[Snipped from the Centerlines e-newsletter #216 published by the National
Center for Bicycling and Walking]
COME ON GOOGLE -- GET MORE CYCLE-FRIENDLY!
According to the Nov. 27th Life Cycle UK newsletter, "A global campaign is
underway to persuade the planet's favourite search engine to be more
cycle-friendly. Many of us use the wonderful Google maps to find our way
around. The maps show a street plan, or at the click of a button, an aerial
photo to help you get a feel for the terrain. Another click and you can
summon up live traffic info, and car drivers can get detailed directions
from A to B. For the USA and some other countries Google has also added a
mass transit directions option which tells you how to reach your destination
by bus, tram or train. Now cyclists are asking for a Bike There feature.
"The organisers of the campaign say: 'By implementing the "Public Transit"
option, Google and the Google Maps team have shown themselves to be
concerned and capable world citizens. A "Bike There" feature would be the
ultimate statement in support of sustainable development, self-reliance,
exercise and healthy living: that's bicycle directions.'
"Campaigners envisage the "Bike There" feature showing cycle lanes, bike
paths and other infrastructure, and giving cyclists the option of seeing
either the most direct route or the quietist and safest. The feature would
make cycling easier and more pleasant for millions of people around the
world. It would empower world citizens to adapt their lifestyles to face the
challenges of global climate change and it would help Google fulfill its
mission of "organising the world's information and making it universally
accessible and useful. More than 40,000 people have already signed the
on-line petition. Add your voice to the campaign now!"
To learn more, go to:
http://www.petitiononline.com/bikether/petition.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/the-new-key-to-the-city-bikes/ar…
The new key to the city: Bikes
Montreal's Bixi program lets visitors rent a bike for an hour or a day.
Cities and hotels are inviting guests to cruise around like locals, and Montreal's new bike-sharing program is leading the way
On the streets of Montreal, where visitors once flocked to watch Formula One cars race through the streets, you can now cruise the city on two wheels. That is, on one of the 3,000 sleek bicycles in the city's new bike-sharing program.
Launched this month, Bixi is North America's largest and most innovative bike-sharing program, billed as a green, cheap method of getting around. With the city's 450 kilometres of bike paths, you can cruise around like a local. "Tourists are most welcome to use the system and experience the city the way local residents do," Tourisme Montreal's Patrick Guidote says.
As urban cycling gains in popularity, following the European example, cities and hotels are offering bike-sharing and bike paths - along with bikes as amenities for guests - as a way to attract visitors and open up a new tourism experience.
With the $15-million Bixi - the name blends the words "bicycle" and "taxi" - Montreal is building on its potential for visitors. In an online video, Tourism Montreal blogger "Tamy" recommends pedalling to places slightly off the beaten path: Jean-Drapeau Park, for instance, where you can bike on the F1 Gilles Villeneuve track and then stop for a dip at the Jean-Drapeau beach.
The formula for such programs is simple. In Montreal, riders use a member's key or credit card to unlock a bike, pedal it around town and return it to one of 300 solar-powered docking stations. The sturdy aluminum bikes have three speeds, raised handlebars, lights, and tires built for urban cycling.
They're also theft-resistant - and come with a modest rental price. The first 30 minutes of every ride is free. After that, it costs from $1.50 for an hour to $5 for a full day of cycling.
Bixi is modelled after programs in Europe, including Berlin, Barcelona and particularly Paris. After two years of operation in Paris, a city of 2.2 million, the Vélib' program has clocked 42 million riders - thanks in part to tour guides who lead visitors around the Latin Quarter by bike.
If success is based on longevity and popularity, then Bycyklen in Copenhagen is perhaps the biggest success story. Copenhagen brands itself as the City of Cyclists, and 36 per cent of locals travel by bicycle; the city is aiming for 50 per cent by 2015. Founded in 1995, Bycyklen was the first large-scale urban bike-share program featuring specially designed bikes.
And it's free: Riders leave a $4.25 deposit, which is refunded when they return the bikes. Its tourism board weaves promotional campaigns with tips on how to experience the city like a local and boasts about its extensive network of bike paths, which expands every year.
According to bike-sharing consultant Paul DeMaio, Montreal and other cities are likely to see bike-sharing programs become a favourite mode of transport for visitors. "Tourism improves when visitors can rely on the local transit network, including bike-sharing, rather than needing a car rental," he says.
"Tourists get to experience a city more up close when they're biking. They can smell the aromas of the bakeries and enjoy urban life, rather than be frustrated about being stuck in traffic and worried about where to find parking."
Given the growth of bike-sharing globally, that sort of experience should be a common part of city tourism within a few years. London plans to unveil its 6,000-bicycle-strong share program by 2010. Boston, Minneapolis, Denver, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia and Phoenix have announced programs for the near future.
