SkyscraperPage Forum
Viewing Page 10 of 34
Show 50 post(s) from this thread on one page

SkyscraperPage Forum (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/index.php)
-   Transportation (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=25)
-   -   Urban Cycling Developments (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=178887)

KevinFromTexas Sep 17, 2011 9:06 AM
An email I got today.

Some details of what would have happened.
http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/e..._your_senators

Quote:
The U.S. Senate affirmed its time-tested support of bicycling Thursday by forcing Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma to withdraw his proposal to eliminate dedicated funding for the Transportation Enhancements program.

Peopleforbikes.org supporters and our advocacy partners influenced this outcome by sending close to 50,000 emails and making thousands of phone calls to their U.S. Senators in just 48 hours. Thank you!

As a result, funding for all federal transportation programs has now been extended to March 31, 2012. The key, cost-effective programs that make bicycling safer and easier -- Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School, and Recreational Trails -- will continue to receive modest, dedicated support -- about 1.5 percent of the total federal transportation investment.

Every U.S. Senate office received an unprecedented number of well-crafted emails and articulate phone calls this week from people who bike. This powerful show of support for bicycling made a strong impression on Congress and influenced the positive outcome.

We reminded the Senate that bicycling investments support a growing number of transportation trips coast to coast, and save government agencies money on road repairs, parking infrastructure costs, and health-care costs. They recognize that this is a small investment with a big payback that makes Americans safer.

A huge thanks to the thousands of Americans, our supporters, who rallied quickly to contact their elected officials on this challenge. We will continue to keep you posted on key issues and opportunities that affect the future of bicycling in the United States.

I hope you'll join me in taking a ride this weekend to celebrate!

Tim Blumenthal
Director, Peopleforbikes.org

M II A II R II K Sep 17, 2011 6:59 PM
Copenhagen's novel problem: too many cyclists


Read More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...ing-congestion

Quote:
Can there be too many bikes in a city for safety? It's not a question usually asked: the received wisdom, supported by research and backed by campaigning groups, is that the more cyclists there are, the safer the roads become for everyone. But in Copenhagen – one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world in which 36% of its inhabitants cycle to work or school, and which has committed to increasing that figure to 50% by 2015 – there are controversial voices coming from unexpected places. According to the Danish Cyclists' Federation and Wonderful Copenhagen, the official tourism organisation for Denmark, the sheer success of the drive to get more locals and tourists on bikes is creating a dangerous, intimidating and unpleasant climate for cyclists in the city.

- As numbers increase in the cycle lanes, says Hadju, so behaviour deteriorates, with jostling and cutting-up becoming more frequent. "The locals rush past the foreigners, who are often uncertain on their bikes and going slowly," she said. "The locals get impatient and therefore become more threatening." Even to an untrained eye, it is immediately obvious that the city is struggling to cater for its growing number of cyclists. It is already near-impossible to find cycling parking places near main stations, while cycling lanes that seem gargantuan to British eyes – three to four meters wide compared to our 1.5 meters – are buried at certain times of day beneath the scrum of cyclists traversing the city.

- Mikael Colville-Andersen, Denmark's unofficial ambassador for cycling thanks to his Copenhagenize and Copenhagen Cycle Chic blogs) even fears they could undermine the pro-cycling atmosphere in Copenhagen that he and so many others have worked hard to create. "It's true that cycling in Copenhagen in the rush hour is not for the faint-hearted: it requires concentration and it's true that we do need wider lanes," he says. "But it's not as dangerous as the DCF like to say. Statistics prove that it's safer than Amsterdam.". "The Danish Cyclists' Federation are trying to advocate for more and better bike lanes by saying it's dangerous to cycle with the situation as it now is," he adds.

.....



http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/...enhagen460.jpg

Nicolás Sep 18, 2011 5:09 AM
Me in my bike in Rosario, Argentina.

Regards

M II A II R II K Sep 18, 2011 5:38 PM
Can bikes bring back the neighborhood bookstore?


Read More: http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-09-...hood-bookstore

Quote:
Santa Monica, Calif.: Spend ten minutes with Gary Kavanagh -- a blogger, advocate, and ubiquitous presence in Santa Monica's bike scene -- and you're apt to get an earful about the new light rail line and bike path being built into town, the new Bike Master Plan that the city council may soon approve, or the amount of public space in the city that is dedicated to car parking. But look at Kavanagh's pictures from our latest Dinner & Bikes event on Saturday night, and you'll mostly see shots of our merch table. Basically, it's a traveling bookstore stocked with titles about bikes, urban gardening, and radical movements, as well as bike-themed stickers and t-shirts. Santa Monica is rich in bike riders, bike lanes, bike dreams, and -- perhaps most key -- bike funding. But, as Kavanagh's enthusiasm suggests, it is also a city without a decent bookstore.

- Small, independent bookstores have largely gone the way of the dodo, thanks to big-box bookstores that began a race to the bottom in the early 90s, chopping their prices beyond what even they could sustain. They ruined the party for everyone, including smaller rivals, customers, and ultimately themselves. These days, most Americans have to go online or get in a car in order to buy a book, and the money used to buy that book -- and the gas burned to get to the store -- flies straight out of their communities. Suburban, big-box behemoths took out more than just bookstores: Mom-and-pop hardware stores, pharmacies, and restaurants have all seen their business crater. The process devastated the fabric of urban neighborhoods and the small businesses that hold them together. Bookstores were hit particularly hard because they sell luxury items whose tiny profit margins require moving low-priced units in huge numbers.

- The demand we found in Santa Monica for independent bookstores and underground publishers means it's only a matter of time before someone rises to fill the space left after the big-box crash. It's a trend that parallels the rise of the bicycle movement: As society and individuals stagger under the ever-escalating costs of building and maintaining roads, filling up our gas tanks, and suffering the health and social consequences of auto-centric suburbs, many of us have turned back to the simplicity of the bike. You could say that cars killed the independent bookstore: They fell prey to the same nexus of industrial, financial, and political maneuvering that created our car-oriented landscape. But bicycling could help bring them back. Right now, it feels good to know our tiny rental car carries both bikes and the promise of a new iteration of urbanism -- one where everyone can afford to both travel at will, sit, and read a good book.

.....



http://www.grist.org/phpThumb/phpThu...ca-bikes&w=315

M II A II R II K Sep 19, 2011 2:47 PM
Bicycling our way into work and out of the Great Recession


Read More: http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-07-...reat-recession

Quote:
Conversations about transportation bicycling tend to revolve around work, particularly commuting. This is a good thing. We need to get to work; more of us need to get to work by bike; and more bicycling means a healthier economy, a better workplace, and even more jobs. But the commutes in these conversations are an endangered species, part of a type of work and lifestyle that's fading fast: the 9-to-5 lifetime career with health benefits and pension, a commute from suburbs to central city, and a hot meal waiting for you when you get home. The way we work has been changing for a long time, and our transportation needs and options along with it. With the recent recession, fewer people are working as much or for as much money, or as regularly -- or at all. More of us are, in a word, poor.

- The mainstays of bike advocacy organizations are the three E's: engineering, enforcement, and education -- with a fourth E, encouragement, becoming increasingly popular. Encouragement is a kind of marketing. It's about selling the benefits of transportation bicycling as though it were a product. It's appealing because, to a large extent, it works, imbuing everyday transportation bicycling with a certain cool cachet. Marketing, being what it is it, tends to be best executed by businesses and blogs selling everything from imported, upright city bikes to the concept of cycling fashion to the aesthetic and lifestyle associated with both of these. But lately, advocacy organizations and even government agencies are investing in encouragement initiatives and seeing a lot of success. A recent example is the charming animated video made by the Cascade Bicycle Club called "Will you ride with Sophie?" that extols the environmental, social, and personal virtues of choosing to bike instead of drive, even for just a few trips a week.

- It's understandable, of course, that the pursuit of encouragement, as well as the other E's, is informed by the concerns of the advocates themselves. Part of the heritage of bicycle advocacy in the U.S. is recreational riding -- an activity that suggests a decent enough income to have a nice bike in the garage and the leisure, skills, and confidence to go out and ride it whenever one chooses. U.S. bike advocacy is also imbued with a heavy focus on individual responsibility as more important -- or perhaps more readily achievable -- than social and infrastructure change, as exemplified by the until-recently prominent vehicular cycling movement. Such initiatives tend to reach out to the people who ride -- or don't -- out of choice rather than economic necessity, whose only barrier to getting on a bike is motivation.

- When you're low-income, you may simply not have access to the amenities of bicycle advocacy that others of us take for granted. Your concerns are less likely to be solicited or lobbied for. Education initiatives and materials about cycling laws and safety, what to do if you crash, and even how to ride at all are less likely to reach you and may not even exist in a language you read fluently. And engineering and enforcement are as likely to work against you as they are to protect and serve your interests. These concerns are hardly universal, but they're a sampling of what advocates need to ask and engage about if they are serious about making bicycling more widely accessible and attractive.

.....



http://www.flickr.com/photos/carltonreid/4646637491/

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/...f0c3e4f0_z.jpg

DTW Sep 19, 2011 8:35 PM
Detroit Bike Project seeks to link Detroit's greater downtown

Quote:
Bike-sharing companies, which offer 24-hour access to bicycles for short trips around cities, have popped up in Europe, and along the East Coast; DC, Boston and New York City. If three CCS grads have their way, Detroit will be the next city to offer visitors and residents a network of two-wheeled transportation stations throughout the greater downtown district.

