I love this picture from EcoVelo as it really captures some of the serenity of riding at night. I really wish getting a good light was as easy as a visit to your local bike shop but my experience is that too many lights are underpowered (for riding where there are no street lights) or don’t hold up to Baltimore streets. The best bang for the buck light for me and a few friends have settled on is the Fenix L2D. This is a regular pen light with extreme brightness for its size. I’ll note that a handle bar mount is available for extra on the Fenix site but for the DIY helmet mounts and other options are available. A YouTube review after the fold.
Continue reading “Bike Commuting: Lights”
Baltimore eat your heart out
Map: L.A.’s 7+ Mile Car-Free Party will be on 10/10/10
Traffic. Get Used To It
Via Copenhagenize.com
Dead Man Walking – Look we are only the 4th worst
Twelve Anti-Transit Myths: A Conservative Critique
The Dirty Dozen: Twelve Anti-Transit Myths
Myth Number One: Light Rail has been a failure everywhere. The estimated costs always prove too low, and the ridership projections are always too high.
Myth Number Two: Transit is a declining industry.
Myth Number Three: Commuting by rail is slower than commuting by car or bus.
Myth Number Four: Transit does not relieve congestion.
Myth Number Five: Where transit is needed, buses are better than rail. Buses cost less and provide the same or better service.
Myth Number Six: Rail transit can only serve city centers, but most new jobs are in the suburbs.
Myth Number Seven: Rail Transit does not spur economic development.
Myth Number Eight: Transit brings crime into a community.
Myth Number Nine: Most Light Rail riders are former bus riders.
Myth Number Ten: Free market competition and privately operated transit is better.
Myth Number Eleven: On average, most of the seats on a bus or train are empty.
Myth Number Twelve: It would be cheaper to lease or buy a new car for every rider than to build a new light rail system.
A Few More Myths
1. Transit subsidies exceed automobile subsidies.
2. Increasing transit funding does not increase ridership.
3. Transit is not cost effective.
4. Most people do not want rail transit.
5. Monorail is better than Light Rail.
6. Light Rail is not safe.
7. Transit infrastructure is only constructed to get federal money.
8. Rail transit does not help revitalize downtowns.
9. Transit is an ‘inferior’ good; as incomes rise, demand declines.
10. Transit inefficiencies and failures are the result of politics.
11. Rail transit is a federal conspiracy.
12. Transit is not important because its market share is so small.
13. Transit systems are poor stewards of public funds.
14. Rail transit does not increase property values.
15. Before federal involvement, transit paid for itself.
16. Light Rail is promoted by overly low fares.
17. Cutting spending on transit would allow tax cuts.
18. Transit subsidies should be directed to users, not providers.
19. Light Rail is social engineering.
20. Transit costs more than it should.
21. Trains are noisy.
22. The overhead wires for Light Rail are ugly.
Continue reading “Twelve Anti-Transit Myths: A Conservative Critique”
Numbers!
If you see a weird diamond-shaped groove in the green bike lane on Fallsway, RIDE YOUR BIKE OVER IT!
As for why, finish reading Nate’s article:
Motorists, Can We Call a Truce?
from RW Daily by Mark Remy
Readers, if there’s one thing I dislike as a creator and consumer of media, it’s unoriginality.
And if there’s one thing I dislike as a runner, it’s hostile motorists.
So you can imagine my dismay when I saw the reader comments on a recent news story out of Augusta, Georgia, about two runners who were hit by a car early Monday morning.
The story itself is horrible, and still a bit sketchy: Two women, both age 39, were running (against traffic, I learned elsewhere) at 6:30 a.m. when a vehicle hit one, sending her to the I.C.U., and grazed the other. (Click here and here to read more, but not much more.)
The reader comments, it may not surprise you to learn, are where things get unoriginal. And hostile. In a hurry.
I don’t know what possesses them, but a certain percentage of readers see a story like this one and invariably seize it as an opportunity to lambaste runners and/or cyclists. Sometimes they couch their comment in concern for the victim first, before laying in. I call this the “tragic but” model. For instance:
This is tragic and I sincerely hope that Ms. Johnson recovers fully. But why do runners and bicyclers think that they own the road …?
That’s from the first comment left on this article, by the way.
Other times, they dispense with the sympathy altogether, and get right to the bashing. Comment number two begins:
This is why there are County built parks , paths and tracks for the public to access …
Aaaaand… it goes on from there. And on. And on.
I’ve seen this movie before, and it always plays out the same way, give or take: hostile comment; hostile comment backing up previous comment; push-back from a runner/cyclist; hostile/belittling comment directed against runner/cyclist; centrist appeal for sympathy and cool heads; hostile comment; etc.
After a while, it’s just exhausting.
So I’m here to propose an end to this nonsense. I’m here to call for a truce.
In fact, I’ve put it in writing.
Admittedly, I’m not the ideal person to draft such a document. After all, I’ve been cycling and/or running on public streets and roads for about 25 years now. Naturally, I have some biases.
But, dammit, I don’t see anyone else stepping up. So I’ll take a crack. Here’s my first draft.
Motorists & Runners: a Pact for Peaceful Coexistence
WHEREAS the public roads are public, and whereas there is room for everyone — drivers, runners, cyclists, etc. — and whereas rage and hostility are counterproductive and only serve to endanger and agitate everyone, drivers included, and whereas absurdities and hyperbole are never conducive to progress, we, the undersigned do hereby embrace and agree to the following.