In New York, the quintessential urban jungle, the city has conducted a comprehensive study to assess the potential for a bike-sharing program.
And this summer, the neighbourhood group Alliance for Downtown New York is running its second annual Bike Around Downtown program, which provides the public with bicycle rentals (free for members, and anyone can register online to be a member), including helmets and baby seats.
Some of the hippest hotels in North America are also getting in on the action. In New York, the Hotel Gansevoort invites guests to hop on their fleet of ultramodern Puma bicycles, complete with helmets. Chicago's James Hotel stocks trendy Paul Frank-designed bikes for adults and kids that are perfect for a ride down Lake Shore Drive. And in Miami Beach, where visitors are used to seeing fancy cars vying for attention along Ocean Drive, The Raleigh hotel encourages guests to cruise along the boardwalk with their own set of wheels.
Bike-sharing programs are designed for short trips, which means there has to be a critical mass of activities that are accessible by bike in order for tourists to embrace the trend, says Jennifer Keesmaat, a founding partner of Office for Urbanism, a Toronto-based planning and design firm.
"Cyclists don't stay on their bikes," she says, "They use cabs, buses and their feet to get around, so a network of paths has to tie all of the pieces together." Local governments have to invest in constructing bike lanes, trails and good signage, she argues, before they implement bike-sharing programs.
Detroit seems to be getting the idea. This month, it officially unveiled the Dequindre Cut, a walking and cycling trail on an abandoned rail line just outside downtown. It has three access points: the Detroit riverfront, the established residential community of Lafayette Park, and the southern end of Eastern Market, a historic district that is home to a farmers market and restaurants.
In a general sense, Keesmaat argues, a strong environment for urban cycling improves a city for its residents and acts as a major draw for visitors. "People measure cities by how easily they can get around. If you're sitting in traffic for hours, you generally don't want to be on the road," Keesmaat says.
"But if you're cycling on safe, well-signed bike lanes, feeling the breeze and seeing the sights en route, then you'll be a lot happier where you are."
* * *
Pack your bags
BICYCLE-SHARING PROGRAMS
Bixi, Montreal www.bixi.com
Vélib, Paris www.velib.paris.fr
Bycyklen, Copenhagen www.bycyklen.dk
Bike Around Downtown, New York www.downtownny.com/bikearound
HOTELS WITH BICYCLE AMENITIES
Proximity Hotel Greensboro, N.C.; 336-379-8200; www.proximityhotel.com. Offers complimentary use of its bicycles to explore the nearby eight-kilometre Greenway trail.
Raleigh Hotel Miami Beach; 305-534-6300; www.raleighhotel.com.
Hotel Gansevoort New York; 212-206-6700; www.hotelgansevoort.com.
James Hotel Chicago; (312) 337-1000; www.jameshotels.com.
Lorien Hotel & Spa Alexandria, Va.; 877-956-7436; www.lorienhotelandspa.com.
Special to The Globe and Mail
[Forwarded on behalf of Erik Dickson, Marr Consulting Services]
Please see below an invitation to a Working Session on developing cycling route improvements in Winnipeg for June 2, 2009. Please note the registration deadline of May 31, 2009.
Andre Picard's Second Opinion
A battle of wheels
The leisurely Tour de l'Île has been criticized for not aligning itself with a charity.
Is the promotion of physical activity - in this case cycling - a worthy cause in itself? Of course it is
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/a-battle-of-wheels/article114516…
Andre Picard Monday, May. 18, 2009 04:24PM EDT
On June 7, more than 30,000 cyclists will take to the streets for the annual Tour de l'Île, a leisurely 50-kilometre jaunt around the Island of Montreal.
The event, organized by the non-profit group Vélo Québec, is designed to promote cycling as a healthy family activity and an alternate form of transportation. But, above all, it's supposed to be fun and liberating, the one day of the year when bikes can roll through the city streets unencumbered by cars.
Not surprisingly, the Tour de l'Île has had to deal with a backlash from motorists. While the event closes only a fraction of Montreal's streets, and it does so on a quiet Sunday in June, it does lead to some delays for drivers.
As a result, some municipalities (the Island of Montreal is home to an incomprehensible mix of boroughs, towns, cities and political fiefdoms) and surrounding suburban communities have banned the Tour de l'Île.
It is not coincidental that the most vocal opponents of the activity are commuter havens, where cars rule the roost. But organizers and supporters of the Tour de l'Île have seen through these self-serving complaints and soldiered on, adjusting the course route in deference to the anti-cycling lobby.
