London to Start New Bicycle-Sharing Program

London is the latest city to get a bike-sharing program, with mayor Boris Johnson announcing that city residents will be able to pick up and drop off one of 6,000 bikes at 400 locations across the city. Before the plan is final, however, Johnson will have to get the “political buy-in” of all 9 London boroughs.

From The Guardian:

The bikes will be kept at docking stations and the design is expected to deter thieves. Renters will have to pay a deposit when they take the bicycles and there is expected to be an annual fee for registration.

Johnson said: “I have long held the view that a cyclised city is a civilised city, but if we are to get more Londoners on to two wheels rather than four we need to provide the facilities to help them do so.

“I hope a central-London cycle-hire scheme will inspire Londoners as a whole, and not just the adventurous few, to get on their bikes and give cycling a go. I believe that the work we are carrying out can make the capital a city of cyclists, where to use two wheels is common, not curious.”

Johnson invited companies to bid on the project, with JC Decaux – the French company that has set up bicycle sharing programs in 15 cities across the world – expressing interest.

Some boroughs have yet to give the green light because they have to get permission from the owners of the land on which the stations would be located. But, all are expected to join in, as Londoners are enthusiastic about the project.

It’s great to see so many cities take on bike-sharing programs. There’s no telling how many people will choose to ride a bicycle, see the scenery up close, interact with the community, and get exercise and fresh air instead of driving a motor vehicle. Beneficial to all involved!

Link [The Guardian]
Photo credit: Flickr User Malias

No Impact Man: The Cultural Barriers to Environmental Change

Colin Beaven, a.k.a. No Impact Man, pondered the social obstacles to environmental change on Monday, wondering why so many of his neighbors were so averse to seeing bicycles on his block. A woman who lives nearby threatened to have police remove one of his rickshaws from the sidewalk where he parks it, saying it makes the street look untidy and implying that the sight of it brings down the neighborhood market.

From No Impact Man:

And the thing is, the way that bikes are parked in New York City is kind of untidy. There is little dedicated space to park them so we New Yorkers lock bikes to lampposts and street signs and parking meters and scaffolds and railings and anything else we can find.

That’s cultural barrier number one: that the infrastructure does not exist to support change.

One of the biggest barriers to people turning to biking in NYC is the fear that their bikes will get stolen–nowhere safe to leave them. The good news is that new planning regulations will soon require every new building to provide indoor bike parking.

Colin noted that cars ugly up the streets more than bikes, and that a hundred bikes replacing a hundred cars would look far nicer. But, people have come to accept cars as a given, no matter how ugly they may be.

This is just one small example of how many social obstacles we will really have to overcome to push real environmental change. If people fight bicycles parked on the sidewalk, they’ll really get worked up about vegetable gardens in place of lawns, compost piles and other ‘unsightly’ things that are part of a green lifestyle.

Perhaps the biggest social obstacle is the fact that the mainstream public sees the green movement as an attempt to take things away from them.  You know, that idea that we environmentalists just want to ruin everyone’s fun, forcing them to give up things they see as God-given rights, like driving Hummers around their bourgeois suburban neighborhoods and running the A/C with the windows wide open. We’re just a bunch of grumpy, Chicken Little commies, aren’t we?

Link [No Impact Man]
Photo credit: Colin Beaven

Bike-Sharing in the Capital

Change is coming to Washington, and it’s not just about the new Obama administration. Washington, DC is now working to incorporate bicycling into its transportation infrastructure. Much like cities across the world, DC is feeling the effects of years of dependence on cars: pollution, congestion, obesity. The documentary below takes a look at why D.C. sees bicycles as part of the solution and examines the challenges the city is facing with the increased popularity of biking.

More info about bike sharing programs at metrobike.net.

Colleges Giving Free Bikes to Students Who Promise to Leave Cars at Home

Students are finding a big incentive to leave their vehicles at home when they go away to college: a free bike.  And not a cheapo Wal-mart bike, either: the University of New England, for example, is offering its freshmen $480 bicycles to entice them into an easier, more eco-friendly option for getting around campus. It’s part of a new trend nationwide in which colleges and universities are finding ways to encourage bicycle transportation instead of cars, especially in schools where parking space comes at a premium.

From The New York Times:

The goal, college and university officials said, is to ease critical shortages of parking and to change the car culture that clogs campus roadways and erodes the community feel that comes with walking or biking around campus.

“We’re seeing an explosion in bike activity,” said Julian Dautremont-Smith, associate director of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, a nonprofit association of colleges and universities. “It seems like every week we hear about a new bike sharing or bike rental program.”

