Category Archives: Article

I love the letter C.

People for Bikes is always coming out with new information about other cities in order to learn from their example and hopefully convince the nay sayers that what we are doing will not destroy their way of life. This city prospective comes to us from Seville, Spain where bike culture has grown dramaticly in recent years. Here are some stats for your reading pleasure:

• Seville added 100 miles of new bike infrastructure in 36 months between 2007 and 2009.

• 85% of the space came from removal of car parking and travel lanes; 15% came from pedestrian space (which was compensated for by major, new additions to public space in other places).

• The improvements increased the number of trips taken by bicycle from 0.4% to ~ 7%.

• In 2005, a major public plaza was redesigned to be more accessible to bikes and pedestrians:
  • removed 200 parking spaces
  • held 100+ public meetings, initial opposition to the plan was fierce from retailer organization and neighbors; now, 22% of customers arrive by bike and several new businesses have opened; retailers along the plaza are thriving.
  • incorporated a major stormwater management system into the design

• In 2006, Seville re-engineered a major four lane arterial road to be a shared plaza with streetcar, bike and pedestrian space. Initially opposed, the conversion is now very popular. “This defeats the myth that European streets have ‘always been this way.’ This amazing place is only five years old!” — Gil Peñalosa, Director of 8-80 Cities and Conference MC.

• City Council passed a law that limits auto access in the central city to residents only; the law reduced the daily number of cars in downtown from 25,000 to 10,000.

• “Great is the enemy of good.” The city’s infrastructure emphasizes network connectivity, not perfection. It’s far from the polished bikeways of Northern Europe, but the protected bikeways of Seville are safe, convenient and get you where you need to go without interruption.

• “This used to be a dangerous street for bicyclists and pedestrians. Now the biggest threat is getting hit by a falling orange.” Gil Peñalosa — on a redesigned street with protected bike lanes along a row of orange trees.

Written by Chris Belsole

The Big Easy, what does this Louisianian city have to offer bicycles? “Flat terrain (as in no hills, whatsoever), connected streets that offer alternate routes away from main thoroughfares, and a mild climate (except for a few months of blazing summer). All these make it possible to ride your bike almost year round.” Although the roads are not the best in the world there is apparently a thriving bike culture located south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Read the full article here.

Written by Chris Belsole

No not that “The City.” In San Fransisco there is an organization called Connecting the City that,

“addresses the question of how to make San Francisco a city that is easy to shop, live, work and play in while also preserving our unique neighborhoods and commercial districts. By designing our city’s bike network for everyone, from an eight-year-old child to an eighty-year-old grandmother, we can provide inviting and safe door-to-door access to shop, commute and play by bicycle.”

This is a nice idea and what I think a lot of cities around the US are trying to do. Some try harder then others. Check out this video tehy put together about one women’s take on San Fransisco.

Written by Chris Belsole

Following yesterday’s article let’s talk more about NYC. People for Bikes, just one of the advocacy groups in NYC, wrote a blog entry recently talking about the state of bicycling in NYC today and how future politicians might impact it in the future.

It seems to me, an outsider, that bicycling has done nothing but good for they city. Accidents are down and the whole place seems for friendly to riding and walking. Why change all that? You always hear of the protesters who are trying to stop new bike lanes from getting made. It’s counterintuitive if you think about it. they want to drive their cars yet they don’t want to decrease the amount of cars on the road and replace them with bicycles. If I was them I would be promoting bicycling so I can get to where I am going faster.

I would say that the only thing they have to complain about is the bicyclists who are breaking the law and running lights. Sure people shouldn’t do this, but are you going to punish all pedestrians for jaywalking and start ripping up the sidewalks?

Written by Chris Belsole

Okay, let me just say that I sympathies with the NYPD for the most part. They are charged with keeping law and order in a city of eight Million people, but it’s got to be a slow day in crime when they pull a stunt like this.

On a Tuesday morning when Central Park was closed to cars and mostly used for people exercising the NYPD set up a speed trap to ticked bicyclists for going over 15 miles an hour. After they finished up and left the park was open to cars that were going faster then 15 miles an hour. Why not ticket them? According to the article the police were not to happy about it either so you have to give that to them, but someone higher up must have a grudge against cyclists to be ticketing them in one of the places people want them to be able to ride? If not ride in a park then where? People don’t want them on the streets? Maybe bikes should be removed from the city altogether.

For the full article click here.

Written by Chris Belsole