Month: September 2015

Reed College renames Bike Co-Op for Mark Angeles

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward
reed-lead

Screentshot from Reed Magazine blog.

The Reed College Bike Co-Op is now named the Mark Angeles Memorial Bike Co-Op.

Mark Angeles was the 22-year-old Reed graduate who was killed in a collision while biking on SE Gladstone back in May. Angeles was an active member of the Reed community and was manager of the Co-Op.

“Mark Angeles had an enduring impact on the lives of students, staff, faculty and many others beyond Reed,” wrote Reed’s Vice President for Student Services Mark Brody in an email last week. “We miss him dearly.”

On Tuesday Angeles’ friends and family organized a memorial event and bicycle ride in his honor.

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As city preps for public bike share, it weighs rules for a private competitor

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward
spinlister parking

Will the bikes keep circulating?
PBOT thinks it’s important that they do.
(Image: Screen grab from Spinlister video)

Fourth in our four-post series about bike sharing in Portland.

Portland’s prospects for a public bike share system are looking as good as they ever have. Three of the city’s five council members said Wednesday that they’re excited to back a bike share deal, and a staffer for a fourth told us the proposal “looks great so far.”

Meanwhile, a different launch still seems to be in the works: a completely private bike-sharing system, a new product scheduled to be tested here in Portland by the peer-to-peer bike rental firm Spinlister.

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Long-delayed Portland bike share rose from the dead. Here’s why that might make it better

Bike share demo-9-8

A 2011 bike share demo in Portland. The city has scrapped its 2012 plan and is rebooting with a unique set of new ideas.
(Photos: J.Maus/BikePortland unless noted)

Second in a four-post series today about bike sharing in Portland.

There’s a case to be made against Portland’s new bike share plan. But that’s coming in a few hours.

First, let’s consider a more interesting argument: the possibility that because of its three-year series of mishaps, Portland could wind up with a much better system than it would have without them.

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Portland overhauls bike share plan, braces to launch with or without a sponsor

Buddysbike

Next week, Portland will consider a contract to put 600 “smart bikes” like this one (from Orlando’s Juice system) on the street by next July at no cost to the city.
(Photo: City of Orlando)

First in a four-post series today about bike sharing in Portland.

Nine years after being one of the first U.S. cities to float the concept, the City of Portland plans to announce today that it’s finally ready to launch a public bike sharing system.

The key to the plan, which would be required to launch by July 2016: the city is planning to skip a generation of bike-sharing technology and launch a system that uses “smart bikes” with built-in GPS and self-locking mechanisms. The revised system would be 20 percent smaller but about 55 percent cheaper than the one the city originally planned.

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PBOT adding full-time staffer to help implement Vision Zero projects

VISIONZEROSOCIALMEDIA_640X295

(PBOT graphic)

The City of Portland is continuing on their march toward Vision Zero.

After City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting the concept back in June and followed it up with a spirited kick-off event last month, they are now hiring a full-time staffer to help make it a reality.

The Transportation Safety Program Specialist position will pay between $59,000 and $79,000 per year depending on experience and qualifications.

Here’s the official job description from the City’s jobs page:

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The Monday Roundup: Christchurch’s post-quake bikeways, China’s perverse incentives & more

christchurch

A rendering of the Promenade,
a rebuilt street in Christchurch.
(Image: Christchurch Central Development Unit)

— This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Abraham Fixes Bikes, that great little bike shop on N Williams and Fremont.

Happy Labor Day! Posting will be lighter than usual today in honor of jobs well done. Whatever you’re working on these days, take a moment today to be proud of it.

And now, your regularly scheduled roundup of the bike-related links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Bike-friendly rebuild: “You shouldn’t have to have an earthquake for this to happen,” says a transportation engineer from Christchurch, New Zealand, about his city’s return to its biking roots.

Chinese incentives: In China, people are regularly caught on camera deliberately backing their cars over people they’ve already injured, including young children and seniors. The reason: if you injure someone, you support them for the rest of their life, but if they die you’ll often get off.

Read more

Latest Headlines

Big day for PBOT budget as new revenue proposals head back to Council Wednesday

Monday Roundup: Paris in Brooklyn, ‘Trail Towns’, e-bike reviews, and more

Driver kills vulnerable road user while making illegal u-turn

City reports, ‘steady, not stagnant’ bicycle use in 2025 count report

From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland