17th Street Should Be Two-Way Again

Downtown St. Louis, and Downtown West to a lesser degree, has lots of one-way streets. This was done decades ago to facilitate  driving in & out. A decade ago Locust St., which had been one-way Westbound, was reverted back to two-way West of 14th St. But there are some odd little one-way remnants that need to be reexamined.   One is a very short stretch of 17th St between St. Charles St & Washington Ave.

St. Charles Street, which is a glorified alley, runs parallel between Locust & Washington Ave.  — it is one-way Westbound. Yes, 17th from St. Charles to Locust is two-way. From Locust to Olive it is one-way Southbound. Confused?

Typically one-ways are done in couplets — an opposite direction street a block away. Such is the case between St. Charles & Washington.

Motorists routinely treat 17th as two-way — we should just make it official.

– Steve Patterson

Three Blocks Of Washington Ave Diagonal Parking Now Back-In

The planning to reduce travel lanes from four to two on the three blocks of Washington Ave, from 18th to 21th, took place in 2007. The work was done in 2008. I was a paid consultant during the planning phase. At the time I lived in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood and drove a motor scooter. In late 2007 I moved downtown and a few months later I had a stroke.

During the planning phase we debated angled parking — front-in vs.  back-in. In 2007 I argued for front-in angled parking, which is how the street got striped. Since then the block West of Jefferson plus others toward Grand also reduced travel lanes with the addition of angled parking. But these blocks did back-in parking.

Front-in angled parking is much easier when it comes to parking your car but harder to see other motorists, motorcycles, or bicyclists when exiting the space. Last year we picked up friends at their loft at Washington Ave & Jefferson, I was driving and parked in a back-in space. I was nervous. but I did it first try. In hindsight I wish I’d argued for back-in parking initially.

Recently these blocks of Washington Ave were resurfaced and restriped — now with back-in parking.  Let’s take a look:

Out of 20+ cars only two weren’t within their respective spaces. Again, I wish I’d argued for this initially.  The planning was prior to my being disabled, but I lobbied hard for good pedestrian crossings and disabled parking.

Two and a half hours later I returned to check out a few more things, the white Ford was in the same spot.

Like most aspects of driving, backing into a parking space just takes practice to master. Occasionally I back into our space in our parking garage, it does get easier. Some day I may drive over to Washington Ave to practice — this wasn’t on my driver’s test in 1983.

— Steve Patterson

More Than Six Years Later Mapped Chouteau Bike Lane Still Doesn’t Exist

Last Monday I posted a detailed look at the new semi-protected bike lane on Chestnut Street, today a follow up to a January 2009 post on the narrowest bike lane. As was the case six+ years ago, the latest Bike St. Louis map (web | Scribd) shows bike lanes on both sides of Chouteau. Some say it had bike lanes at one time, but MoDOT restriped Chouteau and did away with them. What I saw in January 2009 was two solid white lines in the Westbound direction — they remained when I visited again on July 23rd.

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Todd Antoine, from Great Rivers Greenway, told me MoDOT is starting now to resurface Chouteau, when finished it’ll be striped with dedicated bike lanes. The map available in January 2009 also showed dedicated bike lanes, I don’t know what maps in between indicated.

Given the road width I expect to see a reduction in the number of travel lanes from four to two, which shouldn’t be a problem given our light traffic.  Still, it’ll likely upset those who want lots of wide lanes for cars.

— Steve Patterson

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Becoming An Independent Uber Driver

I have no doubt that Uber will soon be operating in St. Louis, as the Post-Dispatch explains, they’ve never lost against local regulations designed to protect the established taxi industry. But, we must consider the ramifications:

Uber operates mainly in big cities like San Francisco and New York, chock full of liberals. Liberals have been caught up in the cult-like enthusiasm for Uber, demanding it in communities where it wasn’t offered and viewing its absence as evidence that their cities didn’t measure up on the tech-savvy cool-meter.

Getting Uber may offer immediate gratification. But communities must understand what it portends, which is more trouble for the middle class. An Uber driver may average about $16 an hour in pay, after deducting the cost of insurance and gas and mileage on their cars. But he probably doesn’t work full time for Uber nor receive benefits. He’s probably going to need another job or two to make ends meet. This doesn’t sound much like progress.

There’s another word that is sometimes used to describe the new, Uberized labor market — the serf economy. (Editorial: Uber is changing more than just transportation)

Manu of you may be ready to sign up as Uber drivers. Just like taxicab drivers, Uber considers its drivers to be “independent contractors”, not employees. What does this mean to you?

