Urban Cycling Developments

[Columbusite]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

From London to D.C., Bike-Sharing Is Safer Than Riding Your Own Bike


June 16, 2011

By Noah Kazis



Read More: http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/06/1...your-own-bike/

I'm guessing this is because people with the money to rent a bike value their lives more than someone riding a POS bike in the dark, in the door zone, with no lights, against traffic, who inevitably gets hit. It's funny that people in general are so terrified to ride a bike, but when they do, they choose to ride in the most dangerous manner to all but ensure that they'll be hit by a car. People are weird, illogical creatures.

[CGII]

Originally Posted by mhays

Very cool for Copenhagen. I wonder if it's not too much incentive to park at the wrong spot. Of course in the US, there's probably some asinine liability interpretation against touching anyone's stuff other than as necessary to move it. But gotta love those Europeans.

Nah, the NYPD and the Parks Department have histories of angle grinding bikes free of their locks if they are locked in places arbitrarily deemed inappropriate and then impounded/sold at auction.

[mhays]

Impounding is one thing. Renovating is another, because it can't be viewed as necessary. US law is very funny. I don't know specifically....would be curious what a lawyer thinks.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Columbusite

I'm guessing this is because people with the money to rent a bike value their lives more than someone riding a POS bike in the dark, in the door zone, with no lights, against traffic, who inevitably gets hit. It's funny that people in general are so terrified to ride a bike, but when they do, they choose to ride in the most dangerous manner to all but ensure that they'll be hit by a car. People are weird, illogical creatures.

Not sure if it's about money or just about complacency. People who rent bikes rather than own them are probably less than avid riders and as a result they may be more timid in their behaviour and conscious of their surroundings.

[M II A II R II K]

Minneapolis Shows Leadership in Cycling and Road Safety


June 16, 2011

By Ben Welle

Read More: http://thecityfix.com/blog/off-the-b...d-road-safety/

This week marked the grand opening in Minneapolis, Minn. of the third segment of the Cedar Lake Trail, a now 4.3-mile stretch from the suburb of St. Louis Park all the way to the the Mississippi River downtown. The opening is one more mark on the bench for a city that has invested heavily in an extensive network of off-street trails that have helped make it the most bike-friendly city in the country, according to Bicycling magazine, and a model for other cities looking for the same. The original Cedar Lake Trail was a national trendsetter in that it was the first so-called “bike freeway” that featured bike lanes striped in each direction and a separate lane for pedestrians.

- Minneapolis has also recently developed bike boulevards, on-street bike lanes and segregated cycle tracks, introduced one of the largest bike share systems in the United States, and added hundreds of bike parking facilities. The private sector is also pitching in: the city is dotted with bike shops and bike-themed coffee shops. Private developers have flocked to build compact, walkable housing developments along the Midtown Greenway, and the Minnesota Twins baseball stadium connects directly to the Cedar Lake Trail’s recently opened section. Today the city boasts the second most number of bike commuters in the United States, behind Portland, Ore. It is also perhaps one of the safest places to bike. As bike commuting has risen steadily, crash rates and real numbers of crashes have gone down.

- In cities around the world, there are unused or underused stream and river corridors, parks, rail and utility corridors and other paths that can be put to good use in providing space for both utility and recreation. There can be obstacles, from funding to pollution to negotiations with landowners, but “there’s a growing recognition from public health and public works facilities that [trail networks] are important infrastructure investments,” as noted by transport planner and landscape architect Steve Durrant in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

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[mhays]

As a visitor a few years ago, I agree that Minneapolis kicks ass as a bike town. Now if the drinking fountains were turned on in late spring....

[M II A II R II K]

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[M II A II R II K]

America's Reviving Its Highway System for Cyclists


Read More: http://www.good.is/post/america-s-re...-for-cyclists/

Corridor Plan: http://www.adventurecycling.org/rout.../index.cfm#top

Back in the early 1980s, America started building a highway system for cyclists—a grand national grid of bike paths. The first two stretches of the U.S. Bicycle Route System were going to run from Maine to Florida and from Virginia to Oregon. But only small parts of those routes were ever made official and the idea lost steam. Why build infrastructure for a prehistoric mode of transportation like the bicycle? Who's going to need that in the 21st century?

Well, as it turns out, biking is on the rise. Americans made 4 billion biking trips in 2009, compared with just 3.3 billion in 2001. With this new interest in cycling, the idea of a national network of bike routes is back. As U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood recently noted on his blog, the Association of American State Highway and Transportation Officials has approved the first new routes in the national bike system in more than 30 years. The six new routes are in Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Alaska.

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[Nouvellecosse]

Interesting idea, but I'm pretty sure most cyclists bike within cities rather than between them. I have to wonder how much use it would actually get.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Interesting idea, but I'm pretty sure most cyclists bike within cities rather than between them. I have to wonder how much use it would actually get.

It seems like something like this would get used more in the sense of biking tours. In the Northwest we have Seattle to Portland, and Hood to Coast, which are two big biking tours that happen once a year I believe. I have also met a few people that have done the bike across country thing, which is pretty cool.

