bicycle

As Aucklanders consider who they will be voting for in the upcoming October super city elections, transport is shaping up as one of the major issues.

That is why over the coming weeks on The David Shearer Show, David will be talking to a number of experts about various transport issues affecting the 1.4 million residents of New Zealand’s biggest city.

This week David talks to Barbara Cuthbert from Cycle Action Auckland.

Tonight is the finale of a summer tour for Mr. B's Joybox Express. Blues & boogie-woogie pianist Mark Lincoln Braun (a.k.a. Mr. B) has been pedalling his custom-designed, piano-tricycle nearly 300 miles across Michigan, in what is described as "one of the longest human powered piano moves in history."

The tricycle hauling Braun's 160 kg (352 pound) acoustic 'joybox' (an early American term for the piano) was made by Nobilette Cycles, who also craft handmade custom bikes, such as racing frames.

Storage for 150 bicycles at Bike Park. Photo: Bike Park

Whenever we do a story on bike commuting there'll always be a commenter concerned about what happens when they arrive at their workplace. How do they scrub up from a sweaty or rainy ride? Where do they safely and securely store their bike? And all their cycling clobber?

Images from the Guardian Good for You, Green For London by Rachel Lillie

Lloyd reported back in 2007 that the City of Toronto was using bait bikes fitted with GPS to trap would-be bike thieves. Apparently the idea is catching on, and London is now following suit. In fact, British police are going to be deploying bait bikes across the country after a series of successful trials cut theft rates by as much as 45%. All well and good, you might think, but it seems some people are concerned this tactic amounts to entrapment.

Libraries are going through existential crises these days as they try to figure out their role in a digital world. Meanwhile, cycling for fitness and transportation is growing in popularity. Therefore what could be more obvious than turning a library into a velodrome.

Before there were cars, cyclists agitated for smooth, paved roads. In 1896 there was a massive protest in San Francisco with five thousand cyclists, demanding that roads be improved, with the motto “Where There Is a Wheel, There Is a Way.” The roads belonged to the bike.

The bicycle has many attractions as a form of personal transportation. It alleviates congestion, lowers air pollution, reduces obesity, increases physical fitness, does not emit climate-disrupting carbon dioxide, and is priced within the reach of the billions of people who cannot afford a car. Bicycles increase mobility while reducing congestion and the area of land paved over. Six bicycles can typically fit into the road space used by one car. For parking, the advantage is even greater, with 20 bicycles occupying the space required to park a car.

There is a highway code - a set of expected rules, best practices, and behaviors when manipulating your vehicle on those long ribbons of public road. There isn't, as of yet, much of a corresponding city street code - a set of guidelines that help walkers, bikers, scooter, truck, and car drivers - maneuver the streets of a city in a safe and (as important) polite way. New mobility consultant and WorldStreets editor Eric Britton is proposing the street code start with a fairly simple rule.