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Welcome to Monday.
Here are the best stories we came across last week…
Carfree spaces FTW: New York City did a smart thing and made Brooklyn’s Prospect Park carfree for the entire summer.
The bike tax embarrassment: Seems like the further you get from Oregon the more absurd the new bike tax looks. Citylab says “it’s a strange way for the state to prioritize active transit.”
Homeless fight for bike lanes: People who live in LA’s Skid Row district want safe places to ride too. “What do we want? Bike lanes! When do we want them? Now!” they yelled at an inaugural bike ride aimed at addressing disparities in the bike network where they live.
Quality control: In The Netherlands cities use a high-tech bicycle to analyze the smoothness, width, and overall quality of bike paths to help prioritize investments.
Antidote to automotive marketing: American transportation culture is the result of billions of dollars in advertising to convince people to buy cars. What would our cities look like if transit providers had a media-buying war chest of their own?
Driving to ride: A rare article that pokes into the ironic environmental footprint of driving cars to ride mountain bikes — and encourages people to remember their local trails (hint: Gateway Green is now open!).
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“Human chains are the new plunger”: With phrases like that from BikeSnob NYC it’s no surprise he’s inked a deal as a weekly columnist with Outside Magazine.
More on the human chain: When a bike lane needs protection, would you put your flesh on the line like these people in Dublin?
Baltimore’s bike lane battle: It’s always good to keep tabs on the latest hotspots where new protected bikeways are under scrutiny from residents who oppose them.
Parking is too cheap: When the USA Today has a story about the extremely high cost — 17 hours a year and estimated $345 per driver — of simply finding a parking spot, you know (you hope?!) we’ve hit the breaking point and will start getting smarter about policy.
‘Rogue’ bike share on the radar: We’ve mentioned these new bike share systems several times now. The latest is reports that Mobike is coming to Washington D.C. — a place that already has one of the best and biggest traditional bike share systems in the U.S.
Rail crossing research: A scientific study of bicycle crashes at rail crossings showed that it’s all about the angle of approach. It also included this cringe-inducing video showing dozens of crashes:
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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