Bay Area Bike to Work Day 2014

Last night I set my alarm for 4:30 AM for my anticipated 32 mile ride “over the hill” (i.e. over the Santa Cruz Mountains) to the office. I have no recollection of this alarm going off; all I know is I groggily looked at the clock, saw that it said 5:45 and hurried out of bed, into my clothes, onto my bike and to the bus stop.

It’s now too late to bike the entire distance. I luckily caught the 6:15 bus (which had one space available for my bike) for the trip to San Jose. From there, I joined the 30-strong bike convoy organized by VTA, which is the county-wide transportation agency that builds highways and runs the transit system.


San Jose / Santa Clara Bike to Work Day May 8 2014

Bikes make transportation accessible to a much broader range of the population than driving (including self-driving cars) ever will.

After riding with the VTA crew for a couple of miles, I went to the Oracle Santa Clara “Energizer Station,” which served up eggs, sausage, assorted baked goods, fruit, coffee and OJ to about 100 people who passed by. Next year, we’ll know to locate the Energizer Station closer to Lafayette Road — we saw perhaps another hundred people on bikes turn off onto Garrity Drive a block away from our station.


bike to work day San Jose / Santa Clara 2014

Steffan rode 84 km from San Francisco to the office, while several others biked in from locations near and far and a well done to every single one of you. A good time was had by all, and everybody appreciated the delicious breakfast spread. Those of us in Santa Clara only had 10% of the turnout they had up at Oracle HQ in Redwood City, where a thousand people enjoyed a free hot breakfast as they passed through.

Sadly, I heard from several people that an overly aggressive Bauer hotel shuttle bus driver hooked a cyclist in Burlingame, CA (near Oracle HQ) and seriously injured him. The driver barged through an intersection in spite of the presence of dozens of cyclists and sent one of them to the hospital. Discussion about this at the SF2G list, in which several riders report near-hooks by the same shuttle operator.

Bike Away From Work Bash

If you’re in the South Bay, don’t miss the Bike Away from Work Bash. This takes place at San Jose City Hall in the Rotunda on Santa Clara Street between 5th and 6th Streets from 6 PM to 8 PM. Be sure to RSVP!

2 Comments

  1. There seems to be a disconnect between the many past complaints about Bauer buses right hooking cyclists, and their claimed Silver Cup Award for safety ( http://www.bauersit.com/our-fleet/safety-training/ ). Maybe right hooking is not included in their safety training, or Bauer is not enforcing certain safety rules and ignoring complaints from cyclists to maintain their claimed safety record.

    They should be given the full chance to come clean and make a strong statement that they will address the issue. If they are only going to just victim blame and deny there is an issue, then there are ways to encourage them further…

    Some ideas…

    – Request an enforcement action/sting for this stretch of road, to focus on right hooks and aggressive driving.

    – Use on-line review forums for Bauer to point out the issue, and encourage people not to use their service until Bauer takes steps to eliminate right hooks and aggressive reckless driving around cyclists.

    – Go directly to their insurance company with the complaints. They have a 20 million dollar policy, so any increase in rates must be significant for them.

    – File complaints with the better business bureau.

    Lets hope they make the right decision.

  2. I was at the light rail station by NASA working an energizer station. (over 500 riders) I’ve ridden on bike to work day 1 of the last 10 years. Our area had little traffic problems. The past few years I’ve been at Sunnyvale Baylands and there have been some vehicular issues. We need another volunteer or 2 before we can staff that station again. Over 300 riders normally.

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