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- 1 - Missoula Bicycling Ambassadors 2010 Report Erin Schmiel and Evan ---PAGE BREAK--- - 2 - Introduction For summer 2010 we, the Missoula Bicycling Ambassadors, set out with the three goals of making cycling safer, encouraging more trips by bike in the Missoula area, and spreading good will between all road users. We approached the job with enthusiasm, creativity, and humor. Like Bicycle Ambassadors before us, we interacted with people through two main avenues: street work and organized events. The Duo Evan Why do so many people choose to drive when biking is so rewarding? I applied for this job to investigate this question and also to help make cycling a safer and more practicable means of transportation. Erin Schmiel I became a Bicycling Ambassador because I thought it dovetailed nicely with the work I had already been doing with Missoula In Motion. Encouraging cyclists to bike also sounded like a fun way to spend my summer outside. Our Approach to the Job The job is divided into two main avenues: organized events and interactions in the street. We also made a distinction between events aimed specifically at children and those that were not. This is because children-only events required a special approach. Our work in the streets was less predictable than with a defined audience so we used a few different approaches for it. Youth Events We were excited to work with kids because first, we want them to be safe when they ride, and second, they are potential adult bicyclists. We wanted to introduce them to cycling and engender in them solid cycling habits (before they developed bad cycling and/or driving habits). We also wanted them to know that there are programs and support for cyclists in their community. ---PAGE BREAK--- - 3 - SpectrUM “Wonder Wheels” Camp Tools: Crossword puzzles, our own bikes and the camper's bikes. Goal: To make a lasting impression on them about safe bicycling habits. We guided three rides with the kids to get them thinking about spatial awareness, hand signals and general bike safety. We took advantage of the opportunity to build rapport with the kids over their weeklong camp to help to reinforce our lessons. Parks and Recreation Camps Tools: For all camps: our bicycles, helmets, and energy for games. Specific tools: an Einstein Poster for Einstein Camp, Crossword Puzzle game for beach camp (a bicycle is a great way to get to recreational places). Goal: To talk about safe bicycling as part of fun summer activities. We attended four Parks and Recreation camps over the course of the summer. At Einstein Camp (ages 7-10) we talked mainly about helmets as a way to keep our brains safe. We showed them a poster of Einstein on a bicycle, not wearing a helmet. We used this example to illustrate that even though Einstein was smart at physics, they could be smarter than he about bike safety. We used a bike crossword puzzle at Beach Camp (ages 6-12) to help the kids wind down after a rousing game of rainbow tag. Most of them were pretty interested in it and enjoyed getting the questions right. We used this as a spring board to point out parts of Evan’s bike to the kids. As part of their games in Outdoor Explorer’s Camp (ages 9-12) at McCormick park, we added a ‚game‛ where we had the campers follow one of us in a line, pretending to be bicycles, and using only our hands to show which direction we were turning. This helped them get an idea of the importance of hand signals and spacing between bicycles. We mainly interacted with 7-10 year olds, but occasionally there was a younger camper thrown in whom we would have to accommodate. In the case of Missoula Children’s Museum, there were only 4- 5 year olds in the group we spoke with. Age made a big difference in how we interact, for a younger crowd we had to simplify the content and focus mainly on how fun it is to ride a bike and how to be safe, by mainly staying on sidewalks and wearing a helmet. ---PAGE BREAK--- - 4 - We also led two rides with younger (ages 4-7) kids at Bonner Park. We went around the perimeter of the park a couple of times to gauge their abilities to stay upright, keep in a single file, and use hand signals while turning. We had one Ambassador ride in front and one in back. The kids were excited to call out their hand signals and follow the leader up front. They had issues with speeding up and passing each other and one kid ran into a parked car. This was a great opportunity to stop the group and assess why this had happened. The child was not injured. We determined that he had hit the car because he didn’t keep his handlebars straight as he looked behind. We then did a lesson on how to keep the handle bars straight while checking over your shoulder. We did this by having Evan hold the front tire and handlebar while the kid was on the bike while Erin stood a few yards behind him. We had