Bike maps in general don’t meet my needs. The print is usually too small to read comfortably through sunglasses, they’re often visually confusing, and rarely give me the information I’m looking for in a way that I can use it. The typical bike map shows dedicated bike routes, sharrows, and on-street lanes. Maybe has some topographical info. Shows where the local bike shops are. Highlights very busy roads so they can be avoided. I used such a map today to get to a place on Penn Ave where I’m doing some volunteer work tomorrow night.
Looking at the map, I found a route using sharrows and low-traffic roads to my destination. Great, until I noticed that the road I was on suddenly turned into a one way street and I was now going the wrong way. Don’t remember seeing anything about that on the map. Zig Zag-ing around a little I continued on my route and got to the part where the bike map (and I believe Google bike routes also) suggested taking a back alley that runs parallel to the very high trafficed Penn Avenue. A reasonable choice at noontime but a super scary choice after dark. Which would be more frightening? The busy road (that has already had two biking fatalities on it this year) or the back alley creepy spot?
How many times do I make the decision NOT to go somewhere because there isn’t a safe bike route back home? Getting to someplace during the day is one thing, but after dark, everything changes and especially so in the city. As a woman, here is what I care about with regards to using a bike map to chart out a route:
Can I get there safely AND can I get back home safely. THAT’S IT. Just showing me where there is bike infrastructure does not get me closer to the information I need. Sure, there might be a dedicated bike path on the map, but does it go through an isolated area or a sketchy part of town? I would almost take the risk of riding on a busy road, than taking a bike safe route at night through an isolated space if there isn’t any street lighting or there aren’t many other bike riders on the route. And I don’t want to have to take that risk.
So here’s what I want from a bike map.
1) Highlight the routes that are reasonably safe during the day and after dark. Show the routes that have on-street lighting. Mark the routes that have a lot of bike commuting traffic on them and are likely to have riders going to restaurants, shops, and other places after dark. Also, routes can be very different on the weekends than they are during the week. Note this! I might be ok on Carson Street coming back from the Coro Institute on a Monday night, but on a Saturday night with lots of less-than-sober people pouring out of the bars, it’s a different story. And I need to know about that in advance of my learning the hard way.
2) Mark the routes that are bike safe during the day but may be problematic after dark. I would put almost all of Pittsburgh’s dedicated bike trails into this category, sadly. Lighting along the bike paths would go a long way towards encouraging people to use those trails to get to Station Square, South Side Works, the stadiums, and the entire downtown for events and activities in the evenings.
3) You might have to do some crowd sourcing to define the routes I’m describing. For example, the hill on Schenley Drive coming up from Carnegie-Mellon along the Schenley golf course is a route I feel fairly safe travelling most of the time because it is well lit and there are cars on that road at frequent enough intervals that I don’t feel isolated. At the same time, there are stands of brush and trees along the right side of the road heading up to Squirrel Hill and if I’m not moving very fast getting up that hill, I might ride on the other side of the road, even though it’s against traffic, simply because I would feel safer over there. By getting feedback from enough women riders on this route, you would be able to determine if enough women find that route safe enough to designate it as such on the map.
4) In addition to keeping me safe, it would be nice if my dream bike map included the places I tend to go to and the places I would like to go to if they were on the map and I could find out how to get there easily. I’d want to see all the coffee shops that have good tea, yoga studios, the Big Idea, Quiet Storm, Hambones for the East End Jam, Brillo Box etc.
5) Show me where there’s bike parking. Can’t tell you how many events I’ve gone to or wanted to go to recently where I’ve had to email the organizer and ask if there was bike parking nearby. On the map, at least show the locations that have parking for 10 or more bikes.
It’s all about the total package — the signage, the culture, the infrastructure, the support, the accessibility, and the acceptance. It’s really a lot of little pieces all put together that add up to making biking a decent option for a lot of people and not just for those who are willing to take the risks or put up with the tradeoffs. Pittsburgh is small. We should be able to scout out decent routes for all riders and make it easier for enough of us to ride so that our numbers make it safer for everyone.