Nova Scotia - Groups committed to active transportation receive funds

Pictou County Trails Association is getting $50,000 from the provincial government through Nova Scotia Moves Sustainable Transportation Program. Active Pictou County is also receiving $12,927. Read more.

Wolfville budget set

Several new capital projects are planned, such as a Main Street Active Transportation Corridor, the implementation of LED streetlights and other street infrastructure. Read more.

Why Our Cities Look and Work the Way They Do

Why do our cities look, work and function as they do? How did they evolve into their current form? How have they changed over the centuries since America was formed? These are the questions that motivate the new book American Urban Form, which traces the historical growth and development of the American city and metropolis. Read more.

Manufacturing outrage over Vancouver's new bicycle pumps

When there's a relatively small subsidy for cyclists—such as two new electronic bicycle pumps on well-travelled bike routes—it generates howls of outrage and massive cynicism. There was a predictable rant in the Province newspaper. The morning tabloid thundered that cyclists should buy their own pumps and the city "should not be bullying property owners into paying for the luxuries of other citizens, especially Vision Vancouver's pals in the cycling crowd". Read more.

Studies show that bike commuting is one of the best ways to stay healthy

According to Australian epidemiologist Takemi Sugiyama, lead author of a recent study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, “Commuting is a relevant health behavior even for those who are sufficiently active in their leisure time.” Analyzing the research, The Health Behavior News Service notes, “It may be more realistic to accumulate physical activity through active transport than adding exercise to weekly leisure-time routines.” Read more.

Job Offering - Bikeability Consultant, p/t, HUB: Your Cycling Connection, Vancouver BC

Apply by April 9, 2013. HUB: Your Cycling Connection is seeking an individual with a passion for cycling, sustainable design and transportation planning to join our Bike Friendly Business Program team as a new Bikeability Consultant. Read more.

One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss

Copenhagen, a city of 1.2 million people, saves $357 million a year on health costs because something like 80 percent of its population commutes by bicycle, even in winter. Read more.

A little humour - Moving Targets

Although I don’t dispute the wisdom of @twjpdx23 — “One great way to make sure you’re visible is to set yourself on fire before crossing the street” — there has to be an easier way to get noticed. Read more.

Bringing Cycling Culture Back to China and Taiwan

China is currently experiencing the fastest growth in bike-sharing in the world, with thirty-nine bike-share systems in place, with the latest addition from last month in Aksu, near the the Kyrgyzstan border. At the head of the thirty-nine cities sits Hangzhou, which currently runs the world’s largest bike-sharing program, with over 60,000 bikes in service. That’s 40,000 more than the Vélib bike-sharing program in Paris, France. Read more.

Study Says Rethinking Cities Is Key to Climate Change

Today's urban residents make up half of the world's population but account for 71% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. The disparity is due not just to consumption patterns but also to the urban environment itself, they note in an article released online this month in Environment and Urbanization. Read more.

Talking Tactical Urbanism

With a surge of interest in urbanism across the country and at every level, communities are rethinking public space, or the lack therein. Into the breach, so-called tactical urbanism has surged, offering quick, affordable tools for making a big impact.  Read more.

Public picks active transit priorities

HRM continues to host active transportation open houses across the region to get feedback from citizens to find out what their priorities are. Read more.

Halifax Bike Week 2013: Call for Events and Grant Applications

HRM is calling on organizations to register their events for Bike Week 2013, taking place May 31- June 9. The registration deadline to ensure your event is included in printed promotional material is April 5th. Read more.

Labels That Translate Calories into Walking Distance Could Induce People to Eat Less

Public awareness posters used by the New York campaign to limit sugary drinks showed the number of miles a person would have to walk to burn off the calories in a 20-ounce soda, and new research suggests that physical activity–based conversions such as these can actually persuade people to make healthier choices. Read more.

People won't walk/bike in northern cities? Don't tell Minneapolis/St. Paul!

Annual counts at 40 benchmark locations in the Twin Cities metro indicate that bicycling increased 50.5% and walking 23.5% between 2007 and 2012. Overall, active transportation (bicycling and walking together) rose by 37% from 2007 to 2012. This year-over-year increase demonstrates the growing mode share of bicycling and walking transportation. Read more.

Women’s (Bike) History Month: Barbara McCann

Without the tireless efforts of Barbara McCann over the last decade, the entire Complete Streets movement is unlikely to have the success and widespread acceptance as it does today. Read more.