him look over his left shoulder and see if he could see how many fingers Erin was holding up without moving his handle bars. This activity is a great way for parents to assess kid's skills, and is something they can practice together. Youth Homes Rides Tools: Our bicycles, brochures on bike laws, and DQ dilly bar tokens. Goal: To improve the biking skills of the Youth Homes residents. Our time spent with the residents of the Youth Homes was some of the most rewarding time this summer. They were interested in what we had to say and we learned a couple of new routes around town, one to Maclay Flats and the other, a short cut through the South Hills. The residents were already biking quite bit to get to jobs or just around town because they were either too young to drive or in some cases prohibited from driving. In our interactions with them, we made a point to give them suggestions to help make their commutes as useful and rewarding as possible. We went on three rides with the residents and the groups sometimes were quite large. We prefaced our rides with a talk about basic bike safety including road position, hand signals, and predictable behavior. We also debriefed after the rides, reviewing what went well and what could be improved. We always made a point to keep their lifestyle in mind and inspire self-confidence and mindfulness in them. ---PAGE BREAK--- - 5 - Helmet Painting at Zootown Arts Community Center (ZACC) Tools: Helmets donated by St. Pat's, paints purchased with city budget, supplies of the ZACC, created an original hand-out: "Some Advice for Parents of Young Cyclists", DQ dilly bar tokens/Big Dipper Coupons. Goals: To get kids excited enough about their helmets to wear them and to educate them on general bicycle safety. We had two sessions of helmet painting at the ZACC. We teamed up with an intern to lead the kids through a creative and educational art project. We made sure to keep it on topic by asking the kids questions about bike safety and we included a safety review at the end of the sessions. These sessions were fun. The kids were excited enough about their helmets to listen to our info. Later in the summer Evan saw a couple kids sporting their wildly painted brain buckets. Kiddapalooza, Kid's Fest, DownTown Tonight's Safety Night Tools: An original bicycle safety educational play (includes cardboard car, bicycle, helmet and other various props (like water bottles and cellphones that we brought with us) Goal: To educate children about bike safety through a (somewhat) comical play. While these three events are different in nature we did the same play at each one. Evan wrote the script which depicts a morning when Erin wakes ---PAGE BREAK--- - 6 - up and is late for school. She makes numerous mistakes (such as forgetting her helmet altogether and then not fastening it correctly) and the kids were given a chance to point out her lapses in safety. Also one volunteer from the audience was chosen to be a ‚motorist‛ by wearing the cardboard car and colliding with Erin to illustrate how important it is to look and be cautious at intersections. This play was effective because it used comedy and easily recognizable imagery to engage the kids. They were asked questions and given a chance to participate, and there was a review session at the end. We noticed that if the kids were younger, around 5 or 6, they mostly only enjoyed the collision part of the play, but older kids, closer to 7 and above, would be engaged in answering questions. Special/Repeating Events Themes of these events were consistency of message (safe cycling) and positive reinforcement for bicycling. At some of them we rewarded people for specific behaviors and at others we focused on specific educational topics. Bike to the Ballpark Tools: 2 for one ticket vouchers, blinking lights provided by Missoula In Motion, ‘I BIKED TODAY’ stickers, maps and pamphlets about Missoula Bicycle laws. Goal: To reinforce biking to the game. Helping out at Osprey Stadium and thanking people for biking to the stadium was an easy and fun way to reach at lot of cyclists. We thanked cyclists and rewarded them with a 2 for one ticket voucher, a blinking rear light, and ‘I BIKED TODAY’ stickers. On this event we coordinated with Missoula in Motion. Alex and Jen shared our table (provided by the Osprey) and together we were able to reward many people and even talk about other topics, such as making commutes more commonplace in folks' routines. Out to Lunch Tools: Educational brochures, Big Dipper coupons, Dilly Bar tokens, Baskin Robbins coupons. Goal: To thank folks for biking to Out to Lunch. Our efforts at Out to Lunch were focused mainly on reinforcing people’s choices to bike themselves there. At the bike racks we gave cyclists ‘I BIKED TODAY’ stickers and Dilly Bar tokens if they were sporting helmets or displaying otherwise exemplary cycling habits. ---PAGE BREAK--- - 