A city council subcommittee discussed bicycle safety and potential reduced transit fares for veterans at a meeting Tuesday.
Driver and bicycle safety and education are very important to the city, according to the city’s Street Transportation Director Wylie Bearup.
One out of every 41 traffic crashes in Phoenix involves a bicyclist according to Bearup’s presentation to the council members. In addition, one out of 23 fatal crashes involve bicyclists.
Driving a car and riding a bike are both responsibilities, Bearup said. More driver and bike safety components may become part of driver’s license training manuals.
Making Phoenix streets as safe as possible is a collaborative effort, Bearup said. It all starts in the schools and includes involving teachers, students and parents. The three E’s of the bike safety program are education, engineering and enforcement.
“We do heavy outreach in the community,” Bearup said.
There are many community bike safety events, such as bike-to-school events, that are held mostly at schools but supported by the Phoenix Police Department and Phoenix Fire Department. Driver education is key, Bearup said. The community has to understand how to ride a bike safely, but also how to drive cautiously around bikes.
The city uses multiple platforms to convey its messages on bike safety, including public radio announcements, bike signs, posters and comic books. This program works in conjunction with the Bicycle Master Plan, Complete Streets, the city’s upcoming bike share and Reinvent Phoenix.
In addition to the discussion on bicycle safety, council members received information about a potential program to provide reduced fare transit access to veterans.
There are currently 275,000 veterans in Maricopa County according to Veterans Services. Reduced or free transit fares for United States military veterans may become accessible in Phoenix in coming years. Councilwoman Kate Gallego from District Eight brought to the committee’s attention the “local interest in affairs for U.S. veterans, as well as a national interest.”
According to Phoenix Public Transit Director Maria Hyatt this is a preliminary idea that requires collaboration with the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services. Currently, Phoenix’s public transit only meets the federal requirements regarding veterans, Hyatt said.
“Transportation was really the challenge facing veterans,” Gallego said.
The public transit system already has a homeless service program and the Tempe Youth Transit Pass Program which provide the homeless and young people with free fares. Cities that already have programs in place that provide free or reduced transit fare for veterans include Seattle, Chicago, Miami, Washington and Denver, Hyatt said.
Victory Place is an organization that provides housing for veterans that is located just off of Seventh Street near Broadway Road in Phoenix. In addition to helping veterans access public transit, Hyatt said she learned from her work with Victory Place that their program would provide the light rail with “new riders that don’t currently ride the system because they can’t afford it.”
The transit services department needs to further evaluate how much this will cost the city and how exactly they could implement this plan. Hyatt said the department also needs to identify potential funding for this project. The plan proposes an onboard survey this fall to see how public transit affects veterans.
Contact the reporter at klwater1@asu.edu.
