Petition: Get bike share right for New Orleans
Bike share is coming to New Orleans! After years of advocating, we're excited to celebrate the launch of New Orleans Bike Share this fall. The ultimate success of the program, however, will depend on many detailed decisions being made now. Your voice is needed to ensure the City of New Orleans gets bike share right.
Please read and add your name to the petition below. Once you've signed the petition, you'll be redirected to a website where you can vote for your favorite station locations to help the City and Social Bicycles narrow down over 240 options to the final 70 station locations.
Dear Mayor Landrieu,
Thanks to you and your team for bringing bike share to New Orleans! New Orleans Bike Share will improve mobility options for the people of New Orleans while further building momentum for better bicycling in general.
As the process of establishing the system is underway, we are expressing our support for getting bike share right in New Orleans. To create a sustainable and equitable bike share system that serves the residents of New Orleans, please ensure:
Equity and Accessibility
Bike share can be a powerful tool to improve equity in New Orleans, and accessibility for low-income neighborhoods and communities of color must be prioritized. The $20 annual low-income pass and cash payment options outlined in the City's contract with Social Bicycles is a great start. We also want to see station locations that serve low-income residents, connecting individuals directly from their neighborhoods to hospitality and service jobs in places like the CBD and interior of the French Quarter. New Orleans Bike Share should work with workforce development organizations to hire a diverse staff. Finally, there must be on-going community engagement and specific efforts to bring bike share to all the people of New Orleans.
Connections
For bike share to work properly, stations must be located near one another throughout all of the service area in order for residents to easily get to where they live, work, learn, praise, and play. Station locations must also serve major destinations and integrate with public transit and the bikeway network. While there may be special considerations regarding placement and aesthetic in some of our historic neighborhoods, like the French Quarter, it is essential to the overall system to maintain adequate station density in those areas of the city as well.
Safety
Let's use bike share to help increase bicycle safety! By including bicycling safety tips on the bikes and kiosks, offering free safety classes on bike share bikes, and using bike share communications platforms to convey safety messages, New Orleans Bike Share can help reduce crashes.
Streets Built to Share
Ultimately, the success of New Orleans Bike Share depends on creating a truly bike-friendly city. Please build streets to share that are safe for all people and create a network of connected, low-stress bikeways - like protected bike lanes, off-street paths, and bike boulevards - based on the best, most current design standards.
Following these guidelines, we're confident that we can get bike share right for the residents of New Orleans. Thanks for bringing a sustainable and equitable bike share system to New Orleans. We're looking forward to the launch this fall!
Sincerely,