A Great Start to 2022!

We had a great kick-off event last Sunday, February 6th.  There was a great turnout for both the ride and our program where we recapped our 2021 accomplishments and shared our plans for 2022 (see below or download here).  We were sorry that we had to reschedule and change locations - we know that made it impossible for some to attend, but the weather was sunny and Locopops was a great host. (Note: 10% of February sales at Locopops will be shared between us, American Dance Festival, Meals on Wheels of Durham, and Club Boulevard Elementary PTA.)

Take a look at our work plan for 2022 below and get involved!

There are several ways that you can get involved with our work in the coming year:

1. Engage with our action alerts through email or social media (@bikedurham).

2. Volunteer at one of our events or on with a committee

3. Join the Board.  We are looking for additional board members, particularly those with experience in finance, HR, fundraising, and non-profit governance.  If you are interested, please email director@bikedurham.org to learn more.

4. Make a donation.  More than half of our budget comes from individual contributions.

Summary of Bike Durham Plans for 2022

Bike Durham joins leaders from Bragtown and Merrick-Moore in calling for prioritizing bus service and bus stop improvements

On Thursday, November 18, 2021, the Durham Herald-Sun and News & Observer ran an op-ed co-written by Vannessa Mason Evans, chair of the Bragtown Community Association, Bonita Green, president of the Merrick-Moore Community Development Corporation, Stella Adams, CEO of S J Adams Consulting, a civil rights research and consulting firm in Durham, and Erik Landfried, Bike Durham board member. The op-ed calls on the officials that must approve an update to the Durham Transit Plan to listen to current transit riders and Black and Brown Durhamites and prioritize bus service and bus stop improvements.   

Bike Durham believes that racial equity must be at the heart of all transportation decision making in Durham. Most of the transportation investments over the past 100 years have benefited wealthier, white Durhamites at the expense of Black and brown communities. The best way to make our transportation outcomes more equitable is to listen to the communities who have suffered these harms and directly address their needs.

The final draft recommendations for the Durham Transit Plan are expected this winter.  We will all be given another opportunity to comment on the recommendations, but clear preferences have been expressed by current riders and residents of Black and brown neighborhoods in the Summer’s engagement around the transit plan options. Those preferences include more frequent bus service to more places in Durham and the region and benches and shelters at bus stops, but do not include a proposed commuter rail project to Raleigh.

Slide from presentation on Phase II outreach results by Durham Transit Team staff

We are urging the Durham County Commissioners, DCHC MPO Board members, and the GoTriangle Board of Trustees to listen to the voices of current transit riders and Black and brown residents as we move forward building a better transit system.

The op-ed is included below in its entirety:

Triangle infrastructure: For equity, put buses ahead of commuter rail in Durham

BY BONITA GREEN AND VANNESSA MASON EVANS

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

Civil rights consultant Stella Adams and Bike Durham board member Erik Landfried also signed on to this op-ed.

Residents of Braggtown and Merrick Moore, two historically Black communities northeast of downtown Durham, have requested many transportation improvements over the years, including sidewalks along major roads, bus shelters and more frequent bus service.

With the demise of the Durham-Orange light-rail project, half a billion dollars are available in the 2040 Durham Transit Plan. Any transit plan adopted must include 15-minute bus service via Route 9 in the heart of the Braggtown neighborhood and both bus service and sidewalks in the Merrick Moore neighborhood and in other communities of color throughout Durham.

Durham has a transportation system created through a history of decisions that have led to inequitable outcomes along racial lines. Nowhere is this more apparent than in our transit system.

Durham transit riders, most of whom are non-white and make less than $15,000 per year, face a daily gauntlet of streets with no sidewalks, bus stops with no shelters, and bus service that does not come frequently enough. It also takes a long time to get to their destination. And many parts of the county still lack bus service, despite rapid growth.

Before considering new large-scale projects, we must fix the broken infrastructure that exists in our under-served communities.

