Promoting cycling in the USA

The Challenge: Only 1% of all daily trips in the United States are made by bicycle, including fewer than 1% of trips to school by children younger than age 16. However many more trips could be made by bicycle, as 40% of trips made in the United States are shorter than two miles. Make an impact: Recognizing this potential, many government agencies and public health organizations are starting to advocate for increasing bicycling as a way to improve people's health and reduce air pollution, carbon emissions, congestion, noise, traffic dangers, and other harmful effects of car use. Understanding the most effective strategies cities can use to increase bicycling is important. What the findings are about: This brief summarizes the available evidence about strategies for increasing bicycling levels, including on-street bike lanes, off-street bike paths, and other bicycling infrastructure and educational programs, and offers related policy implications.  You will find your copy here: "How to Increase Bicycling for Daily Travel". Authors: Jennifer Dill, PhD, Portland State University; Susan L. Handy, PhD, University of California, Davis; & John Pucher, PhD, Rutgers University.

 

Cycling in Hyderabad

Hyderabad Metropolitan Area which is witnessing a spurt in privately owned vehicle numbers and subsequent rise in pollution is in need of a Bicycle Master Plan. The Comprehensive Transportation Study (CTS) taken up on behalf of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority to suggest solutions for transportation issues has underscored the need to promote bicycling and make the city ‘bicycle-friendly’. Advocating a Bicycle Master Plan, the CTS report called for a wide network of cycle routes and facilities and making bicycle policy an integral part of transportation system policies. The quality of urban environment has deteriorated seriously owing to noise and air pollution and inadequate road safety, the report compiled by LEA Associates says. Most pollutants present at the street level originate from motor vehicles, it points out while adding, “there is a definite need to make the city bicycle-friendly”. The Bicycle Master Plan has been proposed as a document with ‘long-range planning for developing bicycle infrastructure in the city with emphasis on designating and expanding bike routes, fostering a safe environment for cycling and promoting bicycling as a viable transportation option’. Read on in The Hindu 

Cycling in Athens

Thousands of Greeks took to the streets of Athens and dozens of major cities nationwide on Sunday in a colorful protest, different than the ones against austerity staged often over the past three years. Riding their bicycles throughout the central districts of cities, entire families from toddlers to white-haired pensioners, participated in the 6th Panhellenic Bike March requesting measures to boost "sustainable mobility." "We open a path to life" was the main slogan of the events organized by cyclists groups, which included happenings on road safety and music concerts. "Amidst the economic crisis, the state should offer citizens alternative solution to the costly and environmentally un-friendly car use," read banners and leaflets distributed to passer-bys on Syntagma square in front of the parliament. "The government must lower the prices of tickets for means of public transport and offer people more and safe bike routes across cities," Yiota Panagopoulou, an activist who joined the group "Moms on the Streets" told Xinhua. "Our aim is to persuade more and more people to leave their cars at the garages and start riding bikes to go to work or meet friends for fun," Stefanos Xenos, a political engineer who has done so over the past two years, said. Source: Shanghai Daily

New York learnt from the best

There is a hopeful prediction, kicking around in cycling circles as New York City’s bike-share program nears its introduction to a skeptical public: Soon enough, the thinking goes, the scheme will prove so popular that New Yorkers will insist they invented it. Not quite. When Citi Bike is introduced in New York on Monday, it will resemble a sort of cycling stew — bulky bikes to match the behemoths of London, a pricing model that resembles Washington’s and pliable station hardware borrowed from Montreal. And when Citi Bike personnel “rebalance” the supply of bikes by truck, they will be emulating cities like Paris, where rental riders’ joy in gliding downhill has not been matched by their determination in pedaling back up. “What we’ve tried to do,” said Jon Orcutt, the policy director for New York’s Transportation Department, “is take the best of each system.” The administration compiled a report studying programs from five cities — Barcelona, Montreal, Paris, Toulouse and Washington — weighing how characteristics of each might translate in New York. To make the comparison complete, go to Velo Mondial's 'Pas-Port to Cycling' for the World Bike Share Map. Read on in the New York Times.

What's new!

Bike Racks are also 'Parking'.

