bicycle

New Bike-Sharing Program in Wrocław, Poland! {Videos & Pictures}

I’m a bicycle lover. In particular, I’m a huge proponent of bicycling for transportation purposes. Bicycles are super efficient (perhaps the most efficient transportation option out there), meaning they are very environmentally friendly and also save you and the city a ton of money. They are also a ton of fun to ride, good for your health, good for your mind, and highly accessible. But, in some cases, using your own bike for transportation purposes is impractical. For, this reason, from the first time I heard about bicycle sharing programs (like the huge one in Paris, Velib), I fell in love with them.

15 Things I Loved about Living & Bicycling in Groningen (the Netherlands) +25 Pictures

I meant to complete this “things I loved about living & bicycling in ________” series before National Bike Month ended, but it didn’t happen and, anyway, bike month should be every month! Here’s the second-to-last post of the series….

I lived in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands for 5 months in 2007. With a bike commute rate of about 50-60% and about 2/3 of inhabitants, in total, using the bike from time to time, Groningen is a top-notch bicycle city. It has been named Bicycle City of the World on more than one occasion and the following are probably the main reasons why.

7 Things I Loved about Living & Bicycling in Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, & Redwood City, CA

Following up on my posts about what I loved about living and bicycling in Sarasota, FL and Chapel Hill-Carrboro, NC, here are 7 things I loved about living and bicycling in Northern California. In the middle of graduate school, I lived in Sunnyvale for a summer, worked in Redwood City, and did most of my grocery shopping in Palo Alto. So, despite being 3 different places, they were sort of one place to me and I’m combining them all for this.

10 Things I Loved about Living & Bicycling in Sarasota, Florida

To wrap up National Bike Month, I’m doing a little series on what I loved about living and bicycling in the various places I’ve lived and bicycled. (But don’t worry, even after this month, I’ll do plenty more writing about bicycling as well.)

To start with, I’ll start with the first city I lived in, the city where I started bicycling as a main mode of transport and gave up my car. Living in Sarasota, Florida from birth until the age of 22 or so, I know that city better than any other.

Berlin — Bike Paradise

I recently took a short little vacation to Berlin (just about 5-7 hours away by train from where I live). While I had noticed when I visited the first time (2 years ago) that it was a tremendous bike city and put it at #7 in my bike city photo tours series, I didn’t bike around the city on that visit. Additionally, it was rather cold and rainy, so biking wasn’t in full bloom there.

This time around, we (my partner Marika and friend Salah) were set on biking, a bit at least. The weather was nice and our friend got us some bikes. We ended up going on a bike ride that lasted 5 hours or so on our first full day there.

Southern California Investing in Bike Paths!

Southern California is known for its beautiful weather and, ironically, for its auto-centric development patterns. Why not take advantage of that beautiful weather more, some have argued. And they are actually being listened to, finally,.. in Long Beach at least. Long Beach is now constructing a network of separate bike paths. The city currently doesn’t …

Southern California Investing in Bike Paths! Read More »

World-Leading Sustainable Community in Germany: Vauban District

The Vauban district is a green, planned community in the city of Freiburg in southern Germany. Construction of this community began in the mid-1990s and opened in 2000. By 2001, it had 2,000 inhabitants living in a greener, more sustainable way. Now, the Vauban district is said to have 5,000 inhabitants and 600 jobs. A …

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CicLAvia 2011 Will Be in April, July, AND October

CicLAvia 2011 (that would be Ciclovia in Los Angeles) will be held three times this year, according to… CicLAvia. “The route will be more-or-less the same as 10-10-10, with expansion to South L.A., Boyle Heights, and/or Chinatown as CicLAvia works with these communities and gets the new extensions ready and permitted – most likely in October,” …

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North American Handmade Bicycle Show 2011 Preview – BikeRadar

BikeRadar recently previewed the 2011 North American Handmade Bicycle Show. Looks like a cool event. Here’s more: The seventh annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show is set to kick off February 25-27 in Austin, Texas and even though the event is still several weeks out, it’s already shaping up to the biggest and grandest iteration to …

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EcoLocalizer Link Drop

New Transit Projects for 2011 A comprehensive list of transit projects scheduled to start construction or open in 2011. “Streetcar lines dominate the nation’s new transit construction landscape, but this year only light and commuter rail lines will open for service.” NYC Tries ‘Rapid’ Buses in Bid to Cut Transit Costs The city’s much-maligned bus …

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How Much is Bicycling Worth to the Economy? $1.5 Billion/Year in Wisconsin

We’re bicycling fans here on Ecolocalizer. Have you noticed? Why? Because it’s good for everything: our health, the livability of cities, the efficiency of our cities, equitable access to key needs, and the economy. Here’s more on that last part, the economy, from the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin: Investment in a more bicycle friendly Wisconsin …

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Bicycle-Friendly University Award System

The League of American Bicyclists has had a Bicycle Friendly Community program going for years, as well as newer Bicycle Friendly Business and Bicycle Friendly State programs. Now, the League is adding one more, a Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) program. The program was actually officially launched in September at the annual Pro-walk/Pro-bike conference in Chattanooga, …

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New York City Bike-Sharing Program Plans Move Forward

I wrote on New York City’s large, potential bike-sharing program a few months ago, the only proposed bike-sharing program in North America that will compare to the famous and highly successful Paris Vélib’ system (or even Barcelona’s Bicing program). NYC’s bike-sharing program has just moved forward now, with New York City’s Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) Commissioner Janette …

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Community Composting and Recycling by Bike [VIDEO]

This is a great-looking bicycle composting and recycling service, and what is greener than biking, composting, and recycling? As Rory Woods of sustainablog writes, “Motivated by their love of bike culture and the environment, this enterprising group has built a cooperative business around transporting other businesses’ compost and recycling.” For a little more info from …

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Bicycle City

The first Bicycle City is finally getting built! More on that and how Bicycle City got started via co-founder Joe Mellet below. I have seen advertisements for Bicycle City for years now. I remember when it first got started — it looked like a great initiative but was rather mysterious. “Where was “bicycle city” or …

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#1 Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Great Bicycle City Photo Tour

Topping yet another bicycle list, Amsterdam is #1 here because of the great bicycle photos to follow along with the fact that 40% of traffic is bicycle traffic in Amsterdam and the city is full of bicycle facilities, including a 10,000-bicycle parking garage at its train station. Amsterdam may not have as high a percentage …

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