BlankFriends of bicycling and walking,

You've been looking for an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to
making our Central Ohio community friendly for bicycling. Here's your
opportunity.

The 2006 National Bicycle and Pedestrian Count will be on Wednesday
September 13th during morning rush hour from 7:00 to 9:00 am. We need more
volunteers to help with the count!!!



Last year, volunteers from COBAC joined other volunteers and spread out
throughout Central Ohio to begin the National Bicycle and Pedestrian
Documentation Project.





MORPC -- the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission -- is the leader of the
count here in Central Ohio



Each of us attended a very brief training session at MORPC, chose a
location, heard what they needed us to do, and got our equipment (a few
papers mostly).



And from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on May 10th and on July 6th and on September 13th
we each went to our chosen locations and counted bicyclists and pedestrians.
And then we handed in our counts to MORPC.



As simple as that. But hugely important.



The purpose of the bike/ped count project is to do a nationwide baseline
benchmarking count to determine how many people are bicycling and walking
and to establish a standard for measuring the levels of bicycling and
walking. This is a project of the Institute of Transportation Engineers
(ITE) Pedestrian and Bicycle Council. It will help us make Central Ohio and
the rest of America more friendly for bicycling.



And we are not alone. Volunteers in communities all over the country are
doing the same thing.



WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS!!! The count, to be successful, needs at least 30
people located throughout Central Ohio, at a location convenient to where
you live or work.



Brief training sessions will be announced by MORPC about a week before
September 13th.



For more details about the bike/ped count, I've pasted below the message
from MORPC about the count. If you want to see MORPC's report on last year's
count go to the MORPC website here:
http://www.morpc.org/web/transportation/documents/NationalDocumentationRepor
t2005final_000.pdf



Please join me and others from COBAC and from other organizations in doing
this hugely important task. Volunteer today! Email Dilip Karpoor at
dkarpoor@...



Thanks.



John Gideon
President
Central Ohio Bicycle Advocacy Coalition
P.O. Box 2003
Columbus, Ohio 43216-2003
Phone: (614) 844-3954
Email: jgideon@...
Website: www.cobac.org



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Hi,



As you may remember from your voluntary participation in last year's
National Pedestrian and Bicycle Documentation Project, there is an ongoing
effort nationwide to systematically and consistently document how many
people are walking and cycling and what the demand for cycling and walking
would be in various circumstances. Without accurate and consistent
statistics, it is difficult to measure the positive benefits of bicycle and
pedestrian investments, especially when compared to the other types of
transportation such as the private automobile.



The National Documentation research effort proposes the following
objectives:

1. Establish a consistent national approach to counting and surveying
bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

2. Establish a national database of bicycle and pedestrian count
information.

3. Use the count and survey information to begin analysis on the
correlations between various factors and bicycle and pedestrian activity.



As the lead organizer of the National Documentation project in central Ohio,
the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) continues to participate
in the project by conducting bicycle and pedestrian counts on Wednesday,
September 13, 2006.



The purpose of this mail primarily is to seek your assistance in conducting
counts between 7 and 9 a.m. on Wednesday - September 13, 2006 to document
morning peak ped/bike traffic. In addition to this, more counts may be
conducted between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to record mid-day peak traffic on
Wednesday - September 13, 2006 depending on availability of volunteers.
These additional counts will help us to identify trends for our regional
planning purposes.



Volunteers would commit to three hours at a minimum: a one-hour (or less)
training session in advance of the National Count date, and the two-hour
counting period in the morning of the count date. If available for the
midday count period, that would be two more hours. All equipment and
necessary information will be provided.



We at MORPC appreciate your participation in the past and look forward to
your continued involvement in the data collection effort. Please let us know
if you are interested in volunteering for these efforts, and which times you
will available.



If you have any questions, or are interested in volunteering, please contact
Dilip Karpoor at MORPC: 614-233-4123 or dkarpoor@....

(Additional information about the project can be found at
www.altaplanning.com)



Thanks.



Dilip Karpoor

Associate Planner

Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission

285 East Main Street

Columbus, OH 43215-5272

(614) 233-4123











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