Bicycling

Last week, as part of my “Bike Unfriendly Place of the Week” series I took a look at the bike planning at the Democratic National Convention.  Local press reports were dire, noting that bike racks near the Pepsi Center would be closed down as part of the Secret Service’s security perimeter.   However, after thinking … Continued

Public bike-share in the U.S. hit a milestone yesterday when SmartBike DC, the first program of its kind in an American city, launched in full. Coverage in the Washington Post was heavy on the implications for D.C.'s image:

KTLA.com has a poll up asking whether Southern California should be spending public funds to build more bike lanes.  Surprisingly, almost a third of respondents have “voted” against putting money into a better bike network.  Just in case you were wondering, the poll is still live and can be found here.  Photo: Waltarrr/Flickr 

Already a prolific contributor to the Streetsblog Flickr pool, BicyclesOnly has recently put together a StreetsWiki guide to "Urban Bicycling With Children." The entry kicks off with a look at some of the less obvious benefits to biking with kids:

With fall approaching, colleges across the US are encouraging students to come to campus without their cars. In Atlanta, Emory University is selling $250,000 worth of bikes, at a discount, to students and faculty. CNN reports that bike-share programs have started or will soon launch at Duke, the University of Washington, and at least two public universities in Illinois.

Bravo!  I couldn't have said it any better myself.  As more and more cyclists take to the road in the era of $4 gasoline, Gary's writings could be a useful guide for all street users, and are worth checking out no matter your commuting choice.

Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series on bikes and the national conventions.  To read about the bike sharing program put together by Bikes Belong, click here. 

The Los Angeles County Bike Coalition reports that A.B. 1358, The Complete Streets Bill, will be heard by the full Senate next week. The legislation would require that cities and counties to design roadways that safely accommodate all those who use them, including bicyclists, pedestrians, transit riders, children, the elderly and the handicapped, as well as motorists. While this might seem like pretty revolutionary stuff in Los Angeles, all it requires of municipalities to treat everyone equally when designing road projects.