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Cities, Bicycles, and the Future of Getting Around
Posted by Rebecca Eggleston on December 23, 2009 |
If you’re thinking about the future of mobility in your city, see these excerpts from the forum “Cities, Bicycles, and the Future of Getting Around” held in D.C. last week by the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) and Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.
Insights on integrating bike infrastructure into cities and building demand for bicycling were shared by David Byrne, Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Janette Sadik-Khan.
Janette also launched Cities for Cycling, “a NACTO project focused on breaking down ‘barriers to bike-friendly street design in municipalities around the United States.’”
We’re looking forward to seeing the progressive approach to street management in New York for ourselves when we visit for our Strategy Session 2010.
Biking: The Overnight Sensation
Posted by Carol Coletta on August 15, 2009 |
Although the exact date of its invention is debated, the bicycle is almost 200 years old. So why all the excitement now?
Boston has become the latest city to venture into street bike rentals. Streetsblog reports that the city has awarded a contract to the same company that launched Montreal's Bixi bike-share system. Boston plans to offer 2,500 bikes at 290 stations in downtown Boston. At that size and density Boston's bike system would rival those in Barcelona and Paris, where public bikes have become a critical component of the transportation network.
There's a mayor's race this Fall in Boston, and current Mayor Tom Menino is running again. It is a very good sign indeed for bike enthusiasts that an incumbent mayor would attempt to move this issue during his re-election campaign.
The sudden commitment to cycling would make a fascinating case study of how something old becomes new again and insinuates itself so strongly and so suddenly into the culture. Interest in local food and farmers markets are other examples of such a trend. What were the essential elements that turned these things from fringe to fashion?