7 - Bikes on Buses Tools: Mountain Line bus, MIM’s table display and demo bike. Goal: To encourage people to combine bicycling and busing to create a cohesive commuting lifestyle. This, our first event of the season was spearheaded by Missoula in Motion. We helped them by doing demonstrations of loading bikes onto the bus rack and also creating a poster to use for marketing (included with this report). We gave advice on commuting and focused a bit on reviewing traffic laws, asking if the cyclists were familiar with them. It was held at Big Dipper and the participants were rewarded with free cone coupons. We gave participants informational brochures, detailing certain aspects of traffic law that we felt were pertinent. University of Montana and College of Technology orientations/Welcome Feast/ Ice Cream Social Tools: ASUM Transportation’s ‘Save 5000- 7000$!’ packets, our own educational brochures, Bicycling Ambassadors banner and sometimes our display. Goals: To inform incoming student of the possibilities of cycling in Missoula, and to nip poor cycling habits in the bud. These four university orientations gave us the opportunity to be on campus and interact with new students and their parents. We set a table up with information and our banner at the University Center on the main campus with ASUM Transportation. We talked about bike routes and Missoula bicycle laws. We also shared table space with ASUM transportation at Welcome Feast, an event put on by the campus as an opportunity for students become aware of the services provided to them on campus and in the community. ---PAGE BREAK--- - 8 - The Ice Cream Social, put on by a local volunteer group called Thoughtful Neighbors, afforded us the opportunity to reach students and community members on a section of University Ave. Helmet Sales Tools: Michelle Schaffer’s helmets and our brochures about bicycle laws and how to properly fit a helmet. Goal: To get helmets sold to people who need them (at low cost). This is a program offered through Trauma Services at St. Pat’s hospital. We attended three helmet sale events: two in the Broadway building’s 5th floor lobby and one at the Western Montana Fair grounds. The sales at the hospital were a great opportunity for us to fit helmets and talk about bicycling safely. We sold the helmets with Ron, a registered nurse who helped us check correct helmet fit and positioning. We also marketed extensively for this event by putting flyers around town. Adult Commuter Course Tools: Original course outline, packet with maps and copies of our informational brochures. Goal: To get adults to get into the habit of biking to work instead of driving. We created a course focused on helping adults commute to work by bicycle and held it at the Missoula Public library. We publicized this event on employee boards mainly on Reserve St, but also around town to large offices (Target, Barnes and Noble, Sports Authority, Direct TV, and the Public Library; the Millenium Building put us on their electronic messaging system) with the thought that many of these folks don’t bike and we could help them with tips and encouragement. We chose not to market to places like REI because we figured that they were already dialed into commuting sustainably. Once we got the outline and marketing in place the class itself went smoothly. We had three eager participants. This gave us the opportunity to answer questions and give each person individual attention about specific routes and fears they had, keeping them from riding. Included with this report is our outline for the course. Perhaps future Ambassadors could establish this as a event. ---PAGE BREAK--- - 9 - Street Work Our day to day work centered on the streets with the primary goal of having discussions with cyclists about responsible riding. We used positive reinforcement when we saw cyclists enacting mindful behaviors and we spoke diplomatically with cyclists who failed to stop at red lights, rode against the flow of traffic, rode erratically on the sidewalks, etc. We tended to stick to a few target areas: North Higgins (because of the construction), ‚HipStrip‛ on 3rd and Higgins, the riverfront bicycle/pedestrian trail (various locations), and the occasional troublesome spot. We either chose a specific theme for the day or we tailored our interactions to the person we were speaking to. Riverfront Trail Tools: Informational display, maps, educational brochures, flyers, DQ Dilly bar tokens, Carousel ride coupons, information about events and opportunities to volunteer. Goal: To teach trail etiquette. We set up our display on the Riverfront trail near Toole Park, right where the path where 4th street exits onto the trail. This was a good spot because it allowed us to slow people down by getting their attention ahead of time. It also enabled us to speak with pedestrians, wheelchair users, as well as cyclists. Our display