No one should have to walk in the street to get to a bus stop in a ditch. The good news is that there are many projects proposed that address these deficiencies and will make bus service more reliable, more frequent, and more abundant, which will increase economic and social opportunities for all Durhamites.

The most expensive project under consideration in the Durham Transit Plan is a commuter rail line between Durham and Wake counties. While the project would provide an alternative to driving, it would mostly do so during “peak” commute times, only running every 30 minutes during those times and every two hours in the middle of the day and at night. There is no weekend service proposed. Those service levels provide little utility for those with non-traditional work schedules.

Commuter rail is not a high priority for people of color in Durham. One of the survey questions for the Durham Transit Plan was “If passenger train is included, what else do we need to fund?” The number one response from people of color was “All of these transit improvements are more important than a passenger train.”

That same survey also confirmed what transit improvements people of color and daily transit riders prioritize: more hours of frequent and reliable bus service to more parts of Durham and the Triangle and better bus stops.

Commuter rail is not the most equitable use of resources. Setting aside local funding for commuter rail would delay new bus service and infrastructure by up to 10 years. According to data from GoTriangle, only 42% of the projected riders of the commuter rail would come from zero or one-car households. 91% of current GoDurham riders live in zero or one-car households.

To achieve equitable outcomes, the Durham County commissioners, Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization board, and the GoTriangle board must listen to the needs of current transit riders and communities of color and make sure projects are prioritized in the Durham Transit Plan that support those needs. Our communities have made it clear that we must improve our local and regional bus systems. These improvements cannot be delayed to provide local funding for commuter rail.

We have the opportunity in Durham to make transportation decisions that will lead to equitable outcomes. This is the time to seize it.

Will the Durham Transit Plan Prioritize Improvements for Current Riders?

Durham County, the regional transportation planning organization (DCHC MPO), and GoTriangle released three options for how to invest one billion dollars in transit tax revenues over the next twenty years. All options contained some common projects and service improvements using half the money. They differed in how to spend the remaining one-half billion dollars. One option prioritized improvements in local service and sidewalks, while including additional regional bus service. A second option prioritized investments in regional Bus Rapid Transit to Raleigh and to Chapel Hill. The third option prioritized investment in commuter rail to Raleigh. Both the Bus Rapid Transit option and the Commuter Rail option included local bus service and sidewalk improvements but there are fewer of them and they occur up to 7 to 10 years later. During the period when the Durham Transit Team was collecting public input, the Transit Equity Campaign was talking to riders about their priorities.

Erik Landfried, Bike Durham board member and manager of the Transit Equity Campaign, wrote a letter on September 9 to the staff and elected officials working on the plan to share what we heard from riders and to make recommendations for evaluating the options and developing a better final plan. The content of the letter is below:

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The Transit Equity Campaign is a partnership between Bike Durham, the Coalition for Affordable Housing and Transit, Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, Durham Congregations in Action, and People’s Alliance. The goal of the Transit Equity Campaign is to hold the public agencies in charge of updating the Durham Transit Plan accountable to make sure the needs of current transit riders, transit workers and low-wealth BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities are the first priorities in the Transit Plan.

The Campaign appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on the Durham Transit Plan update. We are encouraged to hear that over half of the comments received on the latest round of engagement came through the Engagement Ambassadors and in-person events at Durham Station and other locations. However, engagement is only the starting point. The Campaign will be watching closely to see how the final plan addresses the needs brought up by riders, transit workers, and communities of color.

When asking people to sign onto the Transit Equity Campaign, volunteers asked a single question in addition to contact information: “What’s the most important improvement to make to the transit system?” We have summarized the responses below:

Infographic summarizing priorities from riders

Many of the service and infrastructure needs should be familiar at this point - frequent, reliable service to more destinations supported by safe access to comfortable and accessible stops. These needs are addressed to varying degrees and timeframes by the three transit options that were presented to the public.

