A pilot project offering holders of a Prague public transport pass free access to short-term bike rides has been successful and will become a permanent offering from the city, Prague Integrated Transport has announced this weekend.
Through the program, holders of Prague’s Lítačka public transport pass also have access to use shared bicycles from the Rekola and Nextbike companies for time intervals of up to 15-minute time periods, up to four times a day, free of charge.
How weekly bike rides with a group of supportive women showed me a route to joy | Cycling | The Guardian
London was edging out of the last lockdown and one of the most isolating years we have ever experienced when I discovered the group. I had returned to my roots after living in California in the hope that this country might be kinder to my youngest son. He had bounced around in the mental health system in the USA for almost a decade, where the “cure” had been worse than the diagnosis. But the pandemic hampered my plan. When my son was admitted to a psychiatric hospital yet again, only here instead of in America, I knew I needed a better road map to find my way through the pain.
Trading clunkers for electric bikes: France moves to offer financial incentive – reuters.com
April 11, 20218
PARIS, April 11 (Reuters) – France is offering the owners of old, exhaust-belching cars the opportunity to hand over their vehicles for scrap in return for a 2,500 euro ($2,975.00) grant to buy an electric bicycle.
Lawmakers in the National Assembly have just approved the measure in a preliminary vote. It was an amendment to a draft climate bill passing through parliament that aims to reduce greenhouse emissions by 40% in 2030 from 1990 levels.
If adopted, France will become the first country in the world to offer people the chance to trade in an ageing vehicle for an electric or folding bicycle, the French Federation of Bicycle Users (FUB) said.
“For the first time it is recognised that the solution is not to make cars greener, but simply to reduce their number,” said Olivier Schneider of the FUB.
Famous Statistic Blaming Car Crashes on Human Error Is Wrong -vice.com
Moveable explores the future of transportation, infrastructure, energy, and cities.
You have probably heard that almost all car crashes are due to human error. You may have even heard an exact, scientific-sounding number attached to it: 94 percent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). And it’s also likely this number made sense to you, like it did to me when I first heard it, because most drivers are impatient and easily distractible.
But persistent advocacy from safety experts has brought to light that this statistic is made up. And, in fact, there is no good evidence to support the claim that “human error” is the cause of most crashes. Their argument has been so convincing that the head of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, has officially called on NHTSA to remove the 94 percent statistic from their website, deeming it reflective of a “culture that accepts” 40,000 people dying in fatal car crashes a year.
Cargo without carbon: the rise and rise of e-bike deliveries | Couriers/delivery industry | The Guardian
Demand for electric cargo bike couriers has boomed since first lockdown, bringing the hope of cleaner, quieter, safer streets
Amelia Hill
Would you like your groceries delivered without a side order of traffic congestion? Boilers, books and beauty products dropped off without a roar of diesel? Or even take a taxi ride without the carbon emissions?
Since the first lockdown, increasing numbers of companies have started delivering their products – and passengers – on electric cargo bikes. According to a new directory, there are now almost 450 independent businesses and tradespeople across the UK transforming the sight, sound and smell of our cities and towns by delivering goods to customers using nothing but electricity and pedal-power.
Manchester e-cargo bike hire will cost just £12 a day | electric bike reviews, buying advice and news – ebiketips
Londoners told to reduce physical activity on Friday due to pollution | London | The Guardian
Government advises older people and those with lung or heart issues to avoid strenuous activity altogether
The government’s forecast predicts pollution levels will hit band 10, the highest level on the scale. The last time pollution levels hit this mark was in March 2018.
Older people and those with lung or heart problems should avoid strenuous physical activity, the government’s official advice stated, while people with asthma may need to use inhalers more often.
Even healthy people should “reduce physical exertion, particularly outdoors, especially if you experience symptoms such as a cough or sore throat”.
All power to the pedal on A-roads where bike numbers overtake cars – The Sunday Times
January 16 2022
Cyclists now outnumber drivers on some key roads
There are more bicycles than cars, lorries and other motor traffic on many A-roads, according to government figures. On eight main roads, cycles outnumbered all other vehicles, and in 35 locations they outnumbered cars and taxis on an average day, according to an analysis of Department for Transport figures for 2020.
In some parts of central London, cyclists are the kings of the road, accounting for 87 per cent of traffic on a section of Lambeth Road and 81 per cent on Royal Mint Street in the City with four other locations recording between 55 per cent and 63 per cent.
There are also two locations in Oxford where they are in the majority: in the High Street outside Magdalen College, which is the busiest..
Dave Hill: Sadiq Khan is right to start smart road user charging conversation – OnLondon
Arguing that motorists should pay more for using roads is a sure way for politicians to seize attention. If that was Sadiq Khan’s aim when announcing publication of a report about pathways to net zero, he succeeded.
Much of Element Energy’s 84-page study concerns electrification of heat and transport, housing retrofits and complicated costs scenarios, but the prospect of impending road rage, perhaps dwarfing that inspired by the pandemic’s instant low traffic neighbourhoods, was catnip to the media herd.
Hence the Mayor all over the papers, all over the telly and maybe all over the world for advancing the idea that a more sophisticated and comprehensive kind of road user charging will be required if London is to stand a chance of reducing the amount of motor vehicle travel by more than a quarter by the end of this decade – the minimum requirement by 2030, the report says.
Berlin is planning a car-free area larger than Manhattan. – Brent Toderian – Twitter
@BrentToderian
Berlin is planning a car-free area larger than Manhattan. The citizen-driven plan would create the largest car-free area in a city anywhere in the world. Leadership can come from many places when it comes to transforming cities. Via
@FastCompany https://fastcompany.com/90711961/berli
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