Top 22 Bike Stories Of 2013 (So Far)
May 27th, 2013 by Zachary Shahan
We’re trying to get more bike stories going here on Planetsave. To catch readers up, below are 22 of the top bike stories of 2013 so far. For more bicycling stories, check out our bicycling archives.
Bicycling is on the rise across the US, but in cities with better bicycle infrastructure, activism, and communities, bicycling is taking off. (Warning: beautiful infographics in link above.)
Another study, this one out of Harvard, finds that we need off-road bicycle paths for safer and more ubiquitous bicycle travel. This piles onto previous research showing the same, including my master’s thesis, which I discuss a bit in the link above. (Warning: bunch of beautiful pictures from the Netherlands there.)
Another study has find that people who bike for transportation are quite fit and healthy — even more so than regular gym attendees!
Walk Score, which uses an in-depth methodology for ranking the walkability of cities, expanded into evaluating bikeability of cities, starting with 36 big ones.
OK, it’s hard to think this wasn’t already obvious to many people — but the important thing is that it isn’t obvious to many more. A new study can be (carefully) used to make more people aware of the fact that bike commuting is f***ing fun!
Yet again, bicycle activists and professionals from around the country swarmed to DC to meet with Congresspeople, their staff, and each other in order to make some big strides forward for bicycling in the US. Muchos details at the link above.
First, what is BikeSpike? It’s basically a bike gadget that let’s you track your bike and detects bike theft or crashes. It connects to a smartphone app that alerts the relevant parties in such cases. Pretty awesome. Article linked above, or Kickstarter page here.
8. Ray LaHood Out, Anthony Foxx In.
Outgoing US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has been an unprecedented leader for advancing bicycling in the US. We’re not yet sure how Anthony Foxx will compare, but there is optimism amongst those at the League of American Bicyclists, Streetsblog, and elsewhere. And there has been some pretty good indication he’ll keep up the bicycling common sense momentum.
Great catch by DC bike advocates. Commentary & video via the link above.
Chicago’s large bike-sharing program, Divvy, is prepped on set to debut next month.
We learned about an awesome program in Copenhagen that you just have to check out. Many more pics and info at the link above.
Amazing. I saw this trend coming fast several years ago when I saw presentations about these programs at a couple of bicycling and transit conferences. But I didn’t know it would happen so fast. Aside from the post above documenting the massive growth, you can also check out this wonderifulous world bike-sharing map.
The League of American Bicyclists announced a handful of new “Bicycle-Friendly Businesses” and upgrades in ranking. The post above gets into a bit more detail.
Same thing for new “Bicycle-Friendly Universities.”
I think you get the point.
The first nationwide bike-sharing program officially got rolling when B-cycle let its users in various big cities around the country use their membership anywhere. Totally awesome news, imho.
You know bicycling is hitting the mainstream when H&M is creating a menswear line focused on bicycling!
This is not new in 2013, but it’s new to us — startup company Liquid is trying to make bicycle rental easier for renters and rental companies. Check out the post for more info.
The city of LA is known for its cars and car-oriented design, but under the dynamic, awesome leadership of Mayor Villaraigosa and a bunch of bicycle advocates, it has been transforming fast. A new streetscaping project in South LA is aiming to keep the momentum up.
Basically Map-21 funding is quite important for bicyclists. With the budget mayhem (largely manufactured by Republicans), it got sacrificed for a short time, but it’s back… for now, at least. (Infographic above by the League of American Bicyclists.)
Despite the common myth that bicycle infrastructure and limiting automobile access hurts business, it turns out bicyclists are actually better for business than drivers (and who’s surprised — they see more, it’s much easier to stop and check something out, and they aren’t dumping a huge percentage of their money on the costs of a car — gas, insurance, monthly payments, maintenance, etc). Streetsblog tackles the story in the link above.