A while back I wrote a fact-check of the $308 figure that gets bandied about as the annual cost of bicycling in the US. As I discovered, the number is entirely false; it’s based on an old data entry error that quietly persisted until it became taken for granted as a fact. I found (as […]
Tag Archives: Carfree
Bikenomics News Roundup
Posted onAnother week of Bikenomics news! I’ll try to do this every Wednesday—with the greater goals of getting back into the habit of blogging, and continuing to talk about stuff that has come up since I finished writing the book in July. (Side note: The book doesn’t come out til December 1st… but it’s been printed! […]
Bikenomics is coming soon...
Posted onWell, it’s happening. Bicycles are changing U.S. culture, infrastructure, and economy at a remarkable rate. I’ve been on a mad dash for years to try to keep up with all the instances of amazing work, community, and change going on around bikes. Along the way, I’ve been writing about as much of it as I […]
Bragging rights: What have you carried b...
Posted onI find very few things in life more satisfying than finding new ways to carry stuff by bike. Especially the kind of things that you really *shouldn’t* be able to bike with. The one thing that is possibly more satisfying? Getting to talk about it later. Fortunately, I’m not alone in enjoying these indulgences. Every […]
Bike stickers are here!
Posted onBack in March, while we were on tour, I entertained myself by making lists and lists of slogans to put on stickers. Several months later I sat down at the computer to choose the best ones, fancy them up, and shoehorn as many as possible onto one sheet of vinyl, to be printed by Diesel […]
Bike news for your amusement
Posted onWhile I share a lot of links on Twitter – it’s a great way to work out my aggregative feelings – sometimes there’s just a lot of cool, empowering, interesting bike news. This month has been one of those months, so here’s a selection. Some old news, some new news, all high quality infotainment to […]
Should reckless driving be an issue in p...
Posted onIf a political candidate had a habit of walking into crowded places twirling a gun around with the safety off, would that be considered worth mentioning to voters? Or would it be passed off as a personal foible, something to be grown out of and regretted? If nobody was ever hurt, would it matter at […]
On Seattle's Neighborhood Greenways, cut...
Posted onFuture Greenway of Seattle? What brings more smiles than little kids on bicycles? How about a well-connected network of safe, quiet streets so they can ride those bikes freely in their neighborhoods, to parks, and to schools? Seattle’s Neighborhood Greenways initiative aims to provide just that – a network of residential streets, with sane, safe […]
Can you bike to the airport?
Posted onCan you bike to your local airport? In a few hours, Meghan Sinnott and I are leading our second annual bike ride to and from Portland’s international airport (PDX) as part of the Pedalpalooza bike fun festival. Last year’s ride was a blast, featuring a tour of the Port of Portland’s bike-friendly airport facilities, including […]
New study: Fewer cars on the road won't ...
Posted onDo we need all this traffic to keep our economy afloat? Are lots of cars essential to the economy? It is a common assumption that they are, and this is one reason that huge subsidies for cars, roads, and fuel persist through tough economic times and ferocious advocacy for reduced government spending. New research out […]
On tour: The battle of Baton Rouge
Posted onIn Baton Rouge last week, our event was on the same night as a big vote on transit funding. The vote was a big deal – a yes outcome would infuse over $10 million into the area’s struggling transit system, lowering average wait times from 75 to 15 minutes, increasing the number of routes, and […]
On tour: Taking the lane by the grassy k...
Posted onReaders, we made the pilgrimage to Dealey Plaza. The place is an otherwise unremarkable freeway on ramp, marked with potholes that go all the way down to the underlying brick and two white “Xs” in the road marking the place where – or so we heard – a recent group of re-enactors guessed that the […]
On tour: The rental car has its revenge
Posted onYesterday, we returned from a pleasant lollygag by a cool river in Austin to find a terrible, terrible smell emanating from the rental car. We hurriedly unloaded everything in the parking lot until we found the culprit – faulty wiring in the trunk’s light had created sparks, igniting a smoldering fire. Imagine the relief when […]
Guest post: Transitnomics: The real cost...
Posted onThis guest post is by Brian Morrissey, hailing from Chicago. He tackles social and economic transportation issues on his blog, Commuter Age (or is that Commute Rage?) and on Twitter. Here, he takes a close look at the economic implications of the federal transportation funding shakeup on Chicago’s transit system. He has also written an […]