m-bike.org

Category: General bike news

  • Ferndale city council elections: Yes and No

    Many city council seats are up for election this November 3rd. This is a great opportunity to elect people to a decision making body that can a city more bike and pedestrian friendly.

    There are two seats being decided in Ferndale. And among the four candidates running, two are on opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to supporting biking.

    No for Gagne

    Tom Gagne, the self-proclaimed “most argumentative” candidate, is someone cyclists won’t want on Council.

    Gagne wants to increase development on Hilton. He’s been quoted in the Daily Tribune saying”

    What are we going to do about Hilton Road? It’s a thing of beauty that lives in the shadow of Woodward. I’d like to let developers know that bike lanes on Hilton Road aren’t permanent.

    Hilton Road underwent a road diet, which took it from four lanes to three with bike lanes added. Road diets reduce crashes and excessive speeding (and noise), while making it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.

    And the Hilton road diet doesn’t displace motor vehicle traffic. Hilton near Nine Mile has a daily vehicle count of around 7,000. The vehicle counts on Hilton could more than double and the current lane configuration would not be a problem.

    Clearly Gagne is uninformed about the benefits of the Hilton road diet. There is no justification for suggesting their removal.

    But perhaps what’s more troublesome is he’s equating development only with motor vehicle travel. Wouldn’t it be better if Hilton development catered to the neighborhood? Imagine if the Hilton were lined with more businesses and destinations that residents could bike or walk to and spend their dollars locally?

    Melanie Piana for Ferndale City CouncilYes for Piana

    Melanie Piana is also running for a seat on the Ferndale City Council.

    Her priorities include supporting “pedestrian [and] bicycle friendly… improvements to build our community.”

    Her Facebook page includes the photo on the right.

    According to Piana, “I commute to work by bike on weather friendly days. It’s easy when the office is only a mile away.”

    And in speaking with Piana, it’s clear she understands the value in building safe bicycling and walking communities.

    She’s also endorsed by the Eccentric.

  • VW ‘Fun Theory’ video misses the obvious

    The Detroit Free Press has an article on VW’s latest advertising efforts.

    A viral marketing campaign for automaker Volkswagen explores a simple premise: Can people be snapped out of lazy behavior if they’re able to have a little fun?

    A video of people forgoing an escalator for a more motivating musical staircase has been seen nearly 2 million times.

    The hope is that viewers will associate trading their lazy ways with the perks of a new, more responsible experience — like, say driving an eco-friendly Volkswagen.

    How about this conclusion, which seems fairly obvious to us: Driving a VW is like taking the escalator. It is the “lazy way” when nearly 40% of all U.S. trips are 2 miles or less.

    The “new, more responsible experience” would be to ride a bike or walk.

  • Demotorization

    The L.A. Times has an interesting article about Gen Y’s apparent disinterest in car culture.

    Between January and August, the market research firm analyzed hundreds of thousands of “conversations” on auto-related sites such as Autoblog, personal blogs and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

    The goal was to gauge the perceptions of Generation Y (those born in the 1980s and early 1990s) toward the automotive industry in general, as well as toward specific vehicle brands. The analysis divided Gen Y into teens (12-18) and “early careerists” (22-29).

    According to J.D. Power, “Online discussions by teens indicate shifts in perceptions regarding the necessity of and desire to have cars.”

    One interesting comment added:

    My boys, ages 20 and 17, have zero interest in cars, getting a license, or owning one, despite our urging. Don’t know what it is, but it’s there. They both ride bikes all over.

    Is this truly a generational change or just a reflection of the economy?

  • Who killed the League of American Wheelmen?

    Detroit Streetcar and bicyclistIn 1888, the pneumatic bicycle tire was invented which made riding on rough roads much more comfortable. By 1890, the safety bicycle design (what we have today) replaced the more difficult to ride highwheelers. This also opened the door for more women riders.

    It was these milestones that ushered in the mass adoption of bicycles. Bicycle production peaked at nearly 2 million in 1897.

    Historians call this the golden age of bicycling.

    And during this time, the League of American Wheelmen (LAW) was the national bicycle advocacy organization.

    They had a Michigan Division which was led by Edward Hines during most of the 1890s. They were highly successful as Hines noted in his membership drive from 1899. They fought for equal access to Detroit roads and against ordinances requiring lights, bells, and bike registration. They got bikes allowed on trains. They got the city to build a bicycle pavilion on Belle Isle. Also, in 1896 the Detroit Wheelmen built a very fine 3-story club house.

    Nationwide, there were 102,636 LAW members in 1898.

