Transportation

Nissan Cars May Power Your Home

- Adam Clare

Nissan has built a car that can charge on the road then use the excess charge it holds to power a home. This car can then be used to power a home in the case of a blackout or an emergency.

The system works by linking the car via a quick charging port to the house’s electricity distribution panel. Power can also be fed the other way if the house generates its own electricity with rooftop solar panels.

The Leaf batteries have a capacity of 24 kilowatt hours when fully charged, equivalent to the electricity used by the average Japanese household in two days, said the company.

The output from the vehicle comes to six kilowatts, enough to power electricity-guzzling appliances such as a refrigerator, air conditioner and washing machine at the same time, the company said.

Read the full article here

Bike Sharing at a Women’s Shelter

- Adam Clare

Despite the local mayors attempts to stop cycling in Toronto, Torontonians are all about bicycling into the future. Now a local women’s shelter has stepped up to help women of Toronto in a related way: by providing the women they help with wheels.

The idea, the shelter said in a news release is to “provide women with access to bikes that will not only increase their mobility and physical wellness, but most importantly allow them to connect with their community, access support, and have some fun in the process.”

Kiki Iverson has already donated a bike and she posted a call for others to join her on her Facebook page.

The women who use the shelter need bikes, said Iverson, but they also “need friends. They need family. They need community. They need help for sure.”
…

“One of the primary things we’ve heard from women is the sense of freedom and being able to get around,” said Hogg. “Being able to get out of the house and the confidence that comes from being active.”

Read the full article here

Also the CBC has an interactive element dedicated to bicycle infrastructure in Canada.

Bike Lanes Create Jobs

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

The University of Massachusetts has completed a new study that shows that bicycle lanes create jobs. As a cyclist, this seems obvious to me since whenever I see a store or restaurant I want to go into I just hop off my bike and I’m in there spending money rather quickly.

It’s good to see that research backs up the importance that bike lanes have to a vibrant economy.

On average, the “road-only” projects evaluated created 7.8 jobs per million, while the “bicycling-only” projects provided 11.4 jobs per million. For example, a roadway-focused project with no bicycle or pedestrian components in Santa Cruz, Calif. generated 4.94 jobs per $1 million spent. In contrast, a bicycle-focused project in Baltimore, Md. produced 14.35 jobs per million. The reviewers attribute the difference to the simple fact that bicycle and pedestrian projects are often more labor intensive.

“It’s no secret that investing in transportation infrastructure creates jobs and helps the economy,” said Caron Whitaker, campaign director at America Bikes [sponsors of the study]. “This study proves bicycle and pedestrian projects are no exception — in fact, they are especially efficient in creating jobs.”

Link to Streetsblog
Link to the study

A Look at European Transit Planning

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

The New York Times has a good article about the differences between traffic planning in the USA and Europe. The article shows ways that European cities move people more efficiently by supporting mass transit and sustainable transit solutions like bicycles rather than supporting a car culture.

Cities including Vienna to Munich and Copenhagen have closed vast swaths of streets to car traffic. Barcelona and Paris have had car lanes eroded by popular bike-sharing programs. Drivers in London and Stockholm pay hefty congestion charges just for entering the heart of the city. And over the past two years, dozens of German cities have joined a national network of “environmental zones” where only cars with low carbon dioxide emissions may enter.

Likeminded cities welcome new shopping malls and apartment buildings but severely restrict the allowable number of parking spaces. On-street parking is vanishing. In recent years, even former car capitals like Munich have evolved into “walkers’ paradises,” said Lee Schipper, a senior research engineer at Stanford University who specializes in sustainable transportation

Read more here.

Like Bixi….but Waaaaaay Bigger

- Dan Harrison 1 Comment

At a time when owning a car in China has become the ultimate symbol of success, it’s very encouraging to see systems like Hangzhou’s bike share working so well.

The city of Hangzhou, with its population of roughly seven million, has 50 000 bikes in their bike share program!

Hangzhou’s 2,050 bike-share stations are spaced less than a thousand feet from each other in the city center, and on an average day riders make 240,000 trips using the system. Its popularity and success have set a new standard for bike-sharing in Asia. And the city is far from finished. The Hangzhou Bicycle Company plans to expand the bike-share system to 175,000 bikes by 2020!

Check out this video at streetfilms.org.

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