After joining the snowbirds in Palm Springs, CA, I get it: the weather is perfect; and even though it’s like visiting the suburbs for a vacation, that mid-century modernism was the height of the California Dream. Sitting on the patio next to a kidney-shaped swimming pool on a warm starlit evening in November certainly has its charms.
What I don’t get is the absence of bikes just to get around.
The place is flat, the weather is ideal for much of the year, most trips are under 10 K, and there’s lots of room to lay out the infrastructure.
And yet I saw more bikes on the Canada Line car coming in from YVR than I did on their Class 1 cycling trail (above).
‘Old’ Palm Springs is one of about a dozen communities that make up the urban region of the Coachella Valley. It’s only about 50,000 residents on a 6×10-km grid of arterial roads, each typically six lanes wide, that make access to everywhere so easy. In between are the classic subdivisions of one-storey homes straight out of Sunset Magazine – celebrated every year during Modernism Week.
Of course Palm Springs was laid out for the car, the roads are wide, there’s seemingly an utter lack of congestion, parking is everywhere and it’s free – so why wouldn’t everyone drive? So they do.
But it is also an outdoorsy community, attracting active retirees, gay and straight, who come for a more laid-back lifestyle. One would think cycling had particular appeal for the knee-challenged – and, indeed, there are plenty of MAMIL sightings and pelatons of the grey-haired and lycra-clad on their carbon-fibre steeds. Just not a lot of them in the grocery-store parking lots or on racks out front of gyms.
Bike share? Forget it.
It’s not like they don’t have good intentions. There is of course an advisory group, a plan, and good expectations:
But apparently that’s not enough. Something is missing – and my bet is that it’s culture. Here’s a place that has all the advantages and reasons to cycle, and yet they don’t. We northern people, on the other hand, here and in Europe, have a lot of seeming disadvantages, and yet we do.
Maybe there’s more to it. Think I’ll go back to do more research.
See you in a week.
Try cycling in Palm Springs between late April and late October. It is no fun at all. I remember years ago visiting a friend there at the end of June. I rode one of his bikes down the hill from his gated golf course community about a mile or so to El Paseo in Palm Desert just after sunrise. I had breakfast and a coffee and, by the time I started riding up hill, I thought I was going to die in 33 C heat.
The cost of gasoline is too cheap. Increase the price 100% to help affect change. Introduce a Healthy Bike Week, a critical mass bike ride, a Wheelly Wednesday where cyclists are praised, honoured and given gifts. Get a Celebrity to ride their bike…Ivana Trump?! Michelle Obama?! An astronaut? Make it special and a privilege to exercise on a bike!
I would suggest it is the age of the residents of the community. I rode for many decades, and have had a number of accidents. The first times I fell I bounced right up, no harm; flexibility and all that. The last times I fell were much more problematic, the recovery was slower and i still have some issues. I am in my late 60’s, with less flexibility a fall can be a dangerous adventure. This is a consideration younger enthusiasts sometimes forget, and a reason I now walk rather than ride.
“peloton”
Point about risk of injury just one reason why old, wealthy people are not all that prone to being told what they should do. Nor to voting for people who keep trying to manipulate their behaviour.
I can understand that risk of injury among the elderly is a likely reason that many avoid cycling, that’s a good hypothesis. I’m curious as to where you found a prescription for cycling anywhere in this post? I see some observations and hypotheses, but no “thou shall”
“Nor to voting for people who keep trying to manipulate their behaviour.”
Are we supposed to have any idea what you’re referring to? There’s no mention of politics or elected officials anywhere in this post.
Really, you can’t see it, eh? That’s quite remarkable; it’s scattered through both post & comments.
Your blindness to it is likely due to the phenomenon of “swimming with the current,” as explained by Shankar Vedantum in his book “The Hidden Brain.” As described in Brain Pickings (brainpickings.org), the book is “a sweeping, eye-opening, uncomfortable yet necessary account of how our imperceptible prejudices sneak past our conscious selves and produce “subtle cognitive errors that lay beneath the rim of awareness,” making our actions stand at odds with our intentions and resulting in everything from financial errors based on misjudging risk to voter manipulation to protracted conflicts between people, nations, and groups.”
There’s a good excerpt in the Brain Pickings post explaining the “current” metaphor.
An interesting assessment of the supposed underlying bias that ‘blinds’ me. You may have wanted to read that entire post before sharing however…
From the exact same post:
“Our brains are expert at providing explanations for the outcomes we see. People who swim with the current never credit it for their success….[but] it isn’t just the people who flow with the current who are unconscious about its existence. People who fight the current all their lives also regularly arrive at false explanations for outcomes.”
Would you agree that your own bias, constantly swimming against the current, may be blinding you?
Karin, rather than quoting books for an explanation of why we can’t see what you can’t describe, why don’t you give us an example of your accusation?
That’s nice that you took the trouble to read the post. Perhaps in time you’ll notice that we all encounter many currents in our lives, and that we swim with some and against others. In addition, over time, we sometimes alter how we interact with a given current; we might change our speed; we maybe stop going with the flow as the author did in that excerpt, or we stop fighting and yield to it. In time, then, you might become more adept at recognizing which way various currents are going, and thus be better able to detect the subtle “thou shalts;” even recognize when you are part of them.
Once you realize that currents are everywhere, you might even find you can assess them without getting wet yourself, just by looking at the behaviour of the people who are already in the water.
In other words you can’t back up your accusations with an example.
The short answer, RV, is that I don’t feel like it.
The long answer is that what I’ve already said voluntarily should be more than sufficient, combined with the other helpful comments from named contributors, to illustrate precisely what I am referring to. Anyone who wants further insights from me or other commenters can pay us for our time – I don’t work on demand, and certainly not on demand from anonymous people on the internet. To top it off, I suspect that a number of people who post here anonymously are on the public payroll and charged with serving the public. To the extent that that might be the case, trying to anonymously hold a named member of the public to account has the service equation backwards.
Even if you are not on the public payroll, your choice of anonymity precludes any sense of obligation on my part to expand on my comments beyond what I feel inclined to offer. Sometimes, if you check my comment history here, I have indulged in lengthy explanations and dialogue, but this time I’ve offered as much as I want to. In this case too, I feel you will benefit much more by doing your own critical reading of the material and trying to see in it what I see. Especially if you work in the public realm 🙂
“Once you realize that currents are everywhere, you might even find you can assess them without getting wet yourself”
How zen, with just a touch of moral superiority….
So you made an unverifiable claim in your post suggesting inherent bias.
You can’t provide any evidence to support this claim.
So you resort to metaphors and patronizing responses, implying a moral superiority at being able to judge people’s inherent biases without knowing much at all about them?
How pleasant…
Not to mention she doesn’t have the time to post an example but she can write lengthy diatribes that go on and on and on…
Precisely. That’s how it mostly feels to comment on this blog. People often judge me without having any idea of what I know.
I don’t need to verify anything, but you should consider verifying who you are.
Perhaps you and RV – maybe sitting together on your lunch break at city hall ? – could both tell everyone here as much about yourselves as everyone else here has done by simply giving their names.
Otherwise, have a lovely lunch!
Well I’ve certainly learned a lot about you. And you’re right: it’s all between the lines.
You may not work on demand, Karin, but you offer a ship’s cargo hold of free advice and criticism. Perhaps you should pay us for taking the time to read it.
On second thought, giving an ear to condescension isn’t worth the time.
This story sums up my sometimes frustration with cycling proponents.
Building tons of bike infrastructure won’t necessarily move your population out of cars and on to bikes. Neither will doubling gasoline prices or other punishments.
It’s just not that simple. There are probably a hundred factors involved, half of which we haven’t identified, and the same is true for public transit, or walking, or any other non-auto travel choice.
I’ll bet that the lovely bike lanes in the Palm Springs photo were lobbied for, and built to suit people who were already avid cyclists. It’s possible that what they built is great for that small population, but is lacking something essential for all of the other people that might consider biking.
I would really like to see a serious research project that surveys people who drive everywhere, all the time, and ask them what they would need to change if they were to consider moving out of their cars and onto bikes or busses.
Some of those people would probably have suggestions that are entirely non-obvious to the committed cyclists. They are two different populations with different expectations and needs.
The other thought that comes to mind is that there are some communities that just aren’t going to adopt cycling (or transit, or whatever) in a significant way. Although I wouldn’t ever suggest that age automatically makes cycling impossible, or hot climates, it has to be said that the Palm Springs demographic that I imagine doesn’t seem to be a prime market for cycling.
Then again I can’t understand why someone would go to a golf course, then drive a cart around instead of walking the links. Or, for that matter, why anyone plays golf in the first place.
