Electric Bike Manufacturers Worldwide

This is a global list of electric bike manufacturers. Read more.

Cyclists and Pedestrians Can End Up Spending More Each Month Than Drivers

[F]or all of the other business types examined, bikers actually out-consumed drivers over the course of a month. True, they often spent less per visit. But cyclists and pedestrians in particular made more frequent trips (by their own estimation) to these restaurants, bars and convenience stores, and those receipts added up. Read more.

The Victoria Transport Policy Institute Releases new Complete Streets report

On Dec 10, 2012 the Victoria Transport Policy Institute released Evaluating Complete Streets: The Value of Designing Roads For Diverse Modes, Users and Activities. The report discusses differences between conventional transport planning and Complete Streets planning, especially relating to costs and benefits. Read more.

Boosted Boards Electric Longboard, the future in urban transit?

Electric-powered longboards: Is your municipality ready? Read more, and also here.

Ottawa - Bylaws need to consider longboards, councillor says

Skateboards have been in legal limbo in Ottawa because a bylaw says they aren’t allowed on roadways and sidewalks. Roadways, under the bylaw definition, don’t include shoulders. Read more.

Sustainability Assessment: Longboards

Longboarding is an activity that has been growing in popularity among college students in recent years as a way of transportation across campus as well as a recreational sport. Longboarding in and of itself is a carbon neutral means of transportation, so [the students who conducted this study] thought it would be interesting to investigate the environmental and social impacts of the product’s manufacturing process. Read more.

Peterborough - By-law review for Active Transportation: Bikes, Boards, Skates and E-bikes

The City of Peterborough is conducting a review of several by-laws that regulate active forms for transportation (such as cycling, skateboarding, skating, and e-bikes). These by-laws govern such things as bike licensing, where bikes can drive and the use of skateboards and skates on roads. City staff have conducted research into potential options regarding the use of sidewalks and roads by these modes of travel. Current by-laws prohibit all these modes on sidewalks and roads, except for bicycle and e-bikes, which are permitted on roads. Read more.

Effective Strategies to Influence Travel Behaviour: Practical Guide

Various governments and organizations across Canada are investigating strategies to motivate sustainable travel habits among Canadians. Social marketing is one of the tools that can be used to shift long-term consumer behaviour. It emphasizes the need for a thorough understanding of target markets, motivators and barriers to desirable behaviours.

Users of this Guide will understand the need for holistic, market-based social marketing approaches to influence travel behaviour. Public and private sector organizations will also learn which transportation demand management tools are effective in their jurisdictional, community and strategic contexts.

 

From the Transportation Association of Canada, hard copy or CD: Non-members $65, TAC Members $49. To order.

BBC cycling documentary is 'irresponsible', says MP

The MP who chairs the all-party cycling group writes to new BBC head to express his concerns over "The War on Britain's Roads". Read more.

Plateau shop owner blames borough for lost sales

A Montreal business owner who shut down her store this week is blaming what she calls the Plateau Mont-Royal's anti-car agenda on plummeting sales. Read more.

Pedestrian deaths dominate Vancouver traffic fatalities

The records show in each of the past five years, more pedestrians have been killed in Vancouver than drivers, passengers, cyclists, and motorcyclists combined. Read more.

When does an e-bike become a motorcycle?

In the plenary session, European lawmakers decided on Tuesday (20 November) that any electronically power assisted cycle (EPAC) under 250 watts and a maximum speed of 25 kilometres per hour would remain a bicycle. Anything more powerful is considered a motorbike, in line with the European Commission’s original proposal. Read more.

The Top 10 Smartest Cities In North America

Some cities are adding high-tech infrastructure. Some are implementing revolutionary sustainability plans. Others are fostering innovative business and science developments. But which city combines these qualities and others to be the smartest city? Read more.

10 Techniques for Making Cities More Walkable

In Jeff Speck’s excellent new book, Walkable City, he suggests that there are ten keys to creating walkability. Most of them also have something to do with redressing the deleterious effects caused by our allowing cars to dominate urban spaces for decades. Read more.

The Art Of Lobbying: 7 Tips For Bicycle Advocates

Fresh out of recent talks with European officials, ECF thought we’d share some expertise from Europe’s bicycle advocates. What are their top tips when you come to face to face with a transport Minister, a local politician or someone strategically important? Read more.

Cool Kids Bike Helmets

These helmets are fully tested and certified to meet British and European (but not Canadian or US)  safety standard BS EN 1078:1997 and can be used for cycling, scooters, skateboarding and inline skating. Read more.

How children lost the right to roam in four generations

In suburban Sheffield, England, in 2007, a report chronicled the lives of four generations in one family who all lived in the same area. When George was 8 in 1919, he was allowed to walk six miles to go fishing. His son Jack, 8 years old in 1950, could go to the woods a mile away. Vicky, 8 in 1979, was permitted to go only half a mile to a swimming pool, and Vicky’s son Ed, 8 in 2007, is restricted to his own block, about 300 yards. Read more.

Washington Post Opinion - It’s time we stopped living with roads that are killing us

In 2008 and 2009, motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of death for Americans ages 8 to 34, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration analysis. Where does the blame rest? The sad fact is that we — our society as a whole — created this problem. That’s because we relentlessly build communities that aren’t safe to walk in. Read more.

Calgary’s first bicycle co-ordinator opens up about the city and his plans for it

While the idea of a bicycle co-ordinator is new for Calgarians, it’s not new to Thivener. He grew up in the car-centric ‘burbs of Arizona, pining for a car as a teenager like most North American teens. But as he developed an interest in city planning and spent time studying in both Vancouver and Scandinavia – his description of a “eureka” bicycle moment when he first stepped off the train in Copenhagen borders on archetypal — he says he started realizing the potential benefits of making cities friendlier to bikes. Read more.

Widowed husband calls for safer cycling in P.E.I.

The husband of an Alberta cyclist killed by a drunk driver in P.E.I. last summer is calling on the provincial government to make roads and highways safer for cyclists. Read more.

What 76 percent of Americans don’t do every week

Americans don’t walk or bike for more than 10 minutes continuously in a typical week, reported a study out of the Yale School of Public Health. As it turns out, those who choose to regularly walk or cycle to and from their destination had lower BMI (body mass index), trimmer waists and a lower risk of hypertension and diabetes.

Transport Choice Or Industry Protection

Despite rhetoric, the European Commission is allowing the car industry to be favoured over more sustainable modes of transport. In addition to industry subsidies in the form of research, road infrastructure receives 47% of the EU’s transport infrastructure funds. Only 0.7% of EU funding has been allocated to cycling infrastructure between 2007 and 2013. Read more.

Ontario to Consider Mandatory Bike Helmets

Ontario has unveiled plans for a cycling strategy to boost safety on increasingly traffic-clogged roads, but the government isn’t ready to decide whether to make helmets mandatory for all bike riders. Read more.