I am guessing if bike routes like these went in, they would definitely get some use, but it wouldn't be regular commuter uses or anything unless these routes also considered inner city connections that made them more useful on a local level, which connecting areas on a regional level.

[Rizzo]

I know the routes across Michigan get very heavy use. I haven't biked those since the 90's, but it was incredible how long you could ride for what seemed like forever and ever and ever. The idea wasn't to bike between cities unless you were a serious cyclist. Most of the time, people would just hop on at one spot, ride for 6-10 miles to an interesting city and then turn back around. It was more a recreation place than a functional highway.

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by Hayward

I know the routes across Michigan get very heavy use. I haven't biked those since the 90's, but it was incredible how long you could ride for what seemed like forever and ever and ever. The idea wasn't to bike between cities unless you were a serious cyclist. Most of the time, people would just hop on at one spot, ride for 6-10 miles to an interesting city and then turn back around. It was more a recreation place than a functional highway.

dude. i grew up in michigan. what strange oddities do you speak of? i always thought of it as a cycling wasteland but growing up in metro detroit its kind of scary to ride a bike.

[M II A II R II K]

New report reveals bike and pedestrian projects create more jobs than those for cars only


June 28, 2011

By Alex Goldschmidt



Read More: http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/20...for-cars-only/

PDF Report: http://www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/...s_June2011.pdf

Bike lanes and sidewalks don’t just make streets safer and more convenient – they’re a good investment of transportation funds, too. A new report from the Policy Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that public investments in pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure – including sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails – create more jobs per dollar spent. The report finds that bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects create significantly more jobs than infrastructure projects for cars alone. According to the study, bicycle projects create 11.4 jobs for every $1 million invested — 46% more than car-only road projects. Job creation potential decreased as infrastructure dedicated to automobilies increased.

Why do bicycle and pedestrian projects create so many more jobs per dollar? The first reason is that the ratio of labor to materials for these projects is generally much greater. Bicycle and pedestrian projects use fewer physical materials, so a greater proportion of the project budget can be spent on wages and salaries. The second reason is that with bicycle and pedestrian projects, a higher percentage of materials can usually be purchased in-state, creating more jobs locally – which this report specifically examined. Rarely can all the materials for a car-only road projects be purchased in a single state, so while these types of projects might create the same number of jobs nationally, bike/ped projects create more jobs within a given state.

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[M II A II R II K]

São Paulo Bike Parking: Mauá and More!


http://thecityfix.com/blog/sao-paulo...maua-and-more/

In 2001 Adilson Alcantara, manager of the Mauá CPTM (Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos) train station in the greater São Paulo region was faced with a challenge: What to do with the hundreds of bicycles precariously and haphazardly chained to every open space of the Mauá train station? At the time, the cycles obstructed the walking lanes for both pedestrians and passengers. The solution: Alcantara developed Latin America’s largest bicycle parking station, which provides parking for nearly 2,000 users daily, repairs and maintenance centers, in addition to social services, such as legal counsel.

The Mauá bicycle station in collaboration with ASCOBIKE (Associação dos Condutores de Bicicletas de Mauá), a bicycle riders association, initially began with 200 users but has grown to nearly 2,000 users daily. Around 70 percent of ASCOBIKE users transfer to the CPTM train, a commuter rail serving São Paulo city that connects to the São Paulo metro system. The program has been so successful that it has been replicated across both the CPTM and São Paulo Metro, which collectively now boast more than 44 biciletários (bike stations) with more than 10,600 spaces for bike parking. In addition to the bike stations, São Paulo began a public bike-sharing program in 2009, which at the inauguration date, offered 150 bikes across 15 central metro stations.

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On São Paulo's metro map, the green dots represent bike stations, and green dots with a black circle represent bike sharing stations. Map via CPTM.

Video Link

[mhays]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

It seems like something like this would get used more in the sense of biking tours. In the Northwest we have Seattle to Portland, and Hood to Coast, which are two big biking tours that happen once a year I believe. I have also met a few people that have done the bike across country thing, which is pretty cool.

I am guessing if bike routes like these went in, they would definitely get some use, but it wouldn't be regular commuter uses or anything unless these routes also considered inner city connections that made them more useful on a local level, which connecting areas on a regional level.

I'd see a trail system as very different than a Seattle-to-Portland, which uses streets and highways, some reserved for the bikes that weekend (at least in town, not sure about the highways).

[Wizened Variations]

We in the US really are starting at square 1 in coordinating bicycles and public transportation.

In the illustration above, about bicycles adjacent to Sao Paulo transit station, we should remember that per

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%E3o_P...ro#cite_note-0

about 3,600,000 riders per day use the combined subway and commuter rail system.

In Denver, if one includes our bus system, our entire public transportation system handles about 250,000 riders (not people) per day.

