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Photo via the Draft 2010 Bicycle Plan Technical Design Handbook
Los Angeles has over 100 outdoor public staircases. As any cyclist knows, carrying a bike up and down them is doable, but can be a major inconvenience and something that may stop new riders from taking a stab at the mode of transportation. Today, Councilmember Tom LaBonge introduced a motion that would instruct city staff to study bicycle stairways, which he describes as a channel alongside a staircase to facilitate walking a bicycle up or down it.
Joe Linton, a member of the city's bicycle committee who closely follows the bicycle plan, says such infrastructure can be found elsewhere. "They're all over Toronto and they're really nice," he said, also noting that the current draft bicycle plan includes bicycle tracks for stairways in the technical design handbook. Linton added that it would be nice if staircases in Metro subway stations included the tracking.
“Some of the world’s greatest cities have taken cyclists into consideration when designing or updating their urban areas,” LaBonge said in a statement. “There is no greater city than Los Angeles, and it’s about time we incorporate the needs of bicyclists into our architectural plans.”
LaBonge, a bicycling supporter himself, is up for re-election next year and will face community activist Stephen Box, whose mode of transportation is the bicycle.
