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KENT: Our youth group has been researching Los Angeles transportation since the beginning of the year.
That is why we are very interested in the Los Angeles Bike Plan,
and we are excited to give our feedback today on one portion of the plan.
Our feedback includes a new suggestion for bikes on trains that could be
very helpful to Los Angeles traffic and pollution.
First we should mention that our group reviewed the Bike Plan
and noticed something strange regarding "bikes on trains".
Right in the introduction on page 2, paragraph 1.2.3 states that Los Angeles has
"important opportunities" to connect bike transportation and mass transit.
It mentions light rail, subway and commuter rail. This sounded great to us,
since this was the exact project we have been researching.
AUSTIN: But we were sad to find that in 212 pages, there is just one sentence regarding bikes on trains.
On page 27, Program 4.3.3 says "Encourage Metro to allow bicycles on trains at all times."
That is the only action on this subject in the whole plan!
At the beginning of our project, our team thought that a big improvement to Los Angeles transportation
would be to help more people ride their bike all the way from home to work, not using a car at all.
SARAH: We decided to focus on the people who commute the longest distances.
These commuters would benefit the most from our idea, including saving the most money.
And for the rest of the city population, this would give the biggest reduction in freeway traffic and pollution.
Some of the longest commutes are into downtown Los Angeles from faraway areas such as Orange County,
Riverside, Antelope Valley, and northern San Fernando Valley.
All of these commuters live or work in the City of Los Angeles and are covered by this Bike Plan.
MATT: These distant communities are all served by MetroLink, the Southern California commuter train service.
This is not the same as Metro, which is LA's subway and light rail system, used for shorter distance commuting.
When we started our research, our group was very happy to read that MetroLink and Metro
are supposed to be "bike friendly".
But we were surprised to find out that MetroLink allows only 2 bikes in each rail car for 150 passengers.
We were also surprised to learn that Metro does not allow bikes on most trains
from 6:30 to 8:30 in the morning and 4:30 to 6:30 in the afternoon, Monday to Friday.
We thought both of these are "bike unfriendly" policies.
KENTO: The LA Bike Plan document does recommend that Metro should remove all time restrictions on bikes.
But the Bike Plan does not mention anything about MetroLink, which is
Southern California's commuter train service and an important part of Los Angeles transportation.
Our first suggestion and feedback is that the LA Bike Plan should include action
to push MetroLink to officially allow any number of bikes on the train.
We understand that this has limits, since a train company will not want to remove seats to make room for bikes.
Less seats means less ticket sales.
BEN: Our second suggestion is an idea to solve this problem. The LA Bike Plan should include action
to push MetroLink and Metro to add one car to each train for carrying bikes only, called a "Bike Car".
Our group studied this idea for MetroLink only,
since it travels longer distances and uses standard train equipment.
Our project was to design a low cost Bike Car for MetroLink.
In our research we learned that over 500,000 freight cars are sitting idle this year across the United States.
They are filling up rail yards and causing a nuisance.
With some simple changes, these unused freight cars could be added to MetroLink trains to become Bike Cars.
The Bike Car would be very cheap and plain, with only bike racks inside.
It could hold 25 to 40 bikes, and would not need all the safety equipment to hold passengers.
RYAN: A commuter would ride their bike from home to their local MetroLink station.
When the train arrives, they would quickly put their bike on the Bike Car,
and take their seat in a regular passenger car.
At their final stop such as Union Station, they would take their bike off the Bike Car and ride to work.
We think many people would leave their cars at home and take their bikes on MetroLink.
A typical commuter could save $5,000 to $10,000 per year, using an estimated cost of 54 cents per mile by car.
Another benefit of riding the train is that people can work on their laptop, or read a newspaper, or get some rest.
LUKE: Similar versions of this idea are being used in other cities around the world.
Los Angeles has the combination of good weather, flat land, and long days
that should mean lots of people riding bikes.
This can happen if all of our mass transit, especially commuter trains, was a lot more bike friendly.
In conclusion, more bikes on commuter trains would make a great improvement
to Los Angeles transportation and pollution.
The LA Bike Plan does mention that it's important to combine bikes and trains,
but should push harder to make it happen and consider creative ideas like the Bike Car.
COMMENT: "The City of Los Angeles has no connection to MetroLink, so we cannot tell them what to do."
LUKE: MetroLink is owned by five member agencies, the largest of them being
the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or "Metro".
SARAH: Metro is run by a 13-member board of directors,
including the mayor of Los Angeles and three other people chosen by the mayor.
That's 4 people out of 13, and you only need 7 to pass any vote.
LUKE: So, the city of Los Angeles has a direct connection to MetroLink
and can influence decisions made by MetroLink.
If the city wants more bikes on trains, the mayor can push Metro to do it right away,
and Metro can push MetroLink to do the same (using our Bike Car!).
COMMENT: "There are already bike lockers at MetroLink stations."
BEN: Using bike lockers means you need to own two bikes, one for each end of your train ride.
This will cost people more money.
Also, one of the bikes has to be left in a locker overnight.
KENT: We have visited MetroLink stations, and usually found about 12 bike lockers at each one.
There is a sign on every locker that says if you leave a bike there overnight,
it will be taken away by the police.
BEN: So we think MetroLink is not really being bike friendly by putting 12 lockers at the station.
QUESTION: "How do people get their bike on and off the Bike Car?"
KENTO: Our group has looked at many different ways.
The main challenge is to load or unload in less than 1 minute, to keep the train on time.
MATT: We designed ramps, lifting devices, side loaders, special racks, and other ideas.
Some of these ideas could probably be made to work very quickly.
We also considered adding a passageway between the Bike Car and the passenger car,
but this would add a lot of cost.
KENTO: MetroLink could try some of these ideas and see if one of them works well and costs little.
QUESTION: "Who are you kids?"
KENT: We are a team participating in a science organization called FIRST.
FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology".
140,000 kids from 50 countries around the world, are competing this year in FIRST LEGO League.
RYAN: Teams compete with a robot design and a research project, based on this year's theme of Transportation.
Our team is called Westside, if you haven't noticed from our shirts.
QUESTION: "Why are you making this presentation?"
AUSTIN: FIRST teams are required to share their research project with experts, policy makers and the public.
This presentation was perfect for us to share our ideas.
BEN: Thank you all for listening to us.