Tag: bicycle

Ebike delivery

Around the world, we have seen how freight companies use cargo bikes to move goods around dense urban neighborhoods more efficiently. NYC’s Department of Transportation is taking a step toward alleviating at least 1 of those causes of congestion: It’s implementing a pilot program to allow electric, pedal-assisted cargo bikes to make deliveries throughout Manhattan’s central business district. The goals of the pilot: reduce congestion, and improve safety on city streets.

A designey solution to this could be the Armadillo:

Bike purists may scoff that the Armadillo looks like it was designed by an engineer. (Germany’s Berliner Morgenpost calls it “a mix of go-kart, bicycle and van.”) But these are highly functional vehicles that a lot of thought went into: – Though they can carry 300kg, they’re only 86cm wide, meaning they can easily fit on bike paths “without causing problems for other cyclists.”

NYPD kills cyclists

Mayor de Blasio has previously defended the practice of ticketing cyclists in the days after a driver runs over someone. But poorly designed streets in New York—especially the wide avenues that run north and south in Manhattan like the one where Hightman was run over—often physically push cyclists out of the bike lane, or make it a less safe option than simply riding in the road. While the New York Department of Transportation has added 10s of km of bike lanes throughout the city in recent years, they are often unusable for more than 1 block or 2 at a time because of obstructions.

The Evolution of Cycling

Cycling in the City: A 200-Year History, “reveals the complex, creative, and often contentious relationship between New York and the bicycle” and examines the important role of cycling as the city faces challenges due to climate change, energy scarcity, and population growth. This new exhibit marks the 200th anniversary of the introduction of the bicycle to New York City in 1819.

Fastest Human on a Bike

Mueller-Korenek mounted a specially equipped bike with a massive gear and tethered it to a race car, which then accelerated to 100-plus kmh-the velocity necessary for the rider to turn over the cranks on her own volition. Then she unhooked from the car and stayed in the slipstream, smashing the pedals around to hit the highest speed possible under her own power. Her speed on her final mile on the Bonneville Salt Flats was 296 kmh. This short film from WSJ shows how Mueller-Korenek became the world’s fastest human on a bike.

Harbor Ring

I realized that there was a disconnect between the idea of a cars-only crossing and the reality evolving in the region. Bikes are taking off all over the city. We now have waterfront development all along the harbor with parks and bike paths. It’s a whole rebirth, the “new New York.” And the powers that be have repeatedly rejected bike access on the bridge. We started thinking about how we could recast the idea of a shared-use path on the bridge. I’m an urban and regional planner by training, but I’ve been in the family hardware business, and so I thought, “We have to take a marketing approach to repackage Verrazano access.” It’s the missing link in the Harbor Ring. We became the Harbor Ring Committee.