Bike Racks for Dubai

Approximately 2,000 parking slots for bicycles have been constructed by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and another 4,000 are in progress across Dubai. They have been constructed to encourage road users to also use bikes as part of a daily routine. Maitha Bin Adai, CEO of RTA Rail Agency, said: “RTA has completed construction of 2,000 parking slots for bicycles, 200 of which have been opened with the launch of Dubai Metro. The step is part of a comprehensive plan to prepare parking slots for thousands of bikes in all parts of the emirate, particularly in the vicinity of commercial centers. “Construction of these parking spaces is carried out according to top quality specifications and standards to ensure that they will be easy to use, with maximum safety and minimal risk of causing injury to users and pedestrians or sustaining damage to bikes during parking. Velo Mondial's friends from RTA are keen to have in place the required security & safety standards for bicycles and cyclists, and protect the beautiful setting of Dubai such that cyclists will be tempted to park their bikes at the designated places rather than randomly parking them on roads and squares. Read more here!

NOISE MAP EUROPE

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has launched the most comprehensive map of noise exposure to date, revealing the extent to which European citizens are exposed to excessive acoustic pollution. The NOISE (Noise Observation and Information Service for Europe) database provides, at the click of a mouse, a picture of the numbers of people exposed to noise generated by air, rail and road traffic across Europe and in 102 large urban agglomerations. Noise is ubiquitous but its role as a key form of pollution with serious human health consequences is still underestimated. Prolonged exposure to even low levels of noise can trigger hypertension and disrupt sleep. A first glance at Europe's noise exposure map is far from soothing: it is estimated than half of the population in urban areas with more than 250 000 inhabitants endure levels above 55 dB as a result of ambient road noise. Just over 41 million Europeans are exposed to excessive noise from road traffic alone in the largest cities. Users of the NOISE database can view the extent of data reported in accordance with the directive on a colour-coded map. Enter the NOISE Viewer here

Dublinbikes

DUBLIN CITY Council is to increase the capacity of its Dublinbikes rental stations in the coming weeks because of the huge popularity of the scheme. The council also has longer-term plans to introduce new station locations and increase the number of bikes available to users. More than 16,000 people have subscribed to the scheme since it was introduced just six weeks ago, making it the most popular city bike scheme to date in Europe, according to the council. “More than 11,500 people have registered for annual passes and around 4,000 for day or three-day tickets, so we’re absolutely chuffed with it,” council communications manager Michael Sands said. There is also a very fast turnover of bicycles with an average usage time of 16-17 minutes. Rental is then free for half an hour and costs 50 cents for the first hour, rising to €6.50 for four hours. However, the popularity of the bicycles and the rapid turnover has resulted in a shortage of bicycles at many stations and a shortage of free spaces to return bicycles at others. The additional spaces will be paid for by JC Decaux, the out-door advertising company which won the contract to provide the bike scheme in return for advertising space in the city. Read more.

Transport Month in South Africa

The October Transport Month campaign is a national initiative that seeks to profile public transport services, highlight socio-economic and environmental benefits from the use of public transport and informing the public about measures to reduce congestion on the roads. Themed 'Safety in all modes of Transport: System readiness for 2010, Sisonke siyaphambili akujiki' the campaign will be focusing on the user, operator and infrastructure in ensuring safety of commuters. Car Free Day takes place on the 20th October 2008 and is one ofthe flagship activities of the Public Transport Month campaign. The Car Free Day concept is still a pilot project in South Africa and its success is largely dependent on the commitment and support of the citizens. The support role that the people can play will go a long way in ensuring that as citizens of the world we take responsibility for the environment, not only for ourselves, but for future generations. Car Free day should provide an opportunity to discover another way to practice mobility while at the same time offering a reflection process on what is at stake in terms of the environment when it comes to the air and noise pollution in cities. Read More here. The picture was taken on the predecessor of Car Free Day: The first Vehicle Free Event in 2003.

Italy takes cycling serioulsy

On September 25; just two hours after the start of Italy’s second bike buying incentive scheme already 2,000 bicycles were sold with a total government subsidy of 230,000 euro! On September 18, at the opening of the 67th EICMA International Bicycle Exhibition show Italy’s Minister of the Environment Stefania Prestigiacomo announced that the government has allocated another 7.6 million euro to spur consumer purchases of bicycles; earlier the Italian government granted in total 11.4 million euro as incentives for buying bikes. These millions (which were also allocated to spur people to buy new and more environmental friendly scooters and motorcycles), resulted in about 40,000 bikes extra sold in Italy. The extra 7.6 million is however expected to raise an even much better sales score of 70,000 bikes. Italy’s Minister of the Environment Prestigiacomo stressed at the start of the campaign the importance to dedicate government funds for the development of cycling paths and routes. She pointed to the fact that most of the thousands villages and cities in Italy have old city centers which are ideal for bicycles and e-Bikes! Read on.

