Urban Cycling Developments

[M II A II R II K]

London’s Bicycle Network: Good for Commuters, Bad for Communities


Nov 23rd, 2011

By Joe Peach

Read More: http://thisbigcity.net/london-bicycl...d-communities/

Amsterdam’s bicycle network is the envy of cities all over the globe, receiving praise for the economic, environmental, and social benefits it supposedly brings to the city. Yet with independent retailers struggling, air quality issues, and portions of society still not embracing bicycle use despite an extensive network and cyclist-friendly legal system, there are obviously limitations to what a bicycle network can achieve. But just a few hundred miles away, London’s Mayor, Boris Johnson, is desperately trying to turn the British capital into a cycling city, and barely a week goes by without some kind of proclamation on the transformative potential of an improved bicycle network.

- Transport for London (TfL) has stated its belief that bicycle networks can ‘strengthen London’s economy by improving access to local town centres’. Whilst numerous studies suggest economic benefits from developing a city’s bicycle network, the flaw in TfL’s logic is that London’s more recent bicycle network developments exist to improve access to the city centre, not the town centres that surround it. Launched in Summer 2010, London’s ‘Cycle Superhighways’ are bright blue bike lanes stretching from outer to central London, following main roads to offer the quickest routes into the city. The Greater London Authority – the administrative government body for the Greater London area – states the ‘Cycle Superhighways’ are built ‘to improve cycling conditions for people who already commute by bike and to encourage those who don’t to take to pedal power’.

- The ‘Cycle Superhighways’ are being used as intended, but not in a way that improves access to local town centres, and not in the way that TfL believe bicycle networks can be economically beneficial. Considering the lack of emissions associated with bicycle use, developing London’s bicycle network could be viewed as an opportunity to improve air quality. Consistently failing to reach the minimum standards set by the EU, London’s air quality is the worst in the UK, and among the worst in Europe. However, the enormity of tackling the city’s poor air quality is beyond the capabilities of its bicycle network. London’s congestion charging system resulted in a 20% drop in car use, the fastest growth rate for the city’s bus system since the 1940s, and a 16% drop in CO2 emissions within the charging zone itself, yet due to the zone’s relatively small size, CO2 emissions across the city as a whole have barely changed.

- The design of London’s newest bicycle network additions is also troubling. As with the ‘Cycle Superhighways’, London’s cycle hire scheme prioritises the city centre, launching with all 352 of its cycle hire stations in an area of London that houses only 300,000 of the city’s almost 8 million residents. Those living in that area might get improved access to nearby services, but for the remaining 7.7 million of us, it’s a bit more complicated. Thankfully, the success of the city’s cycle hire scheme means it is expanding eastwards through more residential areas in time for the 2012 Olympics. In addition to its limited geographical distribution, London’s cycle hire scheme has been criticised for failing to attract a broad range of users. Notably called a ‘posh-boy toy’ by Guardian journalist Tim Lewis, the typical user is young, male, white, and not exactly on the poverty line, if you get my drift. Whilst this problem is indicative of bicycle use in the UK as a whole, it suggests that London’s newest bicycle network addition has failed to make cycling a real alternative for those who wouldn’t already consider that mode of transport.

.....

[202_Cyclist]

Fifty bikeshare stations planned for stations along the Red Line
Montgomery County officials still seek funding for project

by Kristi Tousignant, Staff Writer
Maryland Gazette
11/30/2011

"Commuters could keep on riding even after they exit Metro trains if 50 bikeshare stops proposed around the Red Line open as early as next winter.

Montgomery County officials and residents discussed Tuesday adding bicycle stations that would connect to the bike network in Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Va.

The county hopes to add 50 stations with 400 bikes along and around Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s Metrorail Red Line, focusing on places like Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Forest Glen and Wheaton..."

http://www.gazette.net/article/20111...mplate=gazette

[M II A II R II K]

Occupy Amsterdam? How Mass Protests of Cars Fostered Dutch Cycling Policy


December 1, 2011

Read More: http://sustainablecitiescollective.c...ir-cycle-paths

.....

The video below offers vital historical perspective on the way the Netherlands ended up turning away from the autocentric development that arose with postwar prosperity, and chose to go down the cycle path.

- It lists several key factors, including public outrage over the amount of space given to automobiles; huge protests over traffic deaths, especially those of children, which were referred to by protesters as “child murder”; and governmental response to the oil crisis of the 1970s, which prompted efforts to reduce oil dependence without diminishing quality of life.