The Detroit Bike Project is the brainchild of Victor Quattrin, Stephanie Lucido and Jenna Przybycien. The three college friends have spent the past year working on the first phase of their plan, which they will submit to Hatch Detroit by the Sept. 1 contest deadline. No matter what happens with Hatch, the three say they're committed to launching the company within the next year.

Their plan involves building park-and-ride bike stations in the Renaissance Center, Wayne State's campus, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Woodbridge, New Center, Grand Circus Park, Corktown and Eastern Market, as a public transportation alternative "Sometimes, there's a little distance between the main veins of Detroit," says Quattrin. "Nothing is really that walkable," says Przybycien, comparing Detroit's layout to that of more densely-populated cities like New York. "If someone parks downtown and wants to head up to Wayne State, it takes a lot of time to get there. Bike sharing allows you to see a lot more of the city, and to get places quicker, because it's so spread out.

http://www.modeldmedia.com/devnews/d...are083011.aspx
Quote:
RiverWalk backers step up fundraising for final stretch

The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy is renewing its push to raise the last $35 million it needs to complete the east RiverWalk.

It plans to begin construction this spring on parts of the riverfront east of the William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor that haven't been developed, said President Faye Alexander Nelson.

Those parcels will include Mt. Elliott Park and its shoreline, land to the east and west of Chene Park, the former site of the Uniroyal Tire Co. factory, and areas that will make way for a parking lot and path to Gabriel Richard Park.

The Mannik & Smith Group Inc., which is based in Maumee, Ohio, and has offices in Detroit, Canton Township and Monroe, is serving as architect. The request for proposals from construction firms should go out in early October, Nelson said.

The conservancy has raised $105 million of its $140 million target for the project. The money will fund construction and an endowment of $50 million to $60 million for maintenance and operations.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...-final-stretch

M II A II R II K Sep 20, 2011 2:04 PM
Old Parking Meters to Become Bicycle Racks in New York


Read More: http://thecityfix.com/blog/old-parki...s-in-new-york/

Quote:
.....

Instead of collecting parking fees for individual spots, the New York City Department of Transportation is converting to Muni-Meters that take up less space on sidewalks and have a better record on vandalism. More interestingly, the old single-space parking meters will be dismantled and the poles will be repurposed as bicycle racks, the NYT reports.

- Muni-Meters allow for 10 percent to 15 percent more parking spaces in the city, the article explains. With the old meters being converted to bicycle racks, we can only hope that many of those spaces will be dedicated to bicycles. Converting the city’s on-street parking spots to Muni-Meters will be a costly project—about $34 million. Each Muni-Meter costs $4,392, eight times the amount of older parking meters. Although costly, Muni-Meters will also provide some relief for street management and preventing vandalism.

.....


http://thecityfix.com/files/2011/09/NYC-muni-meter.jpg

M II A II R II K Sep 20, 2011 2:25 PM
Lessons from Amsterdam: How SF Can Bicycle Toward Greatness


Read More: http://sf.streetsblog.org/2011/09/19...ard-greatness/

Quote:
.....

After more than a decade of helping to build the vision of San Francisco becoming a world-class bicycling city, I had the chance to find out how that vision actually functions on the ground. And, to assess whether we really have what it takes in San Francisco to earn the reputation of a great bicycling city. What I learned – and what heartens me now – is how close we already are. Much like Berlin, Barcelona, and Paris, San Francisco is on a precipice today. We can choose to use the examples of places such as the Netherlands as a model, or we can continue business as usual. This week, we are fortunate to welcome Dutch experts to town to show us how great bicycling environments help make great cities.

- Think Bike — an innovative two-day event co-sponsored by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in SF, the SF Municipal Transportation Agency, and the SF Bicycle Coalition — kicks off today to share the “Dutch Touch” with San Franciscans. “Whether commuting to work, running errands or taking a family outing, more and more San Franciscans are choosing to bicycle,” said Mayor Edwin M. Lee, who this morning will welcome skilled Dutch transportation planners and interested locals at City Hall for the opening reception of Think Bike. This will kick off two days of intensive planning workshops with the Dutch and local community members. Tuesday evening, their design ideas for specific San Francisco on-street and policy improvements will be shared publicly.

- As we embark on a week of benefiting from the Dutch Touch, and as I reflect back on my own bicycling experiences in the Netherlands, I am by no means calling for San Francisco to be just like Amsterdam. We cannot and should not try to replicate any other city completely. But I learned that this surprisingly similar city offers a strikingly fitting model for us right now. The story of Amsterdam is proof that cities of San Francisco’s size, density and values can create communities that are more accessible, affordable, and family-friendly by dramatically increasing bicycling trips.

- Each day, the people of Amsterdam ride more than a million miles on their bicycles. They boast 250 miles of separated bike paths and 250,000 designated bike parking spaces. As bicycling has increased, car ownership has decreased. Today, only 37 percent of the population owns cars, a decrease from 42 percent in 1985. And, transit makes up about 25 percent of trips. The real-life impacts of these statistics can be seen every day on the charming streets, where parents still allow kids to walk or bike home from school and the elderly pedal around confidently on errands. No doubt, the streets are just as bustling and serve just as many people moving around the city as in San Francisco – it is all just happening in a calmer, quieter, less disruptive way in Amsterdam.

- The two cities’ most obvious difference is terrain. Amsterdam is as famous for flatness as San Francisco is for hilliness. Yet, I contend that in San Francisco we narrow that disadvantage with gears (almost non-existent in Amsterdam), bike racks on buses, and, the fact that most of us can choose to pedal around, instead of straight up, steep hills for many trips.

Some may question, understandably, whether a centuries-old European city can be relevant to our situation. In fact, Amsterdam offers a surprising number of similarities to San Francisco, which is considered the most European of U.S. cities for good reason. A quick comparison sheds some light:

• Amsterdam’s population is 765,000. San Francisco is slightly more populous at 815,000. Both serve as hubs of far larger metropolitan regions.

• The two cities have similar population density: Amsterdam boasts 390,000 dwelling units; San Francisco 360,000.

• Unlike their suburban neighbors, most streets are narrow and space is at a premium.

• Finance and tourism are backbones of both cities’ economies.

• While Amsterdam’s regional transit far outpaces the Bay Area’s, neither has top-notch local transit systems.

• Citizens share similar cultural attitudes about the environment and general progressive values, relative to the rest of their own nations’.

• Both have higher-than-average citizen participation, which affects how changes are made in the communities.

....



http://sf.streetsblog.org/wp-content...ab6b058d_z.jpg

Cirrus Sep 21, 2011 2:11 PM
DC's Capital Bikeshare had its one year anniversary yesterday, coincidentally on the exact same day it also crossed the 1,000,000 rider threshold.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BeyondDC
Capital Bikeshare one year in

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the launch of Capital Bikeshare, America’s largest experiment in public bikesharing to date. The anniversary offers a good opportunity to quickly look back on the program’s successes and failures, and to look forward at what’s to come.

So how did the first year go? Pretty darn well. The system has over 18,000 registered members, which puts its members-per-bikes ratio in very elite company globally. It has logged over a million trips, which is double the estimate for its first year. The bikes are ubiquitous in the central city, and are well on their way to icon status. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the anticipated problem of station sparsity has indeed been an issue. Dock blocking is common enough that the term has entered the lexicon of Washingtonians. The most successful bikesharing systems offer stations closely packed enough so that dock blocking isn’t a big concern.

So in a very real way, Capital Bikeshare’s biggest problem is that too many people are using it. It’s a good problem to have.

And so, with a successful first year under its belt, Cabi is looking to expand. Four expansions are currently funded and anticipated to come online within the next year. Together they will enlarge the system from its current level of 116 stations located in two jurisdictions, up to around 200 stations in four jurisdictions. And no one expects expansion to stop there. All the existing member jurisdictions are considering even more stations, and other jurisdictions may still join the network.

What will that new, larger system look like? Here is a map showing the 116 existing stations (circles), plus the approximate planned locations of the 60 or so in DC and Arlington that are funded and will come online at various times in the coming months (squares). Additional stations are funded in Shady Grove and Alexandria, but location information is not available yet.


Link to map in Google Maps.

M II A II R II K Sep 21, 2011 5:42 PM
Study: 1,000 Peds Injured Annually By Cyclists Statewide; Number Is Dropping


Read More: http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/09/1...omment-page-1/

Study: http://www.scribd.com/doc/65531772/H...Accident-Study

Quote:
Follow the tabloid media, and you’d think that New York City has been swept by “bike bedlam,” a tide of scofflaw cyclists striking fear into the hearts of pedestrians everywhere. Sift through actual pedestrian safety data, and the actual risk posed by cyclists pales in comparison to that posed by motor vehicles: while over the last five years, 766 city pedestrians have been killed by drivers, only three were killed by cyclists. Even so, it’s generally been difficult to measure exactly how many — or how few — pedestrians are injured by cyclists every year. New research from two Hunter College professors provides a precise count of pedestrian injuries caused by bikes in New York state. Using a comprehensive statewide database, sociologist Peter Tuckel and urban planner William Milczarski found that each year, an average of roughly 1,000 pedestrians received medical treatment after crashes with cyclists. A little over half of those injuries, 55 percent, took place in New York City.

