El Cerrito/Richmond Annex Walk & Roll blog

On Saturday, October 7, over 45 people attended the screening of The Street Project , a documentary about making our streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians. The free event was sponsored by El Cerrito Stollers & Rollers (now EC/RA Walk & Roll), El Cerrito Environmental Quality Committee, Bike East Bay and hosted by Rialto Cinemas Cerrito.  The 52-minute documentary was followed by presentations by Steve Price of El Cerrito Strollers & Rollers (now EC/RA Walk & Roll); Howdy Goudey of the El Cerrito Environmental Quality Committee; Jarrett Mullen, El Cerrito's Sustainable Transportation Program Manager; and Robert Prinz of Bike East Bay. Immediately afterward, participants met for lunch and lively group discussions at Tigon Vietnamese Restaurant. Attendees were excited to learn more about safe streets for walkers and bikers and El Cerrito’s future multimodal transportation plans.  If you missed The Street Project showing at Rialto Cinemas Cerrito, you can watc...

By Steve Price My wife Janet and I rode our e-bikes 14 miles from our home in El Cerrito to Treasure Island in San Francisco, where we rode on an autonomous electric shuttle called the Loop for a 20-minute loop around the northern end of the island. After that we took our bikes on the new Treasure Island Ferry across the bay to the Ferry Terminal in San Francisco, caught a BART train, and rode home (in between, we had a beer at Woods Beer and Wine Co. in the 1939 World's Fair terminal) The Loop shuttle is not fully autonomous — we had a friendly, informative operator in the vehicle with us. Nevertheless the vehicle did navigate the streets on its own: steering, stopping, and going to predetermined boarding locations. It is capable of traveling at up to 15 mph. Our operator said that the vehicle runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on a single charge. (He works for Beep, Inc., an autonomous mobility solution company.) The service is a pilot that ends in April 2024, and the San Francisco Tra...

By Steve Price Last month I attended the two-day Micromobility America Conference 2023 at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, California. It's the biggest international micromobility conference, held twice a year. (Earlier in the year it was held in Amsterdam.) To get to it, I bicycled about 20 minutes along the Bay Trail, enjoying stunning views of San Francisco Bay along the way. The Craneway Pavilion is a restored Ford Motor Plant overlooking the Bay where Model Ts and Model As were manufactured early last century. Various reports peg the global market for electric micromobility as growing at between 12.5% to 17% CAGR (compound annual growth rate). That's a lot. At the conference there was a lot to see, including presentations and panel discussions on two stages plus exhibit spaces where a fascinating selection of small electric vehicles were on display. The manufacturers answered questions about their products as well as allowed attendees to test drive them around the outsi...

Little Hill Lounge , one of the world’s great cocktail lounges, is a valuable (and fun!) gathering spot for El Cerritans and Richmond Annex residents. Before, bike parking was a challenge; the nearest rack was a half-block away, and the business next door prohibited cyclists from locking up on their railing. At the request of the Little Hill’s manager and owners, the city of El Cerrito installed two bike racks on the sidewalk out front.  As you can see in the photograph above, the racks are near the entrance; there's no missing them on your way in or out. According to the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals standards, Essentials of Bike Parking , bike racks should be visible from and no further than 50 feet of building entrances that they serve. They also should be arrayed in the furniture zone; that's the region of the sidewalk next to the curb where street trees, street lamps, postboxes, benches, and other street "furniture" is located out of the way...

By Steve Price San Pablo Avenue is presently designated as California State Route 123. It originated during the Spanish colonial era and was then called Camino de la Contra Costa. In the American era it became Contra Costa Road and then San Pablo Avenue. In 1927 it became part of the Lincoln Highway, America's first transcontinental highway. A streetcar line ran on it between Oakland and Richmond. El Cerrito was largely rural at the time, but eventually the Eastshore Freeway (I-80) assumed the role of major north/south travel and San Pablo Avenue became increasingly urbanized — less an interurban highway and more an urban avenue. The designation of State Route 123 for San Pablo Avenue does not go the full length of the Avenue, only a little over 7 miles out of a total of over 22 miles. State Route 123 goes from I-580 in Oakland to Cutting Boulevard at Del Norte, where it makes a dogleg over to the I-80 northbound on-ramp. Why so short? That’s because this stretch is close to and pa...

Fatapple’s Restaurant and Bakery deserves extra credit for going the extra mile to welcome bicycling customers. They installed three attractive red bike racks — proudly displaying the Fatapple’s logo — in front of their building, with clear visibility from big shop windows. They even included a tool and pump station in case bicycle riders owners need air in their tires and a nut tightened. If only every business in our area were so forward-thinking. Fatapple’s was definitely ahead of its time. But of course best practices are evolving; standards for bike racks are not what they used to be. The Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals are promoting bike parking standards to make it easy to know what to do: what are the most usable bike rack designs, where should they be located vis- a- vis walls, curbs, and street furniture, and how should they be securely fastened to the ground. The shortcoming of the racks at Fatapple’s is that they are too close to a wall; if they were ju...

By Scott Badler Vacation in Davis? It works for me. I’ve been doing it regularly for the last several years now but this was the first time I did it without a car. Using BART, Amtrak, bicycle, and of course, my feet, connections were seamless and easy.   I began by walking 10 minutes from my apartment in the Richmond Annex to El Cerrito Plaza BART. After catching the train to Richmond, I hopped aboard the 12:22 p.m. California Zephyr bound for Chicago. I was surprised that the train was so full during this noncommute time. The train arrived in Davis on time at 1:36 p.m. at the historic station. It’s adjacent to downtown Davis, where all the action is.   From there, I made the easy 10-minute walk to the University Park Inn. The walk includes going through the Davis Subway , better known to the community as Richards Boulevard Underpass; it is listed on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places. The subway, built in 1917, is formed by the last remaining I-bea...