- The Netherlands is often perceived as an exceptional nation in terms of its transportation policies and infrastructure. And yet there is nothing inherently exceptional about the country’s situation. As the narrator says at the end of the film, “The Netherlands’ problems were and are not unique. Their solutions shouldn’t be that either.”

.....

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBdf9jYj7o" target="_blank">Video Link

[M II A II R II K]

How San Francisco Became a Cycling City Against the Odds


Nov 30th, 2011

By Joe Peach

Read More: http://americancity.org/buzz/entry/3212/

.....

The success of the bicycle in Amsterdam is often attributed to its flat terrain. By this logic, cycling would be unpopular in San Francisco. Yet the truth is the opposite of this. In the USA, bicycle use is (rather strangely, to this Brit at least) measured nationally by the percentage of trips taken to work by bike, reaching 0.6% in 2009. However, in San Francisco this figure was 3.2%, with local studies for all trips (yes, even those rare occasions when you aren’t going to work!) raising it to around 6%. A small figure compared to Amsterdam, but still notably higher than both the American national average and London’s dismal 2%.

- Much of the city’s success with cycling has happened in the last five years, with a 58% increase in levels of cycling witnessed between 2006 and 2010. However, what is most impressive about this growth is that between these dates the city was legally incapable of developing its bicycle network. San Francisco has, by North American standards, a long history of supporting multi-modalism. Enacted in 1973, the city’s Transit First policy was introduced to encourage ‘the use of transit and other alternatives to the single-occupant vehicle’. Whilst early versions neglected to explicitly mention bicycle use, the Transit First policy set the tone for the city’s approach to transport modes.

- Later updates specifically endorsed the bicycle, and the city published its first bicycle plan in 1997. This resulted in the development of San Francisco’s early bicycle network, but by 2005 the city was ready for something more comprehensive. Plans were drawn up and released as part of the Bicycle Plan Policy Framework (BPPF), aiming to create more dedicated bike lanes and places to securely stow bikes. Presenting near-term and long-term plans to improve the city’s bicycle network, its goals were, by Dutch standards at least, relatively modest. Despite this, the proposed implementation received some criticism. Although part of a large policy framework, sections of the BPPF were treated as ‘individual projects’, thus bypassing mandatory environmental-reviews.

- Yet as San Francisco’s bicycle network remained static, levels of cycling did the opposite. Program Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Andy Thornley, attributes this to the attitude of San Francisco’s citizens: Well, for sure, there’s no place else like SF, with the combination of mild climate and urban density and smart, self-defining culture, the traditions of environmentalism, social justice, participatory politics, street theater and un-self-consciousness - we’re not people who get hung up on what we’re supposed to be doing or thinking, or how we look when we’re doing our thing, so the “childishness” and “down-class” stigmas of riding a bike don’t discourage us so much.

- Cycling activism also has a history in San Francisco. Critical Mass - an event which sees large groups cycle a designated route through a city - started in San Francisco in 1992, before spreading all over the globe. Could it be that the people of San Francisco just want to cycle, regardless of the bicycle network they have to cycle on? Despite topographical and infrastructural differences, Amsterdam and San Francisco have more in common than a water-influenced urban form. Amsterdam’s cycling resurgence, whilst dependent on numerous external factors, was initiated by the Dutch people. Similarly, the impressive increase in cycling seen in San Francisco, whilst again dependent on external factors (of the non-infrastructural variety), could not have happened without citizen demand.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

Are urban bicyclists just elite snobs?


Dec 4, 2011

By Will Doig

Read More: http://www.salon.com/2011/12/04/are_...obs/singleton/

In March, New Yorker columnist John Cassidy blogged about the city’s new bike lanes. He was annoyed that they made it harder for him to drive his Jaguar around Manhattan, and bemoaned the city’s bicyclists as a privileged, insular aristocracy, a “faddist minority intent on foisting its bipedalist views on a disinterested or actively reluctant populace.” The Internet pounced. Cassidy’s blog posts usually get around a dozen comments. This one got 109, and not all were adoring fans. “The most tone-deaf, philistine commentary I’ve ever seen in these pages,” read one. “Honestly, if you love driving so much, please move to the Midwest,” another suggested. “Philistine and desultory drivel.”

