The Chainlink

Bicycle Count Volunteers Needed!!!  Help Document Bicycling in Chicago!!!
 
The Chicago Bicycle Program is recruiting volunteers to participate in the April 2013 Downtown Bike Count during one or more of the following times:
 
Tuesday, April 23rd between 7AM – 9AM
Tuesday, April 23rd between 4PM – 6PM
Saturday, April 27th, between Noon – 2PM
Approximately 25 volunteers are needed for each of the 3 time slots.
 
Volunteers will help record changes in seasonal ridership, document the need for bicycle infrastructure and help advance Chicago’s commitment to be the Most Bicycle Friendly City in America .
 
During the September 2012 Downtown Bike Count, volunteers recorded 9,395 bicyclists at 20 locations entering and exiting the Central Business District during the morning and afternoon peak hours.  The stats from the 2011 and 2012 counts are available here: http://www.chicagobikes.org/public/bikecounts.php
 
To volunteer and/or for more info, please contact:
Tim Huff - timothy.huff@tylin.com
or
 
David Smith – david.smith@tylin.com
312.742.7620
 
Thank you for your all of your support with this project and your commitment to promoting bicycling in Chicago!

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I've volunteered for the bike count before and A) it is fun (people- and bike-watching *plus* being outside, come on!) and B) I am glad they are saving the money by using volunteers to do the actual data gathering. It's quite a large-scale endeavor, covering all roads into (or out of) downtown and counting simultaneously in 2-hour stints. If they had to hire 100 folks to do that each season for a couple hours, it would surely cut into the pot for infrastructure, imo. 

I'm recruiting volunteers to ride intersections. bring change of clothes, hats, and bike swapping encouraged.

Let's get some REAL protected lanes and money to keep them plowed in the winter and clean the rest of the year. 18th street was cleaned but the bike lane looked horrible near the train tracks,full of garbage and who knows what else.

peter moorman said:

How accurate are these counts anyway?

Suppose somebody is riding around the block all day.

Do they keep counting that cyclist over and over?

Well said.

Sarah D. 1-3.3 said:

I've volunteered for the bike count before and A) it is fun (people- and bike-watching *plus* being outside, come on!) and B) I am glad they are saving the money by using volunteers to do the actual data gathering. It's quite a large-scale endeavor, covering all roads into (or out of) downtown and counting simultaneously in 2-hour stints. If they had to hire 100 folks to do that each season for a couple hours, it would surely cut into the pot for infrastructure, imo. 

+1 to what Sarah D said. The issue is that they need far more people to count at locations than they have paid personnel. It's fun and an easy way to partially fulfill your sense of bicycle-related civic duty. I'll be out there again and am hoping it warms up by then to maximize the volumes of people on bikes. 

I've also volunteered a few times.  Sometimes you see people you know.  Sometimes you just get to observe and help CDOT gather info.  It's time well spent.

Donating our time so that others can make money?  I guess you don't get it. 


I agree with the other commenters about volunteer time for a task that doesn't require specialized skills being helpful to T.Y. Lin, the city and ultimately to US, because the planners have more information on which to base decisions about bike facilities.  This helps our tax dollars (and grant money for projects) go further, so that we get more bike infrastructure.

Tony Adams 6.6 mi said:

...Our time is the most valuable thing we have.  I find the fact that we are asked to donate our time so that others can make money hugely interesting. Roll in the fact that on top of donating our time, that the consultants are then paid with tax-payer dollars and it gets even more interesting. 

What I clearly get is that T.Y. Lin is making money from this contract. The volunteers are lowering their labor costs so they can extract more profit from the project. I'm not arguing with the ends but I find the   means questionable. 


Anne Alt said:

Donating our time so that others can make money?  I guess you don't get it. 


I agree with the other commenters about volunteer time for a task that doesn't require specialized skills being helpful to T.Y. Lin, the city and ultimately to US, because the planners have more information on which to base decisions about bike facilities.  This helps our tax dollars (and grant money for projects) go further, so that we get more bike infrastructure.

Tony Adams 6.6 mi said:

...Our time is the most valuable thing we have.  I find the fact that we are asked to donate our time so that others can make money hugely interesting. Roll in the fact that on top of donating our time, that the consultants are then paid with tax-payer dollars and it gets even more interesting. 

Hi Tony,

Do you have access to the contract language to back up your statements? Does the contract state that Ty Lin will staff the counts with paid resources?

Again, volunteer because you believe that it will help the bicycling community. Or don't volunteer.

But presenting your opinions while pretending them to be facts makes this a silly argument.



Tony Adams 6.6 mi said:

What I clearly get is that T.Y. Lin is making money from this contract. The volunteers are lowering their labor costs so they can extract more profit from the project. I'm not arguing with the ends but I find the   means questionable. 


Anne Alt said:

Donating our time so that others can make money?  I guess you don't get it. 


I agree with the other commenters about volunteer time for a task that doesn't require specialized skills being helpful to T.Y. Lin, the city and ultimately to US, because the planners have more information on which to base decisions about bike facilities.  This helps our tax dollars (and grant money for projects) go further, so that we get more bike infrastructure.

Tony Adams 6.6 mi said:

...Our time is the most valuable thing we have.  I find the fact that we are asked to donate our time so that others can make money hugely interesting. Roll in the fact that on top of donating our time, that the consultants are then paid with tax-payer dollars and it gets even more interesting. 

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