Here are all the best bike news stories and other tidbits we came across last week…
— How committed is the NYC DOT to safe streets? They recently placed “Street Safety Managers” at intersections of high-volume bikeways.
— Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was hospitalized after taking a fall while riding his bicycle. The 74-year old also managed to break ribs and puncture his lung while biking back in 1993 says the Washington Post.
— Venerable London-based news magazine The Economist had a Special Report last week on the future of the car. Their cover story, Clean, safe and it drives itself hints at the very rosy picture they paint. It’s almost as if the entire report was written by automakers.
— Yes, those sinister automakers are very sly… Everyone’s heard the startling stats about how expensive car ownership has become (over $9,000 a year says the AAA). Well, Toyota has wasted no time in trying to reverse that narrative with their new marketing campaign that focuses on the exact opposite idea — that you’ll actually save money by buying one.
— Meanwhile, in another version of reality, have you seen Autno.com? It’s a new apartment search engine that filters results specifically for folks without a car (it creators tell us bike route integration is coming soon).
— Another bike thief apology letter has turned up and gone viral. This time it’s from a lady who got “straight up white girl wasted” prior to stealing a bike, only to return it the next morning with a coupon for a free desert from Domino’s Pizza.
— Mr. Copenhagenize Mikael Colville-Andersen has been busy: He’s got a new book of his cargo bike photography and he’s just released his list of top bike cities in the world. (No U.S. cities made the cut.)
— Does USA Cycling “hate black people”? That’s the argument being made by the author of the Cycling in the South Bay blog.
— UK author Cathy Bussey has started a big conversation in The Guardian after her article, Forget road safety: discover the real reasons normal women don’t cycle.
— Experts say it’s a banner year for bees. And it appears bike baskets make perfect hives.
— Things have gotten even worse for Lance Armstrong. Now the U.S. Department of Justice is going after him for being, “‘unjustly enriched’ while cheating to win the Tour de France.”
— Not sure if this is good or bad to share… But there’s a guy with a Tumblr for collecting road rage Tweets that are hard to read if you ride a bike.
— This map of Portland’s old “trolley” lines from 1943 is an awesome piece of our transportation legacy.
— The “sky-is-falling” cries from some New Yorkers protesting bike share stations is hilarious.
— This rolling, video interview with the former Mayor of Amsterdam Job Cohen is really cool.
— Have you seen the latest video from the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association? It’s got some fun and inspirational footage (including drone flyovers!) of what racing is all about in our great state.
— Police in the capital of Uzbekistan are looking to outlaw bicycling completely. Seriously.
— Specialized has released their “Turbo” e-bike to the U.S. market.
— Even while the technology, capabilities, and market for e-bikes continues to grow, President Obama has just ordered the purchase of 10,000 hybrid cars to the federal fleet.
— Now it’s Chicago’s turn to roll out a major bike share system. “Divvy” is operated by Alta Bicycle Share.
— Don’t miss this great write-up from the Community Cycling Center about a previous participant in their Create-a-Commuter program who is still riding (and loving!) his bike 2.5 years later.
— Shock! Horror! During the 1970s oil crisis “SCHOOL CHILDREN, WERE FORCED TO USE THEIR BICYCLES ON FIELD TRIPS” and there was, “NOT ENOUGH GASOLINE FOR SCHOOL BUSES TO BE USED FOR EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES, EVEN DURING DARK AND RAINY WEATHER”!!!
— A transportation engineer I know said this upon hearing that his profession was named one of the 10 least stressful jobs by CNN: “Perhaps this is the reason I’m in such a splendid mood all the time.”
— Wired Magazine took a closer look at the “Weird, Wild World of Google Bikes.”
If you come across a notable bike story, share it with us and we’ll post it here on the Monday Roundup.