Barry writes: “Then again I can’t understand why someone would go to a golf course, then drive a cart around instead of walking the links.”
My understanding is that many golf courses do not allow walking since that slows down the people in carts. Perhaps someone should create a walk-only golf course.
Age ?
I’ve asked myself the same question. Guesses: age and culture (martini classes).
I don’t think the weather is ideal in Palm Springs, rather I think it is ideal for a few months a year, when it is wetter and colder here.
The research on getting more people cycling exists. Let’s call those cycling now, group A. They aren’t the ones the new infrastructure is usually designed for, if the goal is more riders. They are riding anyway. It can be made safer, and that is a good thing, but it doesn’t change the mode share much. Then you have group B. Not interested, no way, no how. Fine. I suspect there is a higher percentage of group B in Palm Springs, but I don’t have data, just a hunch from looking at the parking lots and power golf carts. Then we have group C. They are self described as being interested in cycling, but concerned. They are usually the target market for growing mode share. They are concerned about safety mostly, and that relates to infrastructure.
Incidentally, the lane in the photo doesn’t look very good. It is bidirectional (but not necessarily wide enough for bidirectional) so there is a potential crash risk at every intersection, unless the intersections are also addressed. The lawn sprinklers appear to be spraying on the path. The path appears to be concrete, a former sidewalk. It is the type of infrastructure that many avid cyclists avoid, choosing to ride on the roadway instead, depending on just how aggressive the drivers are.
For the same reason Honolulu has some nice and lightly used bike lanes. Heat. Most people don’t like showing up to work a sweaty and smelly mess, even if there are showers. The problem is the unrepresentative cohort here doesn’t seem to understand and thinks if you just build another bike lane they will come.
Another possible obstacle to bike commuting is the lack of reasonably priced bikes and useful bike accessories. I ride a bike with 3 baskets on it; the two side baskets collapse when not in use. Thus my bike is useful to ride to work and carry books and papers (tutoring students) as well as shopping and visiting sites. Having a short commute is also an asset to encourage more bike use and less single car-occupancy use.
Well, it can be pretty hot out there during much of the day, and the distances between cafes and little parks or other points of refreshment are considerable. Palm Springs allows golf carts to use the bike lanes as well! Maybe you can make it down more often and become an influencer. You would enjoy some of the great hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants, and the charming Art Museum.
Palm Springs . . . . Is there even a there there?
Getting off Streetview (gawd that place has a lot of walled golf course subdivisions) and onto Google, maybe there is a bit of an edge to the place buried deep under the beige stucco and automalls.
http://www.palmspringslife.com/the-year-of-lautner/
I wonder about culture. A brief search of the Internet turns up remarkably little about the social perception of cycling in the States. We know that the bus is widely perceived as the “loser cruiser” – how are bicycles seen? There is some mention of hipsters, and the fact that low-income people and immigrants are more likely to cycle, but beyond that I didn’t find much.
It’s an important question. One of the classic papers in the social study of technology is “The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts”, by Pinch and Bijker (easy to find online), is about the history of the bicycle. For many years divergent designs of the bicycle existed side-by-side. One was the ordinary (aka penny-farthing), which was a challenge to ride, was favoured by sporty young men who liked to show off their risk-taking and physical prowess. What we know today simply as the bicycle was the safety bicycle. With its lower wheels, it was used by women (who had no business putting their skirts up so high).
For these two social groups, these were different devices with different purposes. A “safety” bicycle was the antithesis of what young men wanted. That design did not become standard until it first fulfilled their desire for action. With the inflatable rubber tire, the safety bicycle became a racing bicycle, both groups converged on the same design, and the rest is history.
Incidentally, things haven’t changed much. We have the spandex bicycle shorts enthusiasts (even 20 years ago, this was the term used by an Ottawa friend for Vancouverites), and we have the folks who ride cruisers. The former have been known to oppose separated bicycle paths because they want full rights of the road and equality with traffic, while for the latter separation is essential to their comfort and safety. (Cue debate over the Willingdon Greenway.)
If the people of Palm Springs see cycling as a risky athletic activity, or the domain of an immigrant working class, they are hardly going to get out of their cars.
The Willingdon greenway issue is not about some people wanting to bike on the road, but that the City of Burnaby should provide a path for pedestrians and a bike path – both separated from traffic. This is for the safety, enjoyment and convenience of everybody. Burnaby only needs to look at Vancouver’s experience with their older multi-use paths or the busy sections of the Central Valley Greenway.