However, one-third of the responses to the question we asked were largely unrelated to service or infrastructure. Instead, they focused on driver courtesy and training, safety, cleanliness and comfort of the buses, and maintaining fare-free service. When asked how the Transit Plan would address these types of needs, the response we received from staff was:

We have communicated to GoDurham and GoTriangle the results of our stakeholder interviews and responses like this from both the Youth and Senior listening sessions.

Simply communicating these needs to the transit agencies without providing funds to address them is insufficient. If these needs supersede the need for better service or bus stops for many people in Durham, they need to be addressed with investments from the Durham Transit Plan.

The Transit Equity Campaign also has the following recommendations to better communicate the vision and projects in the final plan that is being developed:

• Be explicit about when people can expect improvements and show these improvements at a community level. The difference in implementation timelines was one of the most important tradeoffs between each of the three transit scenarios shown to the public, but this was not clearly communicated. Showing this information system-wide is important, but individual communities need to understand what improvements will directly impact their own community and when those improvements will occur. This will require more granularity to break the improvements down by geographical area, but will lead to better engagement with riders and low-wealth communities of color.

• Improve transparency by including ALL of the projects in the Durham Transit Plan public materials and the rationale for how those projects were chosen. There were assumed projects in each of the three transit options that were not shown to the public. This is unacceptable. These projects included service improvements such as increased frequency on crowded 15-minute bus routes and infrastructure improvements such as a new Bus Maintenance Facility. One of the core tenets of the Plan is transparency. Not including certain projects in the public materials does not meet that goal, especially ones that warrant public feedback. It is also important to communicate the rationale for why certain projects were or were not chosen. For example, the Braggtown Community Association is advocating for improved frequency on Route 9, which serves the heart of their neighborhood. No frequency improvements were shown for Route 9 in any of the three transit options and no rationale was provided for why other frequency improvements were prioritized above Route 9.

• Include a prioritization of projects that may require additional revenue. There are clearly more transit needs in Durham than what can be funded given the current revenue assumptions in the Durham Transit Plan. It is important to present a realistic set of projects and the Campaign supports conservative revenue forecasts. However, it is also important to continue to pursue additional funding and have a prioritized list of the projects that would be next in line so that there is not a delay between receipt of these funds and implementation.

• Measure equitable access to jobs in a more meaningful way. The Transit Equity Campaign was excited that staff followed through on our request to include measures for how job access would improve under the three transit options presented to the public. However, staff ran these measures without including any wait time and ran the analysis at 5pm on a weekday. This represents an unrealistic, best-case scenario and renders the frequency of each service moot. The results were also difficult to interpret:

The Transit Equity Campaign requests that transit staff measure access to jobs from multiple communities of color (not just Durham Housing Authority locations) using average wait time, which better reflects most riders’ experience using public transit. In addition, we recommend using the “Jane” tool to better display the access to employment improvements. Here is a before/after example using Jane:

Map of Transit Access from Oxford Manor with Existing Bus System

Transit Access from Oxford Manor with Existing Bus System

Map of Transit Access from Oxford Manor After Service Improvements

These maps are easier to understand and not only show the increase in job access, but also where people in select communities can get to by walking and using transit in increments of 15 minutes. In this example (which is not from any of the transit plan options), people living at Oxford Manor can see that not only has job access within a 30 minute commute - the medium blue color - increased significantly (from ~4,000 to ~19,000 jobs), but that these increases happen mostly along Roxboro Road, Horton Road, and downtown Durham.

Why We Need Safe Streets: A Perspective From Someone Who Is Blind

Donna Permar is a resident of Durham, NC and a long-time local advocate for safe places to walk and improved transit service. 

I recently joined the Bike Durham Advocacy Committee because I strongly support its mission of empowering all people to walk,  bike, and ride transit more often. Therefore, I wish to do whatever I can to help shape policies that promote safe pedestrian travel, enjoyable bike trails, and a public transportation system that meets the needs of current riders and attracts others who are not yet on board.