People such as doctors, dentists, veterinarians, lawyers, accountants, contractors, subcontractors, public stenographers, or auctioneers who are in an independent trade, business, or profession in which they offer their services to the general public are generally independent contractors. However, whether these people are independent contractors or employees depends on the facts in each case. The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done. The earnings of a person who is working as an independent contractor are subject to Self-Employment Tax.

If you are an independent contractor, you are self-employed. To find out what your tax obligations are, visit the Self-Employed Tax Center. (IRS: Independent Contractor Defined)

The first thing you should wonder about is the “self-employement tax” mentioned above:

Self-employment tax is a tax consisting of Social Security and Medicare taxes primarily for individuals who work for themselves. It is similar to the Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from the pay of most wage earners.

You figure self-employment tax (SE tax) yourself using Schedule SE (Form 1040). Social Security and Medicare taxes of most wage earners are figured by their employers. Also you can deduct the employer-equivalent portion of your SE tax in figuring your adjusted gross income. Wage earners cannot deduct Social Security and Medicare taxes. (IRS: Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes))

Depending upon your situation, this many not be applicable to you. I’m not an accountant, but I’ve been an employee, an employee & independent contractor concurrently, and just an independent contractor. From my own personal experience I can tell you it’s important to know the differences.

Why you ask? If you get paid say $1,000 from Uber, some of that money may need to be set aside to cover taxes you’ll owe on the income. This tax money might even need to be paid monthly or quarterly. Don’t forget about state and local taxes too.

Additional considerations:

• You’ll also need a system for keeping track of vehicle expenses (fuel, miles driven, maintenance).
• You may need different auto insurance.
• If your car is financed, would driving for Uber violate any terms of the finance agreement? Uber’s financing is described as a “risky-bet.”

When you get a job your employer takes care of much of the above concerns. If you decide to drive for Uber, or similar, then you’re starting a new business. Accept that — or do like others have and sue:

As you may have heard, the on-demand car-service juggernaut lost a case early this month before the California Labor Commissioner on whether a driver was an independent contractor or an employee, and thus eligible for expense reimbursement. Uber is appealing that ruling in court, but it already faces a class-action lawsuit over the same issue in federal court in California and similar fights in Floridaand Massachusetts.

These legal battles have actually become pretty common lately for car services and taxi companies, not just Uber. Sometimes the issue is that drivers who clearly are employees (they don’t own the cars, they only drive for one service) are treated as independent contractors by skinflint car-service owners. More often than not, though, it is cases like Uber’s, where drivers own their cars, can drive for other services and can set their own timetables — all attributes of an independent contractor — but are dependent on the service in ways that make them seem not quite independent. (Bloomberg View: Uber and the Not-Quite-Independent Contractor)

The taxicab companies, for their part, are looking like dinosaurs. Our taxicab experiences in Chicago have been much more positive than here.

Time marches on, this industry will look totally different in 5 years time.

— Steve Patterson

Chestnut Street Bike Lane From 20th to 4th

Those of you who follow this blog on Twitter & Facebook know I post a few pics of the new protected bike lane last week. I’d read about it in an article on the 18th or 19th:

The city also announced the addition of its first parking-protected bike lane downtown on Chestnut Street between Fourth and 20th streets. It uses parked cars and flexible posts to separate the cycling lane from the driving lane. A striped buffer painted on the street also creates space between open car doors and the bike lane. (Post-Dispatch)

It was a few days before I could get over to Chestnut to see in person, passing by at 15th headed to transit.

With the bike lane running for 16 blocks, 20th t0 4th, I knew I couldn’t just cross at a single point and expect to understand it. If I wasn’t disabled, biking the mile distance would be the best way to experience it. Friday morning I started at 20th and made my way East to 4th, mostly on the adjacent sidewalk or at crosswalks. Let’s start at 20th:

So 20th to 15th is parking-protected, 15th to Tucker (12th) isn’t:

• Protected: 5 blocks
• Exposed: 3 blocks

As we continue East across Tucker things get more complicated. Also back to a single lane for vehicular traffic.

So Tucker to 4th the break down is:

• Protected: 3.5 blocks
• Exposed: 4.5 blocks

Which gives us totals of:

• Protected: 8.5 blocks
• Exposed: 7.5 blocks

Of the 16 blocks from 20th to 4th, just over half (53.125%) are protected.

The new white stripes look great against the dark black asphalt, but how will this look in a few years when both fade? I’d like to see the bike half block next to the Civil Courts be protected. When Kiener Plaza gets rebuilt hopefully those two blocks can become protected.

— Steve Patterson