And the winner is ......

It was Saturday night in the meatpacking district. The velvet ropes were out; a rumbling bass pulsed out of every club. Well, nearly every club. At Cielo, which says on its Web site that it is “purpose-built for dancing with a centrally located sunken dance floor,” no one was shaking it. Instead, a rapt crowd, many of them sitting on the purpose-built dance floor, watched two teams of Dutch and American designers make pleas for their plans to improve bicycle riding in New York City. A slow-turning disco ball cast speckled light across the audience, but all eyes were on a pair of monitors on a stage and Team Amsterdam’s presenter. “You think that’s enough greenways?” Michael Mandiberg, a Brooklyn-based artist and designer, asked the crowd as he pulled up a map of Manhattan, its West Side and East Side bike paths highlighted. Mr. Mandiberg and 11 other designers, architects, planners and bike thinkers from the United States and the Netherlands were in the final competition stage of the New Amsterdam Bike Slam. After days of touring the city on bikes and brainstorming to create a vision to spur a million more cyclists onto New York’s streets, the two teams were coming into the final stretch and pitching their plans.

New Amsterdam Bike Slam Part 5

New York City is changing, and safe and abundant cycling is part of the new face of the city. It's one thing to hear about it from those in the middle of the often painful process, but it can be bracing to ask an expert from outside to have a look and report what they see. This is a celebration of active transportation in NYC – how New York is leading the way to the post-Motordom city. With an interesting comparison to Portland and Vancouver. Visit New York City with Gordon and his camera, and check out the state of play as things stand as of summer 2009. Gordon is Director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University. A former six-time City Councilor in Vancouver, he has written extensively on Vancouver and transportation issues. Cycling NYC 2 presents 34 pages of photographs and commentary on what works, and what is causing friction as the cycling agenda gets pushed ahead by a strong team with high, consistent commitment from the highest levels of local government, with vigorous support from transport and environment groups, the non-profit sector, academics and specialized consultants, citizens and increasingly the media. Read more in World Streets.

New Amsterdam Bike Slam Part 4

The New Amsterdam Bike Slam is a high-profile, positive public event which offers an open collaborative way for helping New York and anybody else who is ready to learn from their experience to move together from old to new mobility. The Slam approach offers a number of interesting and useful characteristics which those of us who care deeply about the transition to sustainable transportation have not always given sufficient play in the past. At the end of the New Amsterdam Bike Slam, one team will emerge the winner for having the most creative - and practical - vision for making New York Harbor a bicycle friendly area with good quality of public space. The winning team will present convincing solutions combining a host of disciplines, including but not limited to urban design, marketing and traffic safety. On September 13 (the day after the battle), Mr. Job Cohen, Mayor of Amsterdam, will convey the prize to the winning team on the waterfront in Manhattan. The movie you see here is about another big American city, but could have been about New York. The movie shows the challenge for New York and other major cities.

New Amsterdam Bike Slam Part 3

New York and Amsterdam, like many other global cities, face challenges regarding mobility and requiring immediate solutions. An urgent look at necessary changes in mobility is the objective of the symposium ‘Global trends in sustainable mobility.’ For that purpose we have invited speakers to debate ideas that would further our thinking about cities and mobility. How did Amsterdam and New York get to where we are now with regard to mobility and what analyses can we bring to the table? What are the systematic differences in urban planning between New York and Amsterdam? Do these differences only exist in the field of mobility or has it other psychological and cultural backgrounds? What makes cities not only livable, but attractive to live in, and what good can mobility bring or bad by making things disappear? Can cities live with less or no petrol cars at all and what does such an idea do to the economy? How will public transport play a role in the triangle with emission rich mobility and more sustainable modes of transport? This issues will be discussed in the Symposium: 'Global Trends to Sustainable Mobility' September 13, 2009 in the Institute for Architecture in New York. Read more here.

New Amsterdam Bike Slam Part 2

Four hundred years after Henry Hudson's arrival in Manhattan, two teams of Dutch and American planners & designers face off in a battle for the future of New York City transportation. Their challenge: find ways to bring NYC cycling up to the level of the Netherlands, the only country in the world with more bikes than people. The New Amsterdam Bike Slam is being organized in New Amsterdam (sometime also referred to as "New York City") from 10-13 September 2009. It is an initiative of Amsterdam Cycling to Sustainability, produced by Vélo Mondial and Transportation Alternatives, with funding from Transumo and the City of Amsterdam. After three days of preparation, the New Amsterdam Bike Slam teams face off in a live debate “battle,” and compete to provide the most compelling vision for making lower Manhattan and Brooklyn a bicycling area on par with Amsterdam. The battle begins at 10:00 pm, followed by a late night dance party at the renowned Meatpacking District club, with DJ John Julius Knight. Full background on the program: http://newamsterdambikeslam.org/.