Monthly Archives: September 2013

by | September 13, 2013 · 9:00 am

My View: Can Skateboards Fill The Transportation Gap?

We’re kicking off a regular series called My View. It’s an opportunity for people to share their view on aspects of transportation. Today, we take a look at skateboards.

By Cory Poole

Cory on his board in Portland.

Cory on his board in Portland.

The first step to thinking about skateboards as active transportation is forgetting everything you know about skateboarding. Once you have removed the flip tricks, grinds and big airs from your mind, you can start to see skateboarding as a really practical way to get around.

The last ten years has seen explosive growth of the longboarding industry fueled largely by better, more affordable equipment, and teen riders. Many former college students have continued longboarding into their adult life. Increasing numbers of adult riders have also picked up longboarding as a less injury prone alternative to traditional skateboarding.

A modern longboard (or a skateboard with a long wheelbase) can easily cruise around 10 MPH, with a small amount of training they can steer and stop as well as many bicycles. Skateboarding is a healthy physical activity. Skateboards are inexpensive to purchase and maintenance is minimal. Transition on and off of public transportation is a breeze and skateboards can easily stored at home, work or school. Skateboards are an ideal form of transportation for those trips that are to far to walk but to close to justify getting on the bike or in the car.

So what’s holding skateboard transportation back? Probably the largest single contributor to skateboarding’s image problem is the social stigma around riding. Continue reading →

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by | September 11, 2013 · 9:00 am

Can A College Grow If Students Need A Car To Get There?

By Micheline Maynard

Fire up, Chips!

Last winter, I was a Donald Reynolds Visiting Professor of Business Journalism at Central Michigan University. I loved working with my students (check out their work on our Reinventing Michigan blog), and I enjoyed life in Mount Pleasant.

What I didn’t really enjoy was my weekly commute, about 125 miles each way from Ann Arbor. If there had been Amtrak, I would have gladly taken it.

There also were limited local transportation options, meaning I had to drive everywhere once I got to school. If CMU had a bike sharing system, it would have been fun to try it out in order to get around. (I didn’t buy my bike until after classes ended.)

But short of chartering a plane, the only way to reach Mount Pleasant was to drive. It turns out that’s becoming a concern for CMU in trying to recruit students, too, according to CMLife, the student paper.

Writer Ryan Fitzmaurice says the lack of public transportation to the mid-Michigan school is hampering efforts to attract more kids  from out of state. Universities in Michigan charge roughly double the tuition to out-state students, and they’ve become a lucrative source of revenue as schools battle budget cuts.

“The biggest comment I get from parents from out-of-state students is this: We think Central Michigan is a great school and a great institution, but how am I going to get my child there without buying them a car?” Senior Associate Director of Admissions Kevin Williams told the paper. Continue reading →

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by | September 8, 2013 · 9:00 am

New York, New York, More Than Ever, A Big Transit Town

By Micheline Maynard

Fewer vehicles, more transit in New York City.

Depending on your view of New York City, it’s a walker’s paradise, a traffic nightmare, or a place where it pays to ride the subway.

Now, the city has come out with its annual Sustainable Streets Index report, and the results show The Big Apple is mirroring the rest of the country in the way it gets around.

Since 2003, citywide transit ridership has grown 9.5 percent, while citywide traffic has declined 3.9 percent. Subway and bus ridership is growing, while driving remains essentially flat.

The changes are most noticeable in the Manhattan central business district, which is the area below 60th Street (the southern border of Central Park). Over the past 10 years, transit use here is up 11.3 percent, while car traffic has declined 6.5 percent.

Meanwhile, there was a 4 percent increase in cycling during 2012, before Citi Bikes arrived on the scene. There has been a 58 percent increase in year-around cycling since 2008, and an 86 percent increase in people cycling during the winter. (As a side note: New York City gets snowstorms, but not the hammering that cities like Chicago and Boston are accustomed to getting.)

Continue reading →

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by | September 7, 2013 · 9:00 am

The Challenge Of Luring Young Car Buyers Spreads To Europe

By Micheline Maynard

We’ve all heard a lot about the difficulties that American auto companies are having in attracting buyers under age 35. It seems the problem is just as acute in Europe.

The electric BMW i3.

According to the New York Times, carmakers there are hoping that technological innovations will be the key to getting younger buyers into automobiles. But it’s an even tougher sell, given Europe’s wide transit network, the popularity of bicycling, the availability of bike sharing and governments’ green policies.

Auto sales in Europe are down 20 percent this year, and have fallen even more in the most troubled economies. Without young buyers, economists are concerned that European carmakers may never achieve their sales peaks again.