- Urban bicyclists have an image problem. They’ve become stereotyped as pretentious, aloof jackasses, and a lot of this has to do with the changes taking place in cities right now. During the last decade, dozens of urban cores were inundated by young, well-educated newcomers. Places like Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Washington added tens of thousands of these new residents. And one thing’s for sure: These kids really like bikes. An analysis by Atlantic Cities showed that bicycle ridership in these cities soared during this period. In some cases, it more than doubled. The rise in bicycling compelled cities to make themselves more friendly to bicyclists, and the friendlier they became, the more people starting riding. But as miles of bike lanes were striped and bike-share systems were installed, some of those cities’ residents started to criticize what they saw as major changes being made for a few new arrivals.

- “It got associated with young people and newcomers, and so people see cycling as something that’s accompanied by gentrification,” says Ben Fried, editor in chief of the online magazine Streetsblog. Bicycles and bike lanes became the most visible, most concrete representation of the demographic shifts transforming cities — and all the tensions and growing pains such a transformation entails. The bicyclists-as-gentrifiers trope turns out to be more perception than reality, though. Over the last decade, the share of white bicyclists fell in proportion to riders of color. And ridership is remarkably equal across income groups.

- But design is only part of the image problem. The other is bicyclists themselves, who are viewed as inept at best and a grave threat to the walking public at worst. But this, too, is mainly the result of urban norms not keeping pace with fast-changing cities. For years, most cities let bicyclists operate by what you might call “road rules lite” — coasting through red lights, for instance, if it was done cautiously. But once bikes started saturating the streets, local residents demanded riders be held to the same legal standards as drivers (ignoring the fact that drivers are rarely held to those standards themselves). Crackdowns ensued, which only inflamed tensions and widened the cultural divide. Philly ticketed 600 bicyclists in two months.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

Take two for Rio de Janeiro’s bicycle rental program


December 7, 2011

By Tais Moraes

Read More: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/glob...al-program/993

As the 2016 Summer Olympic Games nears, Rio de Janeiro is taking steps to become more sustainable. One of the most prominent involves two-wheeled transport. One of the city’s latest efforts, a program to stimulate Cariocas to use bicycles as a primary mode of transport, was relaunched a month ago. “Bike Rio” is the new version of “Pedala Rio,” a biking rental program that ended in 2010, which survived for just over a year. This time, City Hall says its efforts are going to stick around. The new program models its structure on those in Amsterdam and Paris, and the rate to rent a bicycle is now half of what it used to be. Organizers also say the security system that failed in the previous try is improved. There are also many more bikes and stations than the program’s previous incarnation.

In partnership with Itaú Bank and Serttel — the latter which developed the new system — the “laranjinhas” (”oranges,” referring to the color of the bikes), can be seen on the streets and at the 35 stations around the city. More stations are planned; the promise was 60 in total, with 600 bicycles available by the end of the year. To use the bikes, riders must register online. A monthly pass costs 10 reais (approximately US$5.57) and a one hour ride costs five reais. Customers can check bicycle availability online, as well as find open station spots to drop the bicycle off when they are finished with it. (There is a 60-minute time limit on rides.) “I’ve been using it mostly to go to the gym, and I thought it was really organized,” engineer Daniel Oberling said when SmartPlanet dropped by. “[However] it is impossible for me to go to work with it because I work far from home and there’s no station there.”

.....

[M II A II R II K]

Bike Lane-less Dallas Inches Forward


December 13, 2011

By Angie Schmitt

Read More: http://streetsblog.net/2011/12/13/bi...nches-forward/

.....

[In] a list of the top 30 US cities by population … of all the cities listed, Dallas is the only one with no on-street bike lanes. Also, of the cities listed, almost half have upped the ante by applying for and receiving official “Bike Friendly Communities” status from the League of American Bicyclists, which means they have shown a high dedication to the LAB’s “5 E’s”: engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation and planning.

- The good news is, Dallas is getting its first bicycle boulevard, on Seventh Street, as Bike Friendly Oak Cliff later noted. It will be a shared roadway, so that won’t count as dedicated bike infrastructure, but it’s an improvement none the less. Another sign that notoriously car-centric Dallas is urbanizing, ever so slightly.