Tuckel and Milczarski’s statistics show a larger number of pedestrians injured by cyclists than previous estimates; earlier research found that about 1,200 pedestrians nationwide are treated in emergency rooms each year as a result of bike crashes. But the new data also suggest that the injuries tend not to be severe. Statewide, an average about 85 pedestrians are admitted to hospitals as in-patients as a result of these crashes each year; the rest had injuries that could be treated on an out-patient basis. For comparison’s sake, statewide, 15,321 pedestrians are injured by motor vehicles every year, according to the state DMV, with more than 10,000 of them in New York City. More than 300 pedestrians are killed by drivers every year statewide, while the number of pedestrian fatalities caused by cyclists averages less than one per year.

Given the quality of past reporting on bike-on-ped crashes, many reporters will undoubtedly try to imply some sort of connection between the number of pedestrian injuries and the city’s bike policy. But the stats show no such link. Pedestrian injuries caused by cyclists are declining even as the popularity of cycling continues to rise. In 2007 and 2008, Tuckel and Milczarski counted 1,097 and 1,112 pedestrian injuries caused by crashes with bikes. The following two years, those numbers dropped to 985 and then 927. With only four years of data, it’s too early to tell whether a trend is at work, but there’s no evidence that the city’s effort to build better bike infrastructure has led to an increase in bike-caused injuries. (There is solid evidence that bike lanes reduce the incidence of motor vehicle crashes that kill pedestrians: The New York City Department of Transportation has found that controlling for other factors, bike lanes made streets 40 percent less deadly for people on foot.)

.....

electricron Sep 21, 2011 6:20 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by M II A II R II K (Post 5418435)
Study: 1,000 Peds Injured Annually By Cyclists Statewide; Number Is Dropping
I'll agree with the statement that it's far too early to make judgements. But I was disappointed that the news items you linked didn't go further with the math.

Of the 1,000 pedestrian injuries seeking treatment in the state involving bikes, half were in the city. In the city, only 0.6% of the commuters bike to work. Increasing that number by a factor of 10 reaches 6%, should increase the number of pedestrian injuries by 10, Increasing the original 500 injuries to 5,000 pedestrian injuries. Likewise, increasing that number by a factor of 100 reaches 60%, should also increase the number of pedestrian injuries by 100 to 50,000 pedestrian injuries. Of course that's assuming direct ratios, which probably isn't going to be 100% accurate.

Is it relevant to compare the total number of pedestrian injuries caused by cars and bikes when their share of commuters are so different? I don't think so.

fflint Sep 21, 2011 7:51 PM
Curbing bicycle thefts in San Francisco
Joshua Sabatini
Examiner Staff Writer
09/21/11

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011...#ixzz1YcOpIfMR

....As soon as January, San Francisco’s downtown business owners could be required to allow employees to bring their bicycles into offices, or provide secure storage onsite or within 750 feet of a building.

“This is actually really important in a number of ways,” said Supervisor John Avalos, who introduced legislation Tuesday that would enact the requirement in January. “Often, cyclists will go downtown with their bikes and will not have a space to secure them, will lock them up on the streets, clogging up some of our sidewalk space and making them less accessible.”

The law also is meant to reduce bike thefts.

“We also have a bike theft problem — it happens every day,” Avalos said. “I’ve had one bike stolen here in San Francisco. This is something that is a critical problem for a lot of cyclists.”

Ken Cleaveland, director of public affairs for the Building Owners and Managers Association of San Francisco, which represents the interests of downtown building owners, said the group is open to the proposal.

“We’re working with the supervisor,” Cleaveland said.

He agreed bike theft is a problem in The City.

“If I had a $5,000 bicycle, I would want it right next to my desk every day,” he said.

Under the proposal, employers would decide if workers could bring bikes inside businesses, such as by work stations.

Steely Dan Sep 21, 2011 7:52 PM
chicago has finally decided to "go big" with its bicycle sharing program. 3,000 bikes and 300 stations is a HUGE step up from the current system of 70 bikes at 7 stations. the article mentions a planned build-out of 5,000 bikes and 500 stations within 3 years. it's not quite as big as NYC's newly announced system, but a very big step forward for urban utility cycling in the windy city none-the-less.


Quote:
City announces large-scale bike rental program
By Jon Hilkevitch Tribune reporter
2:19 p.m. CDT, September 21, 2011

Chicago will launch a bicycle-sharing program next year, spinning toward a goal of providing 3,000 bikes for short-term use between 300 pick-up and drop-off stations in the city by next summer and more coming later, officials said Wednesday.

The bicycles would be free for members to use during the first 30 minutes. Fees would be charged for additional time and for visitors to the city and other one-time users. Daily, weekly and annual memberships would also be offered, officials said.

The effort is billed as the city’s “first large-scale bike-sharing program.’’ A small existing program, called “Chicago B-cycle,’’ began last year with about a half-dozen bike rental stations along the lakefront and in the downtown.
full article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,5673421.story

Cirrus Sep 21, 2011 8:07 PM
^
No surprise with Gabe Klein heading the Chicago DOT.

M II A II R II K Sep 23, 2011 4:16 PM
Developers Cater to Two-Wheeled Traffic in Portland, Ore.


Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/bu...pagewanted=all

Hopworks BikeBar: http://hopworksbeer.com/

Quote:
.....

Portland is nationally recognized as a leader in the movement to create bicycle-friendly cities. About 7 percent of commuters here travel by bike (the national average is under 1 percent) and the city has an ambitious plan, adopted last year, to increase that proportion to 25 percent by 2030. Until recently, Portland’s bike initiatives focused on improving the transportation infrastructure, said Roger Geller, the city’s bicycle coordinator. But as businesses awaken to the purchasing power of cyclists, “bicycle-supported developments” are also beginning to appear around town, Mr. Geller said. These are residential and commercial projects built near popular bikeways and outfitted with cycling-related services and amenities.

- “The change is coming from the private sector,” Mr. Geller said. “Cyclists are a great potential market for businesses that want people traveling at human-scale speed and will stop and buy something.” The North Williams business cluster, about two miles northeast of downtown, is the most prominent example of this type of development. In addition to the BikeBar at 3907 North Williams, a two-block stretch of the street houses the United Bicycle Institute, which teaches bike repair and frame building, at No. 3961; the Friendly Bike Guest House, a hostel that caters to cyclists, at No. 4039; and EcoFlats, an 18-unit rental apartment building with a 30-unit bicycle rack in the lobby but no dedicated vehicle parking.

- “North Williams has grown to be a bike neighborhood out of gentrification,” said Debora Leopold Hutchins, the chairwoman of the North Williams Stakeholder Advisory Committee, a group helping oversee proposed traffic changes. Ms. Hutchins, who organizes an African-American women’s cycling group, said she loves cycling. But, she said, “The process has not been inclusive of the people who live there.” A proposal this summer to remove a lane of automobile traffic for bikes on North Williams set off an outcry from residents. That proposal has been tabled while the city conducts more outreach with the neighborhood. And as businesses and developers around the city jump on the bicycle bandwagon, other concerns about the fledgling bike-friendly projects are emerging: namely, that there is a bit of “bikewashing” going on as cycling becomes a marketing tool in a city where the vast majority still get around by car.

- And in Southeast Portland, the national homebuilder D. R. Horton is building a 29-unit condominium complex advertised on city buses as “a whole new kind of neighborhood,” with a picture of a bicycle substituting for the final syllable. Some view these projects with a critical eye. “Have you seen the ‘Portlandia‘ sketch ‘put a bird on it’ ”? asked Kirsten Kaufman, a real estate agent, referring to the IFC cable show that pokes fun at Portland life. “Well, this is a case of ‘put a bike on it.’ ” Ms. Kaufman, who has carved out a niche showing clients homes by bike, said the Horton complex lacked sufficient bike storage, especially “for people with cargo trailers who want to run errands on their bike.” The project is located a few blocks from a popular bikeway, the Clinton Street bike boulevard.

.....

M II A II R II K Sep 30, 2011 4:32 PM
How Would you Radically Rethink Cycling in London?


Read More: http://thisbigcity.net/how-would-you...ing-in-london/

Quote:
With a dismal 2% of all trips made by bicycle in London, now seems like a good time to change our approach to cycling in the British capital. Earlier this year, Gordon Macrae wrote a piece for This Big City tackling that very subject. Calling it ‘time to reach beyond the young, macho or ultra-fit typically associated with urban bikers to broaden the appeal for casual cyclists, families, and the middle-aged’, Gordon suggested London needs to ‘separate the casual from the commuter’, and you seemed to agree. Last weekend, Gordon’s post got a second wind and was tweeted, liked, and stumbledupon by hundreds of you. More importantly, the post got some valuable feedback, a lot of which is worth sharing.

- "So far, London has put more effort into marketing & drawing up ‘ambitious’ plans than dealing with the elephant(s) in the room: the car. No amount of PR & wishful thinking can get a good chunk of the 98% that don’t cycle on a bicycle, for any purpose, as people feel it’s too dangerous. And they’re right, it is. Alas, spin is all around, but it’s getting ridiculous. Good thing there are a few people who are in on it and call a spade a spade. Here are a few good resources, run by people who care and get things straight. Cycling in London/UK needs real facts and real measures to move ahead, not more of the same."