But now the Tour de l'Île is dealing with a new line of attack: Complaints that the event is not associated with charitable fundraising.
Murray Levine, founder of the Philanthropic Athletes Foundation, has led a dogged campaign against the Tour de l'Île, arguing, among other things, that the event should not get tax dollars and taxpayer-supported services (namely police and street cleaners).
He argues that this investment - about $600,000 a year - is unfathomable. Mr. Levine wants the Tour banned, unless it aligns itself officially with a charity and promotes fundraising.
This line of attack conveniently ignores the fact that taxpayers - even the cyclists - pay billions of dollars each year to maintain the road network and that the only thing car drivers donate daily is air pollution. Just as curious is that Mr. Levine has targeted the Tour de l'Île and not made a big stink about other state-supported, traffic-disrupting events like the Montreal Marathon, the Jazz Festival, the Santa Claus parade, the St-Jean Baptiste parade and so on that do not actively raise money for charity either.
Regardless of his ulterior motive - Mr. Levine is, after all, a professional fundraiser - the gadfly raises an intriguing philosophical question.
Is the promotion of physical activity - in this case cycling - a worthy cause in itself?
Of course it is.
Further, should the promotion of physical activity and alternative forms of transport get state support?
Again, in a society where obesity and lifestyle-related chronic illnesses are epidemic and where our reliance on fossil fuels is destructive, it is indeed a good investment.
Charities play an important role in Canadian society and they have found many creative ways of raising funds. The marriage of healthy activities like biking and raising money for cancer research (the Ride to Conquer Cancer) or running marathons and raising awareness of childhood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma (Team in Training) is often inspirational.
Charity - the giving of one's money or time - is, by definition, voluntary. It should not be mandatory.
Many people participating in the Tour de l'Île will use the event as an occasion to raise money for charity and that's wonderful, and they are in no way prevented from doing so. But people should be able to lace up their shoes and saddle up on bikes without setting out to cure cancer or save the world.
To suggest that the Tour should not have access to Montreal streets and to city services if they do not actively promote charitable giving is preposterous.
What Mr. Levine is suggesting, while no doubt well-intentioned, reflects a much larger problem: The commodification of daily life.
Not every activity of daily living needs to have a commercial purpose. Every breath we take need not be associated with the generation of economic activity, either commercial or non-profit.
We don't need ads plastered on every sidewalk and subway platform. We can have city parks that are not festooned with the ads of their corporate sponsors. We can have buildings in our public institutions that do not sell off their naming rights in the name of charity. We can run marathons for the sheer masochistic pleasure without having to pester our friends for sponsorship. We can walk our dogs without it being a protest march against dog fighter Michael Vick. And we can bike around the Island of Montreal for a day without it having to be a guilt trip.
In our high-octane society, there is, in fact, a refreshing purity to the Tour de l'Île.
Cars run riot in the city 3641/2 days a year. Charitable fundraising takes place every single day of the year, and at a furious pace.
But on June 7, on the streets of Montreal, there will be a welcome respite: Cycling for the sake of cycling; breathing for the sake of breathing. Families hanging out together without, as a prerequisite, the systemic badgering of friends and relatives for sponsorship.
The Tour de l'Île is the type of investment we should make in ourselves and our cities far more often and far more purposefully.
Just a little something something that made me smile - thought you'd all enjoy.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/21/howto-plant-a-handle.html
Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 21, 2009 9:42 PM
"Instructables user FriendOfHumanity has a little HOWTO for installing a windowbox planter on the handlebars of your bike. I dunno, I'd be worried about doing a faceplant (worse yet, if you planted chickpeas, you might falafel your bike) (I did that once and I falafel about it)."
http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-Window-Box--For-the-transient-garde…
Cheers
Stacy Matwick
Information Centre
International Institute for Sustainable Development
161 Portage Ave. E., 6th floor
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 0Y4
Voice: (204)958-7755 Fax: (204)958-7710
Email: smatwick(a)iisd.ca Library website: http://sd-cite.iisd.org<http://www.iisd.org/>
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read" Groucho Marx
"Life is like a bicycle, to keep your balance your must keep on moving" Albert Einstein
WOW, check out the bike parking facility they have had in Chicago since
2005.
Could this be something similar to what is going to be built at the
University of Winnipeg?
Could this be what could be designed into the new Bombers stadium at the
University of Manitoba for a bike valet?
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/bike-parking-respect-in-chicago-mcdonal…
David Wieser
In the Future, New York Citys Streets Are to Behave
Imagine narrow European-style roadways shared by pedestrians, cyclists and cars, all traveling at low speeds. Sidewalks made of recycled rubber in different colors under sleek energy-efficient lamps. Mini-islands jutting into the street, topped by trees and landscaping, designed to further slow traffic and add a dash of green.
