The Case For Urban Cycling

At the initial stages of redesign from car centric city to a people centric city-some residents will undoubtedly say, “we’re not “X”(name of city)”. Copenhagen is a perfect example. Let’s use the models of cities that are doing it right and strive to imitate them.

Copenhagenize your city: the case for urban cycling in 12 graphs

Mon 11 Jun 2018

Danish-Canadian urban designer Mikael Colville-Andersen busts some common myths and shows how the bicycle has the potential to transform cities around the world

June 12, 2018June 9, 2018

Bike Lane Network Success Story

Laying down a network of bike lanes all at once isn’t the way most cities do it, but it was a success in Calgary and here are some tips on how it can work elsewhere. Asbury Park?

The unlikely success of Calgary’s bike-lane network has these lessons for other cities

BY TOM BABIN ON DECEMBER 20, 2016

Boldness Paid Off

“It might have been easier politically to build the network one lane at a time, as most cities do, but the uptake on a lane with few connections would have been slow. In this case, dropping down a well-thought out network gave cyclists and would-be cyclists a broader peek at what a cycle-track network can do, and, more importantly, gave them somewhere to go.”

June 12, 2018June 11, 2018

Smart Intersections

Who would have thought…Detroit state of the art for moving cars, bicycles, and people safely through intersections. Asbury Park could do this.

BY DANIEL C. VOCK | JUNE 11, 2018

These Smarter Stoplights Could Be Lifesavers

New traffic signals in Detroit are designed to help pedestrians, cyclists and ambulances get through intersections, while helping traffic planners test safety improvements quickly.

Miovision, a vendor working in partnership with Detroit, has touted the city’s newest signal exchange as “the world’s smartest intersection.” (Miovision)

But in solving that very basic problem, the city has taken significant steps toward creating some of the smartest intersections in the country. It is experimenting with five “smart intersections” along a nearly two-mile stretch of Larned Street near the riverfront, including some downtown sites.”

June 11, 2018June 9, 2018

Making A Plan For Bicyclists

We use examples of what cities are doing all over the world to let our readers know how Asbury Park is yes, unique, but also facing the exact same challenges.

Asbury Park’s Main Street NJ Rt 71 has long been a thoroughfare for cars to get someplace else. Our initiative in reconfiguration is to make Main Street a destination that is accessible to people on bicycles and on foot. With better signaling, bike lanes and crosswalks, plus a vigorous bike share and other options for transportation like jitneys and electric car share, we should be able to make streets safer, eliminate parking issues and do this!

Ghent – Changing the Whole Circulation Plan Overnight: a Strong Political Decision

April 12, 2018

“You can’t become a cycling city, if you don’t say something about cars. In order to increase the number of cyclists and develop a bicycle culture, it’s necessary to take some anti-car measures. If we get rid of the through traffic, you get fewer cars, more space for pedestrians and cyclists, and infrastructure gets an extra value” asserts Filip Watteeuw.

“A noticeable impact of this measure comes from some inhabitants who were quite reticent to this plan, but have already changed their routines by adopting new mobility habits. Generally speaking, 25% of Ghent inhabitants made a decision to change their mobility habits by purchasing an (e-)bike, subscribing to the local public transports or starting car-sharing.”

http://www.copenhagenize.com/2018/04/ghent-changing-whole-circulation-plan.html?m=1

June 9, 2018June 8, 2018

Traffic Signals For Bicyclists

Learn about how cities can make riding a bicycle safer at intersections with lighting signals called Leading Bicycle Intervals, or “LBIs”, similar to the more familiar Leading Pedestrian Intervals, “LPIs”. 2 articles in one!

Addressing Bicycle-Vehicle Conflicts with Alternate Signal Control Strategies

https://nitc.trec.pdx.edu/research/project/897

And read about leading bicycle intervals from NAACTO here:

Bicycle Signal Head Benefits

Separates bicycle movements from conflicting motor vehicle, streetcar, light rail, or pedestrian movements.
Provides priority to bicycle movements at intersections (e.g., a leading bicycle interval).
Accommodates of bicycle-only movements within signalized intersections (e.g., providing a phase for a contra-flow bike lane that otherwise would not have a phase). Through bicycle travel may also occur simultaneously with parallel auto movement if conflicting automobile turns are restricted.

June 8, 2018June 7, 2018

Cargo Bikes- The Solution To Deliveries in Cities

This could be a great idea for Asbury Park. Cargo bikes are appearing to be the “old is new again” great way to get goods and services around in cities as cars have threatened to take over our streets, and city leaders strive to make streets safer for bicyclists and pedestrians. Bike manufacturers are trying to keep up with the demand for cargo bikes, and building bikes are lighter and easier to pedal than old versions. A seemingly not too difficult challenge is for cities to establish areas for delivery trucks to reload goods to the cargo bikes.

Pedal power: the rise and rise of cargo bikes in Germany

2 May 2018

Whether they’re hauling parcels or children, cargo bikes are becoming a familiar sight in German cities as the nippy, clean alternative to cars and delivery vans – and shaking up urban transport in the process.

June 7, 2018June 7, 2018

Tactical Urbanism=A Bit Naughty For A Purpose

Meet Happy Streets: Rotterdam’s cheeky activists for social mobility in the city

March 27, 2018

A cheerful squad of urban agitators are using Rotterdam to conduct quirky experiments in social mobility.

