01/28/1991 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e e Mr. Green said he felt the education of bicycle riders was important, as well as increased enforcement of laws pertaining to bicycle riders. He said cy- clists often disobey red lights and stop signs. Mr. Gleason said staff had recommended bicycle marketing research to find out which ideas the community favored to promote bicycle ridership before the City invested limited resources in any of these areas. Ms. Bascom said the ideas detailed in the marketing plan were good, common sense ideas. She said research would not reveal new ideas, but might help show how best to spend funds. Ms. Andersen said staff was ready to proceed with the first list of items, but wanted to research the second list. She said the City had initiated the Ride/Share Program without researching the level of interest in the program first, and it had not had much impact. She said the City did not have ade- quate funds to finance plans which were not necessarily favored by the commu- nity. Mr. Boles said it seemed inconsistent of staff to say that it wished to re- search the community's opinion of some ideas, but that the level of accep- tance for other ideas could not be determined by any amount of research. He said all of the items listed in the Bicycle Marketing Plan seemed like common sense ideas. He said that if the City planned to invest in an infrastructure for alternative transportation, it should begin to do so immediately. Mr. Nicholson said the end object was to succeed in increasing alternative transportation. He suggested the City could tax large institutional employ- ers if they did not achieve a certain amount of alternative mode employee transportation, or the City could initiate a gas tax. He said any plan should be based on an understanding that it is imperative that the mix of transportation uses be changed. In response to a question from Mr. Green, Mr. Reinhard said comprehensive bicycle marketing research would cost about $50,000, but could be conducted incrementally for as little as $10,000. Ms. Ehrman said alternative transportation is an experimental area. She suggested staff proceed with some ideas for increasing bike ridership, and then survey the success of these ideas. Mr. Boles pointed out that free bus passes, in addition to decreased parking, has helped promote alternative transportation at the University of Oregon. Mr. MacDonald said successful alternative transportation systems exist in Palo Alto and Davis, California, as well as Amsterdam, Holland, and suggested the City might want to study these programs. Mr. Churchill said the Bicycle Committee has discussed many approaches to increasing bike ridership. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 28, 1991 Page 7