“There are products that are hipper for young people than cars,” Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, a professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen in northern Germany and an industry analyst, told the Times. “The car companies are still using the old marketing pitch — more horsepower. That doesn’t speak to young people any more.” Continue reading →

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by | September 6, 2013 · 9:00 am

How Can You Get Around Without A Credit Card?

Divvy Bikes in Chicago.

Divvy Bikes in Chicago.

By Micheline Maynard

Unless they were lucky enough to get a gift certificate, pretty much everybody who has joined Citi Bike, ZipCar or Uber has something in common: a credit card.

But what if you want to get around, and you don’t have a credit card?

That’s a topic of active discussion in Chicago, where one in nine residents don’t have bank accounts, according to research reported this week by Streetsblog Chicago.

According to researcher Michael Carney at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, that translates to at least 135,000 people and perhaps more than twice as many people. In some parts of Chicago, one-third of area residents do not have bank accounts, but get by relying on cash or debit-style cards that aren’t linked to bank accounts.

One of the biggest reasons bike share and other transportation programs ask for credit cards is to offset the risk of damage to bikes or vehicles, or even the theft of the equipment. A rider, driver or consumer without a credit card can’t be billed if the information isn’t available.

The Chicago Department of Transportation, which runs Divvy Bikes, the city’s bike sharing system, is determined to get “unbanked” Chicagoans on bikes. It’s been looking at ways that it can make Divvy accessible to more people. Continue reading →

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by | September 5, 2013 · 9:00 am

Watch San Francisco’s New Bridge Come To Life

By Micheline Maynard

When I was in California last fall, I headed for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to continue my journey to Palo Alto. Traffic never moves very quickly, so I got lots of time to study the construction project next to me.

Now, that construction project has become a reality. The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge opened this week. It’s supposed to be earthquake proof, and it cost a bundle: $6.4 billion over nearly 12 years.

The wonderful video, from EarthCam, shows the bridge’s progress during the past five years. Thanks to our friends at Jalopnik for this cool discovery.

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by | September 4, 2013 · 9:00 am

Bike Share Review: Getting Around The Mile High City

By Micheline Maynard

Denver is known for its Nuggets, the Broncos and its mountains. But many of us don’t automatically think of it as a bike sharing city.

Denver B-Cycle riders.

However, the system known as Denver B-Cycle has a regular rider in Tim Baldwin, an associate with the transportation consulting firm of Steer Davies Gleave.

Here is Tim’s B-Cycle review.

“Our firm recently moved to a new office in the Lower Downtown area of Denver.  While it is a beautiful office in a wonderful location, it is about four blocks away from Denver’s 16th Street Mall and its free shuttle bus, which we use to get to and from meetings around downtown (primarily at RTD-Denver and the City and County of Denver).

Luckily, we have a B-Cycle bike sharing station right outside our office, so we use it at every opportunity to go to and from our meetings. Continue reading →

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by | September 3, 2013 · 9:00 am

Ask The Rabbi: Can I Use Bike Share During The High Holy Days?

By Micheline Maynard

Our Jewish friends are getting ready to celebrate the High Holy Days, which kick off Wednesday with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and continue next week with Yom Kippur.

Bay Area Bike Share bikes at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

Bay Area Bike Share bikes at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

This year’s festivities mark the start of 5774 on the Jewish calendar. Last year, when 5773 kicked off, neither New York, Chicago or San Francisco had bike share systems. This year, Citi Bike, Divvy Bikes and most recently, Bay Area Bike Share have become new transportation choices.

But some Jews, especially those who follow the Orthodox tradition, observe restrictions on travel during the High Holy Days. We wondered if that includes bike sharing.

For an answer, we contacted Rabbi Allen Schwartz, at Congregation Ohab Zedek in New York. He was kind enough to provide his guidance about the Orthodox approach to technology during holidays (which include every Sabbath (sundown Friday to nightfall Saturday), Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, Pesach and Shavuot).

Said Rabbi Schwartz,

“On all these days, observant Jews refrain from practically all forms of technology. These days are set aside for contemplation of what we are as human beings and is becoming more and more challenging in a vastly changing world. Continue reading →

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by | September 2, 2013 · 9:00 am

Bike Share Review: A Lunchtime Ride In Chicago

Listen to Roger Talk About Divvy Bikes

By Micheline Maynard

Last month, I visited Chicago to check out Divvy Bikes and see what cyclists think of the new bike sharing program. As I was driving through West Town at lunch time, I saw Roger Guerrero cycling by, and asked him if he’d talk to me about his Divvy experience. Click the link above to hear our interview.

Here’s Roger on his ride.

Roger On A Divvy

Would you like to send us your Bike Share Review? Send an email to curbingcars@gmail.com.

(*Slight correction in the audio: Bay Area Bike Share stretches from San Francisco to San Jose, but Oakland isn’t part of the system just yet.)

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