drew people's attention and legitimized our presence with the City of Missoula logo. Usually our goal was to teach trail etiquette. Many of the pedestrians we spoke with complained about cyclists going too fast on the newly paved trail and being hard to hear because of the smooth surface. To this end we spoke with cyclists about the etiquette necessary to make the trail a friendlier place. Many of them had a vague idea of passing on the left, calling out their maneuver, and not going too fast but most cyclists hadn’t tied these into a coherent trail behavior. ---PAGE BREAK--- - 10 - We taught comprehensive etiquette and reinforced their decision to bike by giving them ‘I BIKED TODAY’ stickers and occasional DQ Dilly bar tokens. Trail etiquette wasn’t limited to cyclists, however. We also spoke with a number of pedestrians about not walking the entire width of the path – a common frustration to cyclists. We ended up spending a lot of time on the trail because we ran into people with questions, concerns, or those displaying troublesome behavior every time we went. Downtown Tools: Brochures aimed at our emphasis for the day (sidewalk riding, for example). Goals: Educate cyclists and manage whichever conflicts came our way. Downtown Missoula - so many errant cyclists, so little time. We spent most of our time and energy here. On most days we had a target topic. As an example, we spoke with cyclists about their behavior on the sidewalk since many cyclists choose to ride there. Our approach was to first thanking them for riding at all. After we set the tone as fellow cyclists, we asked them what made the sidewalks more appealing. More often than not it was a general fear of automobile traffic. Our response to this was to teach them some strategies to be visible in a non-offensive manner, by using hand signals, and to teach them a couple conflicts with cars that they may not expect. We also designed a brochure aimed specifically at this issue. It contained the law itself and many people appreciated being armed with direct knowledge of the law. On more than one occasion we found ourselves in the midst of a cyclist/pedestrian argument. There was even a time when an elderly woman approached an Eastern European gentleman and threatened to kill him for his behavior! Needless to say, it was a hot topic for us and we always encouraged cyclists to try using the bike lanes. We spoke with people displaying all sorts of erratic cycling habits: people running red lights (especially at main and Higgins… also Front and Higgins and Broadway and Higgins), making unpredictable moves in traffic, riding the wrong way in the bike lane, listening to headphones so loudly that they couldn’t hear us or anybody around them, talking on cellphones and even people riding the wrong way in the traffic lanes. Our approach depended on the behavior in question but usually involved raising our voices to get their attention and waving our arms to get them to stop. Often times these interactions challenged us because these folks generally didn't want anybody to confront them about their behavior. So we kept it quick; we thanked them for biking, asked them if they were aware of what they were doing, and then closed by giving ---PAGE BREAK--- - 11 - them something they could do to make their behavior less offensive and dangerous to themselves, others, and cyclists at large. There were also people who simply had no idea what they were doing but were receptive to what we had to say. N. Higgins Tools: Specially formulated brochure to educate folks about the changes on North Higgins (included in this report). Goals: To help facilitate successful use of North Higgins despite confusing construction and torn up roads. Our interactions with motorists during this project were fruitful. Hardly any of them knew what was going on or where they should park. On two separate occasions we saw automobiles pulled up onto the protected bike lanes for parking. We approached drivers and first asked them what their initial impression of the bike lane was, then gave them a clear demonstration of where future lines would be and where they will have to park. Furthermore we prepared them for the presence of cyclists in different spots than usual. We, along with the Bike/Ped office, made a universal pamphlet for the situation which worked wonderfully. It had information that all users of downtown should know and this allowed anyone to know what other users might be doing as well. Overall we responded to a variety of questions and some that we didn’t have answers for right away. It was a great opportunity to reach a wide spectrum of people and to prevent bad habits from forming. The summer-long revamp of North Higgins was a source of consternation for many cyclists as well as drivers. Throughout the process we spoke with the workers to ask them which parts of the road were safest for bike