Do bike-share programs make sense for the Jersey Shore?

…Asbury Park took a leap of faith and launched a multi-unit bike-sharing program. Riders can access bikes via a smartphone app at unmanned docking stations. It’s the first model of its kind at the Jersey Shore. And in the two months following launch, the program — which includes 30 bikes distributed between six stations — saw more than 1,000 trips, and attracted more than 600 members.

“The message is that bicycling is for everyone, and we’re trying the best we can to make that happen,” said Michael Manzella, Asbury Park’s transportation manager. “We want to be a biking and pedestrian mecca.”

Other shore towns may be following suit. Some can’t wait for this two-wheeled renaissance. Others think the idea needs a tuneup before it makes its way to the beach, where too much bicycling congestion can already be a headache, and where some city officials anticipate pushback from existing bike rental businesses. Either way, the offseason conversation happening now could have major implications for your pedaling routine come summer.

Read more…

https://whyy.org/articles/bike-share-programs-make-sense-jersey-shore/

What is Vision Zero?

Vision Zero is a multi-national road traffic safety project that aims to achieve a highway system with no fatalities or serious injuries involving road traffic. It started in Sweden and was approved by their parliament in October 1997.

SAFETY OVER SPEED

Each year, more than 40,000 people — the population of a small city — are needlessly killed on American streets and thousands more are injured. We call this suffering traffic “accidents” — but, in reality, we have the power to prevent traffic collisions.

For too long, we’ve considered traffic deaths and severe injuries to be inevitable side effects of modern life. We face a crisis on our streets — with traffic violence taking too many lives — but there has traditionally been a lack of urgency from the public and our policymakers to reverse this fatal trend. Even those attempting to address the problem — the traffic engineer, police officer, policymaker, advocate or public health specialist — are working upstream, often isolated in silos or trying to move forward without reliable data, resources, or political support.

CASE STUDY

Centering equity in Vision Zero

At its core, Vision Zero recognizes that all people have the right to move about their communities safely. All people. At its core, Vision Zero is about ensuring equity on our streets, sidewalks, and bikeways.

Read more…

https://visionzeronetwork.org/

NACTO Releases New Guidance for the Next Generation of North American Bike Facilities

Companion Guidance to NACTO’s Groundbreaking Urban Bikeway Design Guide Elevates State-of-the-Practice Facilities for People of All Ages and Abilities

 

The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), an organization that represents 58 major cities in North America, today released guidance to help cities decide what types of bike infrastructure will best achieve their goals to build bike networks that are safe and comfortable for riders of all ages and abilities. The new guidance, Designing for All Ages and Abilities, builds upon the organization’s groundbreaking Urban Bikeway Design Guide, an internationally renowned technical guide that has helped cities to dramatically increase the number and quality of urban bike facilities in the United States and Canada over the past decade.

https://nacto.org/2017/12/06/designing-for-all-ages-and-abilities/

Teacher uses Tom Brady cutouts to get cars to slow down in school zone

 

No one would want to sack Tom Brady in Boston!  We need an icon in Asbury Park on our “Stop for Pedestrians” bollards at intersections!

A teacher in Roxbury put cut outs of Tom Brady’s head on crosswalk signs outside of the Ellis Elementary School so drivers would slow down.

Read more…

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/12/06/teacher-uses-cut-outs-tom-brady-head-get-cars-slow-down-outside-his-school/LSPj4NU1RRW3J9kH3IdyMP/story.html

GOP Tax Cuts Threaten Funding for Transit, Biking, and Walking

Congress is on track to trigger spending austerity that will cut programs like New Starts and TIGER.

“In the middle of the night on Friday, Republican Senators passed a bill overhauling America’s tax code on nearly a strict party-line vote. Slashing taxes for corporations and the wealthy, the bill is projected to increase the national debt by $1.5 trillion over the next decade.

Among many other impacts, if the bill becomes law it threatens federal funds for transit, biking, and walking.”

Read more…

æhttps://usa.streetsblog.org/2017/12/04/gop-tax-cuts-threaten-funding-for-transit-biking-and-walking/

Transportation For America-Senate Tax Bill

T4AMERICA BLOG

Senate tax bill greenlights a torrent of cuts to transportation programs

“The Senate’s action today on tax reform may be a cause for celebration for some, but it greenlights a torrent of cuts to vital transportation programs and infrastructure investments that will ultimately leave our cities and towns, large and small across the nation, less competitive. Whether cuts to the funding to improve or expand public transportation systems or the competitive grants that support the smartest projects, these cuts to transportation programs and investments are a blow to every community working hard to improve access to jobs and opportunity.

Read more…

Senate tax bill greenlights a torrent of cuts to transportation programs

No Town Is Too Small for Top-Notch Bikeways

“The infrastructure for cars is really expensive”

“If we don’t have safe corridors to ride, people don’t ride,” she said. “The infrastructure for cars is really expensive, and as more people are on our streets, I think that providing safe pedestrian and bicycle alternatives — that takes a few cars out of the congestion.”

Read more…

Ellensburg, WA, Proves No Town Is Too Small for Top-Notch Bikeways

 

Do Bike Lanes Jam Traffic?

OH SNAP: LONDONER ASKS IF PROTECTED BIKE LANES JAM TRAFFIC, GETS SURPRISE ANSWER

Leave it to a Brit to deliver a mathematical smackdown this courteously.

History may never record which anonymous bureaucrat was assigned to field the following question about London’s protected bike lane network (known there as “cycle superhighways”) submitted to the public agency Transport for London:

Prior to the introduction of cycle superhighway, certain claims were made by TfL on the impact on traffic on Upper Thames St. Congestion now seems to be worse than predicted. Please supply any data or reports on the prediction v. reality. If no analysis has been done, please let me know if it will be and if not, why not. Thank you.

It’s a legitimate concern, of course.

Read more…

http://peopleforbikes.org/blog/oh-snap-londoner-asks-if-protected-bike-lanes-jam-traffic-gets-surprise-answer/

Bike lanes don’t clog up our roads, they keep London moving

Everyone has their opinion on what causes congestion, many of which are conflicting. The causes are complex, but 75% of congestion is caused simply by there being too great a demand for our limited street space. Or, without the jargon: too many motor vehicles and too few people in them.

To solve the problem, the report recommends that the mayor should prioritise the efficient use of our roads, saying that the “most space-efficient means of moving people – walking, cycling and public transport – should be prioritised over low-occupancy private transport.”

Alongside walking, cycling is the most healthy and sustainable of all transport modes and the most efficient way of getting lots of people around on our limited road space.

Read more…

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2017/dec/01/bike-lanes-dont-clog-up-our-roads-they-keep-london-moving?CMP=share_btn_fb