E-Bikes Electrify German Market

In units the e-bike market share stands now at 10%. According to the German industry organization ZIV this market share is expected to grow to approximately 15% in the medium term. Read more.

Glowing Crosswalk

The “Glowing Crosswalk” urban prototyping concept provides increased visibility of pedestrians within a crosswalk at night. As a literal intersection for all types of people and most forms of transit, crosswalks are a lively and potentially dangerous place. This concept features the installation of high-output LED lamps at either entrance to a crosswalk as a complimentary addition to existing street lighting. The spread of light from these lamps is focused exclusively on the crosswalk path which, when illuminated, becomes brighter than the surrounding roadway and sidewalks. The lamps fully illuminate when pedestrians are in the crosswalk and otherwise rest in an off or dimmed state. Read more.

Sudbury - Kill crosswalk, Rainbow owners say

The mall owners closed one of the entrances last year in an attempt to discourage people exiting Tim Hortons and the bus depot from crossing there to get to the mall. So city staff went back to evaluate what sort of impact it had on the number of pedestrians using that crosswalk. Read more.

London mayor’s ambitious bike plan a lesson for other cities – especially Toronto

A Torontonian can only look on London’s ambitions with envy. Big-city mayors around the world, from New York to Chicago to Paris, are rolling out big new cycling networks. Ours made headlines by tearing up an existing path on Jarvis Street. Read more.

Research - Comparing Canadian New Urbanist and Conventional Suburban Neighbourhoods

This study examines data from Canadian examples of new urbanist development compared to corresponding examples of conventional suburban development to test the hypothesis that new urbanist design features are associated with more sustainable travel behaviour and a higher degree of resident engagement with one another and with their communities. Read more.

Cyclist injuries studied with crash test dummy

Researchers at Carleton University are using crash test dummies to test the impact when a car strikes a cyclist. Read more.

A Walking Revolution: A Movement Making Americans Happier and Healthier

Download and share this new report on the benefits of walking: A Walking Revolution: A Movement Making Americans Happier and Healthier. The piece touches upon the power of walking and walkability for health, business, community, schools, and the environment.

20% cycling modal share by 2020: Italy’s bicycle lobby flexes its muscles

Those that have already visited Rome know the capital embodies the country’s love for cars: Italy has some 600 passenger vehicles per 1,000 people, some of the highest levels in the world. Nevertheless this small group cycled from the Coliseum to the Pantheon with the clear objective of bringing sustainable transport and cycling in particular into the heart of the Italian nation. Read more.

Calgary - Inner-city real estate prices 'skyrocketing' thanks to walkability

“The city of Calgary has seen inner-city neighbourhood real estate prices skyrocket in recent years as people become fed up with long commute times from outer suburbs,” said REIN research analyst Allyssa Epp. in a commentary. “Between 2000 and 2012, the 10 communities that saw the largest spikes in average home prices were in the city’s core and surrounding neighbourhoods. Read more.

Mixed-Use Neighborhoods May Be Safer, Too

Mixed-use neighborhoods enable people to walk more, with downstream health benefits. The list of evidence in support of these places is constantly expanding, and proponents can now add one more empirical argument: Mixed-use zoning also appears to cut down on crime. Read more.

Washington State Considering a “Symbolic” Tax on Bicycles

Lawmakers in Washington state have proposed a $10 billion transportation spending package that will raise gas taxes and vehicle registration fees. In addition, the draft transportation bill includes what local media are calling a “symbolic” tax on bicycles. Read more.

Active and Safe Routes to School Manitoba

March 2013 Newsletter: read here.

Spanish cyclists seek asylum at European embassies over helmet law

The cyclists are calling for asylum after the Spanish government announced its intention to prohibit cycling without helmets and force cyclists to always ride on the right side of the lane to make way for faster motor vehicles. Read more.

London and Berlin - Cycling Contrasts and Comparisons

As London announces its own massive investment in cycling, Berlin takes things even further and aims for 20% of all journeys by bike by 2025. Read more.

Is There a Secret Recipe for Successful Urban Development?

Both developed and developing world cities are still struggling to get urban development right, said some of the world’s leading urban experts at the Transforming Transportation conference organized by the World Bank Group and the EMBARQ program of the World Resources Institute (WRI). Read more.

Seniors: Walkability Benefits for an Aging Public

The last Baby Boomer turns 65 in 2030, so we still have two decades of an aging chunk of the public. A growing body of research points to the importance of designing or retrofitting communities for walkability to accommodate senior citizens and allow them to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle upon retirement. Read more.

