Health benefits of cycling through the city are greater than risks

Despite all of the dangers cyclists face in traffic, it is still considerably healthier to leave the car at home and to commute by bicycle instead. That is the conclusion of a new study conducted by Utrecht University’s Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL). Driving less improves the individual cyclist’s health. The advantages of cycling weigh up against the possible health risks, such as traffic accidents or the inhalation of fine particles.  The researchers came to this assessment by calculating the health effects resulting from using a bicycle instead of a car for short distances. Using the results of a previous study on physical activity, they calculated that cycling would result in an increase in life expectancy of three to 14 months. “Encouraging people to walk or cycle a little each day would generally result in a better physical condition. “The advantages for the community are greater than those for the individual cyclist. Riding a bicycle instead of driving a car for short trips reduces the emission of dangerous substances, which in turn means that others will inhale less polluted air”. “Motor vehicles are also often the cause of fatal accidents involving cyclists and pedestrians.” Read more here.

European Cycling Lexicon

An illustrated passport-sized booklet, containing key terms for cycling, different types of bikes for different mobility needs, and good cycling infrastructure in 27 languages, including all 23 official EU languages. It also contains information on EU-funding sources for cycling and cycling infrastructure, and statistics on cycling in Europe and economic, health and environmental aspects of cycling.  It is the first publications of its kind and was prepared by the EESC's Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society (TEN) to respond to the strong demand from citizens, organisations and public authorities for further copies of the European Cycling Lexicon. The lexicon is indispensable for anyone who wishes to cycle in another European country. It raises awareness, both among citizens and at different levels of governance, about the many advantages of cycling and the need for good cycling infrastructure. A wiki-version, where citizens can further add languages and terms, is planned for fall 2010. Velo Mondial used it as a base for the CIVITAS MIMOSA Search Engine for sustainable mobility.

Commuter Pain Study

IBM surveyed 8,192 motorists in 20 cities on six continents, the majority of whom say that traffic has gotten worse in the past three years. The congestion in many of today's developing cities is a relatively recent phenomenon, having paralleled the rapid economic growth of those cities during the past decade or two. By contrast, the traffic in places like New York, Los Angeles or London has developed gradually over many decades, giving officials more time and resources to address the problem. The index is comprised of 10 issues: 1) commuting time, 2) time stuck in traffic, agreement that: 3) price of gas is already too high, 4) traffic has gotten worse, 5) start-stop traffic is a problem, 6) driving causes stress, 7) driving causes anger, 8) traffic affects work, 9) traffic so bad driving stopped, and 10) decided not to make trip due to traffic. The cities scored as follows: Beijing: 99, Mexico City: 99, Johannesburg: 97, Moscow: 84, New Delhi: 81, Sao Paolo: 75, Milan: 52, Buenos Aires: 50, Madrid: 48, London: 36, Paris: 36, Toronto: 32, Amsterdam: 25, Los Angeles: 25, Berlin: 24, Montreal: 23, New York: 19, Houston: 17, Melbourne: 17, Stockholm: 15. Velo Mondial has not been able to analyse IBM's interest in the issue, but we will come back to you on this one. Read more here.

Amsterdam: Many more bicycles than people

In the inner city and at stations, there is insufficient room to park a bicycle. However, measures are being taken to deal with this, the administration assures. The problem is persistent: year after year, the message has remained the same. Meanwhile, new spaces are added, but bicycle parks may disappear as well. “Bicycle parking is the greatest challenge we face with regard to bicycle policy”, says policy advisor Geert de Jong. “You can’t solve it just like that.” In 2006, the municipality for the first time conducted a survey among cyclists, which has since been repeated every year. In each edition, respondents say they are not satisfied with bicycle parking in the inner city and at stations. In fact, they have only become more critical over the years. Each year, measures are announced and progress has in fact been made. Guarded bicycle parks have been added in the inner city and floating bicycle parks have been created north of Central Station. Amsterdam further tries to do something about the shortage of bicycle racks by removing disused bicycles. Each year, districts remove 40 to 50,000 bicycles. “But at some locations, it’s banging your head against a brick wall.” At the longer term, ProRail plans to create three bicycle parks near Central Station, with room for 7,000 bicycles. Read on in Nieuws uit Amsterdam

Bicycle theft as sign of cycling emancipation in USA

As cyclists from New York to San Francisco take advantage of new commuting infrastructure, thieves appear to be taking a growing interest in two-wheeled travel as well, riders and advocates report. The response by some cities and local law enforcement agencies has been a kind of high-tech cat-and-mouse game, one involving bait bikes and radio trackers as well as social media Web sites. In San Francisco, the police are working with advocates to develop a series of stings this summer using hidden transmitters mounted on bikes. Campus police at the University of Nevada, Reno, began using a similar tracking system in early May to trap thieves, who have been found to operate in small groups. “It’s actually a continual problem,” Cmdr. Todd D. Renwick said.Boston has been trying another technological approach, using Twitter and Facebook to help publicize bicycle thefts in a kind of virtual lost-and-found message board. Bicycle theft remains an underreported crime, advocates and criminal justice experts said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports 188,698 thefts nationwide in 2008, up slightly from previous years. It is certainly an undercount, experts said, because cyclists assume that once the theft occurs there is little chance of getting the bike back, and often do not report thefts. Read on in the New York Times.

