Shared space gaining momentum

Both in the Netherlands and abroad increasing numbers of roads are being designed in accordance with the Shared Space philosophy. Recent publications demonstrate that some dozen towns in the Netherlands are using or considering Shared Space. In the rest of Europe the design philosophy is gaining adherents as well. In the Shared Space approach public spaces form the heart of society. They are areas where you stay, where you meet others, where you observe, where you undertake something with or without others, where you relax, where you become familiar and part of the living environment. Public spaces also enable you to look at what people are saying about themselves - in the way in which they present themselves or in the way in which they design and modify their own spaces, their house or their garden. Staying in a public space enables us to remain up to date with the world and the environment in which we live or stay. The layout of the public space tells us what society looks like, who forms part of it, how people deal with each other and what they consider important. It is a window on and a mirror of society. Shared Space views public spaces first and foremost as spaces for people. Read more. & Click here for more pictures in Drachten, The Netherlands. The slide show opens and closes with a few examples of spectacular bike bridges and of bike parking facilities at a random Dutch railway station.

Hot mode of transport

When the Spicycles project was launched in 2006, cycling was not the ‘hot’ mode of transport that it has become today. As project partners, we wanted to gather experience related to specific areas of cycling policy. We were keen to explore how key elements such as communication and awareness raising, and the building of local partnerships, might increase the modal share of cycling. We had big expectations at the beginning of the project regarding cycling planning, but could not have predicted the explosion in the popularity of public bicycle systems that has taken place during Spicycles. In the course of the project, cycling became increasingly relevant to city policy makers and transport planners, as well as to citizens. This interest was heightened by the looming economic crisis: petrol prices rose dramatically, and economic recession became a reality. Public discussion of issues such as those raised in Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” began to change people’s way of thinking, and from being regarded as ‘old-fashioned’, cycling was increasingly perceived as a relevant and contemporary mode of transport. Read more of this article in V1 Magazine.

Amsterdam Best Green Transport Capital of Europe

The Best Green Capital Award for Europe in the category Transport would have been won - hands down - by Amsterdam if there was one. The Jury Report of the Best Green Capital in Europe mentions: 'Amsterdam has a transport situation which is very favourable for bicycles and public transport and restrictive to individual motorized transport in the city, without aiming to restrict overall mobility. In the city of Amsterdam bicycles are the most commonly used means of transport. In addition, the city has a public transport fleet which is 100% low emissions. Successful measures to enhance cycling further and reduce car traffic to city, starting from already high level have been introduced in recent years. A very wide range of transport measures are planned or currently being implemented, including further expansions of bicycle and public transport networks, road charging experiments anticipating the national scheme, more park and ride facilities, further parking restrictions, priorities for parking to car sharing organisations, environmental zones, incentives to scrap polluting cars, stimuli to use electric cars, electric support for pleasure craft use, and more. Also freight transport and waste transport are considered. Overall Amsterdam has an impressive transport policy legacy and promising outlooks.' Read the full jury report here.

Berlins expansion on bike network & bike parking

The city of Berlin explored the framework conditions for the planning of a Second Level Bicycle Route Network for the borough of Pankow. It also assessed parking needs for bicycle. The outcome are guidelines for a network and parking facilities ready for the implementation and widely accepted by retailers, housing societies, private companies and of course inhabitants in the respective area. The implementation (i.e. the actual building and creation) will take place when the necessary finances will have been acquired. The “Bike Network Planning Guide” serves two purposes: first, it proposes a local network of cycle routes for the city district Pankow and secondly, as a pilot, represents a systematic planning aid for other Districts and European cities. For an increase in cycling attractive and secure parking facilities at the start and destination of a journey are fundamental. The “Bike Parking Guide” therefore describes not only the legal requirements on bicycle parking facilities but names the conditions of a good bicycle parking rack and lists contacts to enterprises producing them. Download these guidelines (in English) here: Guide Bike Network Planning Berlin & Guide Bike Parking Berlin

Need for bicycle planning in Gulf increases

Al Ain Police have warned bicyclists to stay away from the main streets and follow the safety regulations in the city. The warning was issued yesterday due to the rising number of accidents involving bicyclists. The traffic police have recently noticed an increase in accidents involving bicycles from different nook and corners of the Oasis city. "We have been taking measures to control it," said a senior police officer at Al Ain Traffic Police Department. Bicycle is an efficient and cheap mode of transport which is popular among expatriates who use it to cover short distances. They are, however, not allowed to come on the high speed roads as it posses threats to their lives and those of others. Majority of the bicyclists, said the officer, is disobeying the safety regulations and peddle along the high speed traffic on main roads. "This is dangerous and not acceptable and we'll take strict action against such bicyclists," he warned. Read more here.