Dallas can do better for these folks, pictured on the Annual Ride of Silence. Photo: Ride of Silence

[M II A II R II K]

Cycling to Meet Europe’s Greenhouse Gas Reductions


December 13, 2011

By Itir Sonuparlak

Read More: http://thecityfix.com/blog/cycling-t...hg-reductions/

The climate change policy talks in Durban finally wrapped up and participating nations agreed to pursue a new course of action in the global fight against climate change. Despite the inspiring agreement, one thing is still unclear and that is the strategy with which the world’s nations will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve limited temperature rise. Perhaps the new study from the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) on how cycling can reduce greenhouse gas emissions can play a role in defining that strategy.

- The study finds that if cycling across the EU’s 27 nations was as widespread as it is in Denmark alone, then bicycling can help reduce the total greenhouse gas emissions for the transportation sector by up to 26 percent. Though, the percentage reduction would vary depending on which transport mode the bicycle replaces. This could go a long way in helping the EU achieve its much-needed goal of a 60 percent GHG reduction for the transportation sector by 2050.

- If we consider the current GHG reduction targets of the EU, an individual would only be able to travel 2,170 kilometers (1,348 miles) by car, 5,822 kilometers by bus (3,618 miles), and 28,000 kilometers (17,398 miles) by bicycle per year. So basically, if you wanted to limit your driving to meet the EU GHG reductions, you would only be able to drive 1,348 miles per year, which, if you’re traveling at 60 miles per hour, would be about only 23 hours of continuous driving per year.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

4 Types of Cyclists


December 14, 2011

Read More: http://www.carfreeinbigd.com/2011/12...-cyclists.html

Four Types of Cyclists PDF: http://www.portlandonline.com/transp...44597&a=264746

The key to bike ridership is not converting the "Interested but Concerned" into "Enthused" or "Fearless." Changing people is far more difficult than changing the infrastructure (unless you are the City of Dallas). Instead, you have to tap into that population base. But why?

For one, despite the various regional geographies and mindsets we might personally identify with, these percentages are pretty consistent no matter where the question is posed. Portland, Dallas, or Amsterdam. The difference is how amenable the infrastructure is.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

L.A.'s Bike Lane Blues


December 14th, 2011

By Nate Berg

Read More: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/com...ane-blues/719/

The city of Los Angeles recently followed the lead of cities like San Francisco and New York by altering two of its streets and adding new bike lanes, part of a pilot program that included painting the entire width of the lanes bright green. These new lanes have been welcomed by the bicycle community and by ribbon-cutting local politicians as a bold green sign of the city’s efforts to become a safer and friendlier place to bike. Riding down one of these new lanes, a 1.5-mile section of Spring Street downtown, it’s easy to feel the difference from other streets in the car-dominated city, with the neon green lane practically impossible to miss. But after a few blocks of riding, that bright green starts to dim, with sometimes huge splotches chipped off and eaten away, revealing the black pavement and gray concrete beneath. And that’s after a second coat of paint had been added. In a month.

- “By the first rainstorm they were compromised,” says Tim Fremaux, a traffic engineer and bikeways project manager at the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. And that first rainstorm came early. Despite a fairly clear forecast, rains drizzled shortly after crews laid down paint the weekend of November 19. According to Bruce Gillman, LADOT’s public information officer, the $15,000 coat of paint couldn’t properly set because of the moisture. In addition, passing buses, cars, bikes and pedestrians further affected the paint’s ability to dry properly. “Cones weren’t left in place long enough to control the traffic,” says Gillman. Within days, much of the paint on a long stretch of the new bike lane looked like it had gone through years of service.

- So two weeks later, they tried again. “We re-applied with a different paint, but recent rainstorms compromised that coat as well,” says Fremaux, of rains that fell earlier this week. The second coat of paint, which included an epoxy base to help it stick to the ground, cost another $15,000. But again, the bike lane is now fading away on about half of its 11-block stretch, with chipped paint drifting into gutters and down the street. The bulk of the paint remains, but the visible decay is at the very least troubling for a project with only a few weeks under its belt and already two faulty coats of paint. “Whatever paint they’re using, it’s not working,” says Alexis Lantz, planning and policy director at the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. She points to success in cities like San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and New York, which have installed similar painted bike lanes in recent years. “I don’t believe they’ve seen these kinds of issues with the paint peeling up.”