- "Cycle lanes need to be on pavement level as they are in Europe, not part of the road. Until then, it’s just too dangerous for most people. "

- "I think there is a fundamental reason why London will fail to match Copenhagen’s success: London is much bigger, expansive and more sprawling than the the places you mention. I suspect most people in London live further from work than in Copenhagen, etc. If the city were higher-density then there’d be less distance to travel, and less space-per-person (or more specifically, for driving). "

- "I feel ostracised and intimidated in most cycling shops, where staff only seem interested in selling expensive racing bikes to their lycra clones. My friends feel the same way. There’s a huge market to be tapped, but the cycling community needs to be more welcoming to the casual cyclist."

.....



http://thisbigcity.net/wp-content/th...405&w=610&zc=1

M II A II R II K Oct 3, 2011 12:48 AM
Dutch Cycling Embassy Releases Inspirational Video, Launches Website


Read More: http://sf.streetsblog.org/2011/09/27...video-website/

Website: http://www.dutchcycling.nl/

Quote:
Last week, a team of Dutch experts led a series of Think Bike workshops in four U.S. cities, including San Francisco, to help advocates and planners design the bike infrastructure of the future. Cities across the globe continue to look to the Netherlands for inspiration, and guidance, and that demand is being embraced by a unique organization known as the Dutch Cycling Embassy.

The embassy is comprised of bike ambassadors from non-profits, private companies, bike manufacturers and local and national governments in the Netherlands. It recently released a new video that beautifully tells the story of how the bicycle became a part of everyday life in the Netherlands. It’s an inspirational seven minutes by Marc van Woudenberg and a must-see for elected officials and planners in the U.S.

The goal of the embassy, which has also launched a new website, is to “to support, facilitate, contribute to and inspire international cycling projects and policies helping countries, cities and its people to move forward in a safe and healthy way.”

.....



Video Link

202_Cyclist Oct 8, 2011 12:25 PM
Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes bicycle safety bill, saying it is unsafe (LA Times)
 
I support Jerry Brown and I have no doubt that he's committed to sustainable transportation but this is unfortunate. Hopefully he can sign an improved bill protecting cyclists.

Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes bicycle safety bill, saying it is unsafe

LA Times
By Patrick McGreevy
October 7, 2011

"Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday vetoed legislation that would have required motorists to give bicyclists at least three feet of room while passing, or slow down — citing concern that it could cause more car accidents.

Brown worried about requiring motorists to slow to 15 mph when passing bicyclists if there is not three feet between them, which proponents argued is necessary to reduce the number of cyclists injured and killed in California.

The governor said the California Highway Patrol and Caltrans raised "legitimate concerns" about the requirement to slow down..."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/cali...is-unsafe.html

M II A II R II K Oct 8, 2011 2:48 PM
South Pasadena to create 24 miles of bikeways


Read More: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...-bikeways.html

Quote:
.....

This month the city will begin creating 24 miles of bikeways on local streets, adding bicycle racks and features aimed at making conditions safer for cyclists, the Pasadena Sun reported. City officials had planned to begin implementing South Pasadena's bike master plan this week, but rain pushed plans back. "It's really important to me to have a bike-friendly environment," Theisen, 22, said. "I use my bike to run most of my errands. I live with my girlfriend, who has a car we use to go to the grocery store. But for everything else, we use our bikes."

- South Pasadena officials plan to kick things off with the addition of a bike lane to El Centro Street near Arroyo Vista Elementary School. Officials estimate the entire network will cost about $5.7 million and will take 20 years to complete. All of the money is expected to come from state and federal programs, including funds administered by Caltrans and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The plan seeks to connect bikers to the Gold Line, neighboring cities and the Arroyo Seco bicycle path, said Dennis Woods, transportation manager for South Pasadena.

.....



http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6...0bea970d-600wi

awholeparade Oct 8, 2011 4:16 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by 202_cyclist (Post 5437761)
i support jerry brown and i have no doubt that he's committed to sustainable transportation but this is unfortunate. Hopefully he can sign an improved bill protecting cyclists.

gov. Jerry brown vetoes bicycle safety bill, saying it is unsafe

la times
by patrick mcgreevy
october 7, 2011

"gov. Jerry brown on friday vetoed legislation that would have required motorists to give bicyclists at least three feet of room while passing, or slow down — citing concern that it could cause more car accidents.

Brown worried about requiring motorists to slow to 15 mph when passing bicyclists if there is not three feet between them, which proponents argued is necessary to reduce the number of cyclists injured and killed in california.

The governor said the california highway patrol and caltrans raised "legitimate concerns" about the requirement to slow down..."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/cali...is-unsafe.html
....wow.....

M II A II R II K Oct 8, 2011 8:40 PM
In Pleasanton, Calif., radar-like sensors can more easily detect bicycle traffic, providing safer crossings for cyclists and motorists


Read More: http://www.governing.com/topics/tech...alifornia.html

Quote:
.....

While only 11 percent of bicycle accidents involve a car, 45 percent of these accidents take place at traffic intersections, according to legal website Nolo. But in Pleasanton, Calif., cyclists can ride through intersections a little safer knowing that technology is on their side. Pleasanton is recognized as the first in the nation to test out microwave motion and presence sensors called the "Intersector," according to the Contra Costa Times. Much like how a police officer's radar gun works, the Intersector sends out microwave pulses and measures the reflection off a cyclist or motorist from up to 300 feet away.

- When the sensor detects a bicycle, it triggers the timing of traffic lights one way, and when it detects only cars, it triggers a different timing scheme. The better pacing of green lights provides a safer crossing, says Pleasanton Senior Transportation Engineer Joshua Pack. The city tested its first sensor in January 2010; six additional intersections should have the sensors by the end of November, Pack says. When it comes to bike safety, Pleasanton is neither the safest Bay Area city nor the most dangerous. But Alameda County (where Pleasanton is located) had the second highest number of bicycle accidents in Northern California from 2005 to 2009, according to The Bay Citizen.

- Many cities like Pleasanton currently have embedded road sensors that detect both cars and bicycles. But Contra Costa Times mentions that if the bike isn't positioned properly or isn't made of metal, those sensors don't work. The performance and success rate of video detection, another widely used method, is affected by fog and wind. The microwave sensors' detection are not affected by weather, and are immune to post-rain glare, sunrise and sunset, according to the manufacturer.

- Pack says he would ultimately like to deploy these devices at every signaled intersection, but that likely won't happen for another 10 to 15 years. Despite this, he's enthused that the city is making traveling safer for both motorists and bicyclists. "They're both fully legal on the road, they have equal rights," Pack says, "and now we're finally able to provide the service that they've deserved for so long."

.....

M II A II R II K Oct 10, 2011 2:32 PM
Moscow builds its very first bicycle lane – or is it an obstacle course?


Read More: http://observers.france24.com/conten...ty-video-photo

Quote:
Moscow, home to 11.5 million people, recently got its very first bicycle lane. It was proudly inaugurated with much fanfare by city officials this summer to the great excitement of the city’s cyclists. However, their joy was slightly diminished when they realised that it was more like an obstacle course than a method for cyclists to more easily navigate city traffic.
The pictures, shared by Russian cycling enthusiasts, show just how complicated it is to navigate Moscow’s new bike lanes. In some spots, two-way bike lanes are just a metre wide and frequently blocked by gates as well as other obstacles. Moreover, Muscovites don’t seem to know what the green lanes mean and therefore have no compunction about parking their cars in the city's new cycle lanes.

- The Moscow State University campus is huge, so it’s perfectly natural to get around on a bicycle. And who else should lead the way if not the most advanced university in Russia? However, instead of being made with specially coloured asphalt, the cycle lane was just painted on the ground. Those who made it did not seem to worry much about keeping cyclists at a safe distance from drivers, either. It seems that local authorities wanted to ‘make everything like in Europe, but it’s turned out as it always does in Russia – the result is a touching gesture, but absolutely useless. However I’m not completely pessimistic; what is important is that Moscow now has its first-ever cycle lane. Hopefully, it will get fixed in time.”

.....



http://observers.france24.com/files/...ed%20road.jpeg




http://observers.france24.com/files/...ge/grates.jpeg




http://observers.france24.com/files/...e%20meter.jpeg




http://observers.france24.com/files/...er%20path.jpeg




Video Link

vid Oct 10, 2011 6:53 PM
Thunder Bay is more like Moscow than Amsterdam. Our bike lane project hasn't worked out very well. At one intersection, on a four lane road converted to a two lane road with a turning lane median, the centre lane of traffic merges with the outer lane, which also has sharrows, meaning you've got two lanes of traffic trying to merge while sharing that same lane with cyclists. Vehicular traffic is regularly swerving left and right to get aligned at intersections, while cyclists are swerving left and right to accommodate that and on-street parking while also having to deal with the bike lanes randomly alternating between designated bike lanes and sharrows in mixed traffic.

It's fucking absurd. At first I thought it was just hyperbole from the roads-are-only-for-cars crowd but after seeing it in person, I agree, it isn't safe for either type of vehicle.

Naturally, no one uses the bike lanes on that road. I saw a lot of cyclists, but they were all on sidewalks.

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7160/sam0732h.jpg

The left lane merges with the lane with the sharrow about 100 yards up, and then the dedicated bike lane starts. Then the traffic lanes shift left a bit to accommodate on-street parking, which lasts a couple blocks then disappears as everything shifts back for the next intersection.

M II A II R II K Oct 10, 2011 9:54 PM
A Summer of Bicycle-Focused Transportation Policy for Chicagoans


Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/renee-...b_1003286.html

Quote:
.....