U.S. - Take an Amazing Bike Adventure to Support Active Transportation

Want to take a massive bicycle adventure while supporting safer neighborhood streets across the continent? Join the 2013 Climate Ride and fundraise for active transportation! The Climate Ride is an amazing multi-day bike trip with two route options — from the soaring Redwoods to San Francisco May 19 – 23 or from the heart of New York City to the Capitol steps in Washington, DC September 21 – 25.  Read more.

Mighty Mouse: Can Small Cities be Global Cities?

A handful of outliers–San Francisco, Zurich, Miami, and Copenhagen–prove that with smart urban planning, strategic policy, and the prerequisite embrace of internationalism, small cities can also be global. Read more.

Rainbow Routes aims to get more kids walking to school

An organization that promotes bike and pedestrian safety in the city wants more Sudbury kids to walk to school. Read more.

Who Views Active Transportation-Canada

Who Views Active Transportation-Canada? What is the constituency for information about walking and cycling? Where is information on AT wanted?

The community may be larger, and more diversified, than you might imagine. Blogger provides basic information about the total views of this Webpage, including a breakdown by nation. For example, since the site went online, there have been more than 68,000 page views.

However, to provide you with an indication of who views Active Transportation-Canada, here is a breakdown of the top ten viewing countries by page view over the month of March 2013:

As you can see, Canadians constitute barely 25% of the visitors to this Website. Any thoughts about this data? Leave a comment; share your opinion. Why did you view Active Transportation-Canada?

1. United States: 947
2. Canada: 627
3. Russia: 340
4. Germany: 301
5. France: 86
6. Ukraine: 49
7. Sweden: 37
8. China: 35
9. United Kingdom: 27
10. Poland: 25

Free Public Event: Creating a More Walkable Toronto – Strategies from Chicago and NYC

The Toronto Society of Architects and the City of Toronto's Public Realm Section in Transportation Services are hosting a forum featuring Sam Schwartz, a leading traffic engineer specializing in the development of urban transportation programs and strategies, and Stephen Buckley, Toronto's General Manager of Transportation Services. The topic for the forum will be creating a more walkable Toronto and the strategies used in Chicago and New York City.

The event takes place Tuesday, April 9th, 6:30-8:30 PM at the Urbanspace Gallery, 401 Richmond St. W.

Complete Street Forum - May 27, 2013, Toronto

Join the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT) at the sixth annual active transportation conference - the Complete Streets Forum 2013 - May 27, 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Toronto. The Share the Road Cycling Coalition Ontario Bike Summit 2013 will take place on May 28-29th at the same location. We are pleased to offer joint registration for both conferences at a discounted rate. Read more.

Calgary - Winter bike-riding kids are back with message of safe streets

Safe and Smooth Symposium 2013 is part of a larger initiative of Safer Calgary to make Calgary’s streets safer for all users. The symposium is part of a project in which Calgarians are working with design students from the Netherlands to envision the future of transportation and development. It should be an interesting day. The event takes place Thursday, March 21 at Fort Calgary. Read more.

Minden - Active transportation levels on the rise

It seems Mindenites are becoming more active or at least that more physical activity is taking place in Minden. Councillors heard a presentation from Kate Hall and Sue Shikaze of the Communities in Action committee, which works with local governments to promote the use of active transportation – walking, biking, running, etc – within the county.

Making Our Communities More Liveable: Examples from Germany and Scandinavia

Liveable communities provide residents with opportunities to enjoy a high quality of life by preserving or improving the quality of their environment, enabling them to live in a variety of housing options, and by making it possible for them to walk, bike or take public transportation to go to the places they most frequently need to go every day, such as work, schools, grocery stores, shopping malls, parks, recreational areas and health facilities. Read more.

Report - Evaluating Complete Streets

Complete streets refers to roads designed to accommodate diverse modes, users and activities including walking, cycling, public transit, automobile, nearby businesses and residents. Such street design helps create more multi-modal transport systems and more livable communities. This report discusses reasons to implement complete streets and how it relates to other planning innovations. Read more.

BC - Cycling groups want $75-mil promise from provincial parties

Local cycling groups are looking for an annual $75-million funding commitment from BC’s four political parties, heading into the provincial election. Read more.

Video - Bike Winnipeg

A lighthearted video on the freedom of cycling, released by the Green Action Centre of Winnipeg. Watch.

