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Home Archives for Commuting

Neo Jang November 28, 2023

Where the Bicycle Racks Are

In February 2023, Amsterdam opened a new underwater bicycle parking facility. Image Credit (Bicycle Dutch)

If we knew the places we plan to visit have reasonably secure and convenient bike racks, then the decision to pedal there would be an easy one. On the contrary, if there’s no good place to park the bike, we would choose (a) a different equivalent service with a better bike parking, or (b) drive a car if the said service had no substitute. Below is a list of different local maps for Bryan/College Station area, that could tell us this bit of useful information.

  • Laurel’s BCS Bike Map (https://www.google.com/maps/)
  • City of College Station (https://cstx.maps.arcgis.com)
  • City of Bryan (https://maps.bryantx.gov/bike/)
  • TAMU Bike Parking Map (https://transport.tamu.edu/parkingmap/bike/)

Laurel’s BCS Bike Map

Our friend, Laurel, took it upon herself the immense task of cataloging the bicycle racks across twin cities over the past year. She took such care as to even include the photos, to show what these racks look like in real life, along with the time of last confirmation. Shown below is the resulting interactive map.

  • Different layers can be toggled on/off, such as Bike Lanes, Bike Routes, Multi-Use Paths, and Bike Parking.
  • Clicking on Bike Parking spots shows more detailed info, including photos on many, as well as last confirmed date.
  • If starred, this map will be available to view on your Google Maps, desktop or mobile. Follow this instruction: View your My Maps using Google Maps (support.google.com)

A static map with infrequent updates would be less helpful than a crowd-sourced one that has many eyes and hands on continuously. Laurel’s map invites users to add missing or update outdated information, by submitting this form. (https://forms.gle/yeYJQgzHhBkz9Zkd9)

City of College Station – Bike Map

City of College Station offers a similar Bicycle Map, which includes bike rack locations throughout the city, as well as bike lanes & bike routes.

Image Credit: City of College Station (https://cstx.maps.arcgis.com)

Credit must be given to the city of College Station that dataset exported from their source gave a rich starting point for Laurel to build on. Especially the data for “Proposed, Planned & Funded” gives us a hopeful glimpse of better connected network.

City of Bryan – Bicycle Routes

City of Bryan also offers the map of Bicycle Routes. It serves the titled purpose, and does not yet include locations of bicycle racks.

Image Credit: City of Bryan (https://maps.bryantx.gov/bike/)

Please leave comment below if Bryan does have more relevant data available. The motivation behind Laurel’s map was to have a consolidated map that would cover both cities and the campus, for a seamless travel across these articifial boundaries.

Texas A&M University – Bike Map

Speaking of the campus, TAMU Bike Parking Map appears inactive at the time of this writing. Perhaps it used to work at some point in the past, and is no longer maintained or offered.

Image Credit: Texas A&M University (https://transport.tamu.edu/parkingmap/bike/)

Subjectively speaking, cycling on-campus is a comparatively more relaxed experience compared to off-campus. With few exceptions, almost all buildings have up-to-date, conveniently-located, and well-utilized bicycle parking. As the Sustainable Transportation team work diligently to ensure this quality service, I would encourage them should give themselves more credit by making this achievement readily visible.

What do you think about these maps? How can they be made more useful?

Filed Under: Advocacy, Bryan/College Station, Commuting, Safety Tagged With: Advocacy, Bryan, College Station, Cycling, Social, TAMU

Don Gilman March 24, 2019

MPO Asks Public for Transportation Project Ideas (Call for Projects)

Release Date: March 22, 2019
Contact Person: Daniel Rudge, Bryan/College Station Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). (979) 260-5298 or drudge@bcsmpo.org

The Bryan/College Station Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is accepting public requests for transportation projects for consideration and prioritization for its Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP).  The MTP is the MPO’s document that identifies long-range transportation planning needs and recommendations to address transportation network issues within the Bryan/College Station Metropolitan Area during the next twenty-five years.  Transportation projects included in the MTP include major roadway projects related to improve mobility and safety (applicable roadways are shown on the MPOs 2050 Major Thoroughfare Concept available at www.bcsmpo.org), transit routes and equipment, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and projects related to the efficient movement of freight.

Those wishing to submit projects for consideration for inclusion in the MTP should do one of the following: 1) Contact Daniel Rudge via e-mail at drudge@bcsmpo.org; 2) Submit project requests in writing to the Bryan/College Station MPO, 309 North Washington Avenue, Suite 14 Bryan, TX 77803 or; 3) Go to the MPO website (www.bcsmpo.org), click on the Contact Us button and fill out the Submit a Comment Form. 

Please provide a detailed project description when submitting requests.  For roadway and bicycle and pedestrian facilities please provide the roadway/active transportation corridor name or route number, beginning and end points or intersection and what improvements should be made.  Project requests will be accepted until close of business on Friday, March 29, 2019.

Should the public need special accommodations to submit a request, contact Lisa Lyon at (979) 260-5298 or by e-mail at llyon@bcsmpo.org.

Filed Under: Advocacy, Bryan/College Station, Commuting, Government Engagement, Safety, Survey Tagged With: Call projects mpo

Don Gilman March 4, 2019

MPO Wants your Feedback on Future Cycling/Pedestrian Routes

The Active Transportation Advisory Panel (ATAP) of the MPO has developed a draft Active Transportation Master Plan. The plan is intended to serve as a guide for the development of a connected bicycle and pedestrian network in Brazos County. The plan includes facilities for all types of users, from recreational users to the highly confident bicycle rider.

We would like to receive your input on the plan. Two maps (one 11×17 the other a full size map for someone with a plotter) are linked below. If you have any thoughts, questions, concerns or other feedback please submit your comments here on our website. The ATAP will review all comments and make changes based on your feedback.

The map in two sizes:

Full Size (for plotter):

https://www.bcsmpo.org/DocumentCenter/View/473/Draft-BCSMPO-Regional-Bicycle-Pedestrian-Plan-Full-Size-20190304?bidId=

11×17 (harder to read)

https://www.bcsmpo.org/DocumentCenter/View/474/Draft-BCSMPO-Regional-Bicycle-Pedestrian-Plan-Tabloid-20190304

Comments requested:

https://www.bcsmpo.org/FormCenter/Contact-Us-5/Submit-a-Comment-44

Filed Under: Bryan/College Station, Commuting, Government Engagement Tagged With: 2040, Cycing, pedestrian, Routes

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