“We felt the campus could devolve to asphalt parking lots, and a lot of people didn’t want that to happen,” said Michael Daley, head of the university’s environmental council and a professor of economics.

The bikes are marked with each student’s name.

“I don’t have to fill it with gas, and it doesn’t hurt the environment,” said Kaitlyn Birwell, 18. “With a car, you need a parking permit, gas, and it breaks down. I’m a college student and don’t have the money for that.”

The program at the University of New England has so far been a great success: they handed out 105 bikes in the first week of school, and only 25 percent of freshmen brought cars with them this year compared to 75 percent last year.  Some schools are asking for donations of old bikes to fix up and offer students, while others are purchasing new mountain bikes, helmets and locks or partnering with bike shops to give students a discount.  Still others, like Emory, now have bike share programs that allow students to rent a bike at no charge at various spots on campus.

How awesome that this is catching on: it addresses the parking problem, reduces pollution, increases physical fitness and promotes a community feel.  Hopefully it will continue to spread across the country!

Link [The New York Times]
Photo credit: Flickr user PC Loadletter

During Economic Crisis, No Recession for Bicycle Makers

It’s a good time to own bike stock.  And, according to Stephen Colbert, soup stock.  But we digress.  Though the current state of the economy has hit carmakers hard, it certainly hasn’t put a dent in the profits of bicycle makers – not even close.  Bicycle makers are unsurprisingly selling more than ever, with demand up so high that in some areas, there are bicycle shortages. “Giant Manufacturing, the world’s largest bicycle-maker, sold a record 460,000 units last month and is heading for its best year ever.”

From The Economist, via Treehugger:

After a slow 2006, sales took off last year in Europe and America as fuel prices shot up. Suddenly a bicycle seems like the remedy for many modern ills, from petrol prices to pollution and obesity. Each market has its own idiosyncrasies. Europeans mainly use bikes for commuting, but have the odd habit of ignoring models made explicitly for that purpose in favour of sleeker, faster models which are then expensively modified. Americans prefer off-road BMX trail bikes. Taiwanese demand is led by racing-style bikes used for exercise.

Treehugger notes that, looking back on Giant Manufacturing’s stock performance over the years, they’re actually up by 5.65% right now whereas the market as a whole is way down over the same period of time.  Maybe it’s a good time to open that bicycle shop you’ve been mulling over, or work on that design you’ve had in the back of your mind for years.  Bikes FTW!

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: Flickr user Bitpicture

Innovate or Die: A Bike Makes Clean Water

In addition to reducing pollution by taking cars off the road, bicycles can be used to bring clean water to people around the world. Team Aquaduct won the Innovate or Die contest by creating a pedal powered vehicle that transports, filters, and stores water for the developing world.

The YouTube description explains how the Aquaduct works:

A peristaltic pump attached to the pedal crank draws water from a large tank, through a filter, to a smaller clean tank. The clean tank is removable and closed for contamination-free home storage and use. A clutch engages and disengages the drive belt from the pedal crank, enabling the rider to filter the water while traveling or while stationary.

Bicycle Maker Grows Sustainable Bikes Made of Bamboo

It just might be the ultimate in eco-friendly bicycles: frames grown in a field out of a highly renewable material that doesn’t require pesticides or fertilizer, and needs very little water.  Bicycle maker Craig Calfee, based in Santa Cruz, California, creates made-to-order bicycles with frames that are grown bonsai-style, coerced into the desired shape while they’re growing.  The result is strong, earthy-looking, highly-sought-after bikes that go for $2,700 a pop.

From Wired:

To increase production and improve design, Craig is experimenting with growing bamboo into pre-formed shapes in the field.

By forcing the bamboo to grow through carefully placed barriers, the naturally straight plant grows with the bends and curves he needs for frames and other components.

Calfee said he’s experimenting with a limited number of plants, but can envision fields full of bamboo. “It’s like mass production,” he said. “A factory in a field. You can have row after row of bamboo growing into the right structures for bike frames.”

According to Calfee, bamboo is an ideal material for bicycles: It’s stronger and lighter than most metals, but absorbs road vibration much better.

“It’s tougher than metal,” he said. “It takes impact very well.”

The bamboo frame tubes are held together with a hemp epoxy composite, which is made of long strips of hemp fiber soaked in epoxy.  The result is organic, tough and super durable.   Calfee claims that the bike offers better performance than traditional aluminum bikes.

Another beautiful blend of high-tech and low-tech… the effect of the bamboo and hemp paired with carbon fiber and titanium components is striking.  It seems like, over time, this concept could be applied as a low-cost solution to transportation in third world countries – production costs would probably go down as the manufacturing becomes more efficient.  Oh, the possibilities of green tech!

