New Street Furniture Contract Postponed   

Sadly, Philadelphia won’t see a new street furniture contract bringing more transit shelters to neighborhoods, upgrading stops, and offering real-time transit information for at least a few years. After failing to receive an acceptable bid on the request for proposals (RFP) released in the spring, the City decided it would put a long-term contract on hold.  Instead, the City will offer a shorter-term, scaled-down contract to provide for the maintenance of the current bus shelter network, and wait for the economy to improve before issuing another RFP for a new long-term contract.

Even with the short-term contract, the City hopes to strengthen company maintenance requirements and receive somewhat higher annual revenue than it does with the current street furniture contract.

Moving Away from the Meter

Finding a parking spot for your bike during a trip around the city may have just gotten a little easier. The Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) and the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities have recently started installing bike rings on older parking meters.
As parking meters are phased out and replaced with parking kiosks, PPA is planning to install a total of 1,500 new bike parking rings around the city. Funded through Philadelphia's Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, the project supports the growing community of bicyclists in Philadelphia by creating more safe, convenient locations to lock up.
  

Bicycles on the Ben Franklin Bridge

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia is requesting that the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) implement changes to make the Ben Franklin Bridge more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly. According to a recent report published by the Bicycle Coalition, the bridge is fraught with obstacles for walkers and bicyclists, including inadequate accessibility.

Findings from the study Crossing the Delaware for Transportation Independence point to several actions for improving travel conditions on the bridge connecting Philadelphia and Camden.

Some of the changes requested of the DRPA include developing a snow removal policy to clear the bridge more quickly during inclement weather, making the entrances on both sides of the bridge more welcoming, and accelerating the design process for the ramp that is planned to replace the stairs on the Camden side of the bridge. 

Chance to Adopt-A-Rack 

Since Mayor Nutter took office, the Streets Department has installed over 1,400 bike racks as part of an Adopt-a-Rack program. The program provides a city installed u-shaped bike rack to community groups and individuals that accept maintenance responsibility for the rack. Thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the U.S. Department of Energy is funding a new round of the Adopt-a-Rack program. The department expects to be able to install about 500 additional racks through the program.

For more information about how you or your organization can apply to have a bicycle rack installed in front of your property, please visit http://potholes.phila.gov/csstreets and click on "Bike Racks" located under the heading "Other." 

City Releases Street Furniture  RFP

Street Furniture RFP to be Issued by End of 2009
 

By the end of the year the City will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to provide, maintain and sell advertising for bus shelters in Philadelphia.  The RFP will also invite proposals for additional pieces of street furniture.  Street furniture is the collective term referring to objects and pieces of equipment installed on streets and sidewalks that are intended for public use. Transit/bus shelters and newspaper boxes are examples of street furniture currently in use in Philadelphia. 

This contract will have a dramatic impact on Philadelphia’s streetscapes, and can help to provide needed amenities to our communities. Let the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities know what is important to you by completing this survey.

New Contract Postponed

The City of Philadelphia issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Coordinated Street Furniture in December of 2006. Street furniture includes items such as bus shelters, trash cans, newspaper corrals, benches and kiosks. Three bidders, Clean Channel, Wall USA and CBS Outdoors have submitted proposals for the contract. In November 2007, the Street Administration tapped ClearChannel for the contract, but City Council held off on introducing the necessary legislation. 

The Next Great City coalition reviewed the RFP and had many concerns. You can see a fact sheet about those concerns here, which include:

On February 14, 2008, Mayor Nutter released his annual budget and 5-year budget plan. In that plan, he pledged that his administration would issue a new Request for Proposals for a Street Furniture Program. The Next Great City coalition will continue to work to make sure that the RFP addresses all of our concerns and is done with community input.