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BPC 09-15-20211 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting Regular Meeting September 15, 2021 MINUTES MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BICYCLE PEDESTRIAN COMMISSION September 15, 2021 Final Minutes The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. ROLL CALL: Present: Jack Carter, Gerhard Eschelbeck (Chair), Ilango Ganga (Vice Chair), Erik Lindskog Absent: Maanya Condamoor Staff: David Stillman, Staff Liaison Others Present: Chris Corrao, Senior Transit & Transportation Planner, Cherie Walkowiak, Safe Routes to School Coordinator APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. August 18, 2021 Minutes Commissioner Carter motioned to approve the minutes as presented, Vice Chair Ganga seconded the motion. Motion passed 3-0, Condamoor & Lindskog absent POSTPONEMENTS None. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS None. OLD BUSINESS 2. Future Agenda Items Carmen Road Bridge Public places for bike racks Education on how to use two-stage left turn boxes Path between Lincoln Elementary and Monta Vista High School 2 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting Regular Meeting September 15, 2021 Touchless pedestrian push buttons The impact of semi-rural designation on bike and ped projects/priorities Adaptive traffic signal pilot update Multi-modal traffic count pilot update Junipero Serra Trail Reassess the Intersection at Bubb Rd/McClellan Rd Vision Zero Stevens Creek Boulevard, Phases 1-3 Bicyclist legally allowed behavior at stop signs Commissioner Lindskog joined the meeting at 7:12 p.m. 3. Cupertino 2021 Fall Bike Fest Cherie Walkowiak, Safe Routes to School (SR2S) Coordinator discussed the event details, event highlights, family ride details and Commissioner responsibilities for the 2021 Fall Bike Fest. The standard activities will be the bike rodeo, a bike ride, the blender bike smoothie, some vendors, a bike mechanic, helmet fits, contests, first aid, and the Mayoral Address. Some new highlights planned are a ‘How to Lock your Bike’ clinic, bike bells for the bike rodeo participants, and art and poetry. Chair Eschelbeck asked if people were going to wear helmets. Ms. Walkowiak said helmets were mentioned on all the publicity. Chair Eschelbeck asked again about helmets, wondering if they were required. Ms. Walkowiak said there was no helmet policy and in the past, it was not required; it is the law for riders under age 18. David Stillman, Transportation Manager said it was best to stick with the law and it would be difficult to enforce a helmet requirement that was stricter than prescribed by law. Commissioner Lindskog agreed to do the bike blender smoothie. Ms. Walkowiak inquired about the Ride Coordination Meeting date and if a Commissioner would volunteer for the ‘How to lock your bike’ Clinic. Commissioner Carter volunteered. Before the Bike Fest, a Coordination Meeting needed to be held, and the day of the Bike Fest, a meeting with all the chaperones needed to be held. It was decided to hold the Coordination Meeting on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. The Chaperone Meeting was scheduled for Saturday. Ms. Walkowiak agreed to send out a timetable to all the volunteers for the day of the event. 4. Cupertino Vision Zero Program Chair Eschelbeck recapped the last Vision Zero Program discussion and recalled there was talk of forming a Subcommittee. He thought goals should be established, then the 3 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting Regular Meeting September 15, 2021 formation of a Subcommittee, with two Commissioners. Lastly, a regular check-in needed to be established. Vice Chair Ganga suggested having Task Members or staff members from neighboring jurisdictions present at the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission (Commission). Commissioner Carter thought the hardest part was getting the Task Force together because it included the Mayor’s Office, Police Department, etc. He wondered how big the Task Force needed to be. Chair Eschelbeck agreed and thought it was beneficial to have representatives from neighboring cities that have a Vision Zero program visit the Commission first. Commissioner Carter said a lot of what Portland, Oregon did was gather data, build on maps, and identify school routes. He thought enforcement was a big issue as well; there needed to be a buy in from the community and local law enforcement. Commissioner Carter discussed ways to encourage drivers to reduce speed. Rainbow Drive was reconfigured so that it was uncomfortable to go fast. Commissioner Lindskog suggested narrowing lanes. High speed intersections were the biggest problem; he wondered how to reduce speed there. Vice Chair Ganga thought enforcement was not the highest priority. Task Forces were important because all the stake holders were brought in; Task Forces were something that were brought out as an Action Item from the Vision Zero Policy. After the Policy is established, then appropriate stake holders needed to be identified for the City of Cupertino. Typically, a Task Force meets quarterly to review progress and review data; enforcement was going to come later. Chair Eschelbeck thought the question was ‘how will the Commission get started.’ He agreed with having someone visit the Commission, someone who was part of an established Vision Zero program. Commissioner Carter thought it was good to find a representative that was part of a city that was comparable to Cupertino. Vice Chair Ganga did not think it would do any harm to get information from a larger city. Since the City of Sunnyvale was a neighboring city, Cupertino had to coordinate with them because Cupertino shares boundaries with them. The City of San Jose has things like a data analytics tool to help collect data and a Geographic Information System (GIS) map. This helps residents see an average in the form of statistics for the past five years. They also identified problematic corridors so they can prioritize their work. So, Cupertino can learn from a large city like San Jose, and just scale the formats down to fit Cupertino. Chair Eschelbeck asked David Stillman, Transportation Manager to coordinate with the cities of Sunnyvale and San Jose to see if a representative could visit the Commission. 4 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting Regular Meeting September 15, 2021 Vice Chair Ganga recalled there was mention of goal setting and the Subcommittee working with staff. He wanted to know the Commission’s thoughts on how to proceed with those. Chair Eschelbeck suggested goal setting after there was more context from neighboring agencies. NEW BUSINESS 5. Cupertino E-Scooters Chris Corrao, Senior Transit & Transportation Planner gave a presentation on Electronic Bicycles and Scooters (e-bikes/e-scooters) and how that connects to shared micro mobility. His presentation entailed what it is, why do it now, what the plan is, and how to measure success. Vice Chair Ganga inquired of the kinds of micro mobility options considered for Cupertino. Mr. Corrao wanted to leave options open when he sought feedback from the public, but e-bikes and e-scooters were the most popular. Commissioner Carter did not know the rules for operating electronic mobility in Cupertino; he wondered if people knew how to ride e-bikes/scooters and if they knew what the laws were. Mr. Corrao said some knew the rules and added that the law says any electrified device needs to be in the bike lane and is limited to 15 miles per hour. The institution of the program would include significant outreach to schools. There would be a helmet program and an education program. Bob Walsh, public speaker works for a vendor that would be interested in working with the City. He commented that there is a lot of education that takes place, as part of the vendor implementation. Many people were familiar with these programs, so he did not think the learning curve would be steep. Commissioner Lindskog did not think scooter parking was too big of a problem. Chair Eschelbeck wondered how the pilot was envisioned, versus implementation. Mr. Corrao envisioned virtual hubs at high activity locations, such as coffee shops or along Stevens Creek Boulevard. People could ride them during the day, and at night, they would be charged and brought back to those key locations. Separately, he wanted the Commission’s feedback on having some in neighborhoods because it was convenient. Chair Eschelbeck wondered how to ensure scooters were properly returned so there were no scooters in the walkways. Mr. Corrao said this was why a pilot made sense because it gave staff the ability to test the waters and to end it if there was a negative response. Chair Eschelbeck inquired if the model allowed people to leave the scooters 5 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting Regular Meeting September 15, 2021 anywhere, of if they had to be brought back to some specified location. Mr. Corrao envisioned virtual hubs where people could get the devices, the rider could ride them anywhere, and then at night they would be picked up and brought back to those hubs. He suggested asking the community if there were specific areas they wanted blocked out, such as schools or large private employers. Vice Chair Ganga observed mopeds, e-scooters, and e-bikes in other cities, and he noticed people used them as a one-way