We, in Denver, as well as in Portland, Pheonix, Dallas, etc., have to start by encouraging via expiring subsidies private companies to open private bike parking at light rail stations, busy park-and-rides, big bus terminals, etc. Until that occurrs- and that WILL NOT OCCURR without short term public subsidy, private money will not provide more than the most 'token' financial support for the bicycle commuter life style.

Perhaps for 5 years or so, a private operator could lease space for $1/year, and, build a facility big enough to hire an exployee 365 days/year, in snow free towns, from 6:00A to 8:00P. Then, bicyclists could park their bikes safely for $1 or $1.50 per day (my wife had her bike stolen at a light rail station). Subsidize the operation long enough for the operation to gain it's own momentum. In snow towns, provide the right incentives to operate from say April through October.

This would widen the usable bike to station radius considerably.

[M II A II R II K]

Christine Lagarde Will Bike to IMF


http://thecityfix.com/blog/christine...l-bike-to-imf/

Huffington Post’s Women section reported earlier this week that Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund’s newest Managing Director, will be biking to work when she finally makes the move to Washington, D.C. for her new job.

“Lagarde, once a competitive synchronized swimmer and a member of the French national team, wants to ride her bike to work,” reports HuffPost’s Elisabeth Braw. “She’ll bring it with her from Paris.” Riding a bike to work will not be a novelty for Lagarde.

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[M II A II R II K]

City needs to get in gear over offer from injured bicyclists


Read More: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...yndication=rss

It's been dubbed "the most dangerous street in Seattle." It's the site, one local bicycling blog said, of a decade's worth of "paint, spilled blood, signatures, band-aids, concussions, a ghost bike, and many, many crashes." Now, for the umpteenth time, some of its victims are calling for it to be fixed. Only there's a twist. The injured this time are so frustrated they're offering to pay for the road work themselves.

- I can guess what some of you are thinking: Whiny bicyclists should look in their handlebar mirrors. At first blush I might agree. If I crashed my bike on a railroad track, I would tend to blame me, not the railway or the city. But it turns out this is no ordinary intersection. Or group of whiny bicyclists. For starters, a bicyclist falls there daily. That's the estimate of Cliff Valentine, of AMC Cliffv's Marine Service, whose office looks out on the tracks. Bike wrecks are so constant he keeps a first-aid kit at his front door.

- Enter the seven injured bicyclists. Midway through their lawsuit, they thought: What can we do that won't just add another chapter to this dysfunctional story? So they hired their own traffic engineer, a respected one the city uses. He came up with a plan to actually fix the hazard, by putting in a new rubberized filler system around the tracks to prevent bike tires from catching. The engineer's estimated budget: $13,680, labor included. Which the bicyclists agreed to pay in full. No response from the city, says David Middaugh, the cyclists' attorney.

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[M II A II R II K]

The Social Benefits of Cycling Identified, Enumerated and Imitated


Read More: http://streetsblog.net/2011/07/01/th...-and-imitated/

Copenhagen PDF Report: http://www.cycling-embassy.dk/wp-con...Copenhagen.pdf

With all the progress being made on cycling in American cities, we still have places like Copenhagen to remind us how far we have to go, says Andy Clarke at the League of American Bicyclists blog. The city just released its bi-annual Bicycle Account, and it is chock full of impressive statistics. Among them: 35 percent of the city’s residents bike to work; 67 percent of cyclists report they feel safe in the city; and 69 percent of residents travel by bike at least once a week.

- The cycling culture in this city is so well established that one of the biggest obstacles to progress is that the cycle tracks are overcrowded, Clarke reports. The city’s culture of sustainable transportation is paying big dividends, the report notes. Copenhagen researchers found that every mile cycled provides the equivalent of 41 cents in social benefits to the community. Meanwhile every mile driven exacts about 24 cents in costs on society.

- Aaron Renn at the Urbanophile offers a tribute to Portland, which he says is perhaps the most influential mid-size city ever in the United States. This sustainable enclave in the Pacific Northwest was far ahead of the curve in sustainability and its leadership has been widely influential. Renn likens Portland to a mid-1800s Chicago, whose early understanding of the emerging railroad economy made it the leader of its day. Now Portland is inspiring imitators, some of them much larger, with its remarkable foresight, Renn writes. “Portland didn’t invent bicycles, density or light rail — but it understood the future implications of them for America’s smaller cities first, and put that knowledge to use before anyone else.

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[M II A II R II K]

Bike-sharing gears up in U.S. as gas prices soar


http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/06/3...#ixzz1R4vtxv8J

As gas prices continue to take a toll on Americans' pocketbooks, a growing number of people are embracing a more old-fashioned, cheaper and greener way of getting around: bicycling.

And an increasing number of U.S. cities are starting bike-sharing programs for a range of environmental, health and economic reasons. Cities across the country — including Washington, Chicago, Miami Beach, Denver and Des Moines, Iowa — launched bike-sharing programs last year. Boston and New York plan to start their own later this summer.

Most programs enroll members who pay small monthly or annual fees and then are able to rent bikes for either a limited number of hours or a whole day. Nonmembers often can buy daily passes.

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