A fun approach

Happy Streets’ playful approach to tackling the problem is refreshing. Recent projects have included creating a temporary bike lane with painted yellow dots to demonstrate that there is room for cyclists, converting parking slots to astro-turfed picnic areas furnished with benches and deck chairs, and creating a pavement version of the game Twister. Such projects have encouraged residents and policy makers to take another look at the purposing of city spaces, and consider alternative, less car-centric models. Tactical urbanism, it seems, is spreading. In one part of town – quite independent of Happy Streets – local residents recently took matters into their own hands and painted their own pedestrian crossing to show that they needed one. ‘I thought that it was really nice that people are sometimes a bit disobedient, not because they want to make a mess, but because they just want to make the city a better place,’ says Wemmenhove. ‘We need to trust people a bit more that they also know what they’re doing.’

#Slow The Cars

Drivers are conditioned to behave as though the roads belong to them. They’re right. Roads and streets have been designed for cars, pushing aside other users and causing injury and death. Cities now realize that speed kills, and they’re rethinking design and infrastructure, and especially slowing the cars. #slowthecars

Taming Speed for Safety: Portland Case Study

Fortunately, many leaders are stepping up to modernize and improve they way they manage speed, including upstream efforts to address the underlying systems, policies, and the built environment that influences speed.

June 5, 2018June 4, 2018

HOW BIKE LANES BENEFIT BUSINESSES

We are gradually seeing improvements on the condition of streets around Asbury Park, better crosswalks and traffic signals, and of course the work being done on Rt 71, Main Street. Most business owners are ready to welcome a safer Main Street, but for those who still have reservations…

“In city after city, business owners are seeing more customers come through their doors and more revenue flowing into cash registers when streets are redesigned to be more walk- and bike-friendly.

HOW BIKE LANES BENEFIT BUSINESSES

JUNE 4, 2018 BY RACHEL QUEDNAU

“Picture the busiest, most successful shopping districts in America. Think Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago or Pike Place Market in Seattle. Are these areas filled with parking lots and parking spaces? No. They’re filled with people walking around from store to store.”

Protected bike lanes create an environment where pedestrians feel safer walking and cars still have easy access to shops along the street. (Source: Green Lane Project)

June 4, 2018June 3, 2018

Parking Is Sexy Now

Asbury Park and cities all over the world acknowledge that parking has to come with a higher pricetag, and that walking, bicycling, and alternative and mass transportation must be incentivized and supported.

Parking Is Sexy Now. Thank Donald Shoup.

In an interview, the guru of progressive parking policy reflects on his decades of research and writing, which transformed how cities look at the curb.

LAURA BLISS May 30, 2018

Thanks to Shoup and his many students, we know that cars cruising for on-street parking in American downtowns account for roughly 1,825 vehicle-miles traveled, for each curb space, every year—two-thirds the length of the country. We know that parking covers an astonishing percentage of urban land area (14 percent in housing-crunched Los Angeles county); that parking inflates the cost of housing and goods because developers fold it into property costs; and that when the city foots the bill for “free” parking, it’s a public subsidy to the affluent—non-car owning people are gifted no such real estate.

The High Cost of Free Parking, Shoup’s 2005 book, is often called “revolutionary” for turning an otherwise dry academic topic into a high-stakes urban issue. In the 500-page follow-up, Parking and the City, Shoup compiles and reviews the newest research on parking’s oft-invisible effects. He also shows the way to rein them in. Through real-world case studies and research projects, Shoup makes three central recommendations for cities: eliminate planning codes that require developers to build off-street parking, charge the correct prices for on-street parking throughout the day, and spend parking meter revenue to make visible improvements on metered streets.

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition

Posts

The Case For Urban Cycling

At the initial stages of redesign from car centric city to a people centric city-some residents will undoubtedly say, “we’re not “X”(name of city)”. Copenhagen is a perfect example. Let’s use the models of cities that are doing it right and strive to imitate them.

Copenhagenize your city: the case for urban cycling in 12 graphs

Bike Lane Network Success Story

The unlikely success of Calgary’s bike-lane network has these lessons for other cities

Smart Intersections

These Smarter Stoplights Could Be Lifesavers

New traffic signals in Detroit are designed to help pedestrians, cyclists and ambulances get through intersections, while helping traffic planners test safety improvements quickly.

Making A Plan For Bicyclists

Ghent – Changing the Whole Circulation Plan Overnight: a Strong Political Decision

Traffic Signals For Bicyclists

Addressing Bicycle-Vehicle Conflicts with Alternate Signal Control Strategies

Read more:

Bicycle Signal Head Benefits

Cargo Bikes- The Solution To Deliveries in Cities

Pedal power: the rise and rise of cargo bikes in Germany

Tactical Urbanism=A Bit Naughty For A Purpose

Meet Happy Streets: Rotterdam’s cheeky activists for social mobility in the city

#Slow The Cars

Taming Speed for Safety: Portland Case Study

HOW BIKE LANES BENEFIT BUSINESSES

HOW BIKE LANES BENEFIT BUSINESSES

Parking Is Sexy Now

Asbury Park and cities all over the world acknowledge that parking has to come with a higher pricetag, and that walking, bicycling, and alternative and mass transportation must be incentivized and supported.

Parking Is Sexy Now. Thank Donald Shoup.