#DamienTalksSGV 26 – Wes Reutimann and Parking at the Gold Line

We made it! It’s inauguration day and the world hasn’t ended. But even as the we face an uncertain future at the national level, there’s still a lot of work to do locally. And in the San Gabriel Valley, 2017 promises to be another exciting year with “Gold Line Extension” being on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

And while everyone is encouraged by the successful launch of the Foothill Extension last year and the passage of Measure R; there’s no need to let “good” be the enemy of “better.” Today’s guest, Wes Reutimann, the executive director of Bike SGV, has some ideas that could make the next Gold Line extension the best Gold Line extension. Spoiler: It is s less parking for cars and more parking for bicycles.

For its part, the Foothill Extension Construction Authority has already built more bike parking than required by Metro for its last extension. A statement from the authority states:

“The Construction Authority put in significantly more bike parking (racks and lockers) than was required by the Metro criteria in 2010 when we began the project. In fact, we have reviewed their updated criteria for the next segment (which came out last year) and we put in more parking than is required by the new criteria as well.

The Construction Authority received a federal grant to study ways to improve bike, pedestrian and bus access to each of our stations and then was able to use about $1 million to augment the plans for each station to implement the recommendations. That allowed us to put in the additional bike spaces.

As you know, we turned the line over to Metro in September 2015. We have heard that bike parking is not full; but that may be old information.”

At the request of Bike SGV, Metro put together some data on bike parking at existing Gold Line Foothill stations. The data shows that there is a lot of demand, for not a lot of bike lockers. That data can be found here:

The Gold Line Foothill Authority Board of Directors is scheduled to discuss a timeline for construction of the next phase of the Gold Line at their February meeting. We’ll check back on the timeline and parking plan after that.

#DamienTalks is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”