letter from the President: Only sweat makes plans a reality...
p.3
PennDOT finally bends on Delaware Avenue bike lanes ...p.4
Coalition has new executive director ...................................p.4
p.5
Commuter of the Month .......................................................

Don't miss an issue. ~ryou're not already a
member, join now with the form at left and put your money to
work improving bicycling in the Delaware Valley!
Your membership includes a one year subscription to
Cyclegram, discounts at almost every bike shop in the Delaware Valley, invitations to Coalition special events, as well as
expert help from the Coalition's touring, racing. and commuting advisors, and the chance to turn your love of cycling into
positive action.
Coalition members are commuters, recreational riders,
messengers, touring cyclists, and others who support clean air
and a healthier urban/suburban environment.
Join us! Help us win safer roads, the right to bike to work,
and respect from motorists and government.

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