This city continually ranks decently on bike-friendly city rankings, awarded the 'silver' designation in the 2011 League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Community Rankings, the same rank as NYC, D.C., Ann Arbor, Denver and Austin to compare a few. With promises of future implementation of bicycle focused transportation decisions, Chicago planners are making progress in helping the city join the ranks of Minneapolis, Portland and San Francisco as places were the bicycle is utilized as a tool for improving livability and functionality for all residents in an urban area.

- Over the past month or so the Department of Transportation and Emanuel's team have made some encouraging announcements on improvements and enhancements to Chicago's bicycle planning, policy and infrastructure. In July, CDOT announced a second protected bike lane on Jackson between Damen and Halsted. This added to the Kinzie .5-mile lane built this past summer puts Chicago at a total of two miles of protected lanes. The Active Transportation Alliance released information that CDOT announced two new protected bike lanes due to be installed this fall on 18th Street from Canal to Clark and Elston Ave from Milwaukee to North. The 18th Street lane is half a mile and the Elston one is one mile. This completes 3.5 miles of protected lanes. Only 96.5 miles to go to keep Emanuel's promise of 100 miles of protected lanes over the next four years.

- In September, adding to the pro-bicycle initiatives, Chicago announced plans for a new bike share program. The bike share should be innovative with Klein heading the program, with more focus around residents and commuters rather than tourists as the existing B-Roll has proved to be. The RFP calls for an initial installation of 3,000 bikes and 300 stations, with another 2,000 bikes and 200 stations by the end of summer 2012. Klein is known for his success with the bike share program in D.C. from when he headed their Department of Transportation. Now, if only the bike share stations could be linked to the Chicago Card or compatible with the single fare pass card for all CTA, Metra and Pace transit the RTA is legislated to develop by 2015.

.....

LosAngelesSportsFan Oct 10, 2011 10:51 PM
Here is BrighamYens (SSP poster) take on Yesterdays CicLAvia. It was the most successful yet, with over 130,000 participants. Now all parts of the City want in for the next one and i can confidently say that this one event is leading to many positive biking changes in the LA area. Definitely one of the best events in LA.

http://brighamyen.com/2011/10/10/cic...n-los-angeles/

M II A II R II K Oct 11, 2011 1:25 PM
Making Room for Delhi’s Bicycle Culture


Read More: http://thecityfix.com/blog/making-ro...cycle-culture/

Quote:
.....

Delhi already has cyclists of all kinds. There are bicycle riders, who generally own their cycles, as well as cycle rickshaws, who dominate older parts of the city and the suburbs like Gurgaon. There is also a new breed of electric cycle rickshaws, which run on electric batteries. Once upon a time, blogger Magali Mander says, Delhi used to have separate lanes for cyclists. But then, “the space was taken over by cars and planning was taken over by those who thought a modern city needed wide streets for cars rather than lanes for its inhabitants to walk on, or ride on their bikes.” Clearly, non-motorized transport needs to be prioritized in Indian cities, whether by constructing shaded walkways, elevated bike paths, or safer and well-maintained pavements.

- A paper by Geetam Tiwari, a transport and planning expert from the Indian Institute of Technology, notes a “failure to consider the broad spectrum of health effects that may result from transport and land use policies and investments has resulted in decisions that penalize the least affluent groups of the population and make it more difficult for them to get to jobs, education, health care, amenities, and services.” Unlike most Indian cities, Delhi traffic is made up predominantly of motorized vehicles, but the share of non-motorized modes of transport ranges between 8 percent and 66 percent at different locations. Nearly 32 percent of all commuter trips in Delhi are walking trips.

- The management and monitoring of a bicycle share program would likely be difficult in a city as large as Delhi. But there are perhaps lessons that can be drawn from the existing rickshaw sharing and rental industry. It would require city-wide infrastructure changes, such as installing bike racks, as well as educational outreach, like promoting road safety. It is also perhaps not something that can easily be afforded by the local government who are now tasked with many responsibilities. Distances that people travel in the city are often not short, but having cycle share systems that feed into the subway could be important. Additionally, bike riding is not convenient to everyone; women in sarees for instance are unlikely to cycle, and people that are elderly, disabled and handicapped once again become excluded from the cycling program.

- There are also external inconveniences to consider—the sun, the dust in eyes—which means educating the public about wearing helmets or protective visors. Biking would need to come with a slew of its own ammenities to ensure safety, but it would be in the interest of the city and its overall health. A cycle share program would have to be largely seasonal because in the summer, cycling is uncomfortable in the summer heat, as well as during the rains. But elevated bike routes and walking paths constructed with shading are a possible solution. Clearly, architects, planners and policymakers need to be in a dialogue with city’s citizens to explore these opportunities. There is potential in a project by a Delhi-based architecture firm Morphogenesis, called the Delhi Nullahs project, which would integrate several modes of non-motorized transport.

.....



http://thecityfix.com/files/2011/09/delhi-cycling.jpg

M II A II R II K Oct 11, 2011 6:53 PM
The Methodology of Bike-Share Station Placement in New York City


Read More: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/com...-stations/248/

Quote:
Last month, New York City selected Alta Bicycle Share to develop and operate its long-awaited bike-share program. Having finally arrived at this decision, the city must now shift its focus to 600 others: That's how many stations it intends to place throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn before the program's launch, which is scheduled for the summer of 2012. This first phase of 10,000 bikes alone will make NYC Bike Share the largest such program in United States, and among the largest in the world.

The situation seems primed for success. Two out of every five trips made in New York City are under a mile, or roughly 20 blocks, and to date the city has constructed hundreds of miles of bike lanes to facilitate the travel mode. Still the station selection process can't be taken lightly. Putting bike-share docks too far apart can frustrate riders trying to get as close as possible to their final destination; failing to stitch them into the city's existing transit fabric can push riders back to other modes; placing them where neighborhoods don't want them can incite local resentment toward the program in particular and riders in general.

If all goes according to plan, these potential problems will remain just that. New York City transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and Alta president Alison Cohen describe a multi-step selection process that balances the physical needs of a successful bike-share system with the personal desires of New York residents. Alta and the city will first target optimal service areas using detailed data models and public suggestions, then approach community boards that govern these areas with at least three possible locations, and last allow the neighborhoods themselves to make the ultimate decision.

.....



A bike-share station — for the uninitiated — is the docking fixture where system users pick up and drop off their bicycles. The first wave of 600 stations will be concentrated in Manhattan south of 79th Street and in select Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Williamsburg, Fort Greene, and Park Slope:

http://cdn.theatlanticcities.com/img...-map_thumb.jpg

M II A II R II K Oct 13, 2011 2:32 PM
New Cycling Initiatives in Ukraine


Read More: http://thecityfix.com/blog/new-cycli...es-in-ukraine/

Quote:
The city of Lviv in western Ukraine started the first stages of building new cycling routes for the city’s bicycle commuters. The Executive Committee of the City of Lviv approved a 9-year implementation plan for the city’s new cycling infrastructure. The approved plan includes a 270 kilometers (168 miles) of cycling infrastructure to be completed by 2019. Lviv’s new bicycling infrastructure is part of the city’s active promotion of bicycle culture. Working with local non-governmental organizations, bicycle dealers and cycle-friendly partners, the city is pursuing a sustainable mobility agenda and cooperating with other cycling cities worldwide. In order to initiate construction of new infrastructure, the city council allocated 1 million Ukrainian Hryvnias (US$125,000) to the project, however, the city is still pursuing additional internal and external funds.

The construction of cycling infrastructure is progressing simultaneously at multiple sites; however, the five proposed sites do not yet form a continuous cycling network. Each cycle path follows its own style depending on the road conditions and traffic density. Some cycling paths are designed as bi-directional roads whereas others mix one-directional bicycle traffic with pedestrian space. The width of the paths also varies from 1.5 meters to 3 meters wide. The one unique future for all of the cycle paths is the red color designating it as separate traffic from private vehicles. According to Oleh Shmid, the mayor’s advisor on cycling development—the first such position in Ukraine—the largest obstacle to promoting bicycle culture in Lviv is influencing behavior.

.....



http://thecityfix.com/files/2011/10/Lviv-bike-path1.jpg

M II A II R II K Oct 13, 2011 7:34 PM
New roads post-storm make New Orleans cycling city


Read More: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

Quote:
.....

Since 2007, the city has used about $100 million in federal rebuilding dollars to lay 56 miles of new asphalt on 55 heavily used streets, transforming potholed boulevards into smooth blacktops ideal for bike riding. Under the city's Submerged Roads Program, bike lanes have also been painted on 15 streets, giving the city about 40 miles of bike-friendly pathway. There are plans to pave 26 more streets. The city is also poised to spend $7 million in federal aid to turn a wide 3-mile stretch of an abandoned railroad easement between the French Quarter and City Park into a greenway that will be known as the Lafitte Corridor.

- Ridership has also grown. In 2010, New Orleans ranked 12th in the number of bicycle commuters among American cities, an 84 percent increase in bike commuters since 2005, according to the latest Census data. New Orleans-based urban planner Robert Tannen said an increase in cycling has many benefits. "It slows down traffic. People are more cautious. It makes for a far more pedestrian-friendly city; bikers are also walkers. And it increases the health and overall well-being of citizens," Tannen said. "It increases the number of people who patronize local stores and smaller shops rather than the malls."

