Biking in Toronto with Yvonne Bambrick

Toronto cycling advocate Yvonne Bambrick joins me to discuss bike safety, politics and infrastructure. Yvonne was the first Executive Director of the Toronto Cyclists Union and is now an independent bike consultant.  Activists there are engaging in civil disobedience to delay the politically motivated removal of the popular Jarvis Street bike lane, despite proven safety benefits and a tripling of bike counts since the lane was recently installed on the only north-south bike route in the city center. In other news ... If you want cyclists off the sidewalks you have to make the streets safe for cycling.  A geography lesson shows the segregation and sprawl in many coastal areas of the NY region, and apparently some people want MTA chief Joe Llota to run for mayor next year.  City residents tend to own cars but use them infrequently, a terrible waste of public space.

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Hurricane Recovery Special with Epic Transit Journey

Enjoy this special, extra-long episode on the damage from Hurricane Sandy and the struggle to rebuild devastated communities and submerged transit networks. We have shuttered rail lines, debris and trash all over the streets, massive flooding in stations, hundreds of shuttle buses, missing rail cars, huge neighborhoods in a now-snowy region with no heat or electricity. ... More people are using bicycles and hopefully some will make it their preferred transport mode. This episode features bits of live audio from Boston during the hurricane and from my epic transit journey from Boston to New York via a combination of local bus services when intercity carriers were not running.

Next week is a discussion about bicycling in Toronto with Yvonne Bambrick. Later this month, the rest of my audio from riding the MBTA, walking and biking in Boston.

Great photos of the damage and amazing recovery efforts courtesy of MTA Photos on flickr:

Somerville, Mass. bike advocate Alex Epstein

A great show today where Alex and I discuss everything from politically-driven street design changes to the effects of car culture on our society. We reclaim some parking spaces along the way, ponder the best way to move sustainable transportation forward, and observe that car-free is the way to be. Check out the fine work of the Somerville Bicycle Committee and their facebook page.If you're in the Boston area, lend your support for the city's first protected bike lane on its busiest cycling route.

We mentioned research by John Pucher and the Victoria Transport Policy Institute on cycling, parking policies, and highlighted efforts to improve the plight of Indian rickshaw operators and a new UBC study showing that bike infrastructure in Vancouver reduced injuries by as much as 90 percent. We also love that Park(ing) Day shows how cars waste urban space. And why cycling is both progressive and conservative.

Next week I have another great show for you while I am visiting Boston to ride buses, trains and my bicycle.

Podcast 6 - News, Street Design, Transit Fares, and please forget about bike helmets

Back with a new podcast, catching up on some things in the news this month. I talk about the importance of redesigning streets to improve safety and comfort for people of all abilities, and it doesn't have to be an expensive, long-term project.  Brooklyn's Fourth Avenue speedway was just redesigned using only paint and plastic bollards (more on road diets).  Advocates are targeting the dangerously narrow and inadequate bike and pedestrian path on the Pulaski Bridge for improvements. This bridge shows why conflicts arise between pedestrians and cyclists, because both groups are given inadequate facilities even while motorists dominate the streets.

Bike helmets aren't all they're cracked up to be. A few Swedish engineers are working on an invisible, inflatable bike helmet. I argue that helmets do not prevent crashes, and by pushing helmet use we neglect the things that actually matter for bike safety like safe bicycling advice, driver education and enforcement. Bike Walk Lee showed the power of bikes in social justice by holding a clinic to help homeless people get access to bike repair services. Toronto removes a key north-south bike lane despite it having tripled bike travel on the corridor in just a few short years.

The last piece of bad news is from California, where politicians are releasing emergency oil reserves to try to appease frustrated motorists. But as we know, that is not a solution.

On the transit side, the Worcester Regional Transit Authority, the disproportionately small bus system in New England's second largest city, is buying three all-electric buses. This a big positive development yet it also highlights the problems with the federal transit funding formulas.

Free service on the Silver Line bus between downtown Boston and Logan Airport will continue until January. The absence of on-board (or any) fare collection has surely caused a dramatic reduction in travel times and made things easier for everyone.  In a related development, my favorite transit blog, Human Transit, discredits route-level fare recovery analyses since each route is part of an interconnected urban transportation system.

Episode 4 - Bike Safety

Many people who want to bike are held back by reasonable safety concerns. This episode addresses the most common hazards and offers advice for cyclists to maximize their safety. Most importantly, always make sure to claim the space you need, and don't be intimidated by others who might want to steal your space. By staying in control, you can prevent others from endangering you and be able to react in emergency situations. Read all about how to be an "Unracer" in Grant Petersen's Just Ride; see the review in Bicycle Times Magazine (which you should definitely subscribe to). We heard closing music from The Bicycles: "B-B-B-Bicycles!"

Also, I said it's Episode 5 but it's actually Episode 4.  This show got pushed up a week. Send in your feedback, ideas and suggestions for topics and guests.