In a very short time, New Yorkers will have the opportunity to show the world that they are just as virtuous, well-intentioned and offended by sloth as people in Copenhagen or Geneva or any other of a number of cities where mindful living and wonderful yogurts reign. The city’s long-anticipated bike share program is scheduled to make its debut in May, allowing New Yorkers to pick up and deposit rental bikes at hundreds of locations, most of them, so far, in some of the wealthiest neighborhoods. Anyone waking up on a Sunday morning in TriBeCa, finding nothing in her refrigerator and hankering to go to Smorgasburg in Dumbo, Brooklyn, for instance, will now be able to do that with relative ease. So is this really the time to complain — this, a moment when progressive policy has had such an obvious victory? Virtually everything about the city’s growing bike culture has prompted vigorous argument and even fury. Now that the metal stalls and kiosks where bikes will be stationed are turning up in parts of Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan, the theater of operations in the war among cyclists and drivers and pedestrians has expanded and multiplied and bred new factions, even though the bike share program itself has been shown to have widespread support in polling. Read on in the New York Times. Velo Mondial says: Bike Racks is also 'parking', just for more people.

Bike Share: Ready for Research

More than 500 cities in 49 countries host bike-sharing programs, with a combined fleet exceeding 500,000 bicycles, according to new research from Earth Policy Institute. Paris’ landmark Vélib’ program, which was launched in 2007, now has company as cities around the world turn to bike-sharing—distributed networks of public bicycles used for short trips—as a way to enhance mobility, alleviate automotive congestion, reduce air pollution, boost health, support local businesses, and attract more young people. In the United States, more than two dozen cities have active public bike-sharing programs, including Washington, DC, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Boston, Miami Beach, Denver, Madison, and Ft. Worth. EPI’s Director of Research, Janet Larsen, points out that the number of American bike-sharing cities is set to double in the next couple years as large programs roll out in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, and San Francisco, among others. New York City will become the nation’s biggest program, though at an ultimate 10,000 bikes, it pales in comparison with the mega-programs in China that boast up to 90,000 bikes. Find your full overview of Bike Sharing systems in Velo Mondial's PAS-PORT to Cycling.

Bicycle Highways in Amsterdam

What is a bicycle highway? The big difference between a bicycle highway and a bike lane in Copenhagen is that highways are maintained and prioritised just like normal roads are.This means the bike paths are as straight as possible, making them faster. Normal bike lanes usually meander where there is space available for them, which may prove cumbersome to cyclists. The paths are also broader and during winter, snow will be removed from them, as with regular roads. Everyone said there have to be better bike lanes, better lighting next to the bike paths, it has to go fast and the snow must be removed quickly; this is what the Danes are trying to address, making some long bicycle highways where you can ride safely in good lightning and where the necessary equipment is close to you. Comfort has also been thought through, with air pumps placed every 1.5 kilometres. And when you get closer to the city centre, traffic lights have been coordinated in “green waves” so that cyclists who keep a speed of 20 kilometres per hour will only meet green lights.Velo Mondial adds that these bicycle highways resemble very much standard bicycle paths in The Netherlands. Read on in EurActive.

Bicycle Highways In Copenhagen

Bicycle highways, a new transport experiment, are spreading fast across the European Union, notably in Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the UK.In the suburbs of Copenhagen, a bicycle highway project launched in April last year has proven a hit with the city's commuters. Authorities plan to open 28 bicycle highways in total.According to its promoters, bicycle highways should be rolled out across the EU, especially in a time of crisis as they can help governments save on healthcare costs. The bicycle network is currently saving the Danish state an estimated €40 million per year in health costs, with only a relatively small amount of money going to building and maintaining the highways. Lars Gaardhøj, chairman of the Environment and Green Growth Committee in the capital region of Denmark, told EurActiv that the bicycle highways targeted commuters who traveled more than five kilometres to work or school. Studies have shown that over distances more than five kilometres, people tended to choose other means of transport, like buses or cars, he said. Read on in EurActive.

Electric Oldies

The number of e-cyclists in the Netherlands has reached one million in 2012. Ten percent of all cycling kilometres (which total 1.3 billion km per year) are done by pedelec. Of all people in The Netherlands of over 60, 10% now own a pedelec. One fourth of all cycling kilometres made by this age group are on a pedelec. This also applies to women of 46-60 years. Pedelec ownership is even somewhat higher for this group than for the seniors, namely 13%. The number of cycling kilometres ridden by those aged 60 and above has risen remarkably in recent years, and this is particularly the case for women. Women in this age group cycled 50% more kilometres in 2010 than they did in 2000. This was not only because there were more people aged 60 and above, but also because of the advent of the pedelec. Each pedelec was found to be used for an average of 31km per week. This is significantly more than the 18 kilometre average for regular bikes. While the number of kilometres cycled on a normal bike decreases with advancing age, the number of kilometres cycled on a pedelec remains unchanged as the cyclist gets older. The Cycling Council also investigated how fast people cycle on a pedelec. The average is 18.7 km/hr (a bit slower for those aged 60 and above). That is certainly not very fast. Read more here.