Major events --cycling encouragement to reduce traffic congestion

[shootingstar]

Does your city/area promote cycling to major popular public events to control traffic congestion?

After a major flood 2 wks. ago where 100,000 people were evacuated in our city (of 1.3 million), there was/continues to be damaged roads, some bike-ped bridges, riverbank paths, etc. Traffic has been rerouted.

After the flood, the mayor nearly daily on tv for 2 wks., was encouraging people to reduce car use unless absolutely necessary, use transit, bike to deal with increased congestion in non-damaged roads.

This year, with annual Stampede event that normally draws 1 million, this was the spiel: Bicycle or walking: Take a trail ride the urban cowboy way- walk or ride your bike on one of Calgary’s scenic pathways. Some pathways were damaged during the 2013 flood, check the updated pathways map for closure information or download the pathways and bikeways app to your smart phone.

Problem is that some of the event venues haven't provided sufficient bike parking.
But at least for annual Folk festival and some other music events they have.

[luvmyguys]

I haven't seen it encouraged, but when the space shuttle Endeavour made a stop 2 miles from my house on the way to California, I saw quite a few people biking to go see it, seeing that the traffic was at a standstill through much of the afternoon and evening. At the time, my bike was on order, but not in yet, and dh REALLY regretted not having his old steel roadie in condition to ride down there to see it. He ended up seeing it from a distance early the next morning, before it left, but he wasn't able to see it up close because the traffic was just that bad.

[skhill]

They don't around here much, but really should for events like the 4th of July festivities. A good chunk of downtown streets are closed and it's so much easier and quicker to get around by bike. And there's a big outdoor art fair that brings on horrid traffic and impossible parking-- but for that they set aside a tennis court as a bike check. Side benefit: it makes you think twice before buying something big or heavy or extremely fragile!

[indysteel]

They encourage biking to the State Fair--which is big around here--at which they provide, with the help of our local cycling association, free and secure bike parking. The Fairgrounds are located just off the main MUT, so it's pretty feasible.

I haven't seen it encouraged for a lot of other events. Skhill mentioned Fourth of July festivities. In Indy, the big event happens after dusk in downtown Indy, so I don't know how feasible it is for the average person to cycle downtown. That's true for a lot of our big events that happen at night and/or in the winter--when cycling for the average person just isn't as safe or feasible.

One of our "big" daytime events is the Indy 500. Frankly, I think you have to worry about this whether in a bike or in a car, but there's a lot of drinking at the race. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd feel on a bike after the race.

[ny biker]

In DC, the Washington Area Bicycling Association provides free bike parking for major events on the National Mall. I think they also have tried to make it easy to bike to baseball games and other events at Nationals Park, in terms of designated bike routes in the area and bike racks at the park. I honestly don't know how much these things are promoted to the general population.

Capital Bikeshare is very popular in DC and it continues to grow in the near-in suburbs, so I imagine people will use that to cycle to major events in the area.

[Crankin]

There are a few restaurants that promote special events with "bike valets;" my DIL is the general manager of one. The owner is a long time cyclist/supporter of cycling adocacy. But, I haven't noticed anything really special, although I may not be aware of stuff going on in the city.
I do notice an increase in "regular" people cycling to events that seem to be a natural match for riding, most specifically, to several of the local farmer's markets and families riding to go out to breakfast or lunch on the weekends. Also, about 6 weeks ago, I was driving to a group ride that started at the town field in the town I used to live in. When I was stopped at a 4 way stop sign, I noticed a lot of older people riding, including a "peloton" of Asian men, wearing dress pants and shirts. They were wearing helmets and one man was clearly leading. There were lots of others riding and walking. On the way home, I realized it was the day for the Acton-Boxborough Food pantry, and that's where they were going.

[rebeccaC]

Well, I do like the ‘urban cowboy’ thing People should tell the mayor’s office they need to encourage that all the time and build the infrastructure to help it grow. It does reinforce the idea of doing it though even if it’s in a time of abnormal congestion.

I wouldn’t say biking to a entertainment event or even because of a natural disaster has much support here; L.A. certainly isn’t a D.C. etc. I do see a year round, wide demographic of riders in my particular area though. I also have reasonably safe routes from my home for daily things in my area, a few good bike paths with a long one on the beach and there are mountains close enough to give a good hard day of riding. That and the occasional drive to a weekend ride in an interesting area is all I need. The year round part is also one of the reasons I moved here.

