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This Month's Highlights:
- Safe Routes to School Staff Changes
- Via Community Shuttle Relaunch
- Newsletter Mailing List Growth
- New Local Road Safety Plan
- Winter Safety Tips
- Fall Student Travel Report
- Regnart Creek Trail Update
- Mary Avenue Protected Bikeways
- Upcoming Dates
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Safe Routes to School Staff Changes
We Warmly Welcome Birgit Werner
Cupertino Safe Routes to School (SR2S) brought a new staff member on board in the fall. Birgit brings 5 years of experience coordinating Safe Routes to School educational and encouragement programming for the non-profit organization Safe Moves in the cities of Mountain View and Santa Clara.
In her short time with the City of Cupertino, Birgit has hit the ground running by taking on several elements of the SR2S program, including the fall student travel tally, pedestrian crossing flags, and (spoiler alert) a new grant we'll be telling you about next month.
In her spare time, she can be found cheering her son and husband on at local mountain bike races or riding horses on the polo field.
We are very excited to have Birgit on the team!
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We'll Miss You, Matt
Matt Schroeder ended his internship with Cupertino Safe Routes to School back in May, after three years of service. He is going back to school for a Master's Degree in Urban Planning and has also taken a position as a graduate intern at the City of San Jose.
We will miss Matt's positive attitude, abounding energy, and excellent ride route planning skills. We wish him the best of luck in this new chapter of his life!
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Via Community Shuttle is Back
 Cupertino relaunched its Via shuttle service in the fall with a brand new fleet of vans and new snazzy graphics. The new vans also have bike racks, making riding Via and your bicycle easier. Via-Cupertino now features incredible discounts for students, offering $2 rides, $14 weekly passes, and $42 monthly passes.
To get a student discount, email a picture of your student ID along with your name and phone number to viashuttle@cupertino.org. We will send back a promo code (usually within 24 hours) that you can enter directly into the app, unlocking the discounted fare.
Via-Cupertino serves all of Cupertino and connects to a few destinations outside of Cupertino, like the Sunnyvale Caltrain Station, Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve, and Kaiser Santa Clara. We are planning to expand to more areas soon and are also planning an all-electric fleet!
Visit http://www.cupertino.org/shuttle for more info on who can ride, how to start riding, where you can go, COVID protocols, and more.
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Newsletter Mailing List Growth
We're excited to share that our mailing list subscriber base has almost quadrupled in the last 17 months! It remained at a steady state of around 235 subscribers for a couple years through September 2020. At that time, we stopped emailing pdf newsletters to our manually-maintained mailing list and adopted the electronic eNotification system we currently use. Since then, subscriptions have jumped to 895 as of February 3, 2022. Thank you for helping us grow!
Now that we are fully staffed again, we plan to go back to publishing our newsletter on a monthly basis. If you know of anyone who might be interested in SR2S news, please encourage them to subscribe here.
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Through the Local Road Safety Plan
 The City of Cupertino is developing a comprehensive Local Road Safety Plan (LRSP). This will enable the City to enhance traffic safety for all modes of transportation and for all ages and abilities. The LRSP will provide a framework for identifying, analyzing, and prioritizing roadway safety improvements on local roads, including around schools.
The LRSP will be achieved through a decision-making process that relies on the evaluation of a comprehensive collision database, partnership with stakeholders, and public outreach. That’s where you come in! The City is looking for input from the community about areas that could use safety improvements.
Please participate in the City’s Local Road Safety Plan process by visiting https://engagecupertino.org/lrsp to provide feedback and report areas of concern before Saturday, April 30.
The City will address concerns identified in the plan by using the four "E's of traffic safety: Engineering, Enforcement, Education, and Emergency Medical Services, with proven countermeasures and phasing. The plan also consists of a monitoring mechanism, as well as policy guidelines for City staff and members of the community to evaluate effectiveness of the plan.
Funding for the LRSP comes from the Federal Highway Administration and the California Department of Transportation, and is required for the City of Cupertino to be eligible to receive federal funding for local roadway safety improvement projects in the future. Please help us improve the roads in Cupertino by reporting areas you are concerned about and proving feedback about where improvements are needed. Click on the link above to help shape Cupertino's future!
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Shimmer!
Blinking red rear lights aren’t required but are a good idea so drivers know you’re there. Add them to your bike, backpack, or helmet (or all three).
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 Sparkle!
Reflective clothing, reflective tags on your backpack, and reflectors on your bike all help drivers see you better. Also, at least one red rear bike reflector is legally required to ride after dark.
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Shine!
