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transportation

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    Swiss supermarkets to offer Think electric cars

    Think CityPhoto: Think“Honey, could you run down to the store and pick up some milk, tofu, and one of those new Think City electric cars?” That’s a request you could be hearing soon in Switzerland (in French, German, Italian, or Romansh, of course) now that Norwegian electric automaker Think has struck a deal with Swiss […]

    Todd Woody Technology

  • Can we just drive less after the Gulf spill? If only it were so easy …

    Photo: Stephan Geyer via FlickrNPR reporter Brian Mann went talking to gas-station customers in upstate New York to find out what they’re thinking about the Gulf of Mexico oil leak and their own responsibility as gas-buyers. He gets some interesting responses, but I’d like to engage in some bloggerly quibbling with his conclusion. Mann finds […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Cities

  • The love child of a tractor and a bicycle

    Some people really put the “alternative” in alternative transportation. Just meet the Monsterbike. After a few weeks with it, and you’ll have Monsterquadriceps. Via thecityfix.com.

    Ashley Braun Culture

  • Tailpipe fumes are five times worse for bikers than for drivers, study finds

    Well this is a bummer: A Belgian study finds that bicyclists on urban streets inhale tens of millions of toxic nanoparticles with each breath, taking in five times as much as drivers and pedestrians on the same streets. The U.K. Times reports on the new research:  Because they are exerting themselves, cyclists breathe harder and […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Culture

  • Good neighborhoods have lots of intersections

    It’s a little counterintuitive, but it turns out that having lots of intersections is really important for neighborhood walkability and transit use. A new study on Travel and the Built Environment by planning scholars Reid Ewing and Robert Cervero finds that “intersection density” is the single most important measurement for understanding what keeps folks out […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Cities

  • We don’t know how to completely kick oil, but we do know how to get started

    Energy investment consultant Chris Nelder takes issue with my suggestions for upping transportation efficiency as a way to reduce the demand for offshore oil, saying they would “do absolutely nothing” to eliminate the need for risky deepwater drilling projects. In fact, he explains why a lot of oft-proposed green solutions aren’t going to do much […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Climate & Energy

  • How we can end our addiction to oil

    It’s time we moved on to something else, or this is going to kill us. Not only are world oil supplies running out, but what oil is still left is proving very dirty to obtain. We need to kick our oil addiction now if we expect to preserve any hopes of economic prosperity, or unspoiled […]

    Craig Severance Technology

  • 10 ways cities and towns can kick the offshore-oil habit

    With the Gulf oil spill continuing unabated, powering a 21st century economy on a 19th century fossil fuel looks less and less smart by the day. Luckily, we’ve got other options. I described the most promising steps the federal government could take toward reducing oil use in transportation systems last week. But local governments don’t […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Cities

  • Hidden health costs of transportation

    Photo: BikePortland$142 billion in obesity-related health care costs and lost wages due to illness. As much as $80 billion in health care costs and premature death caused by air pollution from traffic. A whopping $180 billion from traffic crashes – lost wages, health care costs, property damage, travel delay, legal costs, pain and suffering … […]

    Claudine Benmar Cities