Year: 2009

San Francisco bicycle riders this morning let out a loud cheer, popped open a bottle of champagne and toasted the city's first bike lane in three years: a freshly painted sliver of Scott Street on the Wiggle between Oak and Fell that now serves as a left-turn lane for the thousands of daily commuters traveling by bicycle onto Fell Street.

Among the many users of San Francisco's streets, pedicabs occupy a space somewhere between a bicycle and a motorized taxi cab, though their movements are restricted far beyond other modes, in part because pedicab owners don't have the budget to lobby city leaders and don't have an obvious constituency to advocate on their behalf. This could change as new pedicab businesses move to the city and push for their right to use the roadways for their enterprise.

Two-thirds of America's population, and more than three-quarters of its economic productivity, come from major cities. So why did the Obama administration's economic stimulus law end up giving metropolitan areas the short end of the stick?

The question of how to get more women on bikes has received quite a lot of attention recently, in part because of a recent article in Scientific American that suggested women are an "indicator species" for bike-friendly communities.

More headlines over at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

San Francisco is about to get its first new bike lane in more than three years along with a colored bike box!  Progress has been long stalled by the injunction but the fact that the MTA is about to whip out the paint is cause for celebration, and the SFBC is planning two events to mark the occasion.

As Congress maneuvers to end the political impasse over the next long-term national transportation bill, lawmakers going to have to debate an increase in the federal gas tax, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said today.

The trouble with broad analysis pieces on campaign cash is that they often go for eye-popping numbers while obscuring uncomfortable political realities. For example, GreenWire reported this morning that the 27 senators who remain undecided on the chamber's pending climate bill took "more than $20 million ... over the past two decades from energy interests with a direct stake in pending legislation."

The next Women of WOBO (WOW) ride is a Tea & Cookies Ride – Sunday, December 6th. Bring your favorite teabag, a cup and some cookies to share as we create a mobile tea party! We'll provide hot water for steeping at Diamond Park – approximately halfway between Rockridge and Fruitvale. The ride will follow established bike routes through the foothills, winding along backstreets between North Oakland and Fruitvale. Any and all female-identified people are invited to participate.