Welcome to the week.
Here are the most notable items our editors and readers came across in the past seven days…
No mo’ DeFazio: After over three decades in Congress, federal transportation titan Peter DeFazio announced plans to resign, leaving a hole not just in Oregon’s delegation but on the influential House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee which he chairs.
MTB at Silver Falls: Learn about the nonprofit off-road cycling group that has transformed Silver Falls State Park east of Salem into a mountain biking destination. (If Silver Falls can have more bike trails, why can’t Forest Park?)
The Musk con: A federal investigation is looking into the extent to which Tesla’s Elon Musk pushed his “autopilot” technology despite its shortcomings and safety risks.
Where’d the bikers go? The owner of Cartlandia food cart pod on the Springwater Corridor path and SE 82nd, laments the loss of business as bicycle riders — who used to make up a large portion of their business — have “disappeared”.
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Beyond adaptive bikes: Portland has committed to adaptive bikes, but what about going one step further like San Diego and San Francisco have gone with Bird’s new electric wheelchairs?
Bike share works: Even though New York City’s bike share system has over 24,000 bikes, this NY Times article says it still struggles to meet user demand (by comparison, Portland’s system has about 1,000 bikes).
Don’t forget e-bikes: The Oregonian delved into the role electric vehicles can play in our transportation future and I shared my concerns that so far, the State and its major EV advocacy group are focused too much on EV cars while EV bikes offer vast potential.
What we don’t know: That saying about the value of measuring something if you want it to matter seems to be very relevant with e-bike sales statistics, and until the industry figures this out, their potential will be limited.
Transportation options: In our Video of the Week, City Nerd analyzes biking, driving and bus taking to find out which mode comes out on top on a variety of key metrics
Thanks to everyone who shared links with us this week!