Link [Wired] + [Calfee Design]

STRiDA MAS Debuts New Folding Bike

Bikes are already fairly portable, and obviously a very green way to get around.  But, imagine being able to easily fold up and carry a lightweight bicycle that you could carry around with you, easily bringing it on a train or into your office building.  Folding bike company STRiDA just released the MAS Special Signature, which does just that.  The bike, which features a Swiss engineered drive system and a rustproof aluminum frame, folds up in just 5 seconds flat.

From Inhabitat:

The MAS Special is named after its inventor Mark Sanders. Weighing in at 22 pounds, it features a lightweight collapsible bike constructed from aluminum. Its unique triangular frame allows it for to collapse quickly, while giving it great stability and making it quite comfortable to ride.

Instead of a greasy chain, the STRiDA comes equipped with a clean and quiet Kevlar Belt, while a two-speed drive system allows the rider to seamlessly shift gears with the tap of a heel.

Be prepared to drop quite a load of cash if you’re set on this bike: it’s got a $1,400 price tag.  But even for those of us who can’t afford to get one right away, this is an awesome peek into the sort of green technology we’ll be seeing in the years to come.  If, on the other hand, money is no object for you, you can pick up a MAS Special Signature of your very own next spring.

Link [Inhabitat] + [STRiDA]

Japanese Train Station Parking Lot Packed Full of Bikes

This is pure awesome – and we need a lot more of this in the U.S.  It’s a bicycle parking lot outside a train station in Japan, a country where this is quite a common sight.  Imagine if Americans were as gung-ho about riding bikes everywhere as the Japanese, the Chinese or the Dutch – we’d all be so much healthier and happier, and our country would be a hell of a lot cleaner.

It would be hard to remember where you parked, though.  “Remember, kids – GOOFY D!”

Link [Flickr] via [Digg]

The Circular Bike

I love that the guy who made this circular bike, Robert Wechsler, just leaves it in public places.  I mean, it’s not like anyone’s going to get far with it.  He should hook that thing up to generate power.

Link [FrostFireZoo] + [Robert Wechsler]

Sometimes it Sucks to be a Bicyclist

Imagine taking part in a weekend bike race, merrily pedaling along without a care in the world, when suddenly a car seems to be coming straight at you. Before you have time to move, it has plowed into the crowd, sending cyclists up into the air. This horrific photo shows just that, and the result was one dead cyclist and ten injured.

From CNN:

The 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk and fell asleep when he crashed into the race, said police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez.

A photograph taken by a city official showed bicyclists and equipment being hurled high into the air by the collision.

It’s things like this that make people afraid to ride bicycles in the roads. I still maintain that it should be harder to get and keep a driver’s license. There are way too many people out there that barely know what they’re doing, and the fact is, every time you get behind the wheel you become operator of a huge piece of dangerous machinery that, as illustrated here, could easily take out a crowd.

Link [CNN]
Photo credit: Jose Fidelino Vera Hernandez / AP

From Children in Buckets to Old Men in Suits, Amsterdam Does Bikes Right

Amsterdam gets a lot of things right. Among them are drug policy and tulips. It’s becoming increasingly clear that another thing they do far better than most other countries is bicycles. A traveler in Amsterdam took 82 pictures of bicycles in 73 minutes in a single city square, and the variety is amazing. Riding bicycles isn’t just an occasional recreational activity in Amsterdam – it’s a way of life.

This photo shows a normal scene of bikes parked in Amsterdam:

Here are just a small selection of the photos taken, and in them you’ll see bicycle riders of all sizes, ages and walks of life, including a very old man and a very young child, a man in a suit, a woman in pearls, people carrying large bundles and children balanced precariously on handlebars. It almost sounds like a Dr. Seuss book. It’s awesome.

People in Amsterdam take their bikes seriously. Very seriously. Check out the high security chains and locks, human-powered headlight contraptions, and all of the decorative touches. The photographer questions why they use such strong locks when all the bikes look to be worth about $10 – I think it’s because so many people ride bicycles, people wouldn’t think much to ‘borrow’ somebody else’s to get where they need to go – not to sell it.

You may find it curious that nobody’s wearing a helmet, kids seem so dangerously unprotected and many of these people are even talking on cell phones while they veer around cars in busy intersections. Sure, it looks dangerous to us. Trying to do these things in America would amount to a death wish, but there’s a simple reason why it works in Amsterdam: respect and awareness. They’re just used to it. The people driving cars know to watch out for people on bicycles. When you have a culture where bicycle riding is so commonplace, it’s easy to adjust. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get there, too?

Check out the site for all 82 pictures, plus large enhanced versions.

Link [Ski Epic]