Author: APCSC

Posted on

American Cities Are Drowning in Car Storage

Parking is real estate and drivers seem to think they deserve more of it–at incredibly low prices.

American Cities Are Drowning in Car Storage

By Angie Schmitt 

Groundbreaking research presents credible estimates of the total parking supply in several American cities, and it’s not pretty.

“Parking spaces are everywhere, but for some reason the perception persists that there’s “not enough parking.” And so cities require parking in new buildings and lavishly subsidize parking garages, without ever measuring how much parking exists or how much it’s used.”

Satellite images with surface parking highlighted in Philadelphia (left) and Seattle (right), via the Research Institute for Housing America.
Read more…

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/07/12/american-cities-are-drowning-in-car-storage/

Posted on

Can We Create Good Alternatives To Driving?

Two-wheel takeover: bikes outnumber cars for the first time in Copenhagen

“People see that the fastest way to get around town is on a bicycle…”

Denmark’s capital has reached a milestone in its journey to become a cycling city – there are now more bikes than cars on the streets. Can other cities follow?

“The next step… is to create good alternatives to the car. ”

“You can’t just prohibit cars and then deal with it … That’s why we’re expanding the metro and investing in bike infrastructure. Give people options and then slowly take away space from cars and give it to bikes.”

Read more…

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/nov/30/cycling-revolution-bikes-outnumber-cars-first-time-copenhagen-denmark?CMP=share_btn_tw

Posted on

Stop Subsidizing Driving

RATHER THAN DEMONIZING DRIVING—LET’S JUST STOP SUBSIDIZING IT

  BY JOE CORTRIGHT

WE’VE BEEN ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION.

Our research tells us that lots of problems stem from the way we use cars. We price roads wrong, so people overuse them. Cars are a major source of air pollution, including carbon emissions. Car crashes kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, injure many more, and cost us billions in medical costs and property damage. And building our cities to accommodate cars leads to a suburban development pattern that pushes us further apart from one another, creating infrastructure costs that drown our cities in massive maintenance expenses.

Read more…https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/7/11/rather-than-demonizing-drivinglets-just-stop-subsidizing-it

 

Posted on

Helsinki Figured Out How To Compete With Car Ownership

By July 15, 2018

How Helsinki Arrived at the Future of Urban Travel First

A homegrown app called Whim turns the act of getting around a city—by bus, train, bike, taxi or borrowed car—into a monthly subscription.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-15/how-helsinki-arrived-at-the-future-of-urban-travel-first?cmpId=google

Posted on

Shared Responsibility?

Sharing Isn’t Caring: Shifting Gears on Shared Responsibility

Robin Mazumder, Urban Scientist. Community Builder. Keynote Speaker.

 

We need to change the conversation on shared responsibility.

“Cyclists have nothing to “share”. By virtue of their ability to injure and kill, drivers own the power, and, ultimately, the road. Cycling infrastructure is infinitely more effective at ensuring cyclist safety than a “share the road” campaign is.”

Tip 3 in the new safety video states that “…cyclists “should ride as far to the right shoulder on the road as possible”…while the police officer narrating the video is hugging the curb on a sharrowed road in Downtown Kitchener:

This advice is not only wrong, but it adds confusion to how sharrows should be used, and ultimately could put cyclists in harm’s way. The City of Kitchener’s website clearly states: “sharrows in the middle of the traffic lanes indicate that cyclists may take the full lane and reminds drivers to share the road with cyclists.”

Read more…http://robinmazumder.com/2018/06/14/sharing-isnt-caring-shifting-gears-on-shared-responsibility/

Posted on

Jaywalking Was Invented To Make Way For Cars

Streets were once considered public spaces, places for people, but have become dominated by cars, and streets designed for speedy traffic flow.  Now people are marginalized, called “pedestrians” and those walking outside of painted lines are demonized as “jaywalkers”, and blamed if they are injured or killed.

THE WEAPONIZATION OF JAYWALKING

by 

“Before the advent of the automobile, users of city streets were diverse and included children at play and pedestrians at large. By 1930, most streets were primarily motor thoroughfares where children did not belong and where pedestrians were condemned as ‘jaywalkers’.”

Read more…

https://m.connectsavannah.com/savannah/the-weaponization-of-jaywalking/Content?oid=9075499

Posted on

Urban Cycling Saves Everyone Money

Opinion: Why more urban cycling saves everyone money

Chris and Melissa Bruntlett July 03, 2018

“There is this false narrative, this dangerous lie, that people on bikes are somehow getting away with something, that they’re not paying their way,” Toderian explains. “This isn’t just a little wrong, it’s a lot wrong. We know factually that walking and biking are the two ways of getting around that actually save society money for each kilometre travelled. And that’s even before we consider all the many benefits that aren’t just about money.”

Read more…

http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/biking-saves-money

Posted on

What Are Parking Minimums And How They’re A Problem

3 MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH PARKING MINIMUMS

 BY RACHEL QUEDNAU

This is what one block of charming Old Town Pocatello, Idaho would look like if it had to follow modern day parking requirements.

Parking minimums are the strange, out-dated, and totally unscientific law that’s probably languishing in your city’s zoning code. They sound dull (and they are) but they’re incredibly important because they have dramatically shaped our cities in a detrimental manner.

At the end of the day, cities full of parking are not attractive, inviting or enjoyable places to spend time in. Picture an exciting, fun destination you’ve traveled to. Maybe it’s a cute beach town or a bustling metropolis. Was every building there separated by a sea of parking? I’m guessing not.

Read more…

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/7/2/3-major-problems-with-parking-minimums

 

Posted on

Building Cities For People Not Cars

WE SHOULD BE BUILDING CITIES FOR PEOPLE, NOT CARS

  BY DEVON MARISA ZUEGEL

Clearly designated bike lanes

A farm market in a former parking lot

TACTICAL, CONCENTRATED IMPROVEMENTS HAVE AN OUTSIZED IMPACT

It is feasible — both financially and politically — to make cities more walkable. Simple, low-cost improvements to features like painted bike lanes, wayfinding signs, curb cuts, and tree coverage have an disproportionate impact in transforming a car-dependent metropolis into human-scale, walkable neighborhoods. It is rare that cities find a goal that is both worthwhile and attainable, so urban planners should jump on this opportunity.

Read more…

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/7/2/we-should-be-building-cities-for-people-not-cars

Posted on

How A City Gets A Network Of Bike Lanes. The Secret. Part 2

The secret seems so simple…green lanes are the same throughout the entire network. Take a look at these awesome before and after images.

(Part 1: Streetfilms Video: How a City Gets A Network Of Bike Lanes)

A SECRET STRENGTH OF SEVILLA’S AMAZING BIKE NETWORK: LEGIBILITY

April 17, 2018 by Michael Andersen, PlacesForBikes staff writer

Bike wonks know Sevilla, Spain, as home to one of the fastest bike-infrastructure investments in world history. But installation speed isn’t the only lesson U.S. cities can draw from this wildly successful low-stress biking network.

As participants in a study tour to Sevilla heard last week, Sevilla also shows the power of two values that have been underrated in U.S. bicycle planning: homogeneity and recognizability.

Read more…

https://peopleforbikes.org/blog/an-unsung-theme-of-sevillas-amazing-bike-network-legibility/