Those who encounter hazards on the bikeways of Eugene have a new tool to report them. The city has created iBike Eugene, a cell phone app where residents can tell the city about dangerous conditions from broken glass and potholes, to cars parked in the bike lanes.
Shane MacRhodes is with the City of Eugene’s Transportation Department. He says there are all kinds of hazards for bike riders, “anything from leaves in the bike lane to debris to even cars that are parked in the bike lane can be used on any bikeway system, so on the bike path system, even people who are walking can use this app to report things.”
MacRhodes says with the city’s leaf collection in full swing, piles of leaves are a common hazard for cyclists: “we want to remind people that if you are putting your leaves out for pick-up and not reusing them or recycling them, that you don’t put them in any travel lanes. So any roadway or bikeway, it has to be a parking lane.”
The new app provides a direct line from those experiencing hazards, to those who can do something about it. MacRhodes says “instead of having to call them in to the city, they can just use this app, take a picture, it geo-locates it can and it goes right into our maintenance management system so we can see right away what needs to be fixed and we can get our crews on the project.”
The app allows the city to track areas with recurring issues and address those locations with both quick fixes and long term solutions. iBike Eugene is one of many apps the city is rolling out to help residents connect to public services. It’s available through the City of Eugene’s website.