- Gillman argues that 100 percent success wasn’t necessarily the main objective. The Spring Street bike lane was intended to serve as a test of how future lanes could be implemented, he says. The problems with the paint have proven to be effective lessons of what not to do. The other test in this pilot – on certain high traffic areas like intersections on 1st Street – used a higher-grade and more expensive thermoplastic paint similar to what’s used to line streets. No problems have been reported on this street. But at about double the cost of the Spring Street paint, Gillman says this option isn’t widely viable in the current economic climate. For now, the chipping paint represents maybe 10 to 20 percent of the stretch of lane in question, but it hints at a rapid deterioration that could decrease the attention-gathering safety these lanes are intended to provide. Gillman says LADOT will be sending a crew out to evaluate the latest damage and determine whether yet another coat of paint is needed. Fremaux says the city’s not likely to keep covering up the problem without finding a more permanent solution.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

Emanuel, Quinn hope bicycles fill the missing link in mass transit


December 16, 2011

By Jon Hilkevitch

Read More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,3771067.story

Going from bicycle to train and even to airplane could be a breeze thanks to new funding designed to encourage creative solutions to urban congestion, officials said Thursday. A $20 million federal transportation grant for Chicago that was first announced Monday will allocate $16 million toward repairs on the CTA Blue Line O'Hare branch and $4 million for the city's planned bicycle-sharing project set to start next year, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Pat Quinn said during an event at the Logan Square Blue Line station, 2620 N. Milwaukee Ave.

The Logan Square neighborhood near the CTA stop is a candidate to get one of 300 bike-sharing stations in 2012, Emanuel said. The city plans to provide 3,000 bikes for short-term use, for free or a modest fee, starting in June, to encourage less driving and more use of mass transit, and to reduce traffic congestion and pollution. The mass transit-bicycling connection encourages bike use before or after using transit, officials said. Users will pick up a bike from a self-service docking station, ride to their destination and drop off the bike at the nearest station.

Officials expect to expand the bike-sharing program to 4,000 bicycles and 400 stations near bus stops and rail stations by 2013. The total cost of the Blue Line and bike projects is estimated at $64.6 million, according to a document provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation. While the CTA and Chicago Department of Transportation are getting a total of $20 million, Chicago's original grant application totaled $50 million — $40 million for the CTA and $10 million for bike-sharing, CDOT spokesman Bill McCaffrey said. Forty-six transportation projects nationwide will get a total of $511 million in this funding round, according to the U.S. Transportation Department. The top single amounts awarded were $20 million apiece to four projects, including Chicago's.

.....

Gov. Pat Quinn, from left, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood gather Thursday at the Logan Square CTA station to announce a $20 million federal grant for Blue Line repairs and a bicycle-sharing program. (José M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune / December 15, 2011)

[TysonsEngineer]

http://www.gazette.net/article/20111...mplate=gazette

Capital Bikeshare in Washington DC has been one of the most successful transportation initiatives in this region in years. Not only is the company doing well (bucking what most said would never work in the Capital) but they are even expanding into Maryland and Virginia along existing and future metro stations. Unfortunately most of these metro stations have yet to integrate bi-modal transportation systems outside of cars to this point but the new Silver line in northern virginia gives a blank slate for design ideas at this point. We should be seeing some new bikelanes in Tysons Corner specifically being integrated in some of the secondary thoroughfares at some point in 2012 which hopefully along with our really good bus system and future metro can help reduce traffic and office park sprawl in the region.

[s.p.hansen]

Salt Lake City is on track to open a downtown bike sharing program in the spring / early summer (500+ bikes).

I have it from a reliable source (who works for the city) that Salt Lake City just scored a hefty little grant to build barrier separated 7ft wide bike lanes on one of the streets downtown.

[tallboy66]

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

Emanuel, Quinn hope bicycles fill the missing link in mass transit


December 16, 2011

By Jon Hilkevitch

Read More: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,3771067.story






Gov. Pat Quinn, from left, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood gather Thursday at the Logan Square CTA station to announce a $20 million federal grant for Blue Line repairs and a bicycle-sharing program. (José M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune / December 15, 2011)

This is good for people who occasionally visit the city but a bike rental station to another fixed destination station won't fill gaps in transit. A comprehensive bike trail will. The blue line just had a ton of construction and upgrades supposedly allowing it to top 55 mph in spots out to O'Hare

Besides most people in Logan sq. or points south (Wicker, West Town) have bikes already. How about covered bike racks or more bike parking along East/West routes along the Blue line?

How about finally making the Bloomingdale into a multi use path?

