Biker gets on train, finds available spot in bike rack (3 bikes were on rack, sign says capacity is 4). Conductor tells biker that train is full, demands he get off. Biker refuses. Police meet train at San Carlos station, biker arrested.
Continue reading “Caltrain Biker Arrest Sep 25 2008 – 7 min”
Station North Bike Rack Competition
Station North Bike Rack Competition– thought I’d pass this information on:
"Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc. announces the Station North Bike Rack Project. Eight (8) uniquely designed bike racks will be created and installed throughout the Station North Arts & Entertainment District to enhance the area with these sculptural installations, while simultaneously promoting bicycling within the city of Baltimore.
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This is midtown Manhattan?
How do you expect to have a vibrant city without over accommodating cars?
Hint: Try attracting and accommodating people, they are after all the ones that spend the money.
Continue reading “This is midtown Manhattan?”
Baltimore County Announces Employee Carpool Program
Encourages Citizens and Businesses to Carpool, Use Transit [Hey! Why no mention of bikes??? 🙁 ]
BC Rider. Save Money, carpool.
Towson, Md. (September 11, 2008) — In an effort to reduce the monetary and environmental costs of commuting, Baltimore County Director of Sustainability David Carroll today unveiled a new carpooling incentive program for county employees. He also encouraged citizens to carpool, use transit and other environmentally-friendly options; and advocated for businesses to offer programs that promote these options to their employees.
The new carpool incentive program, called BCRider, invites County employees to "green their ride" and enjoy free parking, guaranteed rides home and other program elements that help increase convenience and cost savings. Employee carpools with at least three participants are provided with convenient, reserved, carpool spaces in County-owned garages, and a free guaranteed ride home in the event of a family emergency or unscheduled, mandatory overtime. Carpools will be given one extra parking card for members to use occasionally on days when car pooling is not feasible.
Savings
"With gas prices of $3.50 per gallon, an employee with a 35-mile round trip commute spends more than $5,300 per year in gas, parking, wear and tear and other costs, and somebody driving to Towson from one of the neighboring counties could be spending upwards of $7,000 annually," said Baltimore County Sustainability Director David Carroll. "Between the cost savings, and reduced environmental impact, carpooling makes a lot of sense."
Continue reading “Baltimore County Announces Employee Carpool Program”
Volunteers for Tour du Port
Tour du Port needs volunteer for the event on October 5th. They particularly need route marshals. If you are willing to be a volunteer email Charina Chatman cchatman"at"onelesscar.org
School siting, a change is coming in Maryland
While 50% of parents biked or walked to school when they were kids only 15% of todays kids bike or walk today. And coincidently (or not) that difference is close to our current obesity rate. To me one of our core issues whether our roads should be unsafe or should they be safe to bike or walk to school (and to other destinations by kids.) Allowing schools to prohibit students to walk or bike there (with no attempt to fix the problems,) allowing the construction of bus accessible only schools where even from the very start the plans strongly discouraged any student ever from biking or walking to school. If it is acceptable to do this with kids then it is acceptable to do this with any who want to bike or walk.
Well Maryland Department of Planning has produced this exemplary guide on the subject. While the contents may not be of interest to the average reader of this site it is worthy of note that it looks like Maryland gets the "state of the art" award on this very complicated subject.
Continue reading “School siting, a change is coming in Maryland”
Save-A-Limb Ride.
From an email NBBB received:
I wanted to invite you and your fellow cyclists to join celebrity Tour de France veterans Floyd Landis and Bob Roll for the 3rd Annual Save-A-Limb Ride on Sunday, September 28th at Oregon Ridge Park in *censored*eysville, MD.
Continue reading “Save-A-Limb Ride.”
Dave Troy: Fueled By Randomness
[A most excellent blog entry. Which I will highlight the conclusion: "We have a lot to learn from the rest of the world with respect to our relationship with our own landscape, and we could start by making bicycling a more usable, more human experience for average people."]
