Twin Cities Streets for People

To be straightforward marketing just isn’t our specialty here at Workcycles. We’re great at developing lovely, handy, durable bikes, adapting them to your needs and keeping them running nicely for as long as possible. Marketing campaigns? Well, we tend to be full of great ideas that never get off the ground because we’re too busy building and selling bikes. Thus, with that as background… we introduce our winter special in the second week of February.

Actually it’s almost just in time considering that the temperature here in Amsterdam hardly dipped below freezing until last week. Then winter appeared with a vengeance bringing record low temperatures and a little snow that’s stuck around for a while already. Saturday morning we got up early with the kids to be amongst the first to enjoy sledding the fresh powder on the steep slopes of the Westerpark and try out some skating on the frozen canals! Yayyy!

Winter does make getting around by bike a little harder, thus our Winter Service Special. In particular water (even just a tiny bit) in the brake and gear cables tends to freeze, locking it in whatever position it was in while parked. You can read all about freezing cables and how to fix them here. Both our Fr8 and Cargobike have been fixed in one gear for a week and the Fr8′s rear brake is frozen solid as well. I’ve no time to fuss with my own bikes but fortunately you needn’t suffer the same inconvenience. Call us to make an appointment and we’ll give your bike a thorough winterizing.

Veemarkt: 020-689-7879 Lijnbaansgracht: 020-522-6001

While we’re at it we realized that we’ve accumulated a rather absurd inventory of tires, so they’re all 50% off (as long as we’re installing them). We’ve got possibly the best selection of city bike, transport bike and bakfiets tires on the planet so it’s a killer opportunity to put fresh rubber on your bike too.

In the same spirit we’ve been building nonstandard frames and parts into a collection of cool but somewhat quirky special bikes. Ride home with a great new bike for a great price and help us make space for other stuff. We’ll take photos and put more information online but here are a few examples:

Monark Vario Kombi with industrial carrier, 3sp. This is a super tough and stable transport bike from Sweden. The big, industrial type front carrier has an integrated parking stand like a Fr8, though not quite as smooth working. Normally €1200, now €900.

Tweelingfiets (longtail bike for carrying two kids of about the same age) with Azor aluminium frame, 26″ wheels, Shimano 8sp and two Bobike Maxi child seats behind. Normal price €1350, now €999.

Azor Fabrieksfiets, nicely improved with a big red crate, cool pedals and a transport handlebar. A sweet, simple, single speed urban workhorse. Normally €750, now €550.

Aluminium light city bikes with prototype hydroformed aluminium frames. We’ve got two men’s versions with 2sp and two ladies’ versions with 8sp, all coaster brake. Two speed is normally €900, now €700. Eight speed is normally €1100, now €800.

van Andel Biporteur Workbike. This is about as rare as it gets in transport bike world. There are apparently about ten of these and this is the only yellow one. We use one of these super handy and sweet riding bikes as a shop donkey. The yellow one’s not built yet so the specs are up to you.

"Griller le feu rouge!" Photo by Vladimir Zlokazov.

Councilors in Paris, France approved a new rule that would allow bicyclists to run red lights. A result of a three-year campaign by cyclists’ associations, the rule comes after road safety experts deemed it a good measure to cut road crashes.

The idea of allowing cyclists to run red lights to decrease road crashes may seem ironic, but Paris municipal authorities believe that it will be an important step in helping to ease bicycle congestion. “It makes cycle traffic more fluid and avoids bunching up cyclists when the traffic lights go green for motorists,” municipal authorities explained.

In the United States, the state of Virginia passed a similar law last July, but most bike safety campaigns in the country have held the position that bicyclists are safe on the road when they follow the same rules as car drivers. Under normal circumstances, all road users carry the inherent trust that everyone will follow the rules, MassBike explains. “Think about that next time you go through a green light: you are putting your trust in hundreds of strangers every day—trusting that they will not run through the red light and strike you. When you violate that trust, the system breaks down.”

Despite what the law may say, it is not uncommon to see bicyclists run red lights and there is a practical reason for this. “Momentum is key for the bike rider, and coming to a complete stop when nobody’s around is hard to justify,” Nate Berg explains in the Atlantic Cities. “But there’s also a danger that the more comfortable we get going green on a red, the more likely we are to relax our reflexes and de-elevate our senses to the four-wheeled threats that surround us.”

But does this idea change when it’s legal for bicyclists to run the red light? Does a rule like the one in Paris change the way “four-wheeled threats” perceive bicyclists?

The new rule in Paris is not necessarily a free-for-all, with chaotic bicycle traffic zipping in between cars to cut red lights. The rule comes with responsibilities and consequences for cyclists, like taking the blame in the event of a crash and yielding to pedestrians, as well as oncoming traffic. And despite the approval of the new rule, its implementation will be on a trial period and only exercised on 15 crossroads, before it is expanded to cover up to 1,700 Parisian crossroads. Until then, red and yellow signs on traffic lights will alert cyclists as to whether or not they can run the red light in designated zones with traffic speeds up to 30 kilometers per hour (about 20 miles per hour.)

Cyclists running red lights has truly become a contentious issue. The rule’s supporters argue that cyclists should have more freedom on the road because the true source of fatal danger is the presence of cars, not other bicycles.

As blogger Josh Hart explains:

“Unfortunately we live in a society where the needs of one class of road user are prioritized at the expense of more vulnerable road users. The bottom line is that red lights and other rigid, auto-based traffic rules are only necessary to keep the awkward and clumsy movements of cars packed into an urban area from killing and maiming more than they already do. Why should cyclists, who aren’t the cause of this madness, be caught up in the same wide net as cars?  The solution is not to campaign for cyclists’ obedience to traffic lights, but to change the law to better reflect the reality of our transport systems.”

What do you think? Do you believe that allowing bicyclists to run red lights can raise the road safety awareness of car drivers? Share your opinions with us below.

Boulder, Colo. is the U.S. metropolitan area with the happiest residents, according to a 2010 Gallup and Healthways survey. Photo by Shihmei Barger.

Welcome to “Research Recap,” our series highlighting recent reports, studies and other findings in sustainable transportation policy and practice, in case you missed it.