Live Live London Tube Map

As you may have noticed, we at Velo Mondial are very happy about innovative stuff like tools and gadgets. The Live London  Tube Map shows all trains on the London Underground network in approximately real time, and is strangely yet completely mesmerising! It may serve no real purpose to most of us, but we defy - together with our friends from LEPT in London - you to find a more hypnotic site on the net. This map shows all trains (yellow pins) on the London Underground network in approximately real time. Click the stations for a local map of that station. Live departure data is fetched from the TfL API, and then it does a bit of maths and magic. It’s surprisingly okay, given this was done in only a few hours at Science Hackday on 19/20th June 2010. Play the clip under this blog or have a direct look yourself.

Plazas Permanently Pedestrianized

Two swaths of Broadway closed to cars in the heart of Manhattan as part of a traffic experiment that drew international attention will be permanently made into public plazas for pedestrians and bicyclists, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Thursday. The eight-month pilot program in Times Square and Herald Square has been embraced by pedestrians and people who work or live nearby, but it has been cursed by drivers and had lackluster results in traffic studies. Since last May, Broadway has been closed to vehicles between 42nd and 47th streets in Times Square and between 33rd and 35th streets in Herald Square. With painted pavement, outdoor furniture and other landscaping, the city created outdoor plazas intended to evoke public pedestrian areas popular in many international cities. This is another step that comes after Bloomberg's failed attempt to institute congestion pricing in the city, in which he wanted to charge cars entering the most congested parts of Manhattan during the day. That plan had to be approved by the state Legislature, and wasn't. Most recently, he created pedestrian plazas in Times and Herald Squares, two of the most nightmarish intersections in the city. While results on traffic are mixed, everyone predicted a disaster that didn't happen. The plazas are there to stay. Bike lanes pop up around the city on a regular basis now, too. Read more in USA Today. 

Fast lane for buses in New York

Buses in New York are as slow as snails. It is as sure a thing as Yankees wearing pinstripes and congestion on the Cross Bronx Expressway. But an ambitious $10 million project to bring European-style rapid-transit buses to First and Second Avenues — among the most highly used and heavily congested bus routes in the nation — is aiming to turn that truism on its head. Starting in October, buses will be granted an exclusive lane to speed up travel on those avenues from Houston Street to 125th Street, a trip that can last an hour and a half — the length of an Amtrak ride from Pennsylvania Station to Philadelphia.  The plan represents the latest move by the Bloomberg administration to siphon away space from private automobiles in favor of other forms of transport. Once dominated by trucks, cars and taxicabs, First and Second Avenues will now gain cycling lanes and concrete pedestrian islands, as well as a bus route meant to function more like a subway. The city’s Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority hope that bus travel times will improve by about 20 percent. That could benefit more than 50,000 riders on Manhattan’s transit-starved far East Side, still waiting for its subway line after 80 years. Read on in the NYT.

A trip to Nescio Bridge

The prettiest bike and pedestrian bridge in the world

Latest Performance Enhancer: The Electric Bike

Lost in the titanic hubbub of the departed Giro d’Italia — can the unsung David Arroyo keep the leader’s pink jersey? (no), can the formerly sung Ivan Basso complete his comeback? (yes), can the riders fail to be buried by an avalanche of snow in the highest Alps? (again, thankfully, yes) — was, for technology nuts, the story of the year, maybe the new decade. “Technology nuts” is shorthand for the people who really do care what gears the riders are using in the mountains — a 53/34 crank with an 11-26, yielding a gear ratio of 34x26, 34x29 or 36x29 — and by how many millimeters their saddles have been raised. That sort of stuff. Most tifosi, the demented Italian fans who paint their faces in the green, white and red of the national flag, strip down to their shorts in frostbite conditions atop the Giro’s mountains and run alongside the riders to encourage, or goad, them on, couldn’t care less about gears and saddle heights. What they want is performance. How’s this for an aid to performance: L’Equipe, the French sports newspaper, reports that everybody is buzzing about the latest innovation in the sport, even more of a performance enhancer than EPO, CERA, human growth hormone, homologous and autologous blood transfusions or some other substance, widely used but not yet within the domain of drug inspectors. It’s the electric bicycle. Read on in The New York Times.