The Monday Roundup: The $17/month bike, skull-and-crossbones fatalities and more

This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Green Zebra Grocery, celebrating the grand opening of their new store in the Lloyd District (808 NE Multnomah) on April 21st!

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

Bicycle as a service: A company has created a “theft-proof, weather-proof” city bike and, instead of selling them, is renting them out for $17 a month.

Unanesthetized violence: In 1938, Washington DC and the Washington Post used to raise skull and crossbones flags every time a car driver killed someone.

Bike party: 5,000 people celebrated World Bicycle Day in Mexico City by gathering in the shape of a giant bicycle.

Noisy cars: Abu Dhabi is installing roadside sensors to nab people whose cars are too loud.

Crowdfunded citizenship: Crowdfunding for a park or bike lane doesn’t undermine democracy — it strengthens it, argues a woman who works for civic crowdfunding platform Ioby.

Inactivity epidemic: Diabetes, one type of which is related to physical inactivity and poor diet, is spreading rapidly in mid- and low-income countries and now affects one in 11 adult humans.

NBA biker: Yes, that was Hall of Famer Reggie Miller whizzing past you in Malibu on his mountain bike.

Reform, reform: Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson, running for mayor of Baltimore, has a bunch of interesting ideas for changing urban policy, including building out the city bike plan.

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Victim blaming: After Toronto killed a traffic safety campaign that scolded people for wearing dark clothes, Torontoist suggested some better options.

Autonomous freight: A platoon of self-driving trucks just drove themselves across Europe.

Autonomous cars: Every solution they purport to offer is already done better by buses, trains and bikes, says Rebecca Solnit.

Little-known fact: The company that owns the Schwinn brand is based in Vancouver, Wash. (Update: Apparently it’s just Schwinn’s “fitness machine” line.)

Mobile app: Vancouver has followed Portland’s footsteps in creating a mobile app for reporting transportation problems.

Traffic penalty: Vietnamese police ordered a woman who was driving the wrong way down a street to write 50 times on a piece of paper that she wouldn’t do it again.

Flying car: A sedan somehow crash-landed on top of a Long Beach house.

If you come across a noteworthy story, send it in via email, Tweet @bikeportland, or whatever else and we’ll consider adding it to next Monday’s roundup.

— Michael Andersen, (503) 333-7824 – michael@bikeportland.org

BikePortland can’t survive without subscribers. It’s just $10 per month and you can sign up in a few minutes.

Michael Andersen (Contributor)

Michael Andersen (Contributor)

Michael Andersen was news editor of BikePortland.org from 2013 to 2016 and still pops up occasionally.

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David Feldman
David Feldman
7 years ago

I believe that Nautilus only owns Schwinn’s fitness machine brand; Schwinn bike is owned by a consortium including (I think) Dorel and China Bike. Want a real Schwinn? Look for a Gunnar or a Waterford. One of the partners is Richard Schwinn. And, QBP’s All City frames are designed at least in part by Richard’s daughter Anna Schwinn. The tree’s down but the roots are still alive!

David Hampsten, now in Greensboro NC
David Hampsten, now in Greensboro NC
7 years ago
Reply to  David Feldman

Confirmed. Dorel Industries (DIIBF stock symbol; http://www.dorel.com) of Westmount Quebec is a $650 million multinational furniture conglomerate that also owns Schwinn bikes, along with Cannondale, GT, Mongoose, Caloi bikes of Brazil, Charge bikes of England, Sugoi & Fabric clothing, and Guru bike fit kits, as well as a huge number of consumer products for raising babies.

Todd Boulanger
Todd Boulanger
7 years ago

Sorry about sending you the original link …

Lynne
Lynne
7 years ago

“…every time a car killed someone.” I thought cars didn’t kill people. Perhaps better “a vehicle operator struck and killed someone with their car.”

Hello, Kitty
7 years ago
Reply to  Lynne

>> I thought cars didn’t kill people.

Sometimes they do. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_(novel)

Spiffy
7 years ago

MyVancouver app: it’s a start, but is missing the things I report most, illegal parking and overgrown sidewalks…

GlowBoy
GlowBoy
7 years ago

In general the Fortified Bike concept seems great, but how can you call a bike weather-proof if it doesn’t have fenders?

Bryan Hance (The Bike Index)
Reply to  GlowBoy

… probably the same you you call a bike – any bike – ‘theft proof’ …

lop
lop
7 years ago

They ship you a replacement if something gets stolen. But you pay shipping. What will that run, $70 per theft?

Spiffy
7 years ago
Reply to  GlowBoy

fenders are generally to protect the rider, not the bike…

Lester Burnham
Lester Burnham
7 years ago

Get that Fortified locked up somewhere on the Esplanade and let’s just see how “theft-proof” it really is. Our resident bike theft professionals will put that claim to the test for sure.

Kiel Johnson / Go By Bike
kiel johnson
7 years ago

what happens when the bike does get stolen or if someone locks it wrong? does fortified provide you with a new bike?

Todd Boulanger
Todd Boulanger
7 years ago

Actually well designed full fenders on a city bike would protect the equipment too…and since it is a “rental” might behoove the company to make it apart of the base model and instead charge more for no fenders. 😉

wsbob
wsbob
7 years ago

The Torontoist, the weblog that offers some road use safety posters it believes are better than those the city produced, in its story, included a link to a CBC New story about a guy driving that collided with a young girl stepping off a streecar. She wasn’t killed or even seriously hurt. The story was headlined as being about an apology from the guy that ran into her, and there is lots of quotes from him in the story. In those quotes, he does in fact, apologize for whatever lack of attention on his part that contributed to the collision, but doesn’t take full responsibility for the collision having occurred.

To what extent road users of different modes of travel, who by their actions on the road, have responsibility for their own safety, and that of other road users, is a central issue associated with road use. However you feel about the views expressed by the person driving the car, I think he raises some realistic, valid points relative to use of the road for all road users.

Though he’s not quoted in so many words, the story states that he didn’t see the streetcar. Streetcars in Portland are big. If their smaller in Toronto, that would be news to me. Even factoring in roving attention to the road ahead, with minimal distraction to things other than the road, it’s difficult for me to understand from what’s written in the story, how someone driving near a big streetcar, wouldn’t see it.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/driver-apology-1.3517398

MaxD
MaxD
7 years ago

The article by Rebecca Solnit is excellent!

are
7 years ago
Reply to  MaxD

yes, ms. solnit is a national treasure.

resopmok
resopmok
7 years ago
Reply to  MaxD

And a logical extension of her argument is to note that this “platoon” of self-driving trucks from the previous article also has an already invented predecessor: the freight train.