Designing Urban Happiness

The design and condition of cities are associated with the happiness of residents, a recent study concludes. Conducted by a joint research team from the University of South Carolina and West Virginia University, the study examined 10 urban areas to find that cities with access to convenient public transportation and cultural and leisure amenities promote happiness. The study also determined that urban areas that are more affordable and function as healthy environments to raise children are linked with happier residents. These latter two urban elements foster happiness by promoting positive social connections, the researchers suggest. The study, “Understanding the Pursuit of Happiness in Ten Major Cities,” was published in the Urban Affairs Review. Boulder, Colo. was ranked as having the highest Well-Being Index score in a 2010 Gallup and Healthways survey.

Electric Highways

Stanford University researchers designed a high-efficiency, wireless charging system that could lead to highway infrastructure capable of charging vehicles as they drive down the road. The charging system employs magnetic fields to wirelessly transmit electric currents between metal coils placed several feet apart. This wireless power transfer is based on a technology called “magnetic resonance coupling.” Wireless highway charging holds transformative potential, considering the limited driving range as a common critique of electric vehicles (the current model of the all-electric Nissan Leaf, for example, drives less than 100 miles on a single charge.) “What makes this concept exciting is that you could potentially drive for an unlimited amount of time without having to recharge,” the study’s co-author Richard Sassoon said. “You could actually have more energy stored in your battery at the end of your trip than you started with.”

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems

The 4th ETSI Workshop on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) begins tomorrow in Doha, Qatar. The theme of this year’s event is safe, smart and sustainable traffic through cooperative intelligent transportation systems. The workshop offers a forum for participants to share Cooperative ITS expertise made globally. “The field of Cooperative ITS, as evidenced by the tremendous global attention to car-to-infrastructure and car-to-car communications, will undoubtedly re-shape the future of ITS in the years to come,” said Executive Director Dr. Adnan Abu-Dayya of the workshop’s host organization, QU Wireless Innovations Center (QUWIC). The three-day event includes more than 30 speakers from around the world.

Public transit buses, taxis and bikers take over the streets on car-free day. Photo by Carlos Felipe Pardo.

Bogotá, Colombia, home of TransMilenio and Ciclovia, celebrated the 13th annual “Car-Free Day,” proving that life is possible without cars in a big city. Congestion was slightly relieved and air quality somewhat improved, as it is every year. Some people changed their schedules, and taxi cabs had the best day of the year. Bike parking at some universities were packed, and life continued without much trouble—so little trouble, in fact, that Mayor Gustavo Petro celebrated the “International Day of Wetlands” in the few preserved marshes in the city, rather than discussing the meaning of a day without cars with media, civil society and other experts.

Why? Well, 75 percent of Bogotános live without a car 365 days of the year. Car ownership is still very low, as most people travel by foot and public transport. Of course, many people aspire to own a car, but despite the recent growth in car sales, the majority of the population is still car-free.

History of Car-Free Day in Bogotá

Former Mayor Enrique Peñalosa proposed in 1999 to celebrate a car-free day to prove the city could run without the marvelous machine that changed cities in the 20th century and became the source of many severe problems of city life. This was just one more plan on his ambitious and somewhat successful sustainable transport agenda, which also included thousands of  square meters of public spaces, sidewalks and plazas (recovered or newly built); a 300-kilometer bike path network; 42 kilometers of BRT; and a very severe ban on car use—a 40 percent decline during peak hours, restricted according to license plate numbers. Mayor Peñalosa really wanted people to realize that we needed a way out of motorization, and he declared the city’s first car-free day as the first Thursday of the new millennium.

Then, he requested the city council to approve a ballot in which Bogotá voters decided to keep a car-free day every year. The ballot process was contested by the Retail Federation (Fenalco), which was concerned that businesses would be affected, quoting figures that were difficult to fact-check. But in a city with low car ownership, less congestion on the streets meant a party for the majority. In that ballot, there was also a request to completely ban the use of cars during the day by 2015, but that proposal did not get enough voters to comply with the balloting rules. In the end, Bogotá did not get a popular mandate to work towards becoming the first large car-free city in the world.

If you want to learn more about car-free cities, go to http://carfree.com/, where you can even get a manual on how to design a car-free city.

The State of Public Transport Today

The internationally recognized progress of Bogotá at the beginning of the last decade under Enrique Peñalosa, followed by Antanas Mockus and Luis E. Garzón, lost all momentum in the last administration by Samuel Moreno, who ended his term short, under corruption allegations. The city grew its vehicle fleet, infrastructure deteriorated, and construction of the new lines of bus rapid transit (BRT) were delayed. A proposed metro is still on the drawing board. Last November, Bogotános elected Gustavo Petro over Enrique Peñalosa by a small margin—32 percent over 27 percent.

Gustavo Petro promised a metro, a regional light rail system and an expansion of the BRT. He also suggested the idea of congestion charging to replace the hideous Pico y Placa ban—a congestion mitigation policy that restricts vehicles based on license plate numbers. He also needs to complete the reorganization of all bus services in the city to create an integrated system, which was contracted in the last administration and is expected to change the face of public transport in the city. Today, public transport ridership in Bogotá is split between TransMilenio (26 percent of public transport trips) and disorganized minibuses fighting for passengers on the street (74 percent of public transport trips.) What a challenge!

With all of this in mind, the city celebrated the first car-free day of Gustavo Petro’s administration, who announced that the wetlands will be spared the construction of an urban expressway (Avenida Longitudinal de Occidente), and that the land preserved would eventually be used to build schools connected by a light rail.

The Debate

The mayor and his team were invited by Bogotá ¿Como Vamos? to discuss mobility plans in a day without cars. The Mayor did not come, but still, the debate was rich and interesting. Bogotá ¿Cómo Vamos? is an initiative of Fundación Corona and Casa Editorial El Tiempo (a prominent news outlet,) and it has been an observer of every administration since Peñalosa, combining user perception surveys with direct measurements and expert opinion.

On February 2, the event organizers posed two questions to the participants in an open forum co-organized by Fundación Ciudad Humana and sponsored by the French Development Agency, World Bank and the Andean Development Corporation: 1) Is Bogotá ready for congestion charging? and 2) How do you finance public transport?  The following participants, including myself, were part of the debate:

• Felipe Targa, Deputy Minister of Transport
• Mauricio Cuéllar, Senior Specialist, World Bank
• Juan Pablo Bocarejo, Professor, Universidad de los Andes
• Juan Carlos Florez, Council Member, Alianza Social Indígena ASI
• Diego Sánchez, Andean Development Corporation
• Xavier Hoang, Agence Française de Développement
• Camila Rodríguez, World Bank
• Jorge Acevedo, Professor, Universidad de los Andes
• Gloria Stella Díaz, Congress member, MIRA
• Luis Felipe Lota, National Planning Department
• Soraya Azán Otero, Andean Development Corporation

The debates were moderated by Ernesto Cortés and Yesid Lancheros from El Tiempo newspaper. Conclusions were provided by Claudia Dangond, dean of political science at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana; Alexandra Rodríguez of ¿Bogotá y Concejo Cómo Vamos?; and Ricardo Montezuma of Fundación Ciudad Humana.