Maybe in an area as large, populous and car dependent (for too many, too long) as here it can be a neighborhood’s good attitude about and use of bikes that sometimes can help others see the advantages.
But then it is L.A. and that just may be my imagination/wishing or my not having time to do advocacy

[shootingstar]

Impressive Crankin that some restaurants offer bike parking for certain events. I just got a notice from local cycling group for informal celebration event for opening of city's first separated bike lane. The group plans to drop by a local pub to prove to the owner that cyclists are customers, that they don't take away business because of a bike lane installation.

I'm just curious because it would require event organizers to even think about need for traffic management and offer options to get to the destination.

I've never been to LA, only San Franscisco. So not even thinking of cycling to a casual large outdoor play or outdoor concert?

Vancouver just had their annual jazz festival last weekend. It's downtown (and also accessible by light rail transit/buses). Bike valet parking below. Plus there were tons of spectators just standing with their bikes or hanging out, listening to the free concerts.

There are also (fee-based) Shakespearean plays on for several weeks every summer by the ocean shoreline. There's bike parking.

Calgary is behind VAncouver in bike culture, infrastructure but they make absolutely sure there is bike valet parking in the park for the folk music festival since it's a huge event. OTherwise it is a problem to plan parking. Just a few days after the flood, there were volunteers for the folk festival, cleaning up the flooded park area where the event may be held in 1 month. This same park area hosts every weekend different large public festivals and events. Not every event has bike parking, because yes, it requires volunteers/someone to man area. (But I think more enjoyable than standing around directing cars to parking lots with the fumes around..)

Vancouver's annual folk music festival is even larger and offers a ton of bike parking which also gets heavily used. Several VAncouver farmers' markets have been providing bike valet parking for the last few years. From what I noticed for last few years, Calgary has just begun in the direction.

[OakLeaf]

There's one event in Columbus that offers a free bike corral, but that's done by the event organizers, not by the city. The music festival is one with a distinct political bent (it's all volunteer, including the bands, and community organizations are invited to set up information and fundraising booths), and they've had the bike corral as an environmental initiative since long before the park's neighborhood was gentrified, the festival's popularity exploded, and car parking in the area became completely insane.



... you know, though, I'm going to suggest a bike train to the organizers of the other music festival I went to last month. It's a small but crazy great festival about 12-15 miles from a university town, 10-12 miles on either side from any hotels or motels, but directly ON a MUP. They've partnered with local environmental organizations to target zero solid waste from the festival - all food vendors are required to use either compostable or recyclable containers and tableware, beer is sold in reusable mugs only, and I think they achieved over 90% waste recovery this year. They offer carbon offsets that go back into local environmental initiatives. This year was the first year I went (but I *will* be back!), and it seemed to me that only about half of the attendees camped, and the rest were mostly nearby residents who commuted in their cars. There were only a handful of bikes, and I'm guessing most of those were people who lived closer in. I would've been uncomfortable riding back to my hotel alone at 1 or 2 a.m., but riding back with a group would've been a great way to wind down each night. But it would strictly be an environmental thing - the festival is so small that there was no traffic whatsoever, other than getting out of the parking lot on the last day.

[Jolt]

The Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, ME encourages cycling to the fair and has "park and bike" areas for those of us who live too far away to ride from home--beats the heck out of sitting in the HUGE (miles long) line of cars waiting to get in. The Bicycle Coalition of Maine has bike valet parking and they have a bunch of people cheering and ringing cowbells whenever someone rides up to their parking area!

[shootingstar]

The Bicycle Coalition of Maine has bike valet parking and they have a bunch of people cheering and ringing cowbells whenever someone rides up to their parking area!

Hope they get enough each event.
Occasionally sometimes bike parking valet areas, offer a raffle. At the farmers' markets, you can donate some change money..convenient after people finish shopping.

An event doesn't need to be environmentally focused or whatever to attract cycling as an option. As I said, for outdoor Shakespearean plays, etc.

Outdoor events are a convenient, tippy-toe way for event organizers to try bike parking/encourage cycling: people might be less fussy worrying about sweat, looking very formal, etc. when arriving ... If you are older than the hip younger generation, arriving by bike, would slash those stereotypes about the aging folks.