Due to my vision loss, my guide dog and I travel to work, appointments, shopping, et cetera via GoDurham, and we log hundreds of miles walking to many destinations. I have fought for sidewalks where there weren’t any and have promoted the installation of audible pedestrian signals (APS), which enable those of us who are blind and low-vision to cross streets more safely. My advocacy led to an APS installation at Hillandale Road and Croasdaile Commons where there are medical clinics, an urgent care center, Walgreens and several restaurants. Most recently, my efforts helped to get an APS installed at the very dangerous intersection of Fayetteville Road and Renaissance Parkway, which would make travel much safer for cyclists and pedestrians. 

I am also eager to provide input on improving transit service in Durham. I participated in the Transit Equity Campaign videos as a small way to advocate for improved transit in Durham. My ability to travel independently relies in large part on Durham’s transit system. Changes to transit routes present unique challenges for people with disabilities, and while changes can be inconvenient overall, the adjustment period to navigate a new routine and other changes can be longer and more frustrating for people with disabilities.

I do this work because I want to increase public awareness surrounding the idea that people with disabilities also bike and hike and would greatly benefit from improved trails, sidewalks and a transit system that is more reliable, efficient and serves more of the places where people need to go. I’ve been riding tandem bicycles with Bridge II Sports, and I enjoy it as a way to show others that people with disabilities are fully capable of athletic activities, such as biking. 

Back-seat biking provides impromptu opportunities to explain how I live my life, and it gives others a space where they can grow more comfortable when interacting with those of us who have disabilities. I enjoy riding tandem bikes with my guides as they describe the scenery to me along our route. We also discuss topics of mutual interest ranging from work, vacations and gardening, to sports and cooking. Most times, I find back seat pedaling on a tandem bike so pleasant that I wish my guide dog could be my captain. Alas, that skill was not included in his training. 

I firmly believe that achieving an excellent public transit system is crucial if the City of Durham truly wants to include all of its diverse populations in employment, education, recreation and health care opportunities. Transportation to such facilities is a huge barrier to participation for those who cannot afford to drive vehicles, have a disability which prohibits driving, or the senior-citizen population who once drove cars but are no longer able to do so. My hope is that some day Durham’s public transportation system will be second to none!

Bike Durham Bull Ride

We were on the hunt for the perfect city bike ride to represent Durham for over a year. We couldn't find it, so we had to go to Alaska and partner up with Aurora Hablett aka Stravzilla, who creates the rarest forms of GPS visualizations.

The goal was to find "Major the Bull," over the city's center mass, in a closed-loop ride that stays on relatively safe streets, highlights neighborhood diversity, and cruises past NCCU and Duke.

The ride needed to be long enough to be an experience but short enough to be accessible.

The big reveal is that Aurora worked with us to create a commemorative art piece that has the city inside of the shape of the bull. Now, we can show our Bull City Pride as we literally draw the bull with our bikes and then celebrate our city with this new street portrait of Major.

There are a lot of different drawings and sketches of Major the Bull, but this one is in the blueprint of our streets! And it's going to take over!

A special thanks to our Sponsors for helping us bring creative events to Durham!

Challenges to Equitable Transit - A Durham Documentary

“People use transportation just like they use their own car. And if their car wasn’t reliable, let’s say, their car could only crank up every hour, they would be so frustrated! So they have to look at it like that, like this is our car and we need it to be more reliable.”

- Holly McCoy, Transit Rider

In “Challenges to Equitable Transit - A Durham Documentary”, we see and hear the voices of transit riders and transit workers as they describe the main challenges they face using the bus in Durham. These challenges echo ones we’ve heard from other riders, transit workers, and people who live in low-wealth communities of color and that were captured in the first round of public engagement for the Durham Transit Plan update.

