 Hi I'm Fiona and I'm Gwen and today we are going out on the street of North Manuski Avenue to ask people what they think about the bike lane that was added six months ago that also took away 40 parking spots. Do you live around here? I do. I live like a five minute walk that way. Oh has it affected you in any way? Were you around when the decision was made? I came into it with the bike lane already here but it's been pretty great. It's definitely nicer to have more space and be able to bike. I would prefer it to be like a completely separate bike lane where there's a bike lane maybe some parked cars or wall and then the lane of traffic just to increase safety, pedestrian safety, bicyclist safety and avoid more collisions but this is better, it's nice. I'm not used to riding in the snow so it helps to have at least a little bit of space to ride a bike in. Wow that was awesome. Thank you so much. You answered like my questions. Oh absolutely. You'd say it's more positive. Well you didn't know before but you'd say it has more positive. Yeah I haven't noticed anyone getting hit by a car or anything too negative really from it. Did you drive? Have you noticed any difference in parking availability? They got rid of I think about full spots. I have not noticed any difference. I have private parking so I wouldn't have but yeah I could see how that might hinder people but I'm also anti-car and pro like apartment housing walkable communities stuff like that so do away with cars it's fine. I work right there so it's like people definitely ride by on their bikes but I don't know how much they need the extra space. You know what I mean? Yeah because I don't know that extra space is definitely they need it for parking. You know what I mean? And like that's the issue with the housing I feel like right is like the zoning for the parking so adding a bike lane isn't gonna help add more housing so I don't know what I don't know what it solves. You know what I mean? I was thinking about it like you asked me before it was like yeah I don't know what the fuck why they put a bike lane here like whatever but it's like when you think about it it's like why I mean I don't think that the adding the bike lane is gonna increase so like the number of people riding bikes you know what I mean like like like more bike lanes isn't gonna like inspire me to like ride my bike around. You know what I mean? I don't know. Just tell us what you think. Well I don't think they should take all the parking spaces that people need there's a lot of they're taking away all the housing in the parking and that we need housing and we need parking you know and I just travel this side so the cars can see me when the one let one way I go on the other side because the driver is the one that has to see the person on the bicycle and since I've been up here I've been riding my bike in the Burlington area even when I had two cars I rode my bicycle because it's just much more healthy and I just enjoy it more out in the fresh air. Would you say that you feel safer in a bike lane then? Well yes because they brushed me on Shelburne Road and they had a whole other lane and they didn't use the other lane and they didn't go out a little bit. They went right close to me and when I was on North Avenue and the policeman called on his radio and said get off the road you're blocking traffic and there was two lanes back then not just one lane and a suicide lane in the middle it was two lanes and he said you're blocking traffic and I said I am traffic you know but and that's right by the bike friendly sign on North Avenue there's a purple sign that says bike friendly city but it's not always bike friendly they they honk at you and I know they're coming I heard the truck and he used his jake brake and not supposed to use a jake brake in the city limits and I heard but I but I heard him coming before and I just kind of have that sense in my head I knew he was down the road and I could feel him but he didn't come close to me he just went by I'm not afraid but I don't want to get hit I don't want him to run me down you know so it's good to have a bike lane it's good and we're allowed to ride double if there's two people you're allowed to ride two side-by-side but nobody really does much because we don't want to push the limit of people trying to hit us you know I'm Michael Michael nice to meet you yeah it's definitely helpful I think without the bike lane there's just not a lot of space on the road and cars sometimes pass in a way that like makes me feel pretty unsafe biking and so yeah it just adds like a nice little extra buffer and makes me feel more safe yeah I mean I think I do think that I mean there's like there's a big parking lot right here there's tree parking on the whole rest of the way and you know maybe it'll like save someone's life so yeah we are here at Old Spokes home to ask them about their opinions on the bike lane on North Winooski Ave which is taking spots away from local businesses but also keeping bikers safe I actually need a new bike yeah I'm John Copans I'm the executive director here at Old Spokes home we're a nonprofit bike shop here in the old north end of Burlington and it will come as no surprise we feel pretty passionately that bikes are a great tool to get people around their community they're affordable they're efficient and they're fun