Amsterdam: more cycle than car trips

The bicycle is the most used transportation means in inner Amsterdam. In the period 2005-2007, citizens of Amsterdam took on average 0.87 trips per day with the bicycle and 0.84 trips by car. The bicycle is now, for the first time, being used more than the car. In 2006, all citizens of Amsterdam made jointly about 2 million trips per day. This is 8% less than in 1990. The reduction is lower because the number of trips per person per day is gone down from 3.6 to 3.1. Especially within the so-called inner (old) city the number of trips takes off. The number of car trips is has dropped by -14% in all city areas, whereas the cycling trips only has risen within the inner city (+36%). In the center, the bicycle becomes used mostly (41% against on average 28%) and the car the least (18% against on average 28%). The restrictive parking policy that has been led since the years '90 clearly has its effects.

New York City Wins the Sustainable Transport Award 2009

New York beat the likes of Beijing, Istanbul, Mexico City, Milan to win the 2009 Sustainable Transport Award. The Award was awarded on January 13, 2009 by a jury composed of ITDP, Embarq, CAI-Asia, GTZ, UNCRD, UITP, ICLEI and Environmental Defense.Throughout 2008, the city continued to implement PlaNYC 2030, its comprehensive long-term sustainability vision. The city took 49 acres of road space, traffic lanes and parking spots away from cars and gave that space back to the public for bike lanes, pedestrian areas, and public plazas. Protected on street bike lanes were part of the 140 miles (255 kilometers) of bike lanes implemented. Bike ridership has increased by 35 percent over the past year. Over 98,000 trees were planted, a select bus service was implemented, car free Sundays introduced. As part of its standard operations, the city’s Department of Transport also recycles 40 percent of its asphalt. Although not successful, the city pushed for congestion charging, a first for US city and now other cities are considering it. Read more about this all.

Walking and Cycling in England

"The fact is, however, that the people who most need to walk and cycle are the least likely to do so. People from the lowest socio-economic groups have the highest inactivity levels. Yet despite the fact that walking and cycling are the cheapest and most accessible form of exercise known to humankind, physical and mental barriers, such as the mis perception that it can be ‘unsafe’ or time consuming, prevents people living in the most deprived areas from traveling actively in their own neighborhoods. The Travel Actively projects are set up so that people living in some of the most deprived areas benefit from the expert-designed program. We deliver projects underpinned by a simple and pragmatic goal; to demonstrate that, from the bus stop stroll to the three mile circuit, walking and cycling is as flexible and unique as the person doing it and it can be incorporated into people’s daily lives". says Tom Franklin, CEO of the Ramblers’ Association in Travel Actively. Much more you can read in a report from Active Travel Consortium that addresses health and wellbeing through regular walking and cycling across England.

Spicycles Final Report Planning for Cycling

The Final Report on Planning for Cycling has been drawn up collecting information from all the partner cities in regards to the urban context, to the structure of the town and the characteristics of the transport system in particular regarding cycling subsystem. The high variability of the different contexts has been the greatest difficulty since they can be very small such for example Ploiesti but also very large like Rome and Berlin. Another problematic, finding good homogeneous reports in order to plan cycling inside the cities, is linked to the different sustainable politics on transportation among the several partners.The analysis of detailed activities implemented by the partners, showed that the different characteristics of the urban context influenced the resulted actions. In fact big towns such as Berlin and Rome focused planned the use of bicycles in relation with public transport, with the approach of developing the planning of journeys either using the cycles from origin towards interchange nodes or using public transport from interchange nodes until the final destination. Differently from cities above, smaller cities like Ploiesti developed the planning of bicycle use (and infrastructures related to) from the origin until the final destination. Read the full report with results here.

Spicycles Final Report on Bike Sharing

Bike sharing systems in urban areas usually differ from traditional bicycle rental services since they are rather offers for daily mobility than leisure oriented systems. In contrast to those conventional renting schemes, bike sharing systems can be used one-way for either monomodal or intermodal trips. As a flexible mobility option they can be considered as an additional part of public transport systems. A long list of possible benefits makes bike sharing attractive for municipal
organisations as well as for businesses. First of all, the increasing price of natural resources especially for oil necessitates thinking about sustainability, efficient use of resources and development of new innovative solutions. Furthermore, the increasing urbanisation brings the necessity to think about alternative transport concepts. Growing density of the population in cities intensifies the problem of insufficient infrastructures. Those infrastructures can only be enlarged to a certain level. Thus, new ways and concepts for an efficient use of the existing infrastructures have to be found. Bike sharing also offers an economic effect for cities and individuals. bike sharing can be seen as an environmentally friendly service to support the modernity and individuality of a city. A further long term effect is the overall increase of awareness for cycling and sustainable transport modes. More of this in the Final Report that you can read here.