Walkable streets: Considering common issues

As municipalities throughout North America seek to reform their development patterns (or at least expand their options) from the single-use zoning and automobile oriented regulations of the past century to those that allow for walkable, compact, mixed use places, there is a long list of standards and regulations that must be addressed. Read more.

Long, slow walks may beat shorter, higher intensity runs

Forget about busting your buns on the treadmill. A small new study suggests that you’ll be healthier if you spend your time taking long, slow walks – and standing instead of sitting whenever possible. Read more.

Study - 600,000 U.S. workers spend three hours a day commuting

In a new report, the Census Bureau says nearly 600,000 full-time workers within the U.S. travel more than 90 minutes or 50 miles each way to get to their jobs. For slightly more tolerable commutes — 60 minutes or less each way — the total was eight percent — or 2.2 million — of U.S. workers. Read more.

Cars Biggest Killer of Children; 2nd for Adults

Each day, 3,500 people are killed and 13,700 injured in road accidents around the world. That death and injury toll is expected to increase by nearly 50 percent over the next decade without serious efforts to improve road safety, says Etienne Krug, director of the Department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability at the World Health Organization (WHO). Read more.

Canada failing cyclists and pedestrians, U.N. report finds

While 77 per cent of United Nations countries carry out safety audits to ensure the safety of road infrastructure projects for cyclists and pedestrians, Canada does not, and is contributing to a concerning trend of countries promoting alternative forms of transportation without ensuring their safety, according to the Global Status Report on Road Safety. Read more.

Driven into Poverty: Walkable urbanism and the suburbanization of poverty

There are many reasons suburbs make the experience of poverty worse, but first among them is that automobiles are really expensive. Purchasing, maintaining, repairing, insuring, and fueling a car can easily consume 50% or more of a limited income. For someone struggling to work themselves out of poverty, these expenses can wreck havoc on even the most diligent efforts to maintain a monthly budget. With gas now approaching or exceeding $4.00/gallon, a full day’s work at minimum wage sometimes won’t pay for a single tank of gas. The burdens of sprawl weigh heaviest on the poor. Read more.

Rightsizing Streets

The needs of our communities evolve over time, and our street design should, too. That’s the idea behind ‘rightsizing streets’ – reconfiguring the layout of our streets to better serve the people who use them, whether they’re commuters driving, shoppers walking, or children bicycling. Read more.

Walking is Not a Crime: Questioning the Accident Axiom

In 2010, the last year the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHSTA) published such figures, a startling 4,280 pedestrians were hit and killed in traffic and 70,000 were injured. For many states, this past year was one of the most deadly in a decade, ending a general decline in pedestrian fatalities. Even still, there is a disturbing cultural willingness to accept these deaths as a necessary evil. The public increasingly blames the victims. Read more.

Edmonton - City delays bike lanes, orders more consultation

City council's transportation committee has postponed a plan to install more bike lanes along 76 Avenue and 121 Avenue, ordering planners to do more consultation after resistance from residents and businesses along the routes. The decision follows a Feb. 13 meeting, where Mayor Stephen Mandel ripped into city planners after businesses complained about not being consulted on the plan, which would eliminate some on-street parking. Read more.

Pittsburgh latest city to embrace bike share

Mayor Ravenstahl announced that the city will begin implementing a citywide bike share system at a press conference in Bakery Square. Scott Bricker, called the Mayor’s bike friendly initiatives over the past five years “part of [his] legacy.” Read more.

Nova Scotia Walk Day - May 8

All Nova Scotians are invited to join Heart&Stroke Walkabout™ May 8th either virtually or in person at one of our walks across the province. So grab your friends, your colleagues, your neighbour or your dog and walk with us. Read more.

Montréal - New Bike Counter on Laurier Avenue

The “eco-totem” helps educate the public by displaying the total number of bicycle trips per day and per year, all in real time. Early this afternoon I got a little thrill as I coasted over the double-diamond in the pavement and saw the count go up to 204 bike trips – not too shabby for a warm weekend in March. Read more.

Healthy Cities are for Walkers; Walkers for Healthy Cities

This is about our priorities. Decreased use of cars in urban areas (large, medium and small), and increased use of walking, biking and transit, is both good for us and the way of the future in any event. The sooner we align our public spending with that set of priorities the healthier, wealthier and wiser we will be. Read more.