By law, you need one white light in front of your bike so drivers can see you. Make it a bright, wide angle LED light so you can see where you're going, too.
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Fall Student Travel Report 2021
Cupertino Safe Routes to School works with public K-12 schools within the City each year to collect data on how students are getting to school. The dark blue bar in the graph above represents students driving with only their own family in their car. All the other colors represent what we call “alternative transportation.” This includes active and shared modes of travel: walking, biking, carpooling, and transit. One of our main programmatic goals is to help increase the number of students using alternative transportation.
We paused this annual data collection when schools were virtual due to COVID-19. Students went back into the classrooms this school year, and so did our travel surveys. The summary? Students aren't carpooling as much as they did before COVID, but they are still walking and biking. In fact, the active transportation rate (walking + biking + other) is 2% higher than in 2019, pre-COVID. We’re happy to see that more students are opting to enjoy an active start to their days.
Find the full report here
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Regnart Creek Trail
Regnart Creek Trail construction is coming along! Completed sections now have a decomposed granite surface and fencing along the creek border. Remaining items of work include the relocation of an electric scoreboard at Wilson Park, the trail section between Blaney and Estates, trailhead improvements, and a project to install fencing along residential property lines. The pavement work for the crossing at Blaney and East Estates is complete and will be striped within the next month. Push-activated flashing beacons will be installed by City crews at both crossings.
We anticipate construction on the trail itself to be complete by late February or early March, followed by the installation of fencing to provide privacy for residents along the creek trail. The trail is anticipated to open to the public in late summer or early fall of this year.
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Mary Avenue Protected Bikeways
Protected bikeways now flank both sides of Mary Avenue between Stevens Creek Boulevard and the Don Burnett Bicycle Footbridge.
The new configuration positions the bike lanes adjacent to the curb, with parked cars acting as a protective barrier between moving vehicles and cyclists. There is also a buffer space separating parked cars and the bike lanes, to reduce the risk of a car door opening into a cyclist in the bike lane. Finally, the project narrows travel lanes in both directions to discourage drivers from speeding. These improvements are all intended to increase safety and reduce conflicts between moving vehicles and cyclists.
Please help keep Cupertino roads and bicyclists safe by not parking in the bike lane and by spreading the word about the new protected bikeway. Happy biking!
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 Book a Bicycle Repair Event
The Bay Area BikeMobile offers free in-person bike repair clinics and virtual presentations (details below). To schedule an event at your school or community event, visit their website or contact Tommy Bensko at:
Tommy@bikemobile.org (510) 972-4246
In-Person Bike Repair Clinic
The BikeMobile’s hands-on Bike Repair Clinic teaches valuable maintenance skills such as fixing flat tires, replacing brake pads, or oiling rusty chains.
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Virtual Presentation
The BikeMobile's virtual presentations can reach the community even when hosting an in-person event isn’t possible. Lessons Options:
1) Bikes Are Awesome!
2) Theft Prevention
3) Flat Tire Repair
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Join us for Working Group Meetings
Our Safe Routes to School (SR2S) Working Group meetings are held via Zoom on the second Wednesday of most months. Check the Important Upcoming Dates section below to learn about the main agenda items in the upcoming months. If there's a topic you'd like the Working Group to discuss, email us! SafeRoutes@Cupertino.org
If you are not designated a SR2S partner, you must register in advance to join each meeting. Visit the link below to register, access agendas, and view the complete list of dates for this school year’s Working Group meetings. Thank you, and we hope to see you at our next meeting!
Working Group Meetings
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Important Upcoming Dates
Agendas will be posted 72 hours before each meeting at the links below.
- Wednesday, February 9, 4:00 p.m.
SR2S Working Group Meeting
Topics: Biking for Boba at Monta Vista High School, City Local Road Safety Plan
- Tuesday, February 15, 5:30 p.m.
City Council
Topics: Via Shuttle Update and Grant Opportunity, Stevens Creek Corridor Transit Study and Steering Committee Update
- Wednesday, February 16, 7:00 p.m.
Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting
- Wednesday, March 9, 4:00 p.m.
SR2S Working Group Meeting
Topic: Network Prioritization Tool
- Wednesday, March 16, 7:00 p.m.
Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting
- Monday, March 28
Fine Arts Commission
Topic: Incorporating the Arts into Safe Routes to School Programs
- Wednesday, April 13, 4:00 p.m.
SR2S Working Group Meeting
Topic: Car Counts at Cupertino High School
- Wednesday, April 20, 7:00 p.m.
Bicycle Pedestrian Commission Meeting
- Wednesday, May 11, 4:00 p.m.
SR2S Working Group Meeting
Topic: TBD
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