Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition

Caltrain has formed a new Bicycle Advisory Committee which held its first meeting this week. The first items on the agenda which were administrative in nature, included electing the chair and vice-chair, informing the committee and staff the new email address (bac at caltrain (dot) com), and randomly selecting the term of each member (either one or two year term).

Last night's C/CAG (City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo) BPAC meeting was mostly devoted to updating the members on the progress of the San Mateo County Bike Plan which will replace the current plan published in 2000.

The City of San Carlos announced last week that they are embarking on a project to increase bicycling and walking on the east side of the San Carlos Caltrain Station. A big portion of the funding came from MTC, a regional transportation funding agency.

The Metropolitan Traffic Commission (MTC) will be distributing Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds, to be used in part to conduct Bay Area bicycle infrastructure projects that are on the Regional Bicycle Network (RBN). Funding will be available for projects in both Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) projects in the Bay Area have recently gotten a shot in the arm. SVBC, together with the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition, worked with the Metropolitan Traffic Commission (MTC) to secure SRTS funding in the Commission’s recent "Climate Action Plan." There is $17 million available for SRTS projects across the Bay Area, with $1.43 million and $4.04 million going to San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, respectively. Distribution of funds was based on K – 12 school enrollment in the various counties.

Sue Lempert, former Mayor of the City of San Mateo weighs in on Safe Routes to School in this morning's San Mateo Daily Journal.

The walking bus

From: The San Mateo County Daily Journal

Did you know that from 1969 to 2001, the percentage of students walking and bicycling to school declined dramatically from 41 percent to 13 percent?

Of course we all know that line from Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" but it also describes the current state of cycling on the Peninsula and in the South Bay.

A cyclist was struck by a car and killed on December 18 while crossing Hwy. 101 on Hillsdale Blvd. in San Mateo. The victim was an as yet unidentified 68 year old man. He was hit by a Caltrans vehicle.