At long last, Portland is set to install an electronic bicycle counter. The new tool, which will be placed on the Hawthorne Bridge, will provide a daily and annual, ongoing count of the number of people who pass by on a bicycle..

The new counter will be an Eco-Totem made by Eco-Counter, a Montreal-based company. Funding for the project was supplied via a $20,000 grant from Cycle Oregon. The City of Portland, Bureau of Transportation applied for the grant last fall and Cycle Oregon ride director Jerry Norquist says it was approved in February.

more: bikeportland, 21.05.12.

a cycle counter in copenhagen. photo by cycling embassy of denmark.

On the second to last day of school, 60 seniors from Kenowa Hills High School in Walker, Michigan, rode their bikes to school. It wasn’t an improvised things either, as they had police escort and did it safely, and even the mayor joined them (handing out donuts, which isn’t exactly health food, but nobody was forced to eat them). But their principal, out of some sort of “I’ll show you who’s boss” primal instinct, decided to reprimand them, calling the bike ride a “prank”, going as far as suspending them for a day and threatening to keep them from walking in their graduation ceremony.

treehugger, 22.05.12.
news video clip on wood.tv.
via grist, 23.05.12.

Dynamic parking pricing has hit LA, with the official launch of the ExpressPark program today in four and half square miles of Downtown. Under the year-long pilot, pricing at meters and in city-owned lots will fluctuate in response to demand, and will range from 50 cents up to six dollars an hour (meters are currently $1 to $4 per hour). There are 6,000 meters and 7,500 lot spaces covered by the project. According to a press release quoted in the LA Times, “Parking rates in the project zone will be adjusted by LADOT according to demand in 4 to 6 week increments as necessary; when demand is high parking rates will increase and when it is low rates will drop.” The best part is that you’ll be able to tap into the system and find spaces or pay with your smartphone. Down below, check out a video explaining how it all works. [LAT/ExpressPark]

la.curbed, 21.05.12.

“I can’t keep up with all the group rides out there these days,” said Damien Newton, the founding editor of Los Angeles Streetsblog, which champions bikers and pedestrians. “This isn’t a side thing anymore. It’s definitely out of the shadows and out of the subculture.”

Mayor Villaraigosa said he wanted the city to establish 40 miles of bike lanes and paths a year, a policy inspired by his own “nasty spill” dodging a taxicab and a part of his effort to cut back on automobile use here. “No question about it: bike ridership is up dramatically in L.A.,” he said. “You see it all over the city.”

nytimes, 19.05.12.

the bike pics I happen to be posting recently are making me wanna steal a pup just so i can put him/her in my bag on a bike ride.

anyway, LA is beating SD—no doubt. nytimes even picked up on it. hella official.

Sena Putra, 47, of Oakland was crossing 13th Street at 12:55 p.m. on Thursday when a tanker heading north on Folsom Street turned right onto 13th and hit him, police said. Putra died at the scene.

Putra was walking back from lunch to his job as an accountant for UCSF’s Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital when he was struck, said his supervisor, Diane Schlueter.

Police told her that Putra had been in the crosswalk on a green light.

“He was crossing on the right side,” Schlueter said. “I just don’t know why the driver didn’t see him.”

Putra emigrated from Indonesia almost 10 years ago and became a U.S. citizen April 17, Schlueter said. After getting the news of his death, Schlueter opened his briefcase and found his completed voter registration forms.

“He was really, really excited and looking forward to voting for the first time as an American citizen,” she said.

sfgate, 18.05.12.

The Van Ness BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) project will be at two hearings tomorrow — speak up if you can! After considering four alternatives, city agencies have agreed on one “locally preferred alternative” with buses running down the center of Van Ness. 

Walk SF supports this design, which means faster public transit and safer conditions on a critical corridor through the city. 

The design also includes: Fewer cars and calmer traffic on Van Ness; wider sidewalks at corners (bulb-outs); pedestrian countdown signals at all intersections; pedestrian lighting; elimination of almost all left-hand turns, which are dangerous for people crossing the street; opportunities for greening; and more comfortable bus stops. Read more about the Local Preferred Alternative.

Speak up to show your support for a better bus line and a better, greener, safer Van Ness:

• Transportation Authority Plans and Programs Committee: TODAY, 10:30am, City Hall, Room 263
• SFMTA Board: TODAY, 1pm, City Hall, Room 400
• Transportation Authority Board: Tuesday, May 22, 11am, City Hall, Room 250

If you can’t attend these hearings, write a quick email to vannessbrt@sfcta.org — you can say:

“I support this locally preferred alternative for the Van Ness BRT because I want better, more reliable public transportation and a safer, more walkable Van Ness!”

sfcta. via walkSF.

..a little late on this post. meetings have already started.

reading EIR/EIAs—my second favourite pastime. not kidding. I just downloaded the 500pg PDF. leave the fact sheets to common people. ;P

The Locally Preferred Alternative is a combination of Alternative (above) 4 and 3 (not shown).

There must be room for all kinds of cyclists on cycle paths in Copenhagen. Therefore launching an experiment with striping of overtaking lanes on selected large distances. Commuter cyclists and parents who bikes side by side with their children, with the new overtaking lanes to pass each other smoothly.

In the congested stretches of Copenhagen has long wanted solutions to create more considerate behavior among cyclists, wider bike lanes and just striping with overtaking lanes on bicycle paths. 

The experiment with striping of the throat paths meet exactly these requirements. Afstribningen to ensure better accessibility on the cycle paths — both for the rapid business woman on the way to meeting with good speed through the city and the friends that will slow down next to each other and talk in the inner zone. Afstribningen would like to get cyclists to better keep right on bike path, so there is always room for others to overtake. 

more: kk.dk, 04.05.12. (english)
via copenhagenize. 

so advanced!