Deputy Minister of Transport Felipe Targa, who arrived by bike to the meeting, presented on national policies for urban transport, which include support to mass transit systems and bus reorganizations in large and intermediate cities in the country. He introduced new policies for integrated urban development, the creation of public spaces, value-capture mechanisms and congestion pricing, and new technologies for public transport vehicles—a full “Avoid-Shift-Improve” progressive agenda, with several institutional, financial and technical roadblocks ahead.

Being part of an open debate on congestion pricing was reassuring, especially when this discussion used to be off the table. Experts argued in favor of it as a necessary strategy, and council member Flores said he was ready to support it if funding was earmarked for improved public transport. Representative Díaz indicated she did not favor measures that affect the working class, who struggle to own and use a vehicle, but favors value-capture mechanisms instead.

Some interesting arguments arose, like the fact the high-income class is paying a high value on pickups or armored vehicles, for which car restrictions do not apply, or that many people have even bought a second car to avoid the ban. Money seems to be available, but it is not going to the city coffers to fund improved public transport. There was also the recognition that users currently pay to use the road in the form of congestion and frustration, not just in tolls.

On the question of mechanisms to fund public transport, there was also the general agreement that if cities are to provide good quality services, then subsidies are needed.  The concern is where the city may get the necessary funds. Xavier Hoang from AFD presented a study on the topic, with examples from San Francisco (parking), Curitiba (employer payment of transit tickets), Copenhaghen (real estate joint development with transit), Sao Paulo (building rights permits), and Hong Kong (joint development with mass transit), and notes on other good practices.

Experts agreed that there is a need of mixed sources: fuel taxes, value capture from better accessibility, parking, congestion pricing and even license auctions (like in Shanghai). There was also a consensus that transit needs to be good quality to attract motor vehicle users (or at least not lose them, as is starting to happen in the case of low-cost motorcycles.)

When asked for setting priorities on the city agenda, several participants suggested concentrating efforts on good implementation of the integrated transport system (SITP), and some people indicated that there was an urgent need to improve the quality of the service provided by TransMilenio. Alexandra Rodríguez from Bogotá ¿Cómo Vamos? also called for completing TransMilenio’s Phase III, which has been under construction for five years with still some time away from operations, and a more defined future of Carrera 7a, a BRT-turned-light-rail project, without a clear path.

In summary, many proposals were brought to the table. Local authorities may read them in the media, as they were not in the room.

Two stories from our local TV: As is usual for Dutch villages, De Groeve is connected by cycle-paths to the nearest town. The existing cycle-path was quite good. I was very impressed when I first rode along it in 2008. There was really just one problem with this cycle-path. At night it was not well enough lit for parents to feel that their children were safe riding to and from school. A few

