Category Archives: Green Transportation

SmartTrips Comes to Fairpark

Following a very successful pilot in the East Liberty Park neighborhood, the SmartTrips program returns for the 2013 summer season — this time to the Fairpark neighborhood.

A lot is happening in Fairpark, making it the perfect place to offer customized bike, walk and public transit information and resources to residents. The Airport TRAX line opens in a little over a week on Saturday, April 13^th. And the North Temple corridor has been improved to make it Salt Lake City’s first Complete Street – with infrastructure for public transit, personal vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.

What is SmartTrips?

SmartTrips is a neighborhood-based program that encourages public and active transportation through free bike/walk/transit kits, coupons to local businesses, educational newsletters and collaborative community events.

The Salt Lake City SmartTrips program is modeled after similar programs in Portland, Oregon and other communities, which have all successfully reduced the number of vehicle trips.

How Do I Participate?

Fairpark residents will be receiving the first of three SmartTrips newsletters in the mail this week. Included in the newsletter is a program order form, which allows residents to choose from bike, walk and transit kits that include maps, pamphlets and freebies such as a bike light, pedometer and UTA passes.

Also included is a SmartTrips Coupon Book with discounts at a variety of retailers located in the Fairpark neighborhood. And for those who prefer it, there is an online order form as well.

More Information

Visit the SmartTrips website for more information on the program, including a community calendar of events. You can also check out SmartTrips on Facebook.

GREENbike Launches Next Monday (April 8)

Photo courtesy of GREENbike (Facebook)

Next Monday, April 8^th the highly anticipated bike share program lands in Salt Lake City! GREENbike stations officially go online in less than a week, and we wanted to give our readers a preview of the program so you can be as excited as we are.

Quick Facts

Program will launch with up to 120 bikes available
10 bike share stations are located at key spots in downtown Salt Lake City (see map below)
Projected to save 77,000 vehicle miles in the first year alone, including 20,000 “cold starts” (a key contributor to poor air quality)
Designed for short trips in the city by people wearing regular clothes and carrying ordinary stuff (no spandex required!)
There is a great mobile app available for download at the GREENbikeslc.org website (i.e. Spotcycle).

Short Trips

GREENbike is designed for short, 30 minute trips that get you from point A to point B downtown. Think of it as your “puddle jumper” that will get you from one downtown hot spot to another. For example —

Take a quick and direct route from the UTA Intermodal Hub to Gallivan Center or Library Square.
A quick lunch trip for downtown employees (stopping by Squatters, Harmons Grocery or a variety of other restaurants)
Getting to and from a downtown meeting.
Hopping from City Creek to The Gateway on a downtown shopping spree.
And any other short, downtown trip that you can dream up!

Membership

A 24-hour Access Pass ($5), 7-day ($15) or Annual Membership ($75) lets you take UNLIMITED 30 minute trips at no extra charge! Every time you dock a bike, you get a fresh 30 minutes. Get on board.

Launch & Party

The public is invited to attend the official GREENbike launch on Monday, April 8th at 10:30 a.m. at the west entrance to Gallivan Center. Join Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, Salt Lake City Council Member and R.D.A. Chair Stan Penfold and other excited community members. SLCGreen will be there to cover the event too!

A fundraising launch party is scheduled for Tuesday, April 9th from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at Squatters. Tickets are $50, and include all things needed for a very fun night — DJ, open bar, appetizers and a prize drawing for a $1,100 TREK bike at 8 p.m. Join the fun.

GREENbike Fact Sheet (PDF)

GREENbike Map (PDF)

Sugar House Streetcar Takes Shape

For many years, the Sugar House Streetcar has been a dream shared by many.

Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony in May 2012, and since then great progress has been made to bring the streetcar back to Salt Lake City.

This spring finds construction beginning on the Greenway, the 2 mile park that will run parallel to the streetcar line. The greenway is planned to include plazas, Parley’s Trail and extensive landscaping that will enhance the area and draw residents on foot and two wheels.

As the streetcar comes to life, Sugar House itself is experiencing a resurgence in development. With over 1,000 new housing units planned and private investment topping over $400 million, a neighborhood rejuvenation is underway.

Learn more about the streetcar project.

The Code Revision Project

Several years ago, Salt Lake City embarked on a ground-breaking initiative to incorporate sustainability provisions into zoning and subdivision ordinances. The project set out to revise and expand upon existing ordinances that were out of date and/or put up barriers to sustainable city practices.

The topic areas considered include:

Transit-Oriented and Mixed Use Development (Ordinance adopted)
Urban Agriculture (Ordinances adopted)
Renewable Energy (Ordinances adopted)
Accessory Dwelling Units (Ordinance adopted)
Street, Pedestrian and Bicycle Connectivity
Water Efficient Landscape
Tree Protection
Recycling and Waste Reduction
Transportation Demand Management
Outdoor Lighting

Several ordinances have already been adopted by the Salt Lake City Council, with a the rest making progress along the approval process. Get a complete update on the project on the SLCGreen website.

Questions? Let us know!

Volunteer with GREENbike

SLCGreen received this notice from our good friends at GREENbike, the bike share system opening this April in Downtown SLC! Read on for a great opportunity to get involved, and also check out their Facebook page. They are revealing the locations of each bike share station via social media!

Learn more about bike share.

GREENbike, SLC Bike Share is looking for bike build volunteers

The bikes for GREENbike, SLC Bike Share will be arriving in Utah shortly and we need some volunteers to help get them up and running. There will be a week-long bike build and we need quite a few volunteers to help with different tasks. We are in need of bicycle mechanics, people to help unpack the bikes, people to apply bike decals, and general volunteers to keep things moving.

The build shifts start on Tuesday, March 12^th and will run until all of the bikes are built (Ideally, we want to be done by the end of Saturday, March 16^th, but we would love to finish earlier in the week). There are three shifts available each day (8 a.m. – 12 p.m., 1 p.m. – 5 p.m., and 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.) and there will be a mandatory training on Monday, March 11^th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for all interested Bicycle mechanics. The necessary tools will be provided for all of the volunteer responsibilities. In order to maximize our build time, please only sign up if you will for sure be able to make the shift(s).

The build will take place in a warehouse so please wear clothing that can get dirty and a layer to keep you warm. All volunteers should be at least 18 years of age. Sorry, but given the setting and the nature of the work, children are not allowed.

If you are interested in volunteering e-mail info@greenbikeslc.org and put the phrase “Bike Build Volunteer” as the subject line. Let us know which day(s) and shift(s) you would like as well as with which task you can help. We will send out location information once you are confirmed on our schedule.

2013: The Year of the Bike

Salt Lake City has declared 2013 the “Year of the Bike” to recognize and promote the many bicycle events, programs, and infrastructure projects happening in the Salt Lake region in the coming year.

We caught up with Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, Salt Lake City Councilman Stan Penfold, UTA General Manager Mike Allegra, UDOT Deputy Director Carlos Braceras and several other community leaders at the Year of the Bike kick-off event to hear about what’s in store.

At the event, UTA shared two exciting announcements – buses will now have bike racks that accept three bikes at a time (expanded from two) and bike hooks will be added to TRAX trains across the valley!

So what else is on the schedule?

The launch of the GREENbike, SLC Bike Share program in April,
Utah Bike Summit at the University of Utah,
Open Streets Salt Lake City event in May,
UTA Bike Bonanza in May,
The Road Respect Bicycle Tour in June,
5th Annual Clear the Air Challenge,
And many more events to come!

More information is available at BikeSLC.com.

Think spring!