London - Segregated lane will 'slash traffic, reduce pollution and make city cleaner

It is believed to be the longest substantially-segregated cycle route of any city in Europe, as Boris Johnson said he wanted to encourage novice cyclists to 'get in the saddle'. Over the next four years London will open a range of high-quality new cycle routes parallel to, and named after, Tube lines and bus routes, so everyone knows where they go. Read more.

Transport Futures - Mobility Funding Symposium

As detailed in our interactive agenda, the Mobility Funding Symposium includes several informative presentations and panel discussions. You will have ample time to ask questions, provide feedback and network with our speakers -- and other delegates. Proceedings will augment information gleaned from our community roundtables currently underway.

April 8, 2013: Toronto, Ontario. Learn more.

What happens when you build it and they don’t come?

So despite the fact that residents were provided with high quality infrastructure, they didn’t cycle. Even at its peak, Stevenage (United Kingdom) only ever saw 14% of trips done by bicycle. (Today, the town sees less than 3% of residents cycling to work.) Read more.

London’s Billion Euro Cycling Plan – A Story of Successful Advocacy

Credit should definitely go to bicycle advocacy groups who brought about this change. The ‘game-changing’ plan was in large part due to their hard work. London’s new cycling commissioner, Andrew Gilligan said: ““Both the Mayor and I pay tribute to the London Cyclists’ Campaign, journalists, bloggers and other campaigners for driving the issue so far up the political agenda.” Read more.

Road Diet - From Five Lanes to Three

The city of Grand Rapids and Michigan Department of Transportation are planning a one-year trial during which the thoroughfare will go from five traffic lanes down to three (including a turn lane), with additional on-street parking and more room for bicyclists with a "shared use" lane. Read more.

Boris unveils billion pound plan to civilise London

Roadspace will be taken from cars and given over to bicycles. Separated cycle routes will be installed over the next four years, including in front of the Houses of Parliament. 'Cyclist dismount' signs will be removed and with more roadspace given over to cyclists. Read more.

London mayor copies the Dutch and plans 15-mile bike route around capital

don Mayor Boris Johnson plans to build a 15-mile bike route across the U.K. capital as part of a 913 million-pound ($1.37 billion) plan to boost cycling. Read more.

Critiquing the "Urban Mobility Report"

The Urban Mobility Report (UMR) calculates traffic congestion costs for U.S. cities. Behind the numbers is the following narrative: Automobile commuters are good, hard-working people victimized by villainous traffic congestion, which threatens our productivity and happiness. Traffic engineers are heroes who can defeat this monster if given sufficient resources. Read more.

Bicycles are Transit: Linking Cycling, Transit, Planning and People

A strategic shift gaining popularity in city planning is to look at how cities are experienced through all forms of transport and how design either aids or inhibits one form or the other. Rising economic and environmental costs are making many people reconsider their dependency on cars, while also making them want to live in places that are walkable and accessible to the entire family. As a result, the bicycle is gaining new ground as an attractive transportation choice, even in car-dependent North America. Read more.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation at National Bike Summit

"I don't think the League of American Bicyclists knew what to expect when they invited me to their summit." Read his remarks on his blog.

U.K. - The bikesters... Hackey's most stylish commuter cyclists

According to the census, the east London borough of Hackney has more people commuting by bike than by car, with one in seven using a bike as their main transport mode for getting to work. But Hackney cyclists aren’t just any kind of bike rider — of course, we (yes, I’m including myself here) are the stylish type. Head to London Fields, to Broadway Market or Redchurch Street and you’ll see fancy fixies and pretty Pashleys, floral patterned frames (okay, that’s mine) but very little Lycra. Read more.

Not All Density Is Created Equal

A few days ago, I was reviewing some good work by colleagues describing NRDC’s advocacy for sustainable cities. The original draft stressed that dense living is the way to go. Wherever the word "dense" appeared, I crossed it out substituted the word "walkable." Not only is "walkable" a much friendlier word; it also captures so many more of the things we need to make the places where we live and work more sustainable and livable. Read more.

What Do They Really Think? Perceptions of Biking on Capitol Hill

While we often head to Capitol Hill thinking bicycling is a tough sell, turns out, most members of Congress already get it. And, thanks to new data gathered by Douglas Meyer, a consultant at Bernuth & Williamson in Washington, D.C., we now know what messages work and which ones miss the mark. Read more.

Participaction - Try this 8-week Walking Program for beginners

Walking more is perhaps the single best thing most Canadians can do for their health. Though many programs call upon participants to monitor their heart rates to ensure they’re working hard enough, this one simply requires that you walk at a pace that has you breathing a little heavier. You want to walk at a pace at which you can still maintain a conversation. Read more.