Right now the Danish minister of transport is finalizing the law proposal for the Copenhagen Congestion Ring.Visualization of the congestion ring control/payment system, from the report by the Danish Road Authority (Vejdirektoratet), TRÆNGSELSAFGIFT I HOVEDSTADEN, MiljøundersøgelseAt the moment the discussion between the coalition government parties is centered on how much should be charged outside rush hour. The Social Democrats and The radical Left (which is a center party, and not at all radical in any way) seem to believe congestion is something which only happens between 7 and 9 in the morning, and 3 and 5 in the afternoon. Which is factually wrong, first of all even on sunday afternoons we have large cross town streets, where cars cue bumper to bumper, intersection to intersection, in both directions, even though there are no particular happenings, like a ball game or something.Congestion is also when every f...... street is lined with cars, and cars, and cars, squeezing all life out of the neighborhood. When the noise is so loud people actually die in hundreds, and the in thousands from the emissions, every year.Trouble is, during the election, the spin doctors found that all the benefits of the congestion ring, which was at that time called the "toll ring", no matter haw you construe it, are to many to be communicated effectively. The loss of peoples time in car-cues, they found, was plenty of ammo needed to justify it, and now the politicians don´t care about the full reasoning of the toll ring, its just about reducing time people waste in a cue. Essentially a great case about the stupidity of modern politics. "We only regulate, what we can communicate". Who cares about what the society needs.Interestingly in relation to this, the city released a new research on citizen happiness with living in the city, the top-10 wishes was better public transportation(50% said this), less traffic/noise (38%) better bike lanes, bike racks etc. (31 & 16%), better parks/green areas (26%) and more affordable housing (25% & 17%), lower tax (12%) (Copenhagen is one of the lowest tax cities in DK, but danes always complain) came at 15, and better car parking at 17th place (13%). Still even the far left politicians are afraid of how they will be punished by the car-vote. A picture of speed, dynamics and economic growth -to some!  A preliminary report from the Road Authority is excellent reading. It documents a conservatively estimated 10 - 20% reduction in harmfull emisions, the greatest one off reduction in pollution in the histrory of Denmark, something the opposition has declared to be of no effect. The only national or local plan to cut harmful emissions in copenhagen, for well, ever. The only other initiatives is the environment zones initiated by EU, which carries only half of the effect of the congestion ring. About half of the worst streets, which exceed the EU norms, will fall below the EU norms. The Congestion ring is the best news to reach copenhagen lungs, since the new smoking laws, and keep in mind, twice as many die from car emissions, as do from passive smoking. This is really something that counts. The report also finds that the most preferred alternative to driving your car, is to carpool, and close following to bike. Each replacing about a third of the declined trips in own car. the last third will choose to either not go at all (1/6) and the last sixth of the people who will leave the car at home, will choose public transportation.This is great from several perspectives, financially the ring will give an extra earnings of about € 200 mill. a year. The increase in efficiency of public transportation, will to a large degree absorb the growth in travellers. The London busses increased efficiency by 20% after their congestion ring was established. This does not mean, investments in public transportation, especially on rails, should not be followed through. Particular the train commuters from larger cities in the Region, such as Roskilde, Køge and Helsingør, suffer from poor service today, and only busses benefit from less car traffic.Even after the Congestion ring, only an estimated 9% of the trips will be by bus, suggesting that busses are the last resort of commuters. A conversion on the main arterial lines to bus rapid transfer or light rail, would likely help change both image and travel times for the passengers, who are in volumes to be found on about five primary bus routes, including line 5A, the most travelled busline in northern Europe.But as the numbers above indicate, the bicycle infrastructure, the cheapest of all commuter solutions, is imperative to improve. This is all initial changes, and I bet the people who says they will carpool, will eventually gravitate towards bikes and public transportation, as one of the primary motivators of driving a car is the individuality, and carpooling is in realityGreen roads will have significantly less traffic, red more, and black roads no significant change. The purple line is the congestion ring along the city municipality borders. The car traffic in Copenhagen will be reduced by about a third, which is less than week 29 (juli) on average, which is the week with the lowest traffic in the year. Illustration by the Danish Road Authority Vejdirektoratet.My analysis of the current choices of mode of transportation and the change pattern, the road authority researched, suggest that around 40% of all commuters will travel by bike, and only half, 21%, by car. Almost 50% of the commuters will travel without use of any kind of engine. In my mind this is incredible, the establishment of a congestion ring will be a defining moment in the history of Copenhagen.At the same time it exposes the lacking coherence in the strategy and the applied means of the city politicians, in reaching the 2015 goal of 50% commuters travelling by bike. It should be obvious, that you can not outspend cycling initiatives by a factor of four in favour of car parking, and expect cyclism to grow. Even with a congestion ring, the city is only half way meeting its objective of 50% cyclist in 2015.Strangely, while many of us understand cycling and public transportation as equal and democratic mobility, it is the Social Democrats who delivers the majority and deciding mandates for the car-centric policies.Even more strange it is to see that Frank Jensen, the lord mayor of Copenhagen, a Social Democrat himself, and the architect behind the car centric policies, never talks about his “wonderful” car policies, but always about the Copenhagen the bike-city, a concept he actively works against.The change will eradicate the need for a high share of the existing parking spaces in the city, giving more space to bike lanes. The need for more than one car lane in each direction will also be reduced and many lanes can be dedicated for better bus service or even better, for a light rail network, which increase traffic capacity ten-fold and drastically reduces noise and air pollution. Light rail being extremely predictable, it either moves along its track or it stops, no unforeseen turns, will also likely reduce traffic accidents. Research does not support this though, which merely suggests light rail is as safe or unsafe as city busses.Estimated changes in transport modality, after a congestion ring is established around Copenhagen. 2008 figures provided by Bicycle Department, City of Copenhagen, changes based on 2012 report on congestion ring around Copenhagen. Source data is not identical, and some approximations were needed to arrive at the above results.One of the three parties of the left-center coalition government, concluded that, as such a high number converted from car to bike, some of the revenues of the congestion ring should fund a bicycle superhighways network.The sudden change will be extremely interesting to follow. The research suggests a high share will car-pool, I doubt this will last, and predict that most will either go back to using their own car, or start using public services or their bike, cars are perceived as the most individual and independent mode of transportation, as well as having badge value, carpooling has neither, to an extreme. Public transportation is probably undervalued. If you are used to drive your own car, public carries a lot of prejudices which are really not true, specifically in combination with bicycles, it becomes really fast and is really probably as reliable as your own car, no parking trouble, and though we get a fair share of rain, it will rarely coincide with your commute.Will an 80% no-car commuting society tip the scale finally, and be enough to really make the big changes in the city landscape. I REALLY HOPE SO!The profits of the Congestion ring will fund better public transportation and bikeablity. Photo by the Danish Road Authority, Vejdirektoratet.Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

Rio de Janeiro unveiled the first station of its forthcoming bus rapid transit system, which conntects Barra da Tijuca (pictured above) to other city neighborhoods. Photo by Rodrigo Soldon.

Welcome back to TheCityFix Picks, our series highlighting the newsy and noteworthy of the past week. Each Friday, we’ll run down the headlines falling under TheCityFix’s five themes: integrated transport, urban development and accessibility, air quality and climate change, health and road safety, and communications and marketing.

Integrated Transport

The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro unveiled the first station of its forthcoming,123 kilometers-long bus rapid transit (BRT) system.

India’s Ministry of Railways Executive Director Anjali Goyal professed the need for India to enact a national railway policy in a presentation at the “Transportation Practices in India and the European Union” workshop.

Transit authorities in the American cities of Nashville, Tenn. and Des Moines, Iowa are moving forward with prospective bus rapid transit projects.

Two-hundred and twenty-one new, articulated buses will be added to Istanbul’s public transit fleet—already numbering around 3,000 vehicles.

Urban Development + Accessibility

The Alliance for Biking and Walking released Bicycling and Walking in the U.S.: 2012 Benchmarking Report. Among its findings is that bicycling and pedestrian funding comprises 1.6 percent of federal transport dollars, yet the active transport modes encompass twelve percent of U.S. travel.

Bogota, Colombia launched an electric taxi pilot program. The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) Cities program and its C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) partner collaborated with the city on the project.

The Washington, D.C. Office of Planning’s Streetcar Land Use Study concluded that the city’s planned streetcar network will induce tremendous growth in the number of households and businesses accessible to a rail station by walking.

Air Quality + Climate Change

Conventionally-fueled vehicles and electric vehicles were compared in the categories of emissions and environmental health impacts for 34 Chinese cities in a new joint study.

Bio-technology groups Novozymes and Sea6Energy forged an exploratory research agreement to develop a process for generating biofuels from seaweed.

Health + Road Safety

London cyclists currently have the opportunity to experience the street perspectives of city HGV (heavy goods vehicle) drivers through the Metropolitan police’s Traffic Cycle Team’s “Exchanging Places” safety events.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood trounced the new House of Representatives transport bill, calling it “the most anti-safety bill I have ever seen. It hollows out our No. 1 priority, which is safety.”

Communications + Marketing

A MOU was signed for the transaction of twelve fuel cell stacks to India’s Tata Motors for the powering of zero-emission buses for demonstrations in a collection of Indian cities.

Bicycle safety workshops were held last week at the Centro Latino for Literacy in Los Angeles, California.

Isn’t it just the worst riding up a hill on your bike? If Maxwell von Stein’s invention catches on, riding up a hill or gaining speed after stopping at a red light will never exert much energy again.

The Cooper Union graduate integrated a 15-pound steel flywheel from a Porsche into a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) drivetrain to harness the bike’s braking energy. Basically, a transmission on the back hub of his bicycle wheel allows him to take the energy from that back wheel and put it into the flywheel, which he can then tap into to give himself a boost while riding up a hill or accelerating.

