Will this incredibly attractive street mean economic ruin for northwest downtown? Image courtesy of Payton Chung via Flickr
Given the overwhelming support for the Austin Master Bike Plan and successful recent implementation of new bicycle infrastructure, it was a bit surprising to hear the vocal opposition to the City of Austin plan to convert Nueces Street to a bicycle boulevard. Time and again both at the meeting and in the press, we heard some property owners say bikes were all fine and good, but putting a bicycle boulevard on their street would lower property values, hurt business, and generally create an economic Armageddon in northwest downtown. Unfortunately, while City staff were very prepared to talk about the what bike boulevards look like and do to the physical space, they had no good answer to these legitimate economic concerns about what is essentially uncharted territory for Austin bike infrastructure.
Are we asking that these businesses be sacrificed for the greater public good? Hardly. A quick look at what other cities have done to calm traffic and create space for pedestrians and bicycles have done nothing but improve property values and business in general. An August 2008 Transportation Alternatives multi-city study found that reducing automobile traffic on streets increased property values from anywhere between 10-30% after calming was implemented. Moreover for owners of commercial property, tenant vacancy rates improve in one instance having vacancy rates falling an astonishing 70% to 20% within five years of implementing measures to reduce car traffic. As for retail business, there is only upside with sales jumping an average of 10-25% with the creation of multi-modal space. Increased pedestrian and bicycle use appears to be very good for business.
What is also interesting about these measures is that even those who initially oppose them come to embrace them for the positive economic and local environmental improvements they provide. On Valencia Street in San Francisco, local business owners voiced opposition when traffic calming was proposed yet several years later 65% of owners on the street said it had a positive effect while only 4% thought it had a negative effect. The turnaround was so great that 65% also approved of greater traffic calming than what was currently implemented.
So why is this happening? Some of the Nueces Street property owners have argued preserving easy auto access is critical to maintaining the viability of the area. Well, bike boulevards and other traffic calming maintain access for customer traveling by car while all but eliminate cut through traffic. This cut through traffic is simply trying to get elsewhere limiting likelihood of spontaneous stops. So if traffic calming does not adversely affect current customer access where is the economic growth coming from? When you create a space for pedestrians and bicyclists, you are creating a place where people travel at a slower pace and tend to linger. This means more retail business. Indeed, this was the reason indoor malls were created. By making a space for people to shop and linger, you greatly increased the amount and frequency in which people make purchases. And why the property value increase? It turns out for as much as people like the convenience of cars they don’t like the reality of traffic very much. The Transportation Alternatives study found homes on quiet streets within the same neighborhood command 10% more in sale value versus their counterparts on busy streets. People don’t like the noise and pollution of cars and will pay more to avoid them.
So we find bike boulevards and other traffic calming is not only good for quality of life but also good for business. It’s time for Austin to reap the rewards these tools can bring to our community.
Related posts:
- LOBV releases proposal for Nueces Bike Boulevard ...
- Bike Boulevards: Everything old is new again ...
- City offers more options, positions harden at second bike boulevard meeting ...
- Massive turnout by cycling community at Third Nueces Street Bike Boulevard Open House ...
- Second Nueces Bike Boulevard scheduled for tonight at 6 PM ...
on Dec 22nd, 2009 at 2:43 pm
This is a bit of a reach. A lot of the small businesses out there need exposure by any means necessary – and yes, even being seen by a cut-through driver is exposure of a sort.
(This is, by the way, the REAL reason why so many struggling downtowns have gone through the fad of converting one-way streets back to two-way streets; it’s all about making storefronts more visible to motorists; and has absolutely nothing to do with safety – which is worse on two-way streets for everybody concerned, especially bikes and peds).
on Dec 22nd, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I agree 100%. A bike blvd. will do little to harm the businesses and property values on Nueces. Cars will still be able to access the businesses – most of the offices on Nueces are law offices and don’t get much, if any, “drive by” business. As cyclists we are more aware of our surroundings and “stopping in” on a bicycle is far more convenient than it is in a car, especially in a high density area where difficult parking and traffic are deterrents to quick stops. The cars driving by Tiffs Treats don’t smell the cookies, but we cyclists do. I stopped at the One Taco at Woodrows just the other day simply because I saw it and it was easy to ride on up and order a taco.
I heard a lot of backward thinking at that meeting from property owners (“Who in here pays taxes?” Come on man!). It’s high time we stop prioritizing cars and thinking forward to other forms of transportation.
on Dec 22nd, 2009 at 2:52 pm
M1EK,
Sure cut through traffic is some exposure, but I think you are looking at quantity versus quality. You do eliminate much of the cut through traffic but you replace it with foot and bike traffic and those folks are going to be more likely to stop at the business than someone trying to avoid backups on Guadalupe at 5 PM. Of course, the traffic calming has to create real space that truly promotes the new form of transportation otherwise you reduce car traffic while failing to replace it with the others. All the more reason to build a real bike boulevard, not some crappy compromise.
on Dec 22nd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Agreed – and if you can convince the business owners that normal people with jobs actually ride their bikes past the business (rather than students or the juvenile-anarchist-brigade-types) in the same numbers as the displaced cut-through drivers, you may make some headway. The problem is that those volumes are difficult to achieve unless the bike boulevard is truly outstanding and the bike traffic in the area that’s funneled through it is at really high levels.
