What can we learn from Davis’ bicycling advocates?
Posted By Sam Ollinger on April 8, 2010
I had the opportunity to meet with Christa Clark-Jones recently. She and I had a long conversation relating to bicycle advocacy and the gradual shift in the U.S. from an environment that is more auto-centric to people-centric. As a graduate of University of California, Davis, Christa had much to say on Davis being a bike friendly city. I was very interested in her observations and knowledge about Davis’ history and I think Davis has some valuable lessons that we, in San Diego, could learn.
Davis, CA is known for being “Bike City, USA.” The bicycle infrastructure and high bicycle commuting numbers, make this city a model for cities all over the U.S. But I’ve been very curious on what Davis was like before the city’s infrastructure was revamped to include bicycles as a viable and valid mode of transportation?
Frank and Eve Child. Davis bicycle Advocates. Photo from ucdavis.edu
In the 1960s, Davis was the first city in the U.S. to have bike lanes. In 2005, it became the first city to receive the Platinum rating from the League of American Bicyclists. Portland, OR and Boulder, CO soon followed afterward. But what made Davis the first “Bike City, USA”?
It all began when two Davis residents, Frank and Eve Child returned home to Davis after a sabbatical in the Netherlands in 1963. The couple was inspired by the bicycle infrastructure in the Netherlands and wanted to create the same environment in Davis. So they formed a bike advocacy group and began a movement that was very much a grassroots effort that eventually resulted in pro-bicycle residents winning the elections to represent the city at the City Council level.
This victory in politics resulted in the city experimenting with some of the nation’s first bicycle infrastructure. Road reconfigurations were made, and policies specific to cyclists were written and included in the city’s General Plan. Bicyclists were finally legitimate users of the roadways. Much of what was designed and implemented in Davis became a model for cities and towns everywhere else in the country.
However by the start of the twenty first century, bicycle mode share had begun to drop noticeably. Car usage was beginning to simultaneously increase. The reasons for the drop in cycling was easy to spot. The political will that existed in the 1960s had deteriorated, and solutions to increase bicycle mode share were unknown and the bicycle advocacy movement had lost its momentum.
Thankfully, Davis has begun to recognize and reverse the decline. The University in Davis has policies that discourage freshman from owning automobiles as they cannot obtain parking permits. The city in conjunction with the university has plentiful bicycle parking throughout the city. The city has lowered fines for cycling offences, and police officers give away blinky lights to those who don’t own them. 95% of the city’s arterial streets have bike lanes and the city continus to innovate with bicycle-centric infrastructure in an effort to continue encouraging and promoting bicycle use. Best of all, the city understands the increasing benefits of investing in bicycle based infrastructure and continues to expand and promote bicycle use agressively – a strategy that many other cities and states are beginning to realize. San Diego will do well to heed to how investing in bicycle infrastructure and promoting bicycling will pay off in spades.
[...] Bike San Diego → [...]
“It all began when two Davis residents, Frank and Eve Child returned home to Davis after a sabbatical in the Netherlands in 1963.”. Nope it began before that, even in the 1950s. Davis had its highest modal share… 25% … before any bike facilities were built. To learn anything from Davis, you have to try to understand why the bike modal share was highest even without any facilities.
Hi Sam,
Great article, thank you. Yes, no need to reinvent the wheel: Davis and many other cities have led the way in creating places that make urban cycling safe and convenient. It’s a healthy, economical, and fun mode of transportation. Various demographics cycles in Davis – men and women, children and seniors. Cycling is often a social activity and second nature.
Cycling is a luxury, and now I’m addicted to the healthy lifestyle.
Also note the Davis StreetFilms video.
Best,
Christa
Davis started out with the benefit of being a compact community that was home to a university populaiton with a propensity to ride bikes. Still, I think it is clear that the extraordinary level of bicycling Davis achieved had to do with more than the geography of the place. City policy favoring bicycling and the supportive infrastructure provided certainly were important factoirs.
It must have been because of the motivated people who decided not to bicker, but to work for a common goal of cycling! Yea! Working together!
Ted Buehler wrote his Master’s thesis on bicycling in Davis. In it, he states that the large bicycle mode share came about when the first Chancellor of the new UC Davis campus decided that bicycling and walking would be the dominant transportation modes. Special bicycle facilities to accommodate the large numbers of cyclists came later.
One could say that the large bicycle mode share is what caused the bicycle facilities in Davis, not the other way around.
Serge — where did you get the 25% mode share number? I’ve looked for early mode share info, but never found anything definitive. I’m at ted101 at gmail
Bob — Interestingly, Serge is right. The bicycling came before the policy. I’d heard conflicting stories about this question. I didn’t find a reliable source until after my thesis was published, when I interviewed an individual who had moved to Davis in about 1960. He moved from Eugene, OR — he said there was hardly a bike to be seen in Eugene, but Davis was awash with them.
Ted Buehler
Hi Ted, good to hear from you here (I’m glad I was subscribed). I can’t right now recall where I got that number. If I find the source I’ll let you know, but I admit I might have incorrectly recalled reading something, perhaps even from your work.
Serge
Ted, this isn’t the source of the 25%, but this is from your paper:
“On campus, nearly everyone bicycled in 1966″ (p5, Ansel Adams photo caption)
“In the fall of 1967 the plans were ready, the state laws were changed, and Davis
striped bike lanes on several city streets. ” (p7)
I think it’s reasonable to conclude that modal share was probably even higher than 25% in the early 1960s. Back then most families had only one car, etc.