Bicycles
I spent the last two months in Europe — mostly in Berlin, Germany. While I was there, I had the opportunity to use a bicycle as a primary mode of transportation, and it was a great experience. I looked forward to biking because every trip was a revelation: about urban design, road planning, and building on a human scale.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to bike from my home north of Annapolis, Maryland into the city. This is a trip I’ve made on previous occasions and I’d found it underwhelming for a variety of reasons. But with an extensive (and positive) biking experience under my belt in the last few weeks, I’m now able to articulate the reasons why the experience of biking is so much different between the US and Europe.
Continue reading “Dave Troy: Fueled By Randomness”
Assault while riding?
Part of the City’s Bike Master Plan we are trying to track incidents. If you have been assaulted while riding if you could email the following information to the City’s Bike/Ped Planner "Evans, Nate" <Nate.Evans@baltimorecity.gov>:
Date of assault:
Time of assault:
# Of Assailants:
If the bike was stolen:
Owner’s name:
Street Location:
If police report was filed:
Thanks for your assistance in helping make Baltimore a better place to live.
I will also note feel free to contribute a story here on Baltimore Spokes. Our mission is to help promote biking in the city, whether its problems to be fixed or sharing positive experiences, whatever it is we are all part of a community that is out to help one another.
Cyclists, motorists have to share the road
Regina Brett
Plain Dealer Columnist
Who owns the road?
When it comes down to bikes vs. cars, it all depends on whom you ask.
Motorists want bikes to speed up.
Cyclists want cars to slow down.
Who wins?
That’s like asking where a 500-pound gorilla sits.
I hosted "The Sound of Ideas" radio show on bike safety Friday morning on WCPN FM/90.3
Fifteen minutes after leaving Ideastream, I saw a shaken bicyclist standing on the side of Carnegie Avenue, his bike on the ground, blood dripping from his chin and a horrified motorist handing him tissues.
Thank goodness the cyclist wasn’t seriously hurt or killed.
Last year, there were 2,066 accidents in Ohio involving bikes. Of those, 18 were fatal. Even the best cyclists can get hit.
Last month, Miles Coburn was struck and killed by an SUV in Geauga County. Coburn was a seasoned cyclist who rode thousands of miles every year. He was an environmentalist and popular biology professor who left behind a wife and two kids. What a loss to his family and the John Carroll University community.
So, who owns the road?
We all do. The road belongs to both bikes and cars. We all have the same rights. It’s time we share the same responsibilities. The Ohio Bicycle Federation at www.ohiobike.org offers a bumper sticker that reads: SHARE THE ROADS. Same Roads. Same Rights. Same Rules.
Good motto. Laws govern most of the movement out there, but so do basic courtesy and civility.
Cyclists are not moving targets to throw cups at, to curse at, or to sideswipe for laughs.
Motorists are not members of the Evil Empire just because they’re driving a gas guzzling polluting hunk of metal.
Cyclists can’t choose to be a car, a bike or a pedestrian depending upon the mood or the situation. Bikes are considered to be vehicles. If you ride on the road, you follow the laws that cover vehicles. They aren’t optional.
You ride with the traffic. You stop at red lights and stop signs. You don’t weave through stopped cars to get ahead. You don’t ride five abreast. You signal your turns.
If you want to be safe, wear a helmet. If you ride at night, we can’t see you unless you have reflectors or lights. If you wear headphones, you won’t hear us.
Motorists should remember kindergarten. You have to share. It’s that simple. Bicyclists have an equal right to the road. Yes, even when they’re only going 10 miles an hour.
Take a deep breath and wait until you have room to pass. Keep 3 feet away from bikes when passing.
There shouldn’t be a need to say it, but there is: Don’t harass cyclists. Marty Cader, the bicycle/pedestrian coordinator for the Cleveland City Planning Commission, told me someone threw a chunk of wood at him while he was biking.
Cyclists are dodging potholes, gravel and parked cars. They shouldn’t have to dodge you. Stay off your cell phones and slow down.
With gas climbing past $4, we’re going to see more bikes on the road, which is a good thing for all of us.
Let’s make it safer for them, and for everyone else, too.
Continue reading “Cyclists, motorists have to share the road”