ACT 2014 Innovative Walking and Bicycling Programs Last 100

1. Good afternoon everyone. Thank you all for joining us and thank you Amy for helping pull this panel together today.
As Amy mentioned, my name is Michael Alba, I guide the transportation program at LinkedIn.
While I had originally planned on describing the bicycle program at a Bay Area tech campus, I believe Jessica has that
covered because Facebook has an amazing program.
Instead, I am going to be focusing specifically on what I am calling the LAST 100
You can say feet, meters, steps after it if that helps …
The unit is irrelevant, I am speaking about the first or last leg of any commute, any trip really.
This Last 100 is almost always about improving a walk
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2. Because
All trips begin and end as a walk
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3. Improving the LAST 100 benefits everyone arriving or departing, even drivers
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4. But more so for those with the more strenuous arrivals such as cyclists and walkers, who rely on physical power but also
passengers who are subjected to unforgiving schedules
No one wants to accept additional delay and diversion. Think jaywalking, running across the street to catch the bus, bikes
locked to street signs near entrances when there are racks around the corner, heck, think circling the downtown block for
10 minutes to find the space in front of the building.
But the pedestrians, bicyclists and passengers are less willing to accept delay and unnecessary diversion because they
have already accepted a degree of delay and diversion in their trip.
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5. The goal of focusing on the LAST 100 is about making the preferred modes (walking, biking, passengers) the convenient
choice.
If it becomes the convenient mode, then it will become the preferred choice.
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6. In the LAST 100, the idea is that we can begin working backwards from the destination to improve the experience of delay
and the need for diversion from ones path.
In so doing, we encourage more walking and biking but really provide benefit for all arrivals.
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7. One of the best ways to improve delay for everyone is to provide good facilities for getting up and down.
The best way to do that varies by building type and scale but I would argue that no matter where, variety is important.
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8. If you have a tall building, elevators are great for small groups and very fast for going more than 5 floors
At LinkedIn, we have plenty of tall buildings in our urban offices but when you come to an office park with buildings
under 5 stories, elevators have limited effectiveness.
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9. If you have an office parking building with fewer than 5 floors, the delay associated with elevators negates the time saved
on the elevator.
Even if you have efficient elevators, if you have a large flow of people, there is delay associated with waiting for the next
arrival.
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10. As shopping centers have learned, escalators are great for moving large flows of people up unlimited flights
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11. The SFMTA headquarters in San Francisco has escalators in the lobby up all 8 floors
It is a great way to remove delay from an employee’s LAST 100. Sure, there is an elevator lobby as well, by why wait when
the escalator is right there?
Of course, most buildings do not have escalators but we still want to have variety…
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12. But every building has stairways, and they are not only for emergency use
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13. Using the stairs is actually good for you, in NYC there is a great public health campaign encouraging the use of stairs.
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14. Aside from the health benefits, stairs are efficient.
Stairs are fast for 1-3 flights, require only human energy and move large flows of people efficiently.
The reason we require them for emergency evacuations is because they can move large flows of people very quickly.
So by encouraging more use of stairs, we can reduce the amount of delay experienced by everyone arriving/departing.
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15. TO encourage more use of stairs, we need to make them convenient:
convenient locations so they are easy to find, preferably in the direct desire line to avoid diversion
convenient directional information should be present so people on the stairs do not need to divert to find a floor map
therefore avoid delay
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16. Stairways should have great lighting, relevant wayfinding, or even attractive scenery like my favorite stairway at SPUR San
Francisco
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17. Improve delay by improving the opportunities for everyone to move up and down
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18. For cyclists specifically, reduce the diversion involved in accessing your space by bike.
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19. Put parking nearby entrances, and not just main lobbies, put them near all entrance so people can park their bike on their
way to their desk.
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20. Make sure to have a variety of storage types for the various classes of bicyclists, lockers for some, racks for others…
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21. Even provide secure space inside
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22. It is secure and you can showcase cycling
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23. While providing convenient parking on the way to their desk
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24. And my personal favorite, especially in office park settings: the stairwell
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25. Because as we all know now, all trips begin and end as walks
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26. That is, unless you are lucky enough to bike to your bike desk
I have never been so lucky
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27. Focus a little attention on making that LAST 100 a better experience and we will see more people walking and biking.
Thank you.
And now Jessica Herrera from Facebook is going to wow you with the cool things some of us Silicon Valley tech
companies do for biking.
Jessica…
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