- The progress has bike enthusiasts dreaming: Can New Orleans, with its flat terrain, warm weather and tightly-knit neighborhoods, rival the nation's best cycling cities like Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Boulder, Colo.? This summer New Orleans was named a "bicycle friendly community" by the League of American Bicyclists, but it still has further to go to attain the league's top-tier "platinum" status. By comparison, Portland has 180 miles of bike lanes. Nearly 6 percent of workers there commute to work, according to the league's database, compared to about 2 percent of commuters in New Orleans.

- Still, the city has come a long way. Bicycle shop mechanic and bike activist Tim Eskew said groups plodded along for years in obscurity and tried to drum up interest in cycling mostly through schools. He said it took about seven years to get city buses to include bike racks. "Our biggest brick wall was that we all worked full-time jobs," Eskew said.

.....

CyberEric Oct 13, 2011 11:16 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by M II A II R II K (Post 5438108)
In Pleasanton, Calif., radar-like sensors can more easily detect bicycle traffic, providing safer crossings for cyclists and motorists


Read More: http://www.governing.com/topics/tech...alifornia.html
I work in Pleasanton, and I think that sounds great, but I can tell you that Pleasanton is a terrible place to ride a bike or walk. This is mainly due to the to lack of bike lanes, low density suburban layout with streets and design catering to cars, cars, and more cars. I'd love to see what intersections these sensors are going to be located.

M II A II R II K Oct 17, 2011 1:34 PM
Recyclebank's Plan to Make London Residents More Physically Active


Read More: http://www.fastcompany.com/1787612/r...sically-active

Quote:
The easiest way to convince people do most things in life is to offer rewards; recycling is no different. That's why Recyclebank has reached millions of people with its environmental social platform, which rewards participants for recycling and reducing household energy with points that can be exchanged for deals and discounts at nearby store. So when Transport for London, the organization that runs all of London's public and alternative transportation efforts, decided that it wanted to increase ridership in its bikeshare program (just launched in 2010) and get more pedestrians on walkways, it contacted Recyclebank for help.

Recylebank's solution: an app, of course. "It's a layer on top of Recyclebank's program with goals of reducing pollution and boosting overall health and fitness. It's important for London ahead of the 2012 Olympics," says Jonathan Hsu, CEO of Recyclebank.

The mobile phone app allows London-based users to log the distance of their journeys and receive points depending on the length. At the end of each journey, Recyclebank will reveal the number of points earned as well as health and environmental benefits (number of trees saved, miles saved by staying off the road, carbon emissions). The app can also show users nearby locations where they can redeem their points.

"The points will be redeemable throughout our rewards catalog," says Hsu. "Recyclebank is all about providing actual monetary financial rewards, but beyond that showing people the full context of their actions for the environment." Rewards currently on Recyclebank's website include discounts on products at Macy's, CleanWell, Brookstone, and UncommonGoods. The company has over 3,000 reward partners.

.....



http://images.fastcompany.com/upload...e3584d0a_z.jpg

M II A II R II K Oct 19, 2011 2:19 PM
No Room for Bicyclists in Small Wisconsin Town


Read More: http://thecityfix.com/blog/no-room-f...isconsin-town/

Quote:
A small town in Wisconsin has been getting quite a bit of attention for considering a ban on bicyclists and pedestrian traffic from certain roads. A public safety committee in Hull, Wis., a town with a population of only about 6,000 people, drafted an ordinance that would require groups of bikers, runners and walkers to register travel plans with the town prior to traveling.

Hull’s example may not be totally relevant to the transport struggles of larger cities, where the interweaving of multiple road users is ever more present. However, this case can perhaps start a dialogue about the relationship of road users to one another and to public space.

The town attributes the reason behind its proposed law to complaints from private vehicle drivers, as well as to safety concerns for vulnerable road users. However misguided, it seems that the effort to pass the ordinance is coming from a good place. You can read the Public Safety Task Force Minutes from the September 15 meeting here to understand how the discussion led to the proposed law.

Town officials are well aware of the growing role of pedestrians and bicyclists in Hull. At one point, Chairman John Holdridge even says, “I think the key thing here is more and more pedestrians and bikers are using our roads so it’s a shared situation. Sometimes that’s a tough sell to drivers.”

Besides being potentially illegal, the proposed law wouldn’t address any public safety concerns, explains Cyclelicious. “Drivers in this city of 5,000 seem to be annoyed by the momentary delays posed by walkers, joggers, and cyclists. There are no sidewalks on the 80 miles of road in Hull and, according to Public Safety Committee meeting notes, the lanes within town limits are no more than 12 feet wide.”

.....



http://thecityfix.com/files/2011/10/...es-on-road.jpg

electricron Oct 19, 2011 3:57 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by M II A II R II K (Post 5449379)
No Room for Bicyclists in Small Wisconsin Town
Golly, it's a town with a population of just 6,000. You must have a wicked imagination to equate a small town to a large urban city.

M II A II R II K Oct 19, 2011 4:49 PM
A Gentle Push for Bikers, Not a Shove


Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/ny....html?src=recg

Quote:
NEXT summer, New York City plans to introduce its bike-share program, making two-wheeled travel possible for thousands more residents and tourists. Shared bikes, available at rental kiosks around the city, will have built-in safety features like a handlebar bell and front and rear lights that stay on all the time. But the bikes won’t come with one basic piece of protective gear: a helmet.

- Helmets, however, despite their ubiquity in the city’s advertisements to encourage bicycling, are not mandatory for adults in New York. And neither city officials nor cycling advocacy groups are proposing a law to require them. Making helmets compulsory, they contend, could actually make cycling less safe. The more bikes on the street, their thinking goes, the safer bike-riding is; and helmet laws discourage people from joining in, because of either the cost and inconvenience of buying a helmet or fears of fines.

- “It’s a balancing act,” said Jon Orcutt, a policy director for the city’s Transportation Department who is overseeing the development of the rental program. “You don’t want to impose a regulation. You don’t want to be working at cross-purposes with a heavy-handed rule that depresses or reduces cycling.” Bicycle helmets have long been an emotionally charged issue in New York. A recent commercial for Anderson Cooper’s new talk show that had him riding helmetless through the city’s streets led to a round of online condemnation.

.....



http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/...ticleLarge.jpg

llamaorama Oct 19, 2011 6:38 PM
is it possible to develop some kind of folding helmet?

apparently they exist

M II A II R II K Oct 20, 2011 6:00 PM
Quote:
with the competition quickly heating up nationwide to see which city can become the nation's best bike city, minneapolis has plenty going for it. After all, they have been anointed the "mantle" by bicycling magazine who chose minneapolis its #1 bike city in 2010. One of the biggest reasons is thanks to the minneapolis-st. Paul region having nearly 100 miles of greenways and off-street paths so residents can safely and quickly commute.

and by far the most well known of those paths is the 5.7 mile long midtown greenway, which cuts thru the heart of minneapolis from east to west, giving city denizens and easy way to travel. The path has not just been good for cyclists, runners, and families, but business and real estate. Thanks goes to the bikes belong foundation for this third in a series of streetfilms we were able to produce this summer from minneapolis. Check out the nice ride mn & sabo bridge streetfilms if you haven't already!




Video Link

M II A II R II K Oct 26, 2011 3:35 PM
Making Bikes a Part of the Neighborhood


Read More: http://www.gothamgazette.com/article...111025/16/3625

Quote:
.....

It took New York City a lot longer than many other big cities to get to bikeshare, but it would not have been possible at all if there hadn’t been decades of advocacy both from outside and within government. While there was cycling in New York before there were cars, as street space became monopolized by motor vehicles, cycling became dangerous and difficult. Transportation Alternatives Transportation Alternatives, the city’s largest advocacy group, was founded by bicycle advocates in 1973 and has grown dramatically both in size (with 8,000 members today) and scope (it now works for pedestrian safety, better mass transit, and in general for “reclaiming streets” as public spaces).

- In the 1990s, partly as a result of pressure from advocates like Transportation Alternatives, the city’s Department of Transportation openly debated the agency’s standard orthodoxy – shared by many traffic managers around the country – that gave priority to the movement of motorized traffic as quickly as possible throughout the city. This engineering dogma actually contributed to congestion because it only encouraged more people to get in cars, and turned major roads like Queens Boulevard and Eastern Parkway into dangerous highways. DOT considered using a different approach that is widely used around the world: traffic calming – which slows car traffic to make streets safer for other forms of transportation like pedestrians and bicyclists. Research clearly shows that slow streets save lives and reduce crashes just as slow food is healthier for you.

- Community boards Community boards are the closest thing we have to neighborhood-level government. Since community boards have limited authority, city agencies tend to ignore them and the first slight is in the city budget. The average community board has a (declining) budget of about $1.42 per capita each year (compared to $7,500 that goes into the city’s big budget pot). Their staff is small and even though the City Charter calls for each to have a professional planner, the city has never appropriated the money. Most boards have transportation committees, but there’s no training and support for the volunteer members. Community boards routinely review proposals for bicycle lanes and even though they have no veto power it can take only a few disgruntled speakers angry at losing a parking space to kill a proposal.