commute. He thought the virtual hubs were a good idea, including at multi-unit housing areas. Chair Eschelbeck wanted to know the requirements for someone to participate. Mr. Walsh said a person needed to be 18 and it is not a requirement to use a bike helmet. The rider would first scan their driver’s license and take a picture of themselves (the picture needed to match the license for use of the device), then they needed to take a tutorial. Mr. Corrao thought a California State Identification would work for use. He noted that the age limit for e-bikes was much lower. Mr. Corrao mentioned that Cupertino was trying to partner with Sunnyvale, which allowed for a much larger ridership. Chair Eschelbeck inquired about the 18-month commitment. Mr. Corrao said 16 months was a good amount of time to tell if the pilot worked, but it did not need to be that long. 6. Class IV Separated Bikeway Concrete Barriers David Stillman, Transportation Manager gave a presentation regarding Class IV Separated Bike Lanes, what they are, where they exist now and what the future locations are anticipated to be. He also discussed resident concerns. Commissioner Carter commented that the issues were with debris, branches etc. being left in the bike lane. The parts of McClellan Road that were close to Saratoga Sunnyvale Road had escape routes for bicyclists to get around the obstacles, but other areas had no escape routes. Vice Chair Ganga heard similar complaints. He also heard complaints from drivers that the barriers were a hindrance. He cited one instance where he saw a child ride through a gap in the separated bike lane and into vehicle traffic. Commissioner Lindskog felt the separated bike lanes added safety, especially for younger bicyclists. Most of the gaps in the protected bike lanes were not frequent because of lack of space; escaping into traffic on the left was not advisable. 6 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting Regular Meeting September 15, 2021 Mr. Stillman said there were precast concrete barriers on Stevens Creek Boulevard that were about eight feet long with a gap of about two feet; he wondered if the two-foot gap was an acceptable enough gap. If a truck were blocking the bike lane completely, the two-foot gap could provide an escape route, although inconvenient. Commissioner Carter thought if he had to stop, then that would be dangerous, plus he would be forced to go into traffic, which was also dangerous. Commissioner Lindskog suggested taking the road. Chair Eschelbeck indicated that some bike lanes might appear narrower on one street over others. Commissioner Lindskog commented that there was simply not enough space. Vice Chair Ganga said the Bicycle Pedestrian Commission could look at other alternatives and see what improvements there were, within the boundaries of safety. Commissioner Lindskog said having the lanes be perceived as narrower was what was wanted because it caused motorists to drive slower. Vice Chair Ganga commented on the vertical posts. Visually, they did not look good, but they were less expensive, and they could provide more of an escape route. Data on traffic accidents typically pointed toward problems at the intersection, not bike lanes. Commissioner Carter concluded that McClellan needed a class IV solution, it’s safer now. Mr. Stillman said this was good feedback and it was a learning process. Chair Eschelbeck noticed that the feedback tonight was more about the style used on McClellan. He was not aware of any feedback on the newer style used at Stevens Creek; it seemed to be more acceptable to people. He thought it was good to monitor the Stevens Creek model. STAFF AND COMMISSION REPORTS Staff Update and Commissioner Activity Report David Stillman, Transportation Manager had no updates except that the Transportation Division was hiring an intern in the Safe Routes to School (SR2S) group. Commissioner Lindskog said the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) meeting and the Mayor’s meeting were both cancelled. He reported on the SR2S meeting. Chair Eschelbeck said Commissioner Condamoor was scheduled to attend the SR2S meeting next month. 7 Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting Regular Meeting September 15, 2021 Commission Carter asked if ‘bikes yielding at stop signs’ was on the long-term agenda. Commissioner Lindskog noted a new law being considered about not stopping at stop signs when vehicles were not present. FUTURE AGENDA SETTING ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 9:32 p.m. SUBMITTED BY: ____________________________ David Stillman, Staff Liaison Note: Any attachments can be found on the Cupertino Website https://www.cupertino.org/our-city/agendas-minutes