SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (SABA) is a group focused on advocacy for safer streets. They also host repair clinics and have a bike valet service, which allows riders to park safely at events for free.
Deb Banks is the executive director of SABA and says she wants more events to work with them to provide bike valet to people.
"We want Sacramento to be a great place, so a bike valet is an encouragement activity. Come ride your bike and leave it with us," said Banks.
She says a client reaches out, they write up a contract, and then a team goes out and sets up a little before the event.
SABA has existing contracts at places like Golden 1 Center and the Midtown Farmers Market. Banks says they've parked more than 10,000 bikes at around 200 events. She says biking is a good alternative to driving short distances, whether it be to events or everyday errands.
"Most of us get in our car to the grocery store, to go to an event. Those are short trips, one to three miles on average... five miles. If you have an e-bike, super friendly, and then you don't have to worry about trying to find parking," said Banks.
Mike Majors owns The Electric Bike Shop, which has been open since 2010.
"I've been biking since 1988 when I came here for college. I've got to say, in the last few years, the city has been progressive in developing dedicated bike lanes, especially in the midtown and downtown area," said Majors.
He says e-bikes started to get really popular a little over five years ago and during the pandemic. Majors says there are three classifications of e-bikes. Classes 1 and 2 are allowed on city streets and regional bike trails, and Class 3 bikes are only allowed on city streets.
Majors says a high-quality e-bike runs between $2,000-3,000 but he sells some starting $759 with prices up to about $3,600. They go faster than a typical bike and have an electric motor.
"Someone riding a typical 10-speed bicycle, huffing and puffing, getting a workout, is doing about 14-15 mph. When you're going 20 mph or 28 mph, people in cars don't realize you're going that fast, especially coming up to an intersection. So, it's very important to pay attention to other drivers ... where they're looking and what they're doing," said Majors.
The city of Sacramento is also working on improvements for local roads for pedestrians and bicyclists. In the meantime, they also have free biking and scooting classes through their transportation planning staff to learn about laws surrounding biking and scooting and safety tips.