- The problem with this system of neighborhood governance is that it could lead to the creation of a more sharply divided city, one for cyclists and pedestrians and another for the car culture. Community boards open to more bike lanes have usually gotten them. They usually have more cyclists who attend board meetings and get appointed to the boards. Those community boards opposed – especially in areas far from Manhattan with higher rates of car ownership – have not. Some of the boards – appointed by the borough presidents in consultation with city council members – are dominated by car owners and leave out cyclists entirely. There are no citywide standards that require all street users be represented. This is why the existing bicycle lanes tend to be concentrated in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn nearest downtown – the very areas to be covered by bikeshare.

.....

M II A II R II K Oct 31, 2011 6:38 PM
Bicycles roll into fashion in Mexico City


Read More: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/s...ity/50897802/1

Quote:
.....

Mexico's attempts to promote bicycle riding as an alternative to cars may explain why biking has surged in popularity and public acceptance in recent years, Mexico City's Federal District says. Local government officials say they hope increased bicycle use will curb pollution and traffic woes in a city deemed in a recent IBM survey to have the worst commutes in the world. Areli Carreón, director of the bicyclist-advocacy organization Bicitekas, describes Mexico City as ideal for cycling with its flat terrain and favorable climate. She says attitudes have changed since Bicitekas members began staging nighttime rides years ago to demand respect from motorists known for their inattentive driving.

- Mexico City has been an unlikely place for cycling to catch on. Owning a motor vehicle shows status and some residents — mainly those with money — consider public transit uncool, uncomfortable and unsafe. Local cycling initiatives began in 2006 with the administration of Mayor Marcelo Ebrard. He unveiled measures for improving life in the city, such as building urban beaches and bike paths, and setting up the world's biggest skating rink every December — initiatives derided as publicity stunts by critics pointing to his presidential aspirations.

- The measures have proved popular, however, especially establishing a Sunday bike route on the grand Paseo de la Reforma, a wide avenue where many monuments to Mexico's history are placed. A bike-sharing program known as Ecobici launched 18 months ago in the trendy Condesa neighborhood and has attracted more than 30,000 users. It now has a six-week waiting period for new members. The local environment secretariat estimates there are 100,000 cycling trips made daily in Mexico City, which is home to nearly 9 million residents. An additional 11million people live in suburbs around the city.

- "They don't share lanes with you, they'll yell at you, tell you to get out of the way," department store employee José Rueda says of local drivers. The city government has installed some bicycle lanes, which — in the case of the open lanes — motorists frequently wander into, in addition to blocking crosswalks and parking on sidewalks, Rueda says. "We have to let motorists know that we're here," says martial arts instructor, Juan José González, 30. "We've asked too politely to be allowed to use the roads."

- Motorists have complaints, too. "People riding bikes don't have any road etiquette," says Vanessa Hernández, who commutes an hour each way to her government job. Tensions boiled over in August when radio host Ángel Verdugo called cyclists "a new plague" and encouraged drivers to run them over. The comments drew rebukes but illustrated how important driving is to people here and how bad habits have taken hold. Mexico City is notorious for traffic and pollution (the latter having been reduced greatly in the past 20 years), and local Environment Secretary Martha Delgado says a preference for owning vehicles took hold as incomes increased.

.....

hammersklavier Oct 31, 2011 11:42 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by electricron (Post 5449514)
Golly, it's a town with a population of just 6,000. You must have a wicked imagination to equate a small town to a large urban city.
"Town" and "city" seem to be fairly interchangeable words up there...

M II A II R II K Nov 3, 2011 5:01 PM
City's 10-year bike plan obsolete after 4 years?


Read More: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...keplan02m.html

Quote:
Just four years after Seattle published its $300,000 Bicycle Master Plan, city officials are considering spending an additional $400,000 to revise it. The 2007 bike plan, a 174-page document produced for then-Mayor Greg Nickels, was supposed to be a 10-year blueprint to help Seattle build a $240 million cycling network as good or better than Portland's. Now the plan apparently is reaching obsolescence.

Urban bicycle networks are changing quickly: the development of safe walking and cycling routes called "greenways" on the side streets of Portland; a growing commuter-trail network in Minneapolis; parts of streets becoming protected "cycle tracks" in New York City. "It's really interesting to see the public getting out ahead of us on this, clamoring for greenways," said Craig Benjamin, policy and government-affairs manager for Cascade Bicycle Club. He also is co-chair of Streets for All Seattle, the pro-Proposition 1 campaign.

Mayor Mike McGinn proposes to pay for the bike-plan update with a small piece of the city's proposed $60 car-tab fee, which appears on the November ballot as Prop. 1. The measure would raise $204 million over 10 years for transit, street, bike, pedestrian and freight improvements. If it fails, the City Council will face some tough decisions about how and whether to improve the bike plan, McGinn said Tuesday.

.....

M II A II R II K Nov 4, 2011 6:47 PM
Mo, a new startup in Munich, is trying to combine the city's bike shares, car shares, and public transportation system. Pay a yearly fee, use your phone to take whatever kind of transportation you need.



Video Link





Video Link

M II A II R II K Nov 4, 2011 7:03 PM
Streetless in Seattle


Read More: http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_...portation.html

Quote:
Mike McGinn, the mayor of Seattle, won office in 2009 after making transportation policy a centerpiece of his campaign. He catapulted himself over his establishment-friendly opponents, including the incumbent, by vigorously opposing the construction of a multibillion-dollar highway tunnel beneath the city’s waterfront. McGinn also gained fame for bicycling to and from campaign events. And he promised to put Seattle on a “road diet” in which car lanes on many busy multilane roads would be converted into bike lanes. The city’s paper of record, the Seattle Times, has called McGinn “philosophically anti-car.” A former Washington State Sierra Club chairman, McGinn likens autos to in-laws: “You want to have good relations with them, but you don’t want them to run your lives.”

- The plan has generated fierce resistance, with civic organizations springing up in opposition, posting signs and circulating petitions. McGinn, meanwhile, has courted controversy for his cozy relationship with local cycling groups. In May, he bestowed a $95,000-a-year city hall job on his friend David Hiller, who heads the Cascade Bicycle Club, an advocacy group. The perceived cronyism has spurred a campaign, led by Seattle activist and businessman Michael Cornell, to recall the mayor. It’s clear, however, that the recall campaign is about more than McGinn’s relationship with Hiller. McGinn’s policy, Cornell says, “is a war waged on people who drive cars.”

- Factors both meteorological and topographical make Seattleites unlikely to forgo cars as their primary means of transportation. Rain falls more than 150 days a year in this famously gloomy city, rendering cycling both unpleasant and unsafe. And Seattle’s ubiquitous steep hills make San Francisco look like Des Moines. It’s hardly surprising that, according to the Seattle Department of Transportation, a mere 2,600 people—out of a total downtown workforce of 230,000—commuted downtown by bicycle in 2009. McGinn is correct that Seattle’s transportation infrastructure needs an overhaul. The city’s traffic congestion is horrendous. The GPS manufacturer TomTom conducted a 2009 study that measured the speed with which automobiles navigated streets in cities nationwide; it found Seattle’s roads the most congested in the country, with Los Angeles taking second place.

.....

Cirrus Nov 9, 2011 9:07 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by BeyondDC
Details of Baltimore’s bikesharing deal
http://beyonddc.com/log/?p=2981

Baltimore is planning to launch its bikesharing system next summer, and is moving forward ironing out the details.

According to The Bike-sharing Blog, Baltimore is shooting for a 30-station, 250-bike system focused around downtown and Fells Point. They are planning on calling the system Charm City Bikeshare, to compliment the branding of the Charm City Circulator bus system.

Earlier today the city announced that they have officially selected Bcycle to build and operate the system. Bcycle operates Denver’s extensive bikesharing network, as well as smaller networks in nine other US cities. They are the primary US competitor to Bixi, which operates four networks in the US, including Capital Bikeshare.

It’s unfortunate that Baltimore and DC will be using different systems, and therefore won’t be able to cross-honor memberships. Nonetheless, bikesharing has proven to be an effective and affordable form of urban transportation, so it’s exciting to see more and more cities taking it up.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6188/...4c0c2886_z.jpg
Bcycle bikes in Boulder. Photo by Mr T in DC.

M II A II R II K Nov 9, 2011 10:42 PM
Indonesia’s Biggest City Gets its First Bicycle Lane


Read More: http://thisbigcity.net/indonesias-bi...-bicycle-lane/

Quote:
On May 22, 2011, Jakarta set a new milestone towards a healthier and more livable city. The Jakarta administration inaugurated the city’s first dedicated bicycle lane, stretching 1.5 kilometers from Ayodia Park to Blok M in South Jakarta. Jakarta is late in promoting bicycle lanes, having focused on promoting the use of cars by building more elevated inner city toll roads and ignoring the importance of non-motorist trips in the city. Many metropolitans in the world have developed dedicated bicycles lanes for years. Cities in developed countries, particularly in Europe, have integrated bicycle lanes into their transportation network systems. Those cities such as Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen and Barcelona have been developed as bike-friendly cities.

- If the Jakarta city administration could encourage more motorists to shift to using bicycle to work, the city’s chronic traffic woes could be eventually reduced. The first dedicated bike lane in Jakarta is only a small step in developing Jakarta as a bike-friendly city. There are many challenges for the city to become bike-friendly. The city administration needs to have a strong commitment to build more dedicated bike lanes and integrate them with the city transportation network system. Dedicated bike lanes should be part of the city transportation network system and designed to accommodate the needs of residents’ mobility in the city. It is essential to connect dedicated bike lanes with mass transportation.