Riders are demanding:

• More frequent service

• More reliable service

• More direct service with shorter travel times to jobs and other destinations in Durham and the region

• Safer walks to bus stops

• Accessible and comfortable bus stops

• Expanded paratransit and other curb-to-curb service

A core strategy of the Transit Equity Campaign is to identify and communicate the transportation needs of current transit riders and low-wealth communities of color in Durham to decision-makers and the general public. The Transit Equity Campaign has relayed many of the needs we have heard to those in charge of updating the Durham Transit Plan, but there is no substitute to those officials hearing these needs directly from the riders in their own voices. This is particularly critical as already limited opportunities to listen to riders, such as bi-monthly public meetings at Durham Station, have been discontinued during the pandemic.

The Transit Equity Campaign commissioned two local videographers, John Laww and Saleem Reshamwala, to produce videos that describe the benefits and challenges of Durham’s current transit system through transit rider and worker interviews and showing the rider experience directly.

In addition to “Challenges to Equitable Transit - A Durham Documentary,” we created three shorter video vignettes to capture individual stories and topics. The first of these, “Supporting Transit for Persons With Disabilities,” spotlights Marie Hill Faison, a paratransit operator for GoDurham ACCESS and a Transit Equity Campaign partner. Paratransit is a federally mandated curb-to-curb service for persons with disabilities and is complemented by a county-wide system that fills in gaps in the fixed-route bus system in Durham. The Durham Transit Plan should reduce wait times and expand service levels on local and regional bus and paratransit services to improve the lives of those who cannot drive due to a disability. This would also increase transportation options for people who live or work in parts of Durham County where bus service does not run.

Transit service is only useful if people can safely get to and from bus stops and feel safe and comfortable at the stops themselves. The second vignette, “Walking To and Waiting At the Bus Stop,” focuses on the lack of sidewalks and safe street crossings for people walking to and from bus stops and the poor condition of many of the bus stops in Durham. These issues were identified by every rider we interviewed for these videos. The Durham Transit Plan should ensure that bus stops in Durham have safe sidewalk connections and consistent, dignified waiting conditions at the stop.

The final vignette focuses on a transit journey George A. Long, a longtime GoDurham rider, takes to accompany his friend, Lisa Raiford, to get her COVID-19 vaccination. What could be a better demonstration of how essential transit is in Durham?! George has benefited from a doubling of frequency on the route that serves his apartment, GoDurham Route 12, and newer buses, both of which have been funded through the Durham Transit Plan. The Durham Transit Plan should ensure more frequent service and better buses are provided to more people in Durham to improve access to jobs and services, particularly for low-wealth communities of color.

If you support these priorities, please click the link below to sign on to the Transit Equity Campaign.

Bike Durham's Letter to the City on Cornwallis Road Project

After a long delay, the City is going forward with plans to reconfigure Cornwallis Road from Chapel Hill Road to South Roxboro Street, to be completed in 2025. While we commend the City for improving bicycle and pedestrian facilities, design standards have evolved in the 20 years that have gone by since the plan was initially conceived.

Before the Thanksgiving break, Bike Durham sent a letter to City staff with our feedback on the project. The letter is reproduced in full below. Here are our key recommendations:

• Separated facilities for those walking, biking, scooting, or rolling must be included in every street project in Durham, including Cornwallis Road.

• A planning-level estimate of the additional cost and time necessary to complete this project according to best practices should be provided. Without such an estimate, the public, staff, and elected officials cannot adequately weigh whether maintaining the current design is a worthwhile tradeoff.

• Projects that consider pedestrian, bicycle, or transit elements and/or are initiated by the Durham Transportation Department should be developed through at least 30% engineering by Transportation staff so that the intention and integrity of the projects can be carried through a more advanced design phase.

• An analysis should be done to determine the causes that lead projects like Cornwallis Road to take over 20 years from conception to completion and recommend corrective actions for future projects.

• More flexibility needs to be built into the process to allow for changes that reflect new best practices, particularly if projects are going to take decades to complete.