Supermarket Street Sweep, Colleges Promote Cycling, NYC Bike Racks
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.