Toronto public transit suffers while car is king

Toronto’s problem isn’t transit, it’s the car. Until the city decides to make the former a priority, the latter will prevail. Though we’ve been told we can have both, that’s not true. There is only so much space, money and time. For decades, most of those increasingly precious resources have gone to the automobile. Toronto’s transit failure is directly proportionate to its auto dependency. Read more.

It's Not About The Bike Or Car -- It's About Better Cities

We need a more sophisticated discussion about how we get around in cities, and it starts with this -- it's not about loving your bike. It's about loving what biking does for cities. If more cars make cities worse, the opposite is true for bikes. Expanding urban biking is about making better, fiscally smarter, healthier, more flexible and resilient cities. Bikes are hardly a silver bullet, but they can be a big part of better city-making. Read more.

Washington - The Nation's Capital As a National Model

The next real estate cycle will be defined by the rise of Walkable Urban Places (WalkUPs) and the fall of sprawl development. Metropolitan Washington, D.C., leads the nation in this trend. In this report, from the The Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis, George Washington School of Business, Christopher Leinberger defines D.C. metro's WalkUPs, ranks their economic performance and social equity, and discusses findings and implications for developers and society as a whole. Download Report.

Cascade Bicycle Club Poll Busts the “War On Cars” Myth

Seattle’s media outlets harped on a consistent theme. The city, they said, was waging a malicious “war on cars” that was making Seattle’s traffic worse. Stories like this one (and this one, and this one, and, for good measure, this one) abounded. It seemed that the city’s reporters had practically declared consensus on the matter. Read more.

Video - The secret to big savings? Ditch your car

In this Globe and Mail investment video, The Globe's John Heinzl explains how the cost of car ownership can add up quickly when you factor in things like gas, maintenance and finance. See.

Momentum Mag Issue 60

In our 60th issue, we reveal why bicycles are good for business. See how cycle tracks and the promotion of cycling for transportation are revolutionizing cities and improving the bottom line. Find out how Chicago plans to reach the goal of becoming America’s best big city for cycling. Start your own bike-based business. Travel by bike this year on a family-friendly adventure that even first timers will enjoy. See the cities attracting thousands to explore car-free streets at several top Open Streets events. We also explore Savannah’s historic streets by bicycle with our list of top stops in our Savannah Visitors’ Guide. We reveal smart city cycling solutions to provide inspiration for better riding all year long! Plus; Pedal Chic, a letter from New York City, National Women’s Bicycling Forum, bike share is booming, bike makeover, and more! Read.

Millennials Say They'd Give Up Their Cars Before Their Computers or Cell Phones

Once a week or so we come across yet another sign that Millennials care much less about car ownership than previous generations. They're less likely to drive than their parents. They've got less debt tied up in cars. They'd rather hang out with their friends on Twitter than get in a car to go see them. Read more.

Pedals power green dream

Vancouver's modern-day love affair with bikes began in 1993 when it established the city's first local street bike route and four years later when the first dedicated bike lane went into effect. This interconnected network of bike lanes, routes and paths now totals approximately 250 kilometres and city plans call for an even larger, more extensive network. Read more.

Shouldn't Pedestrians At Least Be Safe From Cars on the Sidewalk?

New York City’s Department of Transportation has done amazing work in carving out more space for pedestrians and reducing traffic fatalities. But in a city where life is lived on the sidewalk, where pedestrians have opinions about the right and wrong way to walk down a busy street, where street seating is provided by businesses and government alike as an essential public amenity, drivers still all too often jump the curb and strike pedestrians in the one part of the streetscape that is supposed to be reserved exclusively for them. And while you might think there would be automatic criminal consequences for doing so, you would be wrong. Read more.

City hire bikes (bike-share) and helmets

Throughout the world, towns and cities are competing with each other to introduce bike hire schemes in order to improve the quality of life by getting more people cycling. The outstanding success of the Vélib' scheme in Paris (Vélib), launched in 2007, has unleashed an envy and enthusiasm to follow suit, unprecedented in cycling history.

Countries with helmet laws are losing out on the benefits from the hire bike revolution. None of the successful schemes requires cyclists to use a helmet and none are provided. As well as the practical difficulties of offering helmets to users at each bike station in a sufficient range of sizes, there are health and hygiene issues that make sharing helmets unacceptable. Read more.