bike-sharing in pittsburgh
There’s a bike-sharing demo in Market Square tomorrow (June 9) between 10 and 2. Don’t miss it! While you are there, check out the Farmer’s Market as well.
hang your bike
Here’s a proposal for an efficient transportation solution – enormous bike ferris wheels, tucked into forgotten spaces between downtown buildings.
a gift to the city
Twenty-seven young architects in training put their minds to downtown Pittsburgh this fall. They explored, documented and analyzed the compact neighborhood carefully, logically, with no preconceptions.
walker’s paradise
This is where I live. In walker’s and rider’s paradise. My car is lonely. My shoes are well worn. My office is right next door.
My walk score is 100. What’s yours?
not very fast
Four hours and forty-one minutes outside Pittsburgh, anger slapped me in the face. How ridiculous is this, I thought. Only two hundred and thirty-three point eight miles in four hours and forty-one minutes? If I were flying, I’d almost be in Paris.
bike hero
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a weekend bicyclist, “might consider keeping his head down and his helmet on” suggests the Huffington Post this morning. ”A backlash is brewing over his new bicycling policy.”
things to learn from Paris #1
Paris is a dense city. There is not much space here. Streets are narrow and crammed with cars.
A typical parking space in Pittsburgh measures twenty feet long by eight and a half feet wide. This smart car fits into a space just nine feet long. I measured it. Fill a city with tiny cars and there’ll be twice as many parking spaces.
celebrating buses
Our bus stop shelters are as dreary as January in Pittsburgh. While they may be utilitarian they are quite pedestrian and uninspired. The essential bus stop sign hasn’t even been integrated into the shelter. It stands all alone, attached to a nearby post or pole, an afterthought. What a shameful solution for a bus system that has more riders than most other cities in the US.
under the freeway
Endless miles of freeway have always irritated me. They plow through neighborhoods, dissecting blocks and turn well worn paths and local connections into dead ends. Instead of sustaining cities they perpetuate sprawl.
parking our bikes
Last week the City of Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve a small legislative change put forward by Steve Patchen, our bike czar – the Bike Parking Ordinance. Real estated developers will now need to provide bicycle parking in addition to automobile parking in their new developments.
traffic jam
There was a traffic jam on Pittsburgh’s South Side this Sunday. This one was new and different. Between 1:00 and 2:00 pm I passed 227 people on the riverside trail. There were young, very young and not so young all jammed together. Most of them were on bikes and some were runners and skaters, elbowing their way through the crowd.
hearing on expanding passenger rail service
Finally. The Federal Government wants to develop greater inter-city connectivity through the development of high speed rail corridors. If you are interested in hearing more, the US House of Representatives will be hosting a hearing in Pittsburgh on expanding passenger rail service.
birdy bike
Some people get energy from a quiet weekend in the country. I soak up energy from a new city, and that was the purpose of this weekend’s trip to Toronto.