[J. Will]

We can't allow bike lanes, because they might be used by terrorists!.

[M II A II R II K]

How to Boost Biking and Walking Even Further in Your City


12.20.11

By Jay Walljasper

Read More: http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-to...r-in-your-city

.....

People here biked and walked 16 percent more in 2011 than in 2010, when Minneapolis was crowned “#1 Bike City” by Bicycling magazine. The same is true for St. Paul and some inner ring suburbs. Biking rose 22 percent across the Twin Cities compared to 2010, according to data just released by Bike Walk Twin Cities. And it’s up a whopping 53 percent since 2007, when the organization began counting bicyclists and pedestrians at 42 locations in the two cities and adjoining suburbs. Walking is also on the rise in the Twin Cities. Pedestrian traffic rose 9 percent compared to 2010, and 18 percent since 2007.

- Furthermore, Minneapolis gained more national recognition this year as one of America’s best walking cities. It ranked number #9 (2nd in the Midwest after Chicago) on a list of America’s 50 largest cities, compiled by WalkScore—a prominent website that measures the walkability of neighborhoods around the country. That put it ahead of Portland (12) and Denver (16). (St. Paul is not among the 50th largest cities, but if it was it would rank 15th, #3 in the Midwest.) Bike Walk Twin Cities has conducted bike and pedestrian counts over the past five years as part of the federally funded Non-Motorized Transportation Pilot Program, which is focused on implementing proven strategies and finding innovations that allow some Americans to switch from driving to biking and walking for many short trips.

- The pronounced rise of two-wheel and two-feet travel between 2010 and 2011 is attributable in part to an array of street improvements—including more bike lanes and special bicycle-and-pedestrian boulevards—installed around town in the past year as part of the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Project. The Twin Cities was one of four communities around the country designated as transportation laboratories in the legislation, which was passed by a Congress in 2005 and signed by President George W. Bush. “The goal of this project from Congress was to shift some trips, and this data shows it is happening,” says Joan Pasiuk, director of Bike Walk Twin Cities. “The implications for overall health and transportation access are outcomes the community will realize from the numbers we’re reporting.”

- Bike and pedestrian counts on just one bridge across the Mississippi River, for example, show that the increase in biking translates to 96,000 fewer auto trips at that location during 2011 compared to 2007, explains Tony Hull, Bike Walk Twin Cities’ Nonmotorized Evaluation Analyst. He arrived at that figure by using a model developed as part of the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Protocol by Alta Planning & Design of Portland. Overall, people made 1.1 million bike and pedestrian trips across the bridge in 2011. “This is a massive number of people that need to be factored in our transportation policies,” Hull notes. “It’s not just nice that people are biking and walking more today. It’s a significant form of transportation” which he says offers positive results for public health, the environment and our sense of community.

.....

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by J. Will

We can't allow bike lanes, because they might be used by terrorists!.

I think we found your terrorist!

Originally Posted by M II A II R II K

[M II A II R II K]

Cincinnati wants cyclists to grade city on its bicycle infrastructure and policies


December 23, 2011

By Randy A. Simes

Read More: http://www.urbancincy.com/2011/12/ci...-and-policies/

The City of Cincinnati is looking for bicyclists to share their thoughts about how the city is progressing with its bicycling infrastructure and policies. From now until December 31 bicyclists can give their feedback to the Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE) about what would make them feel safer and use their bicycle more often. In 2010 bicyclists gave the city an overall grade of “C” for its progress, just as they did in 2009, and city officials are hoping the feedback can help guide policy decisions to improve the atmosphere for bicycling in Cincinnati.

“We’re working to create a bicycle friendly city, so that Cincinnatians of all ages and abilities can use bicycles for everyday trips,” stated DOTE director Michael Moore. “The report card survey is a great tool for publicly measuring our progress.” This is the third year in which the city has solicited such feedback to help guide its bicycle program. Over that time the city has also worked to implement new bicycle parking and lane infrastructure, along with new policies intended to improve bicycling culture in Cincinnati.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

Carnegie Mellon University industrial design students Jonathan Ota and Ethan Frier developed the Aura system that brings attention to bicyclists by lighting up their bike. The students incorporated six groups of three tri-colored LEDs attached to the rims of a bike. The lights are powered by a generator built into the front hub.

Video Link

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

^ My favorite Gold Panda song! It doesn't really make me think of nighttime though...