“It’s cool to get the boost, not from gasoline, but from your own energy,” von Stein exclaims!

The catch is that the flywheel only comes in handy if you’re slowing down, not when you’re coming to a full stop. Von Stein explains that in order for the flywheel to work in the case of a full stop, he would have to add a clutch between the flywheel and the rear wheel, allowing the flywheel to keep spinning, even after you come to a full stop.

The flywheel would only be a 10 percent increase in the bike’s weight, and considering the weight of the bike and the biker, the additional weight does not add much of a burden. ”Why do you want a light bike? You want a light bike so it’s easier to pedal up to speed,” von Stein explained in an interview with Bike Radar. “That’s where the flywheel comes in. It’s another means of propulsion.”

Von Stein also explains that the device is best used in urban areas where bikers are required to stop and go multiple times during a commute. The flywheel would only slow down bikers during long training rides.

What do you think of Maxwell von Stein’s invention? Would you add one to your bike?

Photo by damian entwistle

We previously wrote about the most livable cities in the world and the most innovative solutions to make cities more livable. Now we bring you the smartest cities in the world, courtesy of Boyd Cohen of Co.EXIST. Cohen explains that some people choose a narrow definition for smart cities, but he prefers a broader definition, encompassing cities that use information and communication technologies to be more efficient in the use of resources. This can be a result in energy or cost savings, improved service delivery or quality of life, or reduced environmental footprint.

Cohen previously released his research on climate resiliency, which culminated in a global ranking of climate resilient cities.

Here are the top two in Cohen’s list of smart cities, with a bit of insight from us into how these cities are incorporating technology into their transportation systems. You can find the remainder of Cohen’s smart cities here.

Vienna, Austria

With a population of nearly 2.5 million people in its greater metropolitan area, Vienna is the largest city in Austria. Its metro system sees 1.3 million passengers every single day and it is the best performing public transport system in the entire world, according to the International Association of Public Transport.

With a combination of policies aiming to integrate urban and transport planning, and shifting traffic to environmentally-sustainable modes of transportation, Vienna significantly increased its modal share for public transportation. In 2010, for example, Vienna’s modal share was split 28 percent for walking, 5 percent for cycling, 36 percent for public transportation and only 31 percent for private cars. In the meantime, the city has taken on a list of measures to improve sustainable transportation, like developing public transport infrastructure, improving public transport quality and image, enacting stringent parking space management measure for commuters, and improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists.

Vienna achieving the number one place as a smart city is not just a local effort, but a national one. One specific example of how Vienna, as part of Austria, is a smart city is the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology’s investments in e-mobility. E-mobility is the intersection of environmental protection and individual mobility. The ministry invests in key technologies and supports Austrian researchers and companies in their development and implementation of future-ready transportation technologies.

Toronto, Canada

The city recently launched the Smart Commute program, which works with businesses to reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality and take action on climate change by encouraging the use of sustainable transportation options. On the program’s website, you can find partner businesses and learn about sustainable commuting plans, or you can join a free online service that gives you access to others who have signed up to carpool. Through its partnership with businesses, the program also offers discounted transit passes, emergency rides home, shuttles, vanpools and active commuting alternatives. As of 2006, the city has a cycling mode share of 1.7 percent and they recently launched a bike-share system.

The city has also been incorporating transit customer communication systems to eliminate the element of surprise in transit arrival. The Subway Information Systems provide information on bus and streetcar routes, full-screen over-rides in the event of a major subway disruption, planned route diversions, last train departures and safety information.   The city is also using text messaging to alert customers on the arrival of streetcars.

Finally, Toronto is also using open data, allowing developers to take advantage of the transparency and build tools that will bring innovation to the city.

A celebration of the city's municipal infrastructure, the Panorama of the City of New York gives the viewer a new perspective on the city. Photo by terraplanner.

During last week’s Transforming Transportation conference, Jaime Lerner expressed that one of the greatest compliments he has ever received was from his driver who told him that Curitiba looked exactly like the architectural model Lerner was carrying with him at the time.

Before geographical information systems (GIS) and three-dimensional modeling programs like Sketch-Up became a wide-spread method of visualizing human settlements and mapping out urban behavior, urban planners used actual models of cities to imagine the past, present and future look of their environments. Modeling is still a large element of architecture but it has lost its practicality in urban planning. In the time it takes to build a model of a city, you can run multiple geospatial analyses using GIS, export your data into Google Earth and generate renderings of your city using satellite imagery.

But this does not mean that real-life models have lost their novelty. In fact, New York City’s Panorama at the Queens Museum of Art is still one of the most jaw-dropping, beautiful and intricate pieces of exhibitions you will ever see. Initially built for the 1964 World’s Fair under Robert Moses’s leadership, the Panorama is a celebration of the city’s municipal infrastructure. The model takes up 9,335 square feet and was built by a team of 100 people. Every single building constructed before 1992 in all five boroughs of New York City are included in the architectural model—a total of 895,000 individual structures. Through the museum you can even “purchase” one of the model buildings for a price as low as $50.

Though New York City’s Panorama is impressive, it doesn’t even compare to Hamburg, Germany’s Miniatur Wunderland. As of summer 2010, the Wunderland stood at an amazing 14,000 square feet. After its final construction phase in 2020, experts predict that it will cover 25,000 square feet, will cost $26.4 million and will take 300 people to construct.

Wired magazine published a story in 2009 highlighting some other models from San Francisco, New York, Shanghai, Sydney and Chicago.

If you want to create some models yourself, you can always visit the National Building Museum and their exhibit on LEGO Architecture. The exhibit will run until September 2012.

Do these models speak to you? Do you think they still serve a purpose in urban planning or are they strictly aesthetic attractions?

With population and urbanization rates growing, and motorization not showing any signs of slowing down, we need a new option for personal mobility. The current size and rigidness of cars leave little room for future urban growth and threaten the health of cities. But whatever the solution, it must be integrated with a city’s public transportation system, so that it can provide a connected network of mobility, and serve as an alternative to cars.

During last week’s Transforming Transportation conference, Jaime Lerner, the father of the bus rapid transit system, introduced some of his ideas, one of which included a personal mobility device to connect the divide between public and personal transportation. The “Dockdock” will serve as a car-share system, only with smaller vehicles. ”It will run at less than 25kmh with a range of 50km,” Jaime Lerner explains to the Guardian. “But you won’t own it.”