- It’s not easy to build more dedicated bike lanes if the Jakarta city administration focuses on building elevated inner-city toll roads as the solution of addressing the city’s chronic traffic woes. It is also important to note that the first dedicated bike lane was not initiated by the Jakarta city administration but the Indonesian Bicycle Community (Komite Sepeda Indonesia) that donated as much as 500 million rupiahs (US$56,000) to build it. Another big challenge for bike lanes in Jakarta is the lack of law enforcement. The Jakarta city administration should strictly enforce the dedicated bike lanes for cyclists. Bike lanes cannot be used as parking spots and a lane for motorcyclists.

.....



http://thisbigcity.net/wp-content/th...405&w=610&zc=1

M II A II R II K Nov 17, 2011 4:32 PM
WikiLane – How Citizens Built their own Bicycle Network


Read More: http://thisbigcity.net/wikilane-how-...cycle-network/

Quote:
Mexico City’s government pledged in 2007 that it would build 300 km of bike lanes around the city by 2012. However, the city still only has 22.2 km because most money is allocated to car infrastructure, leaving aside non-motorized mobility. That’s why the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and the National Network for Urban Cycling (BiciRed) launched a campaign called ’5% for bicycles and pedestrians’, which asks national legislators to assign at least that percentage of the transportation budget to non-motorized infrastructure.

- To promote that campaign and pressure legislators into action, several cycling and pedestrian organizations decided to paint their own bike lane in front of Congress on October 20th. This was our way of showing how little money and time is required to create quality infrastructure. We wanted to show that governments just need the will to promote non-motorized transport. However, that bike lane was efficiently erased just two days after it was painted, and no city official claimed responsibility.

- When we finally arrived to Congress, we got to repaint our efforts that had been erased. At that point, the police arrived for the first time. We talked to them for a bit, but, like every time we have have done this, we tell them we are just doing what government should be doing themselves. After the police left us alone, we threw ourselves to paint the last priority triangle of the day. Of course, we were extremely tired in the end, but it was completely worth it.

.....



http://thisbigcity.net/wp-content/th...405&w=610&zc=1




http://thisbigcity.net/wp-content/up.../11/Foto-1.jpg




http://thisbigcity.net/wp-content/up.../11/Foto-7.jpg




http://thisbigcity.net/wp-content/up.../11/Foto-5.jpg




http://thisbigcity.net/wp-content/up.../11/Foto-4.jpg




http://thisbigcity.net/wp-content/up...11/Foto-14.jpg

M II A II R II K Nov 19, 2011 1:27 AM
Sharing time: Tracking the ‘sharrow’ on city streets


Read More: http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-11-...n-city-streets

Quote:
.....

Sharrows have been increasing in popularity nationwide, and got a boost in 2009 when they were officially entered into the federal transportation engineering canon. Seattle got a head start, writing them into its 2007 Bike Master Plan. Other cities began earlier, but I've never seen such a profusion as in the Emerald City. Like many experts on transportation bicycling, Fucoloro wasn't enthusiastic about them. Sharrows are spread so indiscriminately on Seattle streets, he said, that "they mean nothing now." He has noticed that there seems to be "slightly less aggression" from drivers when they're in place. "But does that mean all the streets without sharrows are worse?" In other words, with sharrows everywhere, do drivers assume that cyclists don't belong on streets without them?

- Fucoloro is not the only one to express that concern, but he and others seem to be watching and waiting as cities feel out how best to use them. Some early adopters, including Sacramento and Baltimore, initially put sharrows on busy roads all the way to the right, where riders would be squeezed between fast car traffic and parked cars -- right in the dreaded "door zone." Federal regs now say that sharrows must be at least four feet from the curb if there's no parking, 11 feet from the curb if there is. Seattle has its own brand of sharrow growing pains. Riding and walking around town, it's hard to see a logic to the streets chosen for sharrow treatment. Some are on relatively quiet back streets, others are on breathtakingly fast arterials where the symbols are worn and rutted by the daily flow of cars and trucks speeding over them.

- Sharrows are popular because they are politically easy -- you can almost hear city officials sigh with relief when sharrows are mentioned. On the surface, they seem like a way to please the increasingly vocal bike lobby without ruffling feathers by putting in a bike lane at the expense of car parking or traffic lanes, which are often perceived as being for cars only. And they're cheap: Sharrows cost only $229 each to install, including labor and materials, while a full-blown bike lane can cost between $5,000 and $60,000 per mile. But do sharrows work? One recent study says sharrows slow car traffic slightly, and make bicyclists a little safer. But they are even better at keeping drivers at a distance from parked cars -- once again, bike infrastructure benefits more than just people on bikes.

.....



http://www.grist.org/phpThumb/phpThu...blue.jpg&w=315

M II A II R II K Nov 22, 2011 4:05 PM
First Street merging areas and bus zones greened


Read More: http://ladotbikeblog.wordpress.com/2...zones-greened/

Quote:
This past weekend, First Street in Boyle Heights got the distinct honor of having L.A.’s first completed green bike lanes. Merging areas and bus zones along First Street were colorized using green thermoplastic. The green colorization was applied on select areas along the 1.6 mile long bike lanes that stretch between Boyle Avenue to Lorena Street. Colorization has been shown to be affective in other jurisdictions at increasing motorist’s yielding behavior, improving bicyclist visibility, and increasing perceived safety for bicyclists. More on the lanes below the fold.

LADOT Bicycle Coordinator Nate Baird rode the new bike lanes on Saturday. He took some great photos (viewable on our flickr stream), and even captured some video. The video very nicely shows how well the colorization highlights bus zones, driveways, alleyways, and intersections. It begins with Boyle Heights resident Jose riding through a green bike lane symbol denoting the start of a new block.

.....



Flickr Video: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladotbikeblog/6365849939/


http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6040/6...65dd16f79b.jpg




Green bike lane symbol denoting the start of a new block

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6054/6...ec772924fc.jpg




A greened segment denoting an alley, followed by a dashed segment denoting an intersection approach.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6035/6...46d0dd8d78.jpg




The dashed segments provide a very effective visual cue to both motorists and bicyclists, highlighting the shared characteristics of the space. It tells both motorists and bicyclists to expect to see each other and to watch out for one another.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6225/6...bc89c40c82.jpg

LosAngelesSportsFan Nov 22, 2011 11:54 PM
and Downtown LA's Spring Street, got one the next day and Main street will get a northbound lane in a couple months!

M II A II R II K Nov 23, 2011 4:28 PM
How London Tried (and Failed) to Become a Cycling City


Read More: http://thisbigcity.net/how-london-tr...-cycling-city/

Quote:
While centuries of urban development in Amsterdam prior to the bicycle’s invention resulted in a city ideal for both bicycle use and a bicycle network, the same cannot be said for London. As a busier centre of trade bound less by geographical restrictions than Amsterdam, sprawl has been a continuous part of London’s urban form. However, there are some similarities between these cities. Both are relatively flat (or almost completely flat, in Amsterdam’s case) and have a predominantly historic road network. And despite London being a larger city, half of all journeys by car are under two miles.

- Occupying Germans stole thousands of bicycles from the Dutch when they seized the Netherlands, leaving them unable to transport themselves in the manner they were used to. In Britain, however, strict petrol rationing meant bicycle use rose considerably as, for many, it was the only way to get around. The actions of war meant that the Dutch lost their bicycles, but the British were forced on to them. As soon as the Brits had the opportunity to get off their bicycles they did, with car ownership increasing rapidly in the post-war years, and continuing to remain high. This despite the fact that, as in the Netherlands, campaigns to improve London’s bicycle provisions and encourage a return to bicycle use have been happening since the 1970s.

- Viewing the London Cycle Network on a map could lead to a conclusion that the Dutch approach to infrastructure was being replicated. A web of ‘cycle routes’ span central and inner London, supposedly offering direct and attractive routes to destinations. However, whilst the London Cycle Network appears comprehensive in map-form, this is an illusion. Certain sections are segregated and others avoid main roads entirely, but the majority of the network is shared with roads. Features such as on-road marked bike lanes and bike boxes may be present, but much of the London Cycle Network is simply London’s road network, plus a little paint.

- The small, mixed-use developments typical of Amsterdam are practical for both bicycle networks and developing sustainable communities. Important amenities are more likely to be within a walkable or cyclable distance, and people are actually on the street, rather than locked up in their cars. But London’s urban form and culture are different to Amsterdam’s, and the challenge of introducing a bicycle network capable of developing sustainable communities is greater. On the most basic level, London’s size means constructing a bicycle network is inevitably going to be a bigger task. However, the economics of the city arguably create a bigger problem than its form. Central London is home to one-third of the city’s jobs, despite only taking up 2% of its land space and housing only 300,000 of its residents. As a result, commuting is standard practice for most Londoners.

.....



http://thisbigcity.net/wp-content/th...405&w=610&zc=1

J. Will Nov 23, 2011 9:45 PM
St. Louis County: We Don’t Build Bike Lanes Because No One Bikes

http://streetsblog.net/2011/11/23/st...-no-one-bikes/

Quote:
You “salute” cyclists, they just aren’t worth any “ground” or “money” because all of that is reserved for the folks who really count: motorists. How forward thinking!


All times are GMT. The time now is 8:49 PM.
Viewing Page 10 of 34
Show 50 post(s) from this thread on one page

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.