travel and relayed this information to cyclists. When the bare cycle tracks were filled with gravel and the roads were reduced to a challenging maze of traffic cones and pebbles, we saw many cyclists take to the sidewalks. We spoke with these folks about being considerate in this case and yielding to pedestrians. ---PAGE BREAK--- - 12 - Trouble Spots Occasionally a specific spot in town (say an intersection or a particular neighborhood’s sidewalk, for example) would have some characteristic that garnered more complaints than usual. Calls to the Bike/Ped office would justify our investigation of said location. An example of such an area was the 700 block of Locust drive in the Rattlesnake. There was a complaint in the responses to our television interview on KPAX about obstinate cyclists going the wrong way on the one way. We spent a few hours there and talked with drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. In this case, there were no people who we spoke with directly who shared this complaint. The point is that we were responsive and ready to manage the perceived conflict. Misc/Special observations/supplemental/auxiliary material Chance interactions We had the opportunity while in transit to speak to individuals and groups about specific topics. We met up with several bike tourists coming through town, one on a recumbent, and a man who had started a nonprofit for which he was biking across the country to raise money and a group of professional riders making a trek from DC for the American Lung association. We also had the chance to do on-the-spot helmet adjustments for young campers we met on the River Front trail who were on a guided ride with Missoula Outdoor Leadership Adventures. These small interactions helped spread goodwill to those we spoke with, reminding them that Missoula is a functional biking town. People we met We established relationships in the cycling community. During our street work we would see folks repeatedly going about their day-to-day routines on two wheels. This gave us the opportunity to cover multiple topics with the same individual and reinforce our previous conversations and build a positive repoir. Some of them were more receptive than others. ---PAGE BREAK--- - 13 - Our behavior as Cyclists By adhering to the traffic laws and conducting ourselves respectfully while we biked around town we strove to set an example for other cyclists. We always made a point to use hand signals, be predictable, and be friendly road users. As representatives of the city we made as sure as we could that our behavior reflected the things we taught. Hopefully our presence itself was an educational force. Evan’s Bucket Evan carried a bucket with him that he made with the hardware kit available at Missoula in Motion. It was distinctive and garnered a lot of attention from people who saw it. It was a small bit of evidence that it’s easy and fun to do-it-yourself and make bicycling more utilitarian and useful. Our Blog and our Card It being the 21st century, we thought it prudent to start an electronic outreach method besides our city email account. We therefore launched a blog, focusing mainly on practical bicycling information. Our posts were objective, informative, and dealt with issues that we saw as particularly contrary to the development of a coherent and predictable biking community. We included the link to our blog (www.bikeambassador.blogspot.com) on business-style cards which we made ourselves and handed out. The cards contained our basic contact information as well as the link to our blog so that the people we interacted with could read our posts. We believe that the blog set a precedent. Evan looked to Bicycling Ambassadors in other major cities and found that they all had a blog as part of their mass- communication repertoire. The future Missoula Bicycling Ambassadors would do well to advertise their events, post especially pertinent information, and share links to related bike culture items. ---PAGE BREAK--- - 14 - Interaction Totals Our emphasis was on creative approaches to interactions and high quality conversations. Children (0-12) Teens (13-18) Y. Adult (19-30) Adult (30+) Elderly (60+) Total 263 84 161 826 28 1342 Photo Credits Page 5 - Greta Rybus Page 10 – Shane Gilwell All others – Erin Schmiel, Phil Smith or Evan Conclusion: We make Missoula better for bicycling. What does this mean? We work to engage with cyclists, daily, in the streets to inform them of how to use new infrastructure, like the North Higgins bike lanes this summer in particular. We were a conduit for information that the city would have liked to see enforced, improved and behavior the city wants to see encouraged: following traffic laws, predictable bicycle behavior, correct road position, and courteous interactions with motorists. Our job continues as we continue to ride our bikes and display good cycling behavior.