other cities

Photo by swanksalot (yes, that's right)

It's Independence Day in the USA, so let's have a look at what cyclists down there are doing. Looking south once in a while (at least once a year) can give hints as to what ideas our politicians might be willing to try next.

Detroit is going to start licensing bikes (not the cyclists)

Bicycle owners will pay a $1 fee per bike, to receive a registration number, which can be placed on the bike. The license will be valid for five years.

Officials said enforcement will remain relaxed until Aug. 4, to allow bicycle owners the opportunity to register their bikes without penalty.

Hopefully this idea doesn't cross the river.

South Carolina passed long awaited laws related to cycling. It's now illegal to harass a cyclist. I guess it's even more illegal than it used to be. There are now details in the law about throwing things at a cyclist or yelling at a cyclist. Explaining why these laws are needed is Dave Moulton's Bike Blog:

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New York has made a big step forward over the past month. A physically separated bike lane has been installed and is open on Ninth Avenue on Manhattan Island (West Village), the first of its kind.

Thanks to StreetFilms for this video.

Chicago has made a request for proposals from companies offering a bike sharing program. The city is considering a 500 bike program and a 1500 bike program, quite a bit smaller than the systems in Paris and Lyon.

Mayor Daley is excited, and that matters. You've probably heard about his bulldozing of their island airport overnight. He has a way to influence things. As the Tribune puts it:

Daley returned from a trip to England in the 1990s smitten by what he considered the beauty of the wrought iron fences of London, and the result is visible everywhere today: faux wrought iron fencing from one end of Chicago to the other.

On the controversy scale, bike sharing is probably closer to decorative fencing than bulldozing an airport, so this should be easy to make happen.

It's relatively easy to implement compared to other transportation systems, and the cost is low. The benefits have been discussed on this site many times, so I'll let a Chicagoan continue:

Some people ride their bikes to commuter rail stations near their homes, "but because Metra does not allow bikes on trains during rush hours, having these bikes available at the [downtown] Metra stations would be just fantastic," [Ed Barsoti of Illinois League of Bicyclists] said. "That would kind of complete the door-to-door trip."

From the original MyBikeLane New York:

By my reckoning, MyBikeLane is 1 year old today! Congratulations to the innovator of this pioneering open-source people's law enforcement site.

This van has it's hands spread wide open and is clapping for MyBikeLane . . . not.

But look at us! Toronto's MyBikeLane is number two after NY with 370 posts and 40 members. Unfortunately, we do have lots of opportunities for photos here in the T-dot, especially on Bay and College streets. Here is a pic added by Vic of one sadly typical infraction on College street, below.

Over at the Spacing Wire Matt Blackett has posted a street-level piece on Vancouver's cycling infrastructure. It's informative and inspiring!

VANCOUVER — I’m lucky enough to have a decent bike to ride for the duration of my stay here on the west coast. I ride almost daily in Toronto but the experience of riding daily in Vancouver is much different — it’s not just the hilly terrain, but there seems to be an understanding from both city officials and drivers that cycling is a viable transportation alternative to the car. Riding through Vancouver produced not only aching leg muscles, but a self-diagnosed case of serious cyclist envy.
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You can read the entire post here.

Besides the brilliant idea of "bike waiting boxes" (pictured below) at major intersections, I like the idea of larger bikeway network route signs that are more akin to signs targetting motorists. Here in Toronto the bikeway signs are numbered and tiny. In Vancouver, they are large and use street names. Why not rename our bikeway routes in Toronto after famous or local people of prominence? I think it would be fun and make for wider recognition of the (now somewhat invisible) shared infrastructure.

Photos by Matt Blackett