News: July 2010

In a very interesting initiative that began last January, a group of three non governmental organizations from Mexico City are organizing bike rides for the blind and visually impaired. The rides are guided by volunteers on tandem bikes, and are offered on Sunday mornings, when a few streets in the historical center of the city are closed for pedestrians and human powered vehicles. What does this do for these people? More than you would think. According to El Universal (via Mejor en Bici), the rides are an initiative by Bicitekas, Muévete por tu Ciudad, and Contacto Braille. The idea began in 2008 and materialized in January, when the rides began at Paseo de la Reforma on Sunday mornings. You would think that a bike ride would be something small for people with visibility problems, but the words chosen by the users to describe the experience in  video  stories by Bicitekas prove...

When challenged to come up with a way to inspire more people to bike for transportation in addition to recreation, three three "former non-bikers" from New York City proposed a campaign to focus on mutual respect between drivers and bikers. The team, calling itself "!ola," was one of four competitors in a contest sponsored by Yoxi, a new site dedicated to social innovation. In its debut competition, Yoxi (pronounced yo-see) posed this question:How can we make our cities more welcoming to bikers? How can we encourage more people to ride a bike when they can? The solution could come in many forms: a product, program, device, game, movement, or competition. It could involve new business models and bike sharing; new bike design that's safer and more comfortable or government-funded workshops to teach people better biking. Whatever it is, it's got to be smart and have mass appeal....

In a city where bike theft is a very good reason to make you doubt about riding somewhere, providing parking facilities is almost as important as creating new bike paths. This is the case in Buenos Aires (and many cities around the world), and the reason why it's so good to hear that the government has pushed a new law to provide several bike-parking facilities, including spaces inside private parking lots at lower rates. If you ride in Buenos Aires or are thinking about doing it, you need to read this. There are different actions the government is pushing to provide bike parking, as another part of its Mejor en Bici program. The most important being the obligation for all private parking lots to offer 8 bike spots for every 50 vehicle spots they have, at a rate that can never be higher than 10% of the car fare. Why is this amazing? Private parking spots are...

Hi all,Just letting you all know that we now have information on Model Communities on our Website.You can access the info at either of the two links below;Walking & Cycling Model CommunitiesIt should provide you with a good overview of Model Communities but if you have any further queries don’t hesitate in touching base.Gerry DancePrincipal Advisor, Network ManagementNZTA

From Manhattan's Summer Streets to Bogota's Ciclovia, TreeHugger is a big fan of reclaiming asphalt in favor of human interaction. But I'm not sure we've ever seen anything on this scale. A town in Germany recently shut down an entire section of Autobahn—that's right, the famous German highways with no speed limit—in order to hold a gigantic party for upwards of 3 million people! But what was it all for?The event, called "Still Life", was being held to celebrate the naming of the Ruhr region as the European Cultural Capital for 2010. According to the Huffington Post, which has a fabulous slideshow of the Still Life festivities, 3 million people turned out, with one million of them making an appearance on their bicycles, to enjoy the 37 miles of closed highway. To top off the festivities, everyone sat down to break bread at a 60 kilometer (37 mile) table made up of over 20,...

    Thanks for visiting stopatred.org.nz Give respect, get respect Stop at red is a campaign to reduce crashes and improve the status of cycling in the eyes of the public and policy-makers, and to tackle the attitudes of those cyclists whose behaviour perpetuates the image of cyclists as irresponsible. Its specific focus is on running red lights. It also has three general aims: To encourage cyclists to show courtesy towards other road users and pedestrians. To encourage greater compliance with the road rules. To improve the perception of people on bikes, by showing that most cyclists ride responsibly. Stop at red was inspired by a UK campaign, and created by concerned cyclists, alarmed about how cycling is being undermined by the reckless actions of an unrepresentative minority. We are...

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.Throughout Europe and across the developed world, cities are moving towards more bicycle-friendly cityscapes as leaders recognise the many benefits associated cycling, not only as recreational activity, but as a mode of transport.Barbara talks about those benefits and describes, in some detail, what Auckland could look like if we followed the example of cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen.Audio streaming from PlanetFM

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? Fair questions, but for potential city work riders in Melbourne, Australia those excuses have been made redundant, with the opening of facilities such Bike Park. Recycled from a former nightclub, Bike Park offers room for 150 bikes to be stowed indoors. As well lockers, showers, fluffy towels, right down to hair straighteners, ironing boards, fresh coffee and bike servicing. Some of the facilities at Bike Park. Photo: Bike Park Being located around 300 metres from the main city train station of Flinders Street riders can enjoy the...