We’ve featured Keri from Commute Orlando before. By way of Carbon Trace, here’s a nifty Flash animation on how to make four types of left turns on your velo.

How to make left turns

So when I ride I do the “Pedestrian Turn.” After watching the video, up comes this message:

Well, I guess I’m an idiot. But you know what? it scares the ISH out of me to merge onto traffic. The least because most roads to UNR are packed with cars. And I get freaked out looking over my shoulder. That’s a moot point now though because my wheels were stolen, so there’s that.

What method do you use to turn left? And how do keep from shitting your pants/ crashing?

Bogotá, Colombia, is a city of almost 8 million inhabitants. Very limited urban planning and a historic lack of infrastructure development resulted in public transit woes. Getting around in Bogotá can be tough, but the city has done a great job in recent years in improving public transportation and making the city more navigable.

Here are some ways that people get around in Bogotá.

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Boston’s Bike director Nicole Freedman, issued a Request for Proposals for Boston’s biking future. Her priority is implementing a bike share program by 2010 and she’s on a hell bent course to tranform Beantown into an eco-friendly place to live, and commute.

Proposals for bike share programs are due in May, but it looks as though one team of students from Boston University has come up with a grand idea – BikeNow, a seemingly simplistic version of ZipCar.
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Bike Share programs are starting to catch fire around the globe, popping up in Washington D.C, Denver, China, Brazil and Taiwan. The wave of programs sweeping Europe recently has been an up and down ride. Many are successful while others are experiencing high levels of theft, abandonment and damage to their bikes. However the U.S is learning from their mistakes and may very well innovate the bike-share future. Read the rest of this entry →

I’d like to share some stories of people who have committed to live car-free for one year - and both the planet and cash saving consequences of their actions. The New Belgium Brewing Company hosts their annual Tour De Fat, meandering through eleven western cities, continually compelling people to join Team Wonderbike by giving up four wheels in trade for two.

What happens when they sign away their right to a car? They DON’T drive the average 15,000 miles like every other America. That’s 739 gallons of gasoline (at 20.3mpg). 739 gallons more for our children. It’s $2,217 (at $3.00 per gallon) NOT going to the Middle East to fund a number of things we probably wouldn’t agree with. That’s one more person not producing 14,336 pounds of CO2.

Watch these videos, get inspired and perhaps take the challenge. Tour De Fat 2008:

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I interviewed Boston’s new Bike Director, Nicole Freedman (Nicole.Freedman.bra@cityofboston.gov) about her intention to implement a bike-share program in Boston. All in all, it could work, with minimal tax dollars.

“Boston could see up to 1,500 bikes and 150 stations,” says Freedman.

Mayor Menino appointed Freedman with the goal of transitioning Boston into the next generation of eco-friendly urban transportation. Freedman’s bike-share program is slated to launch in the spring of 2010. It could potentially eliminate 315,000 car trips annually, reducing 750 tons of greenhouse gases officials estimated.

What are the details and what could this mean?

Where are the Bikes? – Officials are looking for a regional program that includes different neighborhood corridors and neighboring towns. Residents are hoping this will likely include boroughs like Brighton, Allston and JP.

What’s the Cost? — Freedman claims that “we’re waiting to hear back from our respondents, although we expect the first 30 minutes to be free for members.” What a bonus, but how much does it cost to be a member?

Who’s Pays for the Program? — “A turn-key system that self-finances” says Freedman. The city is looking for a cost-neutral program. Models that can do this include advertising based plans, subscribers fees and private capital investors.

So how would it work exactly once in place? Residents would buy memberships which would allow them to swipe a card and take out a bike at any rack around the city and then return it to any rack. Though the first 30 minutes would be free, extended trips would require usage charges. Bike supplies would be monitored by the company, who’s main responsibility would be to shuffle bikes so racks are full at all times.

I love the idea but what about stolen bikes? Bike-share programs seem to the wave of the future if we look at Europe, but many of those aren’t entirely successful. What will be different about Boston? I’ll keep you posted. Regardless, I’d be first to alleviate myself of the worry of owning/locking/storing my personal bike and most definitely sign up for the program!

Good.is magazine has a great visualization of the amount of fuel it takes to power cruise ships to bicycles. The measurement is really, “how many gallons of fuel does it take per passenger to move 350 miles.”

Big surprises:

A bus is more fuel efficient than a train, despite the train’s high capacity.
Average SUV uses more fuel than a cruise ship.
A car uses more fuel than an airplane.
Walking requires more Whoppers than biking.

An anonymous commenter on Good.is blog shared this:

using the figures included in the chart, i calculated the number of
gallons per passenger required to travel 350 miles at full capacity.
the only figures needed are capacity (# of passengers when full) and
gallons per mile (# of gallons required to travel 1 mile at full
capacity). the corrected “motor coach” fuel consumption value was
used.

divide [gallons per mile] by [capacity] to get the number of
gallons per passenger required to travel 1 mile. multiply this by 350
miles to arrive at the number of gallons per passenger required to
travel 350 miles at full capacity.

the results in descending order
(gallons/passenger @ 350 miles):

1. cruise ship (14.5)
2. motorcycle (5.9)
3. boeing 737 (4.8)
4. suv (3.4)
5. sedan (3.2)
6. amtrak (2.5)
7. prius (1.9)
8. walking (1.75)
9. “motor coach” (1.4)
10. bicycle (0.35)

What do you think? Is the image accurate? Click on it to see.

How many gallons of fuel does it take per passenger to cover 350 miles?