Similar to Jaime Lerner’s “Dockdock,” the MIT Media Lab designed a foldable private vehicle specifically for cities. “Hiriko” is 6.5 feet long, 1100 pound vehicle that runs on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. When fully-charged the vehicle can go up to 120km. Hiriko folds when it is in park mode and occupies a smaller footprint. Each one of the vehicle’s wheels has a drive motor, suspension and steering, which gives the vehicle a greater sense of movement and freedom–something that will come in especially handy in a tight and congested city.

These kinds of personal vehicles can cover the gap between bike-share and full-on car-share, like Zipcar. They would be perfect for shorter distance tasks or when you have a small amount of baggage to carry, like when you go grocery shopping.

What do you think of inventions like the “Dockdock” and “Hiriko”? Are they a good alternative to driving in the city? Would you ever use them? How and when?

Last year, the National Association of City Transportation Officials released a technical guide on how to implement bike lanes in urban areas. We now see that Chicago is applying these guidelines to create safe biking paths across the city. We previously wrote about Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s commitment to providing safe and protected spaces for bicyclists, so it’s no surprise to see the city taking leaps towards this goal.

In order to communicate the city’s efforts, NACTO released a video highlighting Chicago’s bike lanes and the exchange of knowledge among experts in the transportation world.

Missoula, Mont. is another city applying the principles of the NACTO guide to its streets. The city’s Bike-Walk Alliance even invited Joe Gilpin, a national expert who helped develop the guide, to discuss the state-of-the-art practices for cities in implementing safe and protected biking spaces.

Here is an online version of the NACTO guide. Do you have any of these solutions in your city?

Like many Japanese commercials, I have no idea what's going on. The title is even mystical: "about 1988 『峠のやまちゃん』".But hey. It's 1988. It's Japan. It's cool old men with pipes on bikes. Something those tweed ride people might like, too. Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

Mobile real-time transit information leads to decreases in bus stop wait time by almost 20 percent. Photo by Oran Viriyincy.

Welcome to “Research Recap,” our series highlighting recent reports, studies and other findings in sustainable transportation policy and practice, in case you missed it.

Informed Transit Time Savings

A new study on the impact of mobile real-time transit information on bus rider wait times found that mobile information leads to decreases in both the perceived and actual time spent waiting at bus stops. The study was released last week at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) annual meeting in Washington, D.C. It investigated Seattle-area bus rider behavior by coupling at-station observations with rider questionnaires. The study found that using real-time transit information decreases wait time by almost 20 percent, and decreases the amount of time riders perceive to be waiting by roughly 30 percent. Seattle’s real-time bus information system is called OneBusAway, and provides arrival information via the web, telephone, text-messaging, and smart-phone applications.

Assessing Bicycling Benefits

The economic and health benefits of bicycling in the state of Iowa were explored in a recent study by the University of Northern Iowa Sustainable Tourism and Environment Program (STEP) for the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. The study is based on data obtained using three questionnaires that were distributed to cyclists, bicycle-specific retail businesses and cycling organizations in Iowa during the fall of 2011. Also used was data from the U.S. Census, the Iowa DOT, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Iowa Department of Public Health. The study found that bicycle commuters save Iowa $13,266,020 annually in health care costs, and generate, both directly and indirectly, $51,965,317 in consumer spending. As for recreational cycling, roughly $73,942,511 is saved in health care costs, and $364,864,202 is generated in spending. Iowa was ranked the sixth most bicycle-friendly state in the United States by the League of American Bicyclists in 2011.

Maximizing Bikeshare Systems

Bikeshare ridership increases with the presence of bike lanes, a new study analyzing the determinants of bikeshare usage finds. The study analyzed the Capital Bikeshare system in Washington, D.C., using GIS analysis to link each bikeshare station with its bike lane supply. A statistically significant relationship was displayed between the number of bikeshare trips and bike lane presence, with an additional 0.85 bikeshare riders per day for every kilometer of bike lane within a half-mile area around a Capital Bikeshare station. Controlled variables in the study included population, retail destinations in the bike stations vicinity, and the percentage of households without a car.

Off to Halifax in the morning. The purpose of the visit is to kick off The Kickstand Sessions - Bicycle Policy Training Sessions. Copenhagenize Consulting has teamed up with Mobycon from the Netherlands to host comprehensive bicycle policy training sessions for professional planners, traffic engineers, architects, marketing people and NGOs. Both Mobycon and Copenhagenize Consulting see more value in combining Dutch AND Danish best practice and policy in order to provide inspiration for local solutions in cities. There seems to be a bit of "bicycle nationalism" gaining purchase and when the goal is inspiring cities around the world to starting placing the bicycle higher up on the traffic pyramid, all the good experience should be presented all at once. The "bicycle embassies", it would seem, are interested in providing a platform for local companies to present their products to a wider market. Fair enough, it's a market economy. Goods and services must be sold. We just think cities should be given the chance to see the wealth of ideas at their disposal, regardless of national origin, in order to kickstart an urban planning and traffic engineering revolution.We're looking forward to launching the Kickstand Sessions in Halifax. Our partners in the city have informed us that a number of city councillors will be attending and the Premier of Nova Scotia, Darrell Dexter, will also be present on the last day to hear what kind of solutions the training session participants have come up with for Halifax and other towns in the province. It's going to be great.On Tuesday, I'll be also speaking at Dalhousie University with my Four Goals for Promoting Urban Cycling talk - as well as a bit of Bicycle Culture by Design. Thanks so much to the Halifax Cycling Coalition for producing the above poster.Atlantic Canada, here we come.Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

Sometimes you just have to stop and feed the swans and ducks on your way home. With a half a bread roll in the fading light of a Nordic winter day.Copenhagenize the planet. And have a lovely day.

Does France's Autolib electric vehicle sharing system offer us a glimpse of the future? Photo by Francisco Gonzalez.

What will tomorrow’s public transport look like? Are we still going to take buses or trams, similar to what we do today, or will there be more innovative and transformative transit modes that offer users higher flexibility and more comfort? How will these systems address the issue of sustainability? Michel Parent from Inria France shared some answers from Europe at the “Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technologies Committee” event during the 91st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C. this week.

