Earl Blumenauer

On-shoring the bike manufacturing industry isn't just good for the national economy, a top congressman argues — it's also good for ending car dependency.

..and he hopes to catalyze that revolution as he leaves the halls of Congress.

"It is hard to think of another mode of transportation that is a more powerful tool to meet [our challenges.]"

As he concludes his nearly 30-year career in Congress, Earl Blumenauer says America has never been better positioned to make a "quantum leap" towards bikeability.

A recent ride through the nation’s capital brought advocates and politicos together to experience life behind a set of handlebars — and rally support for new policies that could make that experience less deadly.

While many Americans may not think riding a bus is the sexiest form of transportation, the reality is that a majority of public transit trips in the U.S. are taken by bus. The numbers are even higher in the Bay Area. Every one of the hundreds of thousands of passengers who boarded a bus in the last year has a story to tell and there are probably lots of Streetsblog readers who would love to share a tale about their favorite line. So why not nominate it as the best bus route in America?

Editor's note: Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) sent us this commentary on the the BP oil spill, climate change and the need for transportation reform.

Addressing a packed house in Washington last night, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, founder of the Congressional Bike Caucus, posed a Zen-like 'universalist cyclist question'.

On the issue of clean transportation, from transit to bike paths to clean water, few members of Congress are as knowledgeable or active as Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Chief of the Congressional Bicycle Caucus and founder of the new Livable Communities Task Force, the Portland lawmaker is on the front lines of Washington's biggest infrastructure debates. Streetsblog Capitol Hill spoke with him yesterday about the prospects for transportation in the coming jobs bill, which he has said could be paid for in part with Wall Street bailout money. Below is a lightly edited transcript of the discussion.