I guess I wasn’t clear. I know no-one wants to bike on Willingdon itself. So far as I can tell, the conflict is basically between two visions of the greenway: one as a park, the other as a transportation corridor. Those two visions line up pretty well with the same two social groups.
Of course it will be both park and bike route regardless of the specific design. But separated bike lanes and park uses are clearly competing for space. The deciding factor isn’t a technical consideration, but which understanding of the greenway prevails. If it’s a park, then efficient movement doesn’t much matter: on the contrary, slowing bikes down might be desirable (just as narrower or bumpier streets can be better for pedestrians). If it’s a transportation corridor, benches, plazas, art pieces and greenery are bad to the extent that they get in the way. Like the streets-vs-roads (vs stroads) distinction, it’s a question of identity. Though of course it’s a different situation, so the parallel has little to say about which choice might be better. (The same debate recurs around Patrick Congdon’s advocacy of streetcars, where it seems to me that the speed-and-distance-first approach of SkyTrain has been a success.)
As someone who lives in the neighourhood, I’m honestly torn. For me, this is not a long-distance transportation route like the Central Valley Greenway; it’s a short neighbourhood trail, more Hastings than Lougheed. Once it is built, I anticipate that I would finally buy a bike to head up to Hastings and the library, sometimes with my son – short trips, for which speed isn’t particularly important. I can imagine also just sitting there watching people pass by. My elderly inlaws, who walk every day, would probably go there. With the huge concentrated population at Brentwood, I doubt I or they would be alone. At the same time, I don’t see any particularly good alternative corridors for more purposeful trips.
These are two legitimate visions of the corridor, and indeed of the neighbourhood. I can see both points of view; my criteria for choosing would be which use would attract more people, and which is the bigger lack. In the end though, I am honestly mainly happy that something is being built, and it’s not a wider road (as had been the plan previously). I think that even a flawed design will be a vast improvement and an asset to the neighbourhood.
I agree with your thoughts, although seeing the Willingdon greenway as a linear park doesn’t preclude separating pedestrians and cyclists. The Seawall in Vancouver is largely used for recreation (although some sections more for transportation during commute hours) and it’s just not safe or pleasant to share the path when there are more than a handful of users. The same is true on the North Shore with the multi-use Spirit Trail, especially in Ambleside and through Norgate where people want to stroll or walk their dogs and not have to keep right and look out for bikes all the time.
The sharing of paths sounds nice in theory, but in practice there are many problems, especially for seniors and young kids who when walking may not hear or be aware of approaching bikes, and when cycling, may fall trying to avoid collisions with pedestrians.
The Willingdon Greenway would be the only safe and direct bike route in the area so it would be also used for transportation. It will be good for local residents biking to shops, library etc., but also for commuters from other areas of Burnaby and the North Shore. I think telling commuters that the greenway is a park and they should slow down won’t work as long as there is no good alternative bike route. In the end the experience and safety of all path users will suffer, which could be avoided by an appropriate design of the greenway.
Multi-use paths can be fine in lower density neighbourhoods like small towns and rural areas, but I’m puzzled why Burnaby builds the high density Brentwood town centre and then a multi-use path. The competition for space is not between walking and biking, but with cars that are given a vast amount of space and priority in and around Brentwood.
I agree. It can be expected that people will cycle there because cycling on the road is not pleasant. Therefore it should be designed for this so that it doesn’t become a problem.
There is enough room for both in my opinion. The existing sidewalk doesn’t have to be there (except at bus stops) as a path in the park can serve that purpose freeing up room for a cycle path next to the street. Put in a protecting barrier and protected intersections and you’re good.
Folks, some of us have switched to topic to cycling in Vancouver and Burnaby, notably by Willingdon road. That really should be a separate topic, not related to Palm Springs!
“The competition for space is not between walking and biking, but with cars that are given a vast amount of space and priority in and around Brentwood.”
But there is a competition for space. Most of the space for that route is quite narrow. The proposed combined path leaves room for greenery, benches and so forth. To separate it, you would need what, two lanes for bike traffic, plus one for pedestrians, plus separation between them, and separation from the road. I have seen hub’s sketches, and it’s clear that they turn most of the route into a pure transportation corridor. Which is great if you want a road for bicycles passing through from one point to another. It’s not so great if you want a nice neighbourhood stroll. If the competition should be between bicycles and cars, then why not take the space away from cars, instead of from park space? I agree that the area really could do with a good separated bike route.
