El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll blog

Studies from around the world find that merchants underestimate and undervalue walk-in, bicycle, and transit access to their businesses.  It's true that motorists can buy more on a single store visit, but pedestrians and bicycle riders (when they can get there safely) often patronize nearby businesses more frequently .  Why is this? A motorist with a tank of gas will not think twice about going to a favorite hair-cutting salon two cities away while passing four salons on the way out of town. The pedestrian or bicycle rider is more aware of and loyal to local businesses because freeway travel is not an option and they only have so many calories to burn—they don't want to travel far. San Pablo Avenue is where many, if not most, of El Cerrito’s retail and services are located. Not surprisingly, that’s where pedestrians and bicycle riders would like to shop if possible.  In our survey of new members, bicyclists and walkers overwhelmingly cited San Pablo as the most challengin...

Most businesses in El Cerrito make no provision to park electric cargo bikes that can cost $1,500 to $8,000 . The explosive sales of e-bikes as popular consumer products has started in just the last ten years. Between 2020 and 2023, 130 million electric bicycles are expected to be sold worldwide. Compounded annual growth rate in sales is at 7.49%. In El Cerrito, where most residents live within easy bicycling distance to local businesses, the potential for bicycling access to retail and services is high. People in our area are buying electric cargo bikes at accelerating rates. But to a consumer who purchased an e-bike hoping it would replace car trips, it is a rude awakening to find little acknowledgement from businesses that their business is valued. Whatever the cost of a bicycle—powerful electric cargo bike or old beater bike—businesses are leaving money on the table by ignoring patrons who arrive on bicycles. These photos show valuable shopping destinations in El Cerrito that have ...

Anybody who rides a bike knows the story. You ride a bike to a destination and find one or more bike racks that fulfill some kind of mandate or shows a good intention, but offers no real certainty that your bike is parked securely in a visible location. Everywhere in America car-parking spaces are dimensioned and arranged similarly—books are written on best practices for parking automobiles— but no similar agreed upon best practices exist for standardizing the number, form, and placement for parking bicycles. Individual cities have adopted standards that vary widely in their quality. El Cerrito Municipal Code 19.24.090—Required bicycle parking offers hope, yet falls short in details and is all text, lacking illustrations for a subject matter that begs for illustrations. The standards in the code usually aren't invoked except for new construction; owners of existing properties and businesses have little incentive to dive into the municipal code if they are not building anything. E...

Most motorists know enough not to park on sidewalks. Yet there is a creeping encroachment by many motorists on what used to be safe space for pedestrians. On this particular street most parked cars are on the roadway and not creeping over the curb nor crowding ADA ramps. Their good etiquette is not worthy of a photograph. The car owners in the photographs below are probably otherwise nice people, but as enforcement of roadway etiquette recedes in city priorities, motorists are adopting new habits at the expense of pedestrian safety. The motorists might think the roadway is too narrow to park on, yet if cars are driven at safe speeds, cars can be safely parked without invading sidewalks. (Some jurisdictions are removing centerlines on problem streets because they are seen as encouraging faster speeds.) Who uses sidewalks? It is children, seniors, people in wheelchairs, and people who enjoy safely exploring their community for their health and their love of the neighborhood. Motorists wh...