Personally, I’m fine with it even IF the worst fears of the property owner are true – because the city does not owe a business owner on a street anything other than access to the property in some form. But if you want to use this kind of argument in this effort, I think it’s necessary to analyze its potential weaknesses.
on Dec 22nd, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Well, I looked for a half day couldn’t find any reports that showed negative economic effects of traffic calming so I’m not just reporting the sunnier info. I think the property owners concerns are valid, and they should be told what effect this could have on their land or business. That shouldn’t be the sole deciding factor, but it appears the worst this would do is have no effect and probably will increase the value of what they currently have.
on Dec 22nd, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Well, I’m a professional type who is a bicycle commuter and who will certainly use the bicycle boulevard and, indeed, I’ve been more of a drop-in customer at Mellow Johnny’s and Mulberry because they’re on my route and I pass them every day, but most of the business I pass on Nueces are bail bondsmen and lawyer’s offices– not the kinds of businesses that are likely to garner drop-in business.
on Dec 22nd, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Jeremy,
True, however that area of downtown is a focus for mixed use redevelopment under the draft downtown plan. Creating a sense of place and bike/pedestrian focus complements that.
For those legal businesses, the data out there shows traffic calming to have relatively little effect on clients coming to their offices and property values increasing.
on Dec 22nd, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Hail to this movement! The bike blvd or pedesterian-based way are the key to the business because there r a default that are deeply embodied inside the human being.
The speed of sight through our eyes have not ever been changed for since. Therefore, drive in a vehicle that go fast like 30 MPH go by the businesses strip might be too fast for people to start their tempting to buy something from those business. And by the time, that driver already passed by. That is the art of Coveting( the core of capitalism). FOr that coveting sense.
A Vehicle carries less people in this size of vehicle.. Obviously! So bike/pedestrian based blvd actually carries more people in sq feet than vehicles does.
Think about the proxemics of human being that influcenced our way of living. It is not that hard to analyize ourselves.
With this two little reasons, the business obviously WILL grow.
Why do we look at vehicles as “money-carrier”. The actual “money-carrier” is people whose carry their wallets/purses w em.
Does everyone agree w this?
Keith
on Dec 23rd, 2009 at 2:29 am
Bike boulevards are good for business. Love this. http://bit.ly/7Z7BWU #fb
on Dec 23rd, 2009 at 5:27 am
On a bike–especially when there are easy places to lock up my bike nearby (like the 20 bike racks along Monterey’s Cannery Row bike path)–I definitely check out businesses more. I stop and connect with the shopkeepers, get to know them more, want to patronize their places more, and of course, I actually see more of what there is to do or buy.
The only challenge I see is for those businesses that might feel they’d occasionally lose impulse purchases on items too large for a backpack. However, there are options: more people are using cargo carriers on their bikes all the time though (especially parents with young children). Also, there’s the same option many travelers prefer: please ship it to my home. Or, offer to have the customer pay for their item and you can store it for them until they are coming that way by car another day soon.
Restaurants and other food service places probably sell more to people traveling by bike! Can’t zip home in the car quickly if we’re suddenly hungry, and we’re burning more calories. And again, we simply notice more yummy places to stop along our bike routes.
I enjoy biking the bikepaths here that put me into the business communities more than I’d ever drive there by car. Were it not for wanting to get out and cycle, I’d stay home or do something else; I wouldn’t be inclined to just go for an outing in the business district. So yes, bikeways are great for retail shops, restaurants, and many other businesses.
I spend a little more, and enjoy spending it more, when I’m biking in my community and relating more closely with business owners here.
on Jan 5th, 2010 at 4:08 am
I have a bike, I ride it — I travel on streets with bike lanes, I shop at places with bike racks, I prefer businesses that support my lifestyle — so I continue to shop in bike friendly places even when I drive.
on Jan 5th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Adding traffic calming and bicycle infrastructure has repeatedly proven to benefit local retail. You can see a summary of the syndrome, with links to studies in my article at Bicycle Fixation: http://bicyclefixation.com/bikebucks.html
on Jan 12th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Bicycle infrastructure/provisions is good for business. Correct, proven over and over again in the Netherlands for the last 30 years. When the city of Groningen (in the north of NL, now 60% of all trips by bike) made plans to work towards an almost completely car-free center, that was a bit much even for Dutch shop keepers. After the first year, business had risen by over 30% and quickly increased even further. Obviously, it’s now the preferred grid. People on bikes in a bike-friendly commercial area will maybe by less (limited quantity) per trip, but they make up with a higher frequency of shopping and visiting more shops per trip.