Europe has been a long-time leader in providing high-quality public transport, and Michel’s presentation shows that the region is also a pioneer in sustainable transport. Two innovative public transit programs are particularly interesting:

• Electric vehicle (EV) sharing programs in France
• ULTra at London Heathrow Airport

GOING ELECTRIC

France is leading the game in EV car sharing. Several other cities have recently launched related programs. In the city of Nice, Autobleu currently has 60 EVs of three types, and La Rochelle’s Yélomobile has 50 EVs of two types and 8 EV car stations. The most ambitious and recognizable EV car sharing program is Autolib in Paris. In October last year, Autolib started with 300 smart EV cars, and it now plans to gradually increase its fleet size to 4,000 vehicles by adding 50 new vehicles each week. With institutional support, Paris will provide 2,000 4-space parking stations to accommodate these new vehicles.

All of these EV-sharing programs allow users to access real-time vehicle location information and make reservations through smart phones. It is hard to tell for now whether these programs will be a success, but this statistic might give us a hint: In the first month of its launch, there were 5,000 subscribers to the service.

PERSONAL PODS

The ULTra personal rapid transit (PRT) system at London Heathrow Airport offers another inspiring model. ULTra is the first commercial PRT system in the world. Also launched in October 2011, its driverless pods carry up to four passengers, running along a 3.8-kilometer guideway between airport terminals. Since it is battery-powered, the entire system is low-energy and has zero emissions. As shown in the custom survey in Michel’s presentation, the ULTra system outperforms buses in almost all service categories.

However, each system has some problems that need to be addressed. According to ULTra’s experiences, PRT projects have proved to be time-consuming and money intense. ULTra took six years to plan and it cost £30 million (US$47 million.) As for EV car sharing programs, battery management is a unique challenge: it takes eight hours to fully charge a car. In Autolib’s case, a shared car cannot be unlocked until its battery is charged at more than 50 percent, which limits the number of useable shared vehicles.

This year marks EMBARQ's 10-year anniversary. Photo by Dave K. Cooper.

EMBARQ (the producer of this blog) and its partners are pleased to host the annual Transforming Transportation event on January 26-27 at The World Bank in Washington, D.C. This year’s conference will focus on big ideas to scale up sustainable transport best practices in cities worldwide. To learn more, see the agenda for Day 1 and Day 2. Highlights include a keynote address by Jaime Lerner, former Mayor of Curitiba, on the “Future of the City: Challenges of Scaling Up Good Practices in Urban Transport,” and a keynote address by Chris West, director of Shell Foundation, on “Innovations in Scaling: What Lessons are Available for the Transport Sector?”

EMBARQ Director Holger Dalkmann introduces a vision for the future of sustainable transport and improving quality of life in cities, as EMBARQ celebrates its 10-year anniversary. The following is a letter from EMBARQ’s 10-year report, “20 Years of EMBARQ: Celebrating the Past 10, Setting a Vision for the Next 10.“

We are in the midst of global trends that point to more congestion, air pollution, and traffic injuries and deaths in our cities, not to mention the transport sector’s increasing contribution to climate change. These problems present an opportunity to create a fundamental paradigm shift in the way we scale up sustainable transport solutions worldwide.

Over the past 10 years, EMBARQ, as part of the World Resources Institute, has been instrumental in creating solutions on the ground, thanks to the visionary leadership of our founder, the late Dr. Lee Schipper. It is critical that we continue launching these iconic projects, but there is still more work to be done at the policy and capacity-building level to de-couple economic growth from the negative impacts of transportation.

At the local level, we partner with mayors, city planners and other municipal officials to provide technical assistance and institutional support for transport projects. We also help ensure that financing and laws require safe, efficient, sustainable transport and urban development projects,  like helping local authorities in Indore set up the institutional structure necessary to provide efficient and organized public bus services. We also create enabling environments for sustainable transport projects in other regions, whether organizing cycling workshops in Turkey or creating an association for Latin American transit agencies.

At the national level, we are strengthening our engagement with ministries of finance, environment, infrastructure, health and transportation, plus elected officials and national financing bodies, to fulfill national safety and climate plan requirements and secure funding for new projects. Some of our past successes include influencing India’s first national sustainable transport policy. Similarly, EMBARQ Mexico provided important project evaluation guidelines and assistance for Mexico’s first ever federal fund for public transit projects.

At the international level, we mainstream sustainable transport through international agreements and best practice recommendations. We also facilitate technology transfer and financing by working closely with our partners, including multilateral development banks, bilateral agencies, regional issue-focused associations, and global treaties like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. One of our great achievements this past year was conveying the key message that sustainable transport saves lives in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety.

We dedicate our work to bringing a green economy to life, together with the other programs of WRI. Our projects ensure that cities in rapidly developing countries lift millions of people out of poverty and become powerful engines for social and environmental progress. We see a future where cities in developing countries learn from the mistakes of the developed world, and leapfrog past the predominant model of auto-oriented growth.

But we can’t do it alone. To make our vision a reality, our global network of centers builds buyin and ownership at the local level. Of course, our work involves more than just partnering with government institutions. We also build relationships with the private sector to develop new business solutions related to affordable housing and accessible urban transport infrastructure.

We are grateful to our donors for their outstanding contribution to make our vision a reality.

The challenge now is to scale up EMBARQ’s impact in a major and sustainable way, for a world in urgent need of global cooperation on local solutions. We invite you to join us in this movement, so that in 10 years, we can look back and say that our upscaling strategy and paradigm shift worked.

Medellin transformed violence and despair into hope and opportunity, using sustainable transport as one of the key levers to drive change, explained Holger Dalkmann. Photo courtesy of Carlos Felipe Pardo.

A version of this post was originally posted on EMBARQ.org on January 24, 2012. 

For more info: www.st-award.org.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 24, 2012) – San Francisco, USA, and Medellin, Colombia, were selected as the 8th annual Sustainable Transport Award winners today during the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board. The slate of nominees included Buenos Aires, Argentina; Cape Town, South Africa; Medellin, Colombia; and San Francisco, USA. The winners were selected based on four characteristics: increasing mobility for residents, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution from transportation, improving safety, and increasing access for cyclists and pedestrians. Additionally, each city is a leader in using social media and online technologies to reach out to local residents, providing more informative and convenient services.

“San Francisco and Medellin are setting the example by working on various fronts – giving people opportunities through high quality transport options,” said Walter Hook, chief executive officer of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. “We are excited that this is the first year a parking program, San Francisco’s SFpark, is being recognized. Parking is the next wave of powerful tools to control congestion, fight climate change, and redefine urban form.”

