2014 Archives

Car2Go considers bike rack pilot program in Portland

Racks could help Portlanders get
to far-away trails.
(Photo: Car2go)

International car-sharing service Car2go has announced that Portland will be its testing ground for bike racks on their vehicles. In an email statement to Portland-area members, the company said the move comes after numerous requests from customers.

Here’s a snip from the announcement:

“Since our launch in Portland back in 2012, we’ve consistently heard one specific request from our valued members – installing bike racks. As bicycling is such an integral part of daily life here in Portland, it’s no surprise that we’ve been very eager to find a solution that incorporates bike racks onto our blue and white car2go vehicles, allowing our members, who love bicycling all the same, to combine the two transportation options in a simple, safe, and durable way.”

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Líder del paseo, Elizabeth Quiroz de Mujeres en Movimiento y Bicycle Transportation Alliance.
(Photos: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

To read this post in English, see below. Le pedimos disculpas por cualquier error de traducción. Por favor nos dice acerca de ellos y vamos a solucionarlos.

Con la cantante oaxaqueña Lila Downs canturreando desde un equipo de música de remolque, 35 Portlanders de varias edades se reunieron domingo en Cully para un viaje para celebrar el Día de los Muertos.

Bikes and the Blazers go great together.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Last night’s Blazers Bike Night was a lot of fun and — despite the weather and the score not turning out like we hoped — we managed to boost the biking spirit at the Moda Center.

The new bridge figures prominently
in official Bridge Pedal logo.

You know you want to ride it.

The Tilikum Crossing bridge has been seducing your eyes for months now with its elegant lines that span the Willamette, its carfree promise, and its 14-foot wide bike/walk path.

When Bridge Pedal registration opens today at noon, you can reserve your spot to be one of the first people to ride a bicycle across it. Well, you and 20,000 others.

My kind of town.
(Rendering of Bell Street in Seattle, a model
for Chicago’s project, by SvR Design Company)

Here are the great bike-related links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Shared street: Early next year, four blocks of Chicago’s Argyle Street will be rebuilt in a “radical experiment” with no sidewalks, crosswalks, curbs, lane markings, or signals and almost no signs.

The birth of ‘cross: Could this French biking newsletter from 1901 have the report of the very first cyclocross race?

A police raid on allegedly stolen bikes in Old Town in July 2012.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

It’s one of the maddening paradoxes of the bike world: biking is so cheap and efficient that it’s a blip on almost every chart.

Biking infrastructure is so easy to build that there’s no army of contractors to lobby for it. Biking education is difficult because it’s so easy to just buy a bike and start riding. And bike theft doesn’t get penalized because a bike can be the most important object in someone’s life even though it’s only worth $50.

Reader Todd Hudson captured an aspect of this problem in a comment beneath this week’s post about a Portland cop who’s leading the fight against bike theft from the front lines.

Would you stop?
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

It might be peer pressure. It might be geometry. It’s almost certainly some of each.

But following up on a study that found that (as we reported last year) 94 percent of observed bike users in Oregon stopped for red lights, a Portland State University civil engineering student has also found that every additional person waiting next to you on a bike makes you 78 percent less likely to run the light on your own bike.

Scene of fatal crash on SW Barbur Blvd-6

SW Barbur Boulevard: a bad street to
be drunk on by any mode.
(Photos: J.Maus/BikePortland)

This is a guest opinion piece by A.J. Zelada, a longtime biking and walking advocate who chaired the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee from 2011 to 2013.

Intoxicating amounts of alcohol are at the death scene of 36 percent of walking fatalities and 32 percent of biking deaths.

So why does today’s street safety movement seem to trivialize it?

Last year, I listened to Oregon’s Safe Routes to School manager proclaim new safety issues to protect pedestrians. The ideas were great, but one was missing: She did not mention alcohol at death scenes. Vision Zero is being considered by many cities, including Portland and New York City, as a backbone policy for reducing road deaths. New York City’s new Vision Zero policy has one paragraph about alcohol.

We’ve had three excellent job opportunities posted this week. Learn more via the links below…

Warehouse worker/customer service representative – Portland Design Works
Bicycle Tourism Project Coordinator – Gresham Area Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center
Inside Sales Representative – Cyclone Bicycle Supply

Let’s do this!
(Photo: J Maus/BikePortland)

Welcome to your menu of weekend rides and events, lovingly brought to you by our friends at Hopworks Urban Brewery

Things are getting a bit lean on the various ride calendars… Except, that is, if you are a cyclocross fan (and can get to Bend). If you aren’t into racing and you’ll be in Portland this weekend… Might I suggest joining 100 other BikePortland readers for Blazers Bike Night on Sunday!?

Of course, Halloween is tomorrow and we all know that the streets will be full of folks headed to parties and filling up panniers with candy and treats.

Have fun!

Friday, October 31st

Climate change in action — or inaction, depending on your point-of-view.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

This morning, Clackamas County’s commissioners are considering whether to urge the Portland region to attempt to fight climate change by adding more lanes to its freeways.

The people have spoken, and they say that in most of Portland, it’s getting harder to park a car on the street:

(Source: 2011 and 2014 community surveys, Portland auditor’s office)

Since the central-city building boom resumed, residents of every part of the city except East Portland are more likely to say it’s annoying to find a car parking space.

But this is interesting: they say something else, too.

Car2Go considers bike rack pilot program in Portland

Portlanders celebran ‘Dia de los Muertos’ con paseo en bicicleta

Blazers Bike Night recap and photos

Bridge Pedal registration opens today, with promise of first ride over Tilikum Crossing

The Monday Roundup: A shared-street test in Chicago, the birth of ‘cross and more

Comment of the week: Courts, not cops, as the core of bike theft neglect

What makes people stop at red lights? Other people, study finds

Vision 0.08: Why any major safe-streets effort must tackle alcohol

Jobs of the Week

Weekend Event Guide: Corn cross, Blazers Bike Night, sausage ride, and more

Friday, October 31st

Clackamas County wants Metro to fight climate change by widening roads

Portlanders say street parking is getting worse, but their neighborhoods are getting better

Latest Headlines

‘Better Sheridan’ project brings safer street to South Waterfront

Your guide to finding the ‘Wildwood’ crows by bike

My journey to that ‘Hard Rock glow’

Off-Road Cycling Master Plan: A decade later, what has changed?

From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland