🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
Welcome to the week. Here are the most notable stories our writers and readers came across in the past seven days… “Aggressively experimental”: When Boston shut down a major subway line, they boosted support and space for non-driving alternatives and it worked so well they’ve made some of the changes permanent. (Governing) Bike share resiliency: … Read more
International Walk + Roll to School Day has been celebrated in dozens of countries around the world since 1997, and Portland has excitedly participated for years. But I suspect this year’s observance – set for this coming Wednesday, October 12th – will be even bigger than usual. After more than two years of Zoom school … Read more
Usually the only window into this chapter of Portland’s history are photos, letters, and policy documents. But I was recently pointed to a series of videos created in 2000 that give us a fun view into a much earlier era of bike advocacy. The six, thirty-second videos were created by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (now … Read more
Have you ever considered the idea that we are ordained with certain privileges when we drive cars and trucks that we simply don’t get when we choose to ride bikes? This idea of “driving privilege” has bounced around my head for years and I often think about it as I ride around town. Any time … Read more
Who’s ready for the weekend? Here’s our hand-picked selection of the best rides and events coming your way. For more suggestions, see the BikePortland Calendar. Saturday, October 8th Vvolt E-bikes Warehouse Sale – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm at Vvolt HQ (SE)It’s Vvolt’s first-ever warehouse sale! One day only, save up to $700 off MSRP on demos, … Read more
With all those trees in the way, it can be really easy to miss the forest. So, last week, when TriMet released its Forward Together Draft Service Concept, many people, myself included, made a beeline to our neighborhood bus, and then immersed ourselves in the tangle of other nearby routes Meanwhile, staring the reader in … Read more
Another senseless death of a vulnerable road user on an urban highway controlled by the State of Oregon has led to more pleas from advocates to make changes. And just now, the Portland city commissioner in charge of the transportation, Jo Ann Hardesty, added her voice to the chorus. “Enough is enough,” Hardesty said in … Read more
“It’s really cool that a big company like that was like, ‘yeah, this makes sense.’ It just validates what we’re doing.” – Phillip Ross, B-Line Urban Delivery This just in from the worlds of micromobility and urban freight delivery… Electric scooter company Lime has inked a deal with Portland’s B-Line Urban Delivery to decarbonize their … Read more
Portland is mourning the loss of Sarah Pliner. The accomplished chef was 50 years old and was in the process of opening up a new restaurant when she was tragically killed while biking across Powell Boulevard on her way to work Tuesday. Today I talked to Sarah’s sister Jessica Pliner and family friend Suzy Hoke … Read more
Before heading over to the scene for a closer look, I wanted to share a few updates on the tragic death that happened on SE 26th and Powell yesterday. First, the victim was 50-year-old Sarah Pliner, a well-known local chef and former restaurant owner. Pliner was behind Aviary, a French-inspired spot on Northeast Alberta. Before … Read more
Sam Balto is a serial safe streets entrepreneur. His first claim to fame was using cardboard cutouts of football star Tom Brady to slow traffic down outside a school he taught at in Boston, Massachusetts. Then, after he moved to Portland in 2018, Sam’s tactical urbanism went to the next level with the “Red Cup … Read more
There were a lot of exciting Portland-area active transportation projects up for Metro funding through its 2025-2027 Regional Flexible Funds Allocation (RFFA) cycle, and not all of them were chosen. But Metro has other pots of money to dip into for regional projects, and they just announced how they’ll use $20 million from the 2019 … Read more