they're healthy so like we think that actually it is a great investment for a community to share some of the public space with with modes of transportation like bicycles like when you get out and ride your bike you shouldn't have to feel like you're taking your life in your hands you know so for us we know this has been like a dynamic conversation in the old north end around carving out some space on North Winooski for a bike lane but for us we feel like it's a really good use of space like we feel like you know people are now referring to this stretch of road from Winooski down through Burlington as the bicycle highway that's a great thing right this is a thoroughfare for folks coming into this neighborhood and through this neighborhood on bicycle to get to places they need to get and the reality is like I think some policymakers lose track of this sometimes but the truth is 30% of the households in this neighborhood do not have access to a car right so that means they are walking places they're taking the bus or they're riding a bike or they're doing some mix of all those things to get around and so the idea that we're sharing some of that public space with those other modes of transportation we honestly feel enthusiastic about the change you know I am sensitive to that topic and I'm particularly sensitive because if you look behind you what we have is a parking lot at Old Spokes Home so we are we feel pretty fortunate that our customers have some off-street parking right not all the businesses on North Winooski have that luxury so it's a more sensitive issue so I don't want to just like dismiss that issue I guess what my observation has been is we lost some of that parking and it doesn't feel like it it's I still see vacant spots I still see open spots my senses that customers can still get to businesses I mean we I would say care a lot about having a thriving ecosystem of businesses in the old North End and so I definitely wouldn't want to dismiss that on the other hand I think we actually often the perception of scarcity when it comes to parking is actually greater than the reality of scarcity and I think when we do a project like this in the end often what we experience is you know what life goes on people figure out how to park feet people figure out how to take care of their how to take care of their needs so thank you so much I think the bike line is great I mean you can bike here safely now definitely safer than it was before sure right I mean yeah you lot you may have lost parking for businesses but now you've gained bike lanes for the businesses so it's like you know the customers or the biking or they're driving you know there's still some parking it's not like you can't drive so it seems like we got to have I don't know I don't think cars are I think ultimately people are happier if they're moving around with their body versus driving so how do you feel about the bike I love bikes bike lane that was added six months ago and it also took away like 40 spots right here on North Manuski Avenue we were wondering your thoughts or experiences with this or just generally what you think about it being added positive negative both I think in general it's you know it's it's hard to tell because I I do work here at town meeting TV and luckily we have a big parking lot that generally when I get here it's they are spaces but you know this is a multi-use building and there are a lot of businesses in here particularly when when yo popping there's no this place the parking lot completely fills up people park in spots that aren't spots and in parking lots that aren't for this building and if you happen to have to go on a shoot and come back at a certain time that's around when those businesses are busy you're you're kind of out of luck and so partially I think that has to do with the removal of some parking spots on the street because a lot of people would also park on the street when they're coming for their classes but now what it is say it was like 46 spots or something like that that they removed so I can kind of see some of the consequences isn't like a great word to use but of that but in general I do think it's a positive thing the more we can make this city bikeable walkable you're never gonna get it to be car-free which is why I think it's important to take into consideration how people can still access their you know their local community spaces and sometimes people live of sometimes people don't live in Burlington and they come to Burlington to go to yoga class or come to our studio to film their shows and so it's important to think about all sides of the issue and I have noticed as a as a last aside that even though they did take away all the parking spots on the kind of right side of the road almost every day when I'm going home I see somebody parked like in the bike lane so that's an interesting factor that even though they've put that in people are still looking for parking spaces and unloading spots and often they will just park where they can and because that used to be that way and even though it's obviously a bike lane people will block it and so I think that that's something to be considered too yep hey everyone back again I'm Gwen I'm Fiona and we just got back from interviewing people and we got a few different opinions and we learned some interesting stuff thanks for watching