This is what New York City streets could look like, according to the Bloomberg administration, which has issued the citys first street design manual in an effort to make over the utilitarian 1970s-style streetscape that dominates the city.
Article online at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/nyregion/20streets.html?_r=2&ref=todayspa…
NYC street design manual at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/streetdesignmanual.shtml
Interesting summary of New York City's experience in closing streets to cars and opening them to pedestrians and other AT users.
Find the full report (55 pages, publ. March 2009) at:
http://www.transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/2009/walk_in_my_street.pdf
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Summary
In the summer of 2008, thousands of New Yorkers took a walk in the street. For a handful of weekends strung throughout the summer, several streets around New York City were opened to people instead of cars, bringing the idea of pedestrian streets back into the sun after a three-decade exile in history's dustbin. Transportation Alternatives studied this effort to reintroduce pedestrianization to the streets of New York, documenting three community-driven street events-Summer Space on Montague Street in Brooklyn, the 78th Street Play Street in Queens, and Williamsburg Walks on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. The results paint a picture of a New York desperate for more public and community space, and New Yorkers ready to make the most of what they have:
* Opening the street to people is a boon to local retail: Montague Street retailers experienced 26% higher sales during Summer Space than on comparable days in 2007, on average.
* People who have experienced a pedestrian street want more: before the closure, 42% of respondents said they would visit Montague Street if it were closed to auto traffic; during the closure this number jumped by an additional 30%.
* Pedestrianization improves visitors' perceptions of a street: the percentage of respondents who rated the pedestrian experience of Montague Street as "Good" or "Very Good" increased from 79% before the closure to 97% during.
* Opening the street to people builds community: 100% of those surveyed at the 78th Street Play Street felt that the event "enhanced the park and farmers' market".
* Pedestrian streets encourage walking: during the Williamsburg Walks event, 47% of those surveyed said that they had walked to the event, a 14% improvement over normal levels.
The experiences of these three events points to a clear conclusion: thirty years after political expediency killed pedestrian streets in New York City, they are making a comeback. And with the help of dedicated, savvy community organizers, they are successfully bringing new open spaces into the communities that need them most.
Hello All and Happy Spring! (Apologies for cross-postings)
Our new issue of Active & Green is out. Visit the link at:
http://www.resourceconservation.mb.ca/news/pdfs/Active%20&%20Green%20Spring%
202009.pdf
We hope you will share it widely with your colleagues, family and
friends.
Here are a few highlights from the Active & Green Spring 2009 issue:
* Commuter Challenge and Be a Winner!
* Clean Air Day on the Bridge
* Take the Green Leap Forward
* How to Host a Webinar
* The Evidence is Mounting: New Studies Released
* New City Bike Map Released
* Let Otto Come To
* Power to the Pedals Contest
* Green Commuting Highlights from Elsewhere
If for some reason you are not able to access the link, please contact
us and we will email the pdf file directly or provide a hard copy for
posting at your workplace.
Stay Active & Green,
Jessie Klassen
Green Commuting Initiatives, Workplace Transporation Demand Management
Tel: (204) 925-3772
Email: jessie(a)resourceconservation.mb.ca
Resource Conservation Manitoba
303 Portage Ave, 3rd Floor
Winnipeg, MB R3B 2B4
Fax: (204) 942-4207
web: www.resourceconservation.mb.ca
http://www.cflri.ca/eng/active_transportation/index.php
Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute: Making the Case for Active Transportation
Information bulletins have been developed for professionals and community members who want to build a case for active transportation in their community. Academic, government and non-government sources are used to build a strong case for implementing active transportation opportunities at the local level. Canadian sources are used whenever available. All bulletins are available in English and French.
Each bulletin includes evidence that supports the investment of time and resources for active transportation opportunities at the local level. They focus on designing communities for moving people and not cars. Recommended actions to increase and strengthen collaborative partnerships for active transportation are also included.
Making the Case for Active Transportation:
a.. # 1 - Health Benefits (download now)
b.. # 2 - Barriers to Active Transportation (download now)
c.. # 3 - Economic Benefits (coming soon)
d.. # 4 - Environmental Benefits (coming soon)
e.. # 5 - Built Infrastructure (coming soon)
f.. # 6 - Safety (coming soon)
g.. # 7 - Increasing Social Capital (download now)
h.. # 8 - Role for Municipal Decision Makers (download now)
Other AT resources from CFLRI:
. Research File - Active Transportation (09-04): http://www.cflri.ca/eng/research_file/index.php
. Lifestyle Tips - Active Transportation (2009 series): http://www.cflri.ca/eng/lifestyle/index.php