Unfortunately the choices are limited, as the only nearby streets that go all the way through are Delta (which is very steep) and Gilmore. Actually, Gilmore is already a bike route, and it extends over highway 1 all the way up to Electronic Arts. If we’re going to invest in a bike route, competing with cars instead of people, would in not make sense to improve the Gilmore route?
Admittedly Gilmore is several blocks to the west. The closest north-south connection to Willingdon is Rosser. It’s a quiet street, perfect for bike traffic even without separation. Heck, I’ve even taken it with my son (me on foot on the sidewalk, him on a bike on the street). At the moment it’s a bit hard to get to, as it only extends as far south as Gravely/Brentlawn. The mall development includes separated bike lanes to just a block south of that. All the city would need to do to create a complete bike route from the mall to Hastings, with very little competition with cars, is complete one more block of separated paths between the mall and Brentlawn. Cyclists could then head over to Rosser and up to Hastings. Is this so bad? Do we need to turn a park into a transportation corridor simply to avoid detouring one block to the west?
Geof.
Gilmore is a bit too far away. 800 metres. People should be no farther than 400 Metres from a cycle facility. (Ideally.) Rosser seems fine to me. It could be a traffic calmed greenway. That’s a good idea.
It should be said though that this is a transportation corridor that might be turned into a park. That extra width on the east side was set aside for future transportation growth.
Roskelett1.
Yes, maybe Willingdon Road should be it’s own topic as it looks like folks want to discuss it.
Actually if you ride out to Old Town in La Quinta you will see plenty of bikes and various riding groups that stop there for coffee in the idyllic square. Old Palm Springs while having gone through a renaissance of sorts is still not a great area to cycle. Palm Desert, Indian Wells, Indio and La Quinta all east of old PS are much better and each has various routes where you will see lots of activity. Just ride up 74 (Monterey turns into 74 south of 111) and you will see the daily pilgrimage of cyclists.
I’ve never been there but maybe the folks there just haven’t got into it yet. Many people cycle because it makes the most sense for a particular trip. Maybe there is never any traffic congestion and everybody there can afford to drive or be driven.
For anyone who does cycle it could be that the motor vehicle volumes are low enough that the roads are not hostile so there’s no need for anything separate. (Kind of like it once was here.)
I’m of the opinion that any tool should be used because it serves a need not just to use it for the sake of using it. If somebody can’t fit biking into their life then that’s cool with me.
As Chris Crosby noted, the best biking opportunities in the Coachella Valley are to the east of Palm Springs. The bike route from Palm Desert to Palm Springs is quite challenging and definitely not an intuitive route.
As a recreational cyclist, I invariably find myself comparing the biking infrastructure in the desert with what is available in downtown Vancouver where we live for half the year. One of the most glaring problems is the ‘disappearing bike lane’ phenomena. Bike lanes end quite literally mid-block and on roads where the posted speed limit is 50 MPH. As well, the width of bike lanes varies considerably from community to community and in some of the desert cities it is legal to park in bike lanes forcing you out into the traffic travelling at 50 MPH. A significant challenge to using your bike for errands is the lack of suitable places to lock up your bike in shopping areas.
Over the last couple of years I have noticed a considerable increase in the number of people cycling in the Coachella Valley area – perhaps not commuting to work but recreational cycling definitely is on the increase. But there is still a lot of resistance to anyone not travelling in a car. And if you think biking in the desert has its challenges, walking can be even more dangerous as drivers don’t even consider the possibility of pedestrians. And sidewalks are almost non-existent in many areas. The Palm Springs area is still the land of the car.
As a 60 year old tourist who visits his best friend here, all I want is a bike share to get around town. I truly dislike getting into a car for .5-2 mile trips.
Palm Springs has so many obvious advantages to become a cycling community, but the heat and aging population kills it.
However the eBike revolution might offer a solution, especially during hot months. Add to that trikes and you’ve got perfect senior outdoorsy transportation.
As for culture, it’s important to remember that cultural shifts take a generation or two. The Dutch didn’t become cyclists; they went along begrudgingly in the 1970s until their children grew up.
But as they’ve shown in Paris, it IS possible to change a city of 2M people within a decade, and PS can too. It just has to come from within.