San Francisco, USA, was selected for using parking reform to great effect. The newSFpark variable-rate, demand-response parking management system provides real-time parking availability information online, via text and smartphone apps. The city’s ‘Pavement to Parks’ program reclaims parking spaces for public space and has created 20 new and dynamic parklets with more on the way. The city also started to upgrade and expand its bike network, setting an ambitious target of 20 percent of all trips made by bicycle by 2020.

“San Francisco is really a model for how city governments can collaborate with different sectors to create immediate improvements to the environment, economic competiveness and overall well-being of a city,” said Heather Allen from the Transport Research Laboratory.

San Francisco's "Pavement to Parks" program transforms parking spots into public spaces. Photo by jeremyashaw.

Medellin, Colombia, and its metropolitan area is being recognized for its public space improvements, and providing urban transport options to its citizens, such as its existing cable car and metro systems, and the recently inaugurated BRT project, Metroplús. The city created 1.6 million square meters of new park space through 25 parks and 11 urban promenades. Medellin also made progress with a new public bicycle program, EnCicla, that integrates universities and mass transit with popular city destinations; improved pedestrian crossings; and a ridesharing program, Comparte tu carro; as well as vehicle exhaust emissions controls and sulfur content improvements.

“Medellin pioneered the use of cable cars as a transit alternative in low-income informal settlements in hilly areas, moving 3,000 passengers per hour per direction; a real breakthrough now being replicated in Caracas and Rio de Janeiro,” said EMBARQ Director Holger Dalkmann. “The city transformed violence and despair into hope and opportunity, using sustainable transport as one of the key levers to drive change.”

Buenos Aires, Argentina, is receiving an honorable mention for opening the country’s first BRT system, Metrobús, and its comprehensive investment in cycling. In addition to opening the first bike share program in Argentina, the city has added more than 70 kilometers of bike lanes. Buenos Aires, recognizing that cycling infrastructure alone is not enough, has pursued a creative campaign around bicycle promotion. Together, this has resulted in a 120 percent increase in cycling in one year.

Sergio Sánchez, from the Clean Air Institute, notes that Buenos Aires’ “initiatives have had great impact in a short timespan and will continue to generate healthy air and other benefits for its people in years to come.”

Cape Town, South Africa, recently opened the first BRT system in Africa to integrate cycling. The MyCiTi integrated rapid transit network opened in May 2011 seeking to connect townships, a legacy of apartheid, to the downtown through a high quality service that is a model for its universal access and pedestrian access. The longest continuous bike way in Africa runs parallel to the BRT corridor. The city is expanding its bike lane network, with over 300 million rand (37.7 million USD) worth of projects being built.

“Cape Town has shown us how high-quality urban transport can be implemented in Africa,” said Manfred Breithaupt, title, German Technical Cooperation (GIZ). “It has some of the best practices in the region and will continue to.”

Sophie Punte, executive director of Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) applauded all four nominees, adding “Greening the city and encouraging walking and public transport also help to improve air quality. Air pollution is a major health issue in cities in developing countries, killing 1.1 million people prematurely worldwide each year.”

The Nominees were chosen by a Committee that includes the most respected experts and organizations working internationally on sustainable transportation:

• Clean Air Institute
• Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
• EMBARQ, the World Resources Institute’s Center for Sustainable Transport
• Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP)
• Transportation Research Board Committee on Transportation in Developing Countries
• Transport Research Laboratory (TRL)
• United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD)

The Sustainable Transport Award is presented each year in Washington during the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board, one of six major divisions of the U.S. National Research Council.

Past winners of the Sustainable Transport Award include: Guangzhou, China (2011); Ahmedabad, India (2010); New York City, USA (2009); London, UK (2008); Paris, France (2008); Guayaquil, Ecuador (2007); Seoul, South Korea (2006), and Bogotá, Colombia (2005).

For more information, photos, and videos about the award and a list of past winners, visitwww.st-award.org.

EnCicla, Medellin's public bikes program connects universities to popular destinations through sustainable mass transit. Photo courtesy of Carlos Felipe Pardo.

Pedestrian and bicycle projects receive less than 2 percent of federal transportation dollars in the U.S. Photo by Eric Allix Rogers.

While obesity levels increased by 156 percent between 1960 and 2009, bicycling and walking levels fell by 66 percent. These are statistics from a new report by the Alliance for Biking and Walking. The report, “Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2012 Benchmarking Report,” ranks all 50 states and the 51 largest U.S. cities on bicycling and walking levels, safety, funding and other factors.

The Benchmarking Report confirms that in almost every city and state, pedestrians and bicyclists are disproportionately at risk of being killed on the road. The report also reveals that pedestrians and bicyclists receive less than their fair share of transportation dollars. While the report concludes that bicycling and walking create 11-14 jobs for every $1 million spent, as opposed to 7 jobs created by every $1 million spent on highway projects, pedestrian and bicycle projects receive less than 2 percent of federal transportation dollars. Furthermore, according to cost-benefit analysis conducted by the study, for every $1 invested in bicycling and walking, $11.80 are gained in benefits.

The report adds to the evidence of health benefits of active transportation, showing that states with the highest rates of bicycling and walking are also among those with the lowest rates of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.

“The data points to one conclusion: Investing in biking and walking projects creates jobs, leads to more people biking and walking, and improves safety and public health,” says Jeffrey Miller, president and CEO of the Alliance for Biking and Walking.

The report also received praise from John Pucher, an urban planning professor at Rutgers University. “The wide range of environmental, social, and economic benefits of walking and bicycling, so clearly documented in this report, justify greatly increased investment in facilities and programs to encourage more walking and cycling, and to improve the safety of these most sustainable of all transportation modes,” Pucher explained.

Here are some other interesting findings from the report:

• In 2009, 40% of trips in the United States were shorter than 2 miles, yet 87% of these trips are by car. Twenty-seven percent of trips were shorter than 1 mile. Still, Americans use their cars for 62% of these trips.

• Seniors are the most vulnerable bicyclists and pedestrians. Adults over 65 make up 10% of walking trips, yet comprise 19% of pedestrian fatalities. This age group accounts for 6% of bicycling trips, yet 10% of bicyclist fatalities.

• On average, the largest 51 U.S. cities show a 29% increase in bicycle facilities since the 2010 report. Cities report that 20,908 miles of bicycle facilities and 7,079 miles of pedestrian facilities are planned for the coming years (much of this contingent upon funding).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and support from AARP and Planet Bike funded the report.

Download “Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2012 Benchmarking Report.”