Street by street, people are starting to see some big changes in Long Beach California. This started last summer when green paint, also known as “sharrows” (shared lane marking) appeared on the roads of the city’s busiest streets. These lines were put there as a reminder for motorist to share the roads with cyclists. According to a December report by the city, the number of cyclists on 2nd Street increased by 29% while the number of bikes on the narrow sidewalks decreased by 22%. The amount of incidents on the streets has also decreased.

The success of the “sharrows” has prompted the city to undertake other bicycle oriented enhancements such as adding more “sharrows” on streets where bikes tend to congregate and adding “bicycle boxes” that give cyclist a safe place in front of cars to wait for signal changes. The city is also working with businesses to provide incentives such as 20% lunch discounts to prompt cyclist to ride their bikes more.

The program has also sparked interest from other cities. This week, the city is hosting delegate transit planners from Los Angeles, Glendale and other nearby cities who would like to draw inspiration from the Long Beach bike plan. City manager Patrick West (who rides a road bike around town on the weekends) jokes that the rise in recent bike thefts is a good thing, because it means that there are more people out riding bikes.