AS A RUNNER, I AGREE TO:
1. Obey all laws, just as I expect motorists to do.
2. Conduct myself with courtesy, and treat motorists with respect, knowing that they are human beings just as I am.
3. Run with the understanding that, even if I am “right” or have the law on my side in a certain situation, motor vehicles are large, fast, and extremely heavy, and can kill or maim me if I’m not careful. (Or even if I am.)
4. Engage, whenever possible, with motorists in a cordial manner — e.g., offering a small wave and smile whenever a driver makes an extra effort to give me wide berth while passing.
5. Respond to anger or taunts with Zen-like calm, rather than with anger of my own.
6. Remember that when I am running in public, I am — like it or not — a representative of all runners, and to behave accordingly.
AS A MOTORIST, I AGREE TO:
1. Obey all laws, just as I expect runners to do.
2. Conduct myself with courtesy, and treat runners with respect, knowing that they are human beings just as I am.
3. Drive with the understanding that, even if I am “right” or have the law on my side in a certain situation, motor vehicles are large, fast, and extremely heavy, and can kill or maim others if I’m not careful. (Or even if I am.)
4. Engage, whenever possible, with runners in a cordial manner — e.g., making an extra effort to give them a wide berth while passing.
5. Pay attention to my surroundings while behind the wheel, and not to a cell phone conversation or a text message.
6. Acknowledge that there are millions of runners in the U.S. — in cities, suburbs, and rural areas of all 50 states — and that it is therefore unrealistic to expect all of them to run “on the sidewalk” or on a “trail”; that runners pay taxes, too; that very few, if any, of them actually run “in the middle of the road“; and that there’s no reason we can’t all share the road peacefully.
Sound good? Did I miss anything? If so, speak up in the Comments, below, and let me know.
If you think I got it right — or mostly right — do me a favor and “sign” the truce, below. And forward to some friends, with instructions to do the same.
Silly? Yeah, probably. But it can’t hurt.
Meantime, to those runners struck in Georgia, especially the one in the I.C.U.: Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.
Bike, pedestrian plan wins national award
[B’ Spokes: I can’t even begin to imagine having bike/ped friendly major roads. But not to worry Maryland has great plans so you can bike or walk somewhere else, may not take you where you want to go but at least they are thinking about us. And lets not forget that only Maryland forbids Federal TE money for bike lanes. :s ]
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A plan that would vastly expand the availability of bicycle lanes and sidewalks in Middle Tennessee has won a national award from the Planning Council of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.
It’s the first time that a group has won the “Best Project” award without addressing motorized vehicles, according to a news release from the Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.
The plan calls for 1,100 miles of on-road bicycle lanes, as well as sidewalks to be added on all major roads. It’s designed to address both traffic congestion and obesity. Tennessee has the second highest obesity rate in the country.
Read more: Bike, pedestrian plan wins national award – Baltimore Business Journal
Continue reading “Bike, pedestrian plan wins national award”
If having fun while engaged in legitimate transportation is wrong, check this out
Super Slide Opens in Singapore Airport
By ALLISON BUSACCA
Singapore Airport Who cares about delayed flights when you can pass the time riding a 40-foot-tall, jumbo twister slide?
Singapore’s Changi Airport recently unveiled the Slide@T3, the tallest slide in Singapore and, for the record, in any airport around the world. The attraction is the latest addition to a long list I like to call, “ridiculously amazing things to have in an airport,” including a movie theater, a rooftop swimming pool, and the Butterfly Garden (which is also home to a collection of 200 carnivorous or insectivorous plants).
For every $22 spent in the airport, adrenaline junkies (or really brave little kids) get tokens for two rides on the slide. Visitors who don’t want to travel at the speed of 19 feet a second, can take a ride down the shorter, one-and-a-half-story tall slide located at Terminal 3 Basement 2, which is free.
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Continue reading “If having fun while engaged in legitimate transportation is wrong, check this out”
One year car free!
from BikeSkirt by Elisa
First, apologies (again) for my absence in posting. Things are so busy with work and Bici that when I get home I have nothing left in me to write. I do miss you all, and am hopeful that things slow down soon.
Last week, I celebrated 2 big days…my 31st Birthday and my one year anniversary of being car free! It was any other day…riding around to meetings and friends houses. Nothing special about the day, in fact it practically came and went before I remembered.
What has being car free taught me?
That my friends rock. When it rains, when I need a ride home from the Greyhound station, when I need to borrow a car to head to a conference 2 hours away…they always show up. It is amazing.
That Birmingham’s public transport really does suck. In one year I have yet to take it. The reason? I can’t figure the damn thing out! The maps are all separate and trying to get from one end of town to the next takes hours and multiple bus transfers (on a less than timely bus “schedule”). For those people who don’t even have bikes, I am not sure how they do it.
That the hottest summer in history makes for a lot of sweaty meetings. Seriously, I spent most of the summer wiping sweat from my brow while talking to people about food security!
That I can eat as much food and drink as much beer as I want and not worry. Sure, I have gained some weight, but I still look the same (muscle weight, baby!) and feel great.
That your gas costs go down, but your food intake goes WAY up. I eat so much food.
That I am not sure I ever want a car!!
Thanks everyone for all of your support. This year has been great and terrible and I never regret selling my car. Freedom!!!