It used to be that bike-sharing stations were exclusively a European thing, but now they have appeared in Mexico – Mejor En Bici (Mexico City) – and even the US – SmartBike DC (Washington, DC). How popular can this form of bike-as-you-go transportation become? Well, at last count, Vélib, Paris’ self-service bicycle-transit system (the world’s largest), had over 20,000 bikes in their system.

Maybe it’s not all that surprising, considering that the bicycle is hands-down the most popular vehicle in the world.

I was pleased to hear that UPS has started using a few bikes to deliver packages here in the packed (ok, less packed than a few years ago) holiday season.  It’s good to see a big company be thoughtful about how they get stuff around – something we can only use more of.

Course, would be great if these good folks would also make sure their drivers don’t rush so much they hurt anyone, either.

 from the article: “Of course, each U.P.S. bike delivery system (typically a $350 mountain bike pulling a custom trailer) can haul only 15 to 20 packages a trip — a mere fraction of what a truck can deliver. Nonetheless, the company estimates that for every three bikes deployed during peak season on the West Coast, it will save around 17 gallons of fuel a day and about $38,000 in vehicle maintenance costs.”

Well, happy holidays.  If you are a gift trading type, let us know if you see the UPS brown bike at your door!

Tomorrow lucky kids from Oakland and other east bay cities will be getting new bikes.  But they need helments (by CA law, actually) to go with those bikes.  Please consider calling to make a donation: 415-255-7036 x315
Announcment: This Saturday, the organization All of Us or None will be giving
bicycles to children and teenagers whose parents are incarcerated.
They are asking for donations of helmets to give along with the bikes.

If you or your organization is interested in donating a helmet, please
contact Hamdiya Cooks at 415-255-7036 x315. Please see the
attached flyer for more information.

While the Community Giveback will be held in Richmond, most of the
invited children are from Oakland. Please consider assisting this
holiday event and promoting bicycle safety by donating a helmet.

2008 Community Giveback will be held on Saturday December 20th 1-4pm
Youth Service Bureau
84 Broadway, Richmond, CA 94801

Send your donation (any amount is needed and will be appreciated) to:
All of Us or None
c/o Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
1540 Market St. Ste. 490
San Francisco, California 94102

With so much to say, I was tempted to break these items into separate posts, but new news seems to pop up every day.  So, I thought I’d clear the decks and give you all the stuff I discovered recently in my web and real-world travels.

Colleges Distribute Bicycles to Reduce Car Use on Campus – A number of colleges have realized that by promoting bike use, they can not only keep cars off campus, but can convince incoming freshmen to leave their cars behind when they head to school. As the article says:

The University of New England and Ripon College in Wisconsin are giving free bikes to freshmen who promise to leave their cars at home. Other colleges are setting up free bike sharing or rental programs, and some universities are partnering with bike shops to offer discounts on purchases.

The Third Annual Supermarket Street Sweep – This past Saturday was the third running of a San Francisco alley cat race which benefits the SF Food Bank. Cyclists have to ride to five different supermarkets, buy food at each, and then make it to the finish line. There are awards for the fastest times and most food transported. Check out the race’s official site which has the final standings and some great pictures from the event. Who says you need a car to make a grocery run?

The Future of Bike Racks? – With Oakland having moved from individual parking meters to parking pay stations, it remains to be seen what the city does to meet the need for more bike racks. Will they modify existing parking meter posts? Will they install new racks to make up for lost bike parking if/when meters get removed? What might new racks look like?

For an idea of what future bike racks might look like, here’s the winning entry in the NYC bike rack design competition. What else did people come up with? Check out the entries from the 10 finalists.

Rickshaw Bagworks Grand Opening Party – Who doesn’t like a free party? Especially one which is thrown by a company which is not just bike-friendly but makes a bike-related product. The Bay Area’s newest bag (read: messenger bag) company, Rickshaw Bagworks, is having a factory and store grand opening party on Thursday, December 11th, from 4-9pm (location: 904 22nd Street, San Francisco). At a cost of free, and promising bags, beverages, music and more, I thought it was worth mentioning.

That’s it for now. If you run across any interesting biking/walking news or happenings, feel free to email alec (at) walkoaklandbikeoakland (dot) org.

A great talk (7 min) from the former Mayor of Bogota, Gil Penalosa, on bicycle network development, bus rapid transit, & urban greening.

“Some one on a $30 bike is just as important as some one in a $30,000 car”

It takes leadership, it takes community involvement.

There’s a great article in the SF Chronicle discussing flaws in the logic behind SF’s proposed “congestive pricing” toll. The idea behind the toll is to get people out of their cars and on to public transportation, but if the current transit system can’t support the new commuters it creates, is the toll an effective solution? Even members of San Francisco County Transportation Authority admit this constitutes a problem:

“We totally get that,” said Tilly Chang, deputy director of planning for the authority. “With Muni, the issue is crowding and reliability, with BART it is getting a seat and a parking place, and Caltrain is really running at capacity. And frankly, the travel times are just not competitive in some cases.”

Although London has implemented a version of this program successfully, the big difference between SF and London is a transit system already in place which can handle the projected ridership.

You can read the whole article here – in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Due to a system-wide signal interruption earlier today, Caltrain experienced a shutdown of nearly all morning service. The system is back up and running, with trains expected to run 10 minutes late throughout the evening. As a “gesture of apology”:

All rides on Caltrain will be free until 1:30 a.m. Friday, and Caltrain tickets will be honored on all SamTrans buses and on VTA routes 22 and 522, which serve Caltrain stations.

One more reason to take public transportation tonight. For the full article, click here.

The city and Kaiser were busily closing off bicycle, pedestrian and wheelchair access along MacArthur near Broadway just a couple of weeks ago.  So, it just makes you wonder, how hard is it to do bicycle and pedestrian friendly design?

Here are the locations the proposed work won’t let you get through.

Of course the irony is that MacArthur is supposed to have bike lanes and be a key route connecting West Oakland, Emeryville, BART, Kaiser, and Broadway.  That isn’t happening right now, likely a year or more away.  Instead, we get less access!

It is a reminder why we must pay close attention and be vocal!  Please visit our action center to notify the city leaders with your concerns if you haven’t already!