What Women Want
As “an ‘indicator species’ for bike-friendly cities” – women being more risk averse than men – perhaps planners should consider what women find important.
Until women feel it is safe and easy to jump on a bike and head through town, the North American ratio of men: women cyclists (now 2:1), isn’t going to inch towards Europe’s ratio (1:1) anytime soon. As the lack of women riders generally indicates relative safety, this is a big part of the reason why North American statistics for trips by bicycle are also so poor compared to those of Europe. Less than 2% of trips are by bicycle in North America, while many European cities are well into double digits.
Have a look at this article from Scientific American.
Thanks to a feed via Momentum Magazine for sourcing this article.
Toronto Cyclists Union Thanks Drivers
After all, safer streets for everyone is the goal.
As part of the Toronto Cyclists Union new campaign: Paving The Way, 3000 thank you cards will be given out to motorists who get caught – doing something right.
A message from the Toronto Cyclists Union:
Now it’s time for the big push and we need your help!
We will be welcoming cyclist volunteers at 3pm tomorrow, Oct 21st, at the SE corner of King and John St. to pick up and give out Thank You cards to drivers who give some ’shoulder room’ to cyclists in the area. We’ll need to do a little demo for media – but mostly, this will be a chance to learn about how best to deliver these cards on your daily commute. Let’s show Torontonians, via the media who will be attending, what the Toronto cycling community is all about!
TOMORROW: October 21st, 2009
TIME: 3pm – 4pm
WHERE: South East Corner King and John.** Please note – Thank You cards are available for pick up ANYTIME at the Centre for Social Innovation, Suite 400 – just ask for the bike union at the front desk.
Cycling in the rain
Fall brings some of the best weather for bicycling: no muddiness of spring, no heat of summer, and without the bugs of both; just wonderful crisp, sunny days.
Oh, and some rain.
Here’s a primer on rainy day cycling with some great post, post discussions from one of our favourite blogs: Let’s Go Ride a Bike. For those of you thinking, I really should go beyond the occasional fair weather recreational ride: you should. And this blog can help you to do just that in so many ways, particularly if you are a woman.
Raise a glass to Cycling in Toronto
Don’t miss the Toronto Cyclist’s Union Fundraiser Cocktail & Masquerade, Oct 28th at Steamwhistle’s Roundhouse.
This is an important event where you can meet change-makers and others with an affinity for bicycling in Toronto, join in a celebration of some wonderful progress to date and most importantly, your presence there will help ensure that the work continues.
Details on the event are right here
Please invite everyone you know who wants to see more cyclists, on safer streets in Toronto.
Hello World; and Folding Bikes yet…
Hello new Blog. Let us be the first to welcome you to the blogworld. It would appear a new weblog is emerging about folding bikes.
Sweet!
Some good points to consider from this site.
Blogger: you may be a veteran with years under your belt, or just new; but isn’t it cool how fast you can be noticed.
Be sure to use the WordPress blog stats so you can see who is sending you people!
How’s your tire pressure?
On this morning’s commute I ended up at a lot of stoplights, so I had extra time to look around. Yes, I do stop at lights (except at some T intersections, where I am riding along the top of the T and not crossing a perpendicular road), and I do not proceed until the light is green and see that turning cars etc. have cleared the intersection.
As I waited, I noticed most bikes that were stopped with me had under-inflated tires. Once I had this in mind, I did an informal mobile survey and saw under-inflated bicycle tires on almost every bike. Proper inflation is important on bicycles. Under-inflated tires can: cause flats ; will make you work harder and give you less control. Over-inflation can cause flats as well and it greatly increase the roughness of your ride. There’s great information on tires and inflation here. Actually Sheldon Brown has built a web site that is the best repository of usable and understandable(mostly) bicycle advice available.
How much air pressure should your tires have? Have a look at this little chart from Michelin.
I commute on two bikes a STRiDA and a Devinci. My STRiDA has 18″ Schwalbe tires which are marked Min 50 Max 85, so to is the recommended pressure on the Devinci’s tires. I weigh 185, so I keep them at 85.
There are some differences and strategies for tire inflation when racing or mountain biking, but for commuting and touring you should check often and follow the advice above.
Lane envy
From Bicycle Queensland, a posting with an image of a “Copenhagen” style bike lane.
Segregated two way bike lanes are a very safe and efficient way to enhance bicycle travel. Talk about adding to quality of place. Brisbane has a population of almost 2 million and has evolved a great bicycle culture; even a website that reports on bike lane closures and news.
This posting, while having me think wouldn’t it be nice, had me checking out Copenhagenize.com, and they commented on the same post. What a nice feeling of pride…
Also from Copenhagenize.com is a post on
cycling around New York City with some lovely images of bicycle lanes in that city.
Toronto is where I do most of my bicycle commuting. As I think about my ride home tonight, I think it’d be best if quit looking at bike lanes in other cities.
How to get 50,000 new commuters on bicycles…
I think it’s beneficial to remind people every so often of progressive ideas/policies that would benefit us here in North America.
In order to decrease the number of autos in UK cities, alleviating a significant source of carbon emissions and improve the health and well-being of it’s citizens, the UK government introduced a Cycle To Work initiative a few years ago.
The plan allows employers to “loan” bicycles to employees, who then pay the employer back for the value of the bike (up to £1,000, $1700 CDA) using pre-tax salary. In addition to all the benefits of bicycle commuting, both to the individual and the community, this can result in a 50% saving on the cost of the bicycle. Since 2005, there are some 100,000 who have taken advantage of the initiative with some 50,000 NEW bicycle commuters. Great program! Something to think about here, particularly in Ontario Canada when tax harmonization likely eliminates the <$1000 PST exemption on bicycle purchases.
From the UK Department of Transport website, excerpts below:
Cycle to work
The Finance Act 1999 and the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 provided
a tax exemption to allow employers to loan cycles and cyclist safety equipment to
their employees to cycle to work. In 2005 the Government assisted the cycle industry
in promoting the scheme by providing implementation guidance. It also asked the
Office of Fair Trading to issue a group consumer credit licence to allow all UK
businesses to offer cycle packages to each member of staff of up to £1,000 in order
to cycle to work. This dispensed with the need to apply for an individual licence.
Since 2005 we estimate that nearly 100,000 employees are now benefiting from the
use of new bikes to cycle to work. Half of these are new or returning cyclists.Value for Money
Economic modeling carried out for Cycling England3 shows that increasing cycling
levels by 20 per cent by 2015 has the potential to save £107 million in reducing
premature deaths, £52 million in NHS costs and £87 million in reduced absence from
work.
There are also quantifiable benefits in terms of reduced congestion and pollution.
The SQW work quoting a 20% increase in cycling delivering congestion benefits of
£207m and pollution benefits of £71m. Overall, it is estimated that investing in cycling
gives very good value for money, with benefits estimated to be 3.2 times the costs.
Regular cyclists are also likely to live a healthier, longer life.
Belt-Drive pioneered by STRiDA goes mainstream
The STRiDA folding bike successfully commercialized the use of a drive-belt over more than 20 years. Clean, maintenance free belt-drives have a lot of advantages over chains. As I mentioned in a previous post, they are now beginning to be adopted by some industry heavyweights and more than 50 other manufacturers and custom shops.
Here’s a more specific summary from Bike Radar.
