Cities and Countries
Streetsblog Basics
Study: Vancouver Merchants Badly Misjudge Effect of Protected Bike Lanes
Few groups speak more loudly in debates over the reallocation of street space than local businesses. In New York, there are merchants who vocally favor a better environment for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit, but all it takes are a few firm believers in easy car access to dictate the terms of the public debate. Case in point: In 2009, merchants in Greenwich Village and along Grand Street were able to get mayoral candidate Bill Thompson on the record against bike lanes.
August 10, 2011
Riding Bogotá’s Bountiful Protected Bikeways
Since 1998, Bogotá, Colombia has built more than 300 kilometers of protected bikeways. Streetfilms recently had the chance to explore the city's bike network with the man responsible for building it, former mayor Enrique Peñalosa.
August 8, 2011
Nice Ride MN: Bike Share Expands in the Twin Cities
Nice Ride MN is a hit. The Twin Cities bike share recently celebrated its one year anniversary in June. And in July they started an expansion by adding more stations and bicycles to the network.
July 28, 2011
Fun Routes to Transit
"Why I Ride" is on hiatus this week. Instead we bring you the latest transit innovation from the Dutch city of Utrecht -- the "transfer accelerator."
July 22, 2011
The Streets and the Courts Failed Raquel Nelson. Can Advocacy Save Her?
Last week, we reported on the horrific story of Raquel Nelson, whose four-year-old son was killed as she attempted to cross the street with him to reach their home. Nelson was convicted of reckless conduct, improperly crossing a roadway and second-degree homicide by vehicle, all for the crime of being a pedestrian in the car-centric Atlanta suburbs. The conviction carried a sentence of up to 36 months, while the driver who killed Nelson's son -- who'd been drinking and using painkillers before getting behind the wheel -- got off with six months on a hit-and-run charge.
July 22, 2011
Georgia Mom Convicted of Vehicular Homicide For Crossing Street With Kids
We don’t normally report on vehicle crashes on the Capitol Hill blog, but this was so outrageous we couldn’t help ourselves.
July 14, 2011
American BRT: A Rapid Bus Network Expands in Las Vegas
Last month the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy released its report, “Recapturing Global Leadership in Bus Rapid Transit” [PDF], which proposed a LEED-like rating system for bus rapid transit projects and laid out a strategy for American cities to build systems as good as the world’s best BRT. While more than 20 American bus projects have claimed the BRT mantle at various times, the ITDP report named just five American cities with bus corridors that made the grade and earned the title “True BRT.” Streetsblog is pleased to publish a series of case studies from ITDP examining these innovative transit projects. We started with Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and today, we look at Sin City -- Las Vegas.
July 11, 2011
Cleveland’s Center-Running BRT Route, the HealthLine, Sparks Development
Last month the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy released its report, “Recapturing Global Leadership in Bus Rapid Transit” [PDF], which proposed a LEED-like rating system for bus rapid transit projects and laid out a strategy for American cities to build systems as good as the world’s best BRT. While more than 20 American bus projects have claimed the BRT mantle at various times, the ITDP report named just five American cities with bus corridors that made the grade and earned the title “True BRT.” Streetsblog is pleased to publish a series of case studies from ITDP examining these innovative transit projects. We started with Pittsburgh and today, we focus on Cleveland.
July 5, 2011
Rahm Emanuel Refuses to Say He’s “Not Against Bike Lanes”
Okay. We can be envious now.
June 23, 2011