    By 1902, there were 8,692 members. The bicycle craze was over and the LAW closed their doors.

    A popular perception is the arrival of the car killed the bicycle’s popularity, but the timeline doesn’t support that.

    From 1901 to 1904, Detroit’s Olds Motor Works was the nation’s leading auto manufacturer. They produced 425 cars in 1901 and 2,500 in 1902. The Ford Motor Company didn’t exist until 1903. While many cyclists undoubtedly switched to cars, there weren’t enough (affordable) cars in 1901 to replace all the bicycles.

    It seems likely that many bicyclists switched to streetcars — at least in Detroit.

    In December of 1900, all of Metro Detroit’s streets car were consolidated into one Detroit Urban Railway (DUR) system. The fare was a flat 5 cents on most lines and 3 cents on the remainder. By 1901, the DUR acquired nearly all of the interurban lines, which provided rapid rail travel to cities outside of Detroit and as far away as Port Huron, Jackson and Toledo.

    Below is an excerpt from a May 1901 LAW Bulletin article that notes cyclists switching to streetcars.

    Why do we note a decline in wheeling? We think it has its root in the laziness of mankind. Time was when men wanted to get out and see the country and they employed the wheel. They had to work for it but they felt paid for all their labor in what they took in of scenery and fresh air. And now comes the trolley car and takes them out into the open country and they do no labor, get nearly all of it without work and for a nickel. We are such a lazy set that we use the nickel.

    But that is not all. There is another point where wheeling hits a man in his lazy longitude. It’s a question of clothes. When a man desires to ride he must change his clothes, and when he has finished he must make another change. The trolley car requires no change of clothing and he takes the trolley. These two appeals to a man’s laziness have been very potent factors in causing riders to give up the wheel.

    But all men are not lazy. There are many left who vote the wheel the king of pleasures. There are many who do ride and who will ride as long as they have strength to push a pedal and a keen appreciation of the beauties of nature when we meet her face to face. The trolley car does not put us into communion with nature as the wheel does. It does not go into the by ways the forest roads the out of the way places where we find the richest treasures of scenery. There is an independence on the wheel that we do not have on the trolley and there is an exhilaration that comes to us in no other way.

    It seems the same author published an article with a similar tone in the October 1901 Bulletin, which ended with this foretelling sentence:

    We are too lazy to work for our fun and we fear the muscular development we were once proud of will give place to flabbiness.

    But eventually Detroit’s railway system suffered a similar demise as its ridership shifted to using buses and cars.

    However, it should be noted that the futures of bicycling and light rail in Detroit are looking brighter than they have in generations. And this time, they can enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship, not unlike what the SMART (and forthcoming DDOT) bus bike racks provide.

    Reference: LAW Cycling Handbook from 1945

  • Portland Bicycle Plan

    Seal_of_Portland_ORPortland, Oregon recently created a proposed bicycle plan.

    One highlight of that plan is a supplement on Bicycle Design Best Practices, where they have compiled a very comprehensive and up-to-date collection of bicycle facilities. Some of the newer facilities (newer to the U.S. at least) include bicycle boulevards and separated bike lanes (a.k.a. cycle tracks.)

    This report documents an extensive review of best practices from world‐class bicycling cities where the most innovative technology advances in designing for bicycle traffic have been proven effective. The purpose of the report is to create a guide for traffic engineers, designers and planners detailing tried and‐ tested bicycle facility designs along with essential considerations for their implementation.

    Note that there are no side paths or “safety” paths shown in their best practices guide.

    And while speaking of Portland, the Census Bureau recently released 2008 American Community Survey data. This data includes statistics on how people get to work. Portland not only leads the U.S. in this people biking to work, they are reporting a record increase.

    Portland experienced the largest one-year increase in bicycling as commuters primary mode of transportation ever, according to the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey.

    “Our small investment in bicycling infrastructure and education are paying off in a big way,” Mayor Sam Adams said. “Once again the data backs up our belief that when Portlanders are given a safe, convenient alternative to driving they will get out of their car and onto a bike.” Adams has been in charge of the Portland Bureau of Transportation since 2004.

    The data released Monday showed 6.4 percent responded to the survey that they bicycled to work in 2008. This makes Portland number one in bicycle commuting among the 30 largest cities in the country. The percentage of walkers and transit users also rose.

    The city of Detroit and Metro Detroit bike commuting numbers were fairly flat. This is surprising given the greater number of bicyclists on the roads (though they may not all be riding to work.) Or they are biking to work and using transit, in which case it’s unclear how they would have responded to this census survey.

    That said, there was a decrease in car use which appears to have shifted to transit.