Climate Transportation
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Project Aura bike lighting system puts wheel reflectors to shame
Project Aura is the brainchild of two Carnegie Mellon students, who challenged themselves to make a bike lighting system that would make night riding more secure. Currently, most bike lights focus on the front and back of the bike, and are all but invisible from the side; with Project Aura's wheel-mounted LEDs, bikes are unmissable […]
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LAPD takes electric bikes for a spin
The Los Angeles Police Department bicycle coordination unit is running a pilot program that put officers on electric bikes. They're pretty schmancy bikes, too. They can go up to 20 mph, top speed for typical cyclist. The manufacturer donated the bikes to the police department, but they retail for $3,499. The program began because LAPD […]
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Hey NYC! Lay off cyclists, already!
The New York City Department of Transportation has released a new ad campaign telling cyclists, "Don't Be A Jerk." Apparently the DOT staff hasn't left their office for a while, because if it's jerks they're looking for on the streets of New York, there's no need to single out cyclists. The DOT claims that the […]
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Transportation secretary: ‘Hipster? I hardly know ‘er’
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is a bike fan, and he doesn't care if that makes him look like a hipster, because he doesn't know what the word means. In an interview with the Huffington Post, LaHood made some perfectly reasonable, and indeed heartening, statements about the importance of bike lanes: And as head of […]
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The bike economy is booming
We don't want to underestimate Americans' ability to buy things they don't use, but bike sales were up 9 percent this quarter. There was an even bigger jump — 29 percent — in sales of road bikes, implying that people are using their new vehicles to commute. Gas-powered scooter sales went up even more — […]
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Awesome concept design makes buildings into bike racks
Floor space is at a premium in cities — everyone wants to walk, bike, drive, and park their various human- and gas-powered vehicles on the same precious real estate. Vertical space, on the other hand, is available in abundance. And while the obvious use for this space is crazy-ass trompe l'oeil murals, the second-best option […]
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How employers can encourage happy, healthy bike commuters
This is the sixth column in a series focusing on the economics of bicycling. Miles Craig of Portland, Oregon applied for an hourly call center job at movie rental by mail empire Netflix last January. “My phone interview went incredibly well,” he said. “And the lady said, ‘Well, let’s get you in for a face-to-face […]
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Cycle Chic in action [SLIDESHOW]
The Cycle Chic movement, started by Mikael Colville-Andersen of Copenhagen, took off in 2006. It’s about the “rehumanification” of cycling. Open your closet, find something you like to wear, get on the bike, and go. Learn more.
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NYC’s first Asian-American woman firefighter rides a bike to work, and loves it
Think you’ve got a good idea of what a New York firefighter is like? Or a New York biker? Well, get ready to reexamine some of your stereotypes, if you’ve got ’em. Sarinya Srisakul is the FDNY’s first Asian-American woman firefighter (she also happens to be a vegan). She rides her bike to work 10 […]
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Did we just hit peak cars?
Phil Goodwin, a transport economist at Oxford University, has a pile of statistics saying that car use is already on the decline — in the U.K. In its place, walking, bicycling, and trains are roaring back to life. Transport economists never predicted the precipitous drop-off in use of rail or buses in the early part […]
