Bicycles

Reclaiming Our Roads From Cars

May 5, 2025 David L. Prytherch, Next City. Create! Bicycles, carless community, Pedestrians, Transportation, Urban Design

Change, one might say, is afoot. We often think of streets as vehicular infrastructure, as “pipes for cars.” But streets, including the roadway surface, are social spaces — indeed public places. Stepping off the sidewalk onto the asphalt, we experience firsthand the diversity, dynamism, dangers and inequalities of the American city on the move. If we hope to achieve a more livable, equitable and sustainable city, we must reclaim the roadway for people. Historically, American streets were bustling, mixed-use spaces, but a century ago they were swept by the epidemic novelties of the automobile and influenza.

Paris Plans To Replace 60,000 Parking Spots With Trees By 2030

November 21, 2024 Paige Bennett, EcoWatch. Create! Bicycles, Car-Free Community, climate crisis, Paris

A newly released plan would see 60,000 parking spots throughout Paris turn into grounds for tree planting by 2030. The goal of the project is to better prepare for extreme heat events by providing shaded green spaces. The plan still requires approval from the Council of Paris to move forward. “Trees and nature are natural air conditioners,” Paris officials said, as reported by Yale Environment 360. “Their development makes the city more pleasant to live in during periods of high heat.” By replacing the selected parking spaces with trees, the project would support a larger city goal to add more than 740 acres of green space in Paris by 2030, with 10% of that green space installed by 2026, Bloomberg reported.

Chicago’s Unique Bike Giveaway Program Is A Win

July 6, 2024 Lucas Frisancho, Next City. Create! Bicycles, Chicago, Low Income, Transportation

When the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) launched its Bike Chicago program in the summer of 2022, the city began working on its goal to promote active transportation and target “mobility hardship” by injecting working-class communities with free access to cycling. Now, a report on the first two years of the country’s biggest free bike distribution program says it’s proven an “effective, cost-efficient model for getting bicycles into users’ hands for transportation” in disinvested neighborhoods. “First and foremost, it’s an incredible program,” says Pete Lauer, program manager at the nonprofit Shared-Use Mobility Center (SUMC), which promotes equitable and ecological alternatives to car-centric transport.

The Fortieth Annual Remember The Removal Bike Ride

April 22, 2024 Native News Online. Resist! American genocide, Bicycles, Cherokee Nation, Displacement, History, Indigenous Peoples

Twelve cyclists from the Cherokee Nation will participate in the 2024 Remember the Removal (RTR) Bike Ride this June, retracing an estimated 950 miles along the northern route of the Trail of Tears by bicycle. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the inaugural RTR Bike Ride in 1984. The ride spans from Georgia to Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma over nearly three weeks. “The Remember the Removal Bike Ride is an incredibly powerful way to honor the sacrifices and perseverance of our ancestors on the Trail of Tears,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said.

The Hidden Potential Of Bicycles

April 1, 2024 Brian Kaller, Resilience. Create! Bicycles, Clean Energy, climate crisis, Transportation

In perhaps one of the great ironies of human civilisation, mechanical devices to truly magnify human power came along as soon as we didn’t need them. Pedal-powered devices like bicycles only appeared after coal had already begun to transform the landscape, however – mass production was necessary for the standardised metal parts — and around the same time that gasoline was first being introduced as a fuel for automobiles. We tend to forget, then, three important things about the bicycle. First, it remains the most efficient method of using our bodies, allowing us to attain higher machine speeds for longer than we would on muscle power alone – and without using any more fuel or causing any more weather to go haywire.

How Montreal Became A Year-Round Cycling Success Story

March 30, 2024 Ben Abramson, Next City. Create! Bicycles, Canada, Transportation, Urban Design

The average daily temperature in February is 26 degrees Fahrenheit, with overnight lows at 12 degrees. There are 12 days of precipitation (primarily snow). There’s a massive, 764-foot-high hill (locals call it a Mont) smack dab in the middle of the city. Who would go cycling in such conditions? Montrealers, and the city’s bikeshare program has the stats to prove it. Montreal’s bikeshare program, called BIXI, has grown exponentially since launching in 2009. With over 10,000 bikes, it has the largest fleet in Canada and one of the largest in North America.

Want Safer Streets For Everyone? Narrow The Lanes

November 28, 2023 Maylin Tu, Next City. Create! Bicycles, Pedestrians, Transportation, Urban Design

Turns out, wider lanes don’t make for safer streets. In a new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a team of researchers found that the opposite is actually true: Narrowing lanes at certain speeds could save lives. The study came from a simple observation, says lead researcher Shima Hamidi, a transportation planner and Hopkins assistant professor of American health. She noticed that the traffic lanes in U.S. cities were much wider than their counterparts in other countries. Without existing data, traffic engineers assumed that wider lanes — which left more room for driver error — would be safer.

India Is Fighting Heatwaves With Solar Cycle Tracks

October 18, 2023 Tamilarasi Krishnan, Resilience. Create! Bicycles, climate crisis, Energy, Green Transition, India, Solar, Transportation

This innovative new solar cycle track in Hyderabad City offers one way in which less polluting and healthier transport might contribute towards a rapid transition, despite the growing physical challenge of living with climate change-driven heat. Extreme heat is already a problem in India and deadly heatwaves are set to grow increasingly severe as global tempertures rise. According to Telegana state authorities, this is the first long-distance solar panel covered cycle track in India. Laid alongside a major highway in Hyderabad city, it has a solar roof with an installed capacity of 16 MW – enough to provide power to thousands of homes.

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