An unusual calm on Bogota’s streets. Photo by Pattoncito from Flickr.

On Thursday, February 7 Bogotá held its 8th annual car-free day during which 14% of the population left their private cars at home and walked, cycled, and took mass transit to get around Colombia’s capital city. The car-free day is a bold effort to give people the chance of experiencing how nice the city could be without the 1.2 million private vehicles that ply Bogota’s streets every day. Following Bogota’s lead the car-free movement is spreading throughout the world, but still, this Andean city is the only one of its size that actually enforces its efforts, slapping $118 fines on any vehicle breaking the ban.

The Colombian newspaper EL TIEMPO reported a 45% reduction in carbon monoxide, an improvement attribute to the absence of private cars. This reduction, while important, was overshadowed by a 42% increase in particulate matter. Particulate matter is inorganic particles caused by diesel engines, brake and tire friction, wood burning factories using heavy fuels and coal, and forms indirectly in the air from SOx and NOX. Particulate matter has serious effects on the human respiratory system, and is especially harmful to children, the elderly and people with breathing problems. It is also one of the leading causes of bronchitis and asthma. At typical concentrations, particulate matter has approximately the same impact on human health as carbon monoxide. However, per equal mass emitted, it has between a 10 times (if its from brakes and tire friction) and 1000 times (if its from diesel engines and SOx) greater impact on human health than carbon monoxide.

For Bogotá, the really important question is whether the particulate matter which increased during car-free day was from brakes and tires or from diesel engines. If it was from breaks and tires then it will be removed quickly from the atmosphere, and we could argue unequivocally that car-free day improved human health. However, if it’s from diesel engines and Sox - as it is believed to be in the case of Bogota - then the increase in particulate matter may have outweighed the benefits from reduced levels of carbon monoxide. Read the rest of this entry »

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A screenshot of Google’s new street view.

Whoever said there’s no such thing as free lunch? Today, after overhearing a discussion at work, and doing a little research to verify what I heard, I learned that Google gives lunch - free of charge! - to its employees. What’s more, Google’s taking it a step further, providing free dinners, organic meals, hormone-free meats and unlimited snacks. According to the Washington Post, Google is spending about $100,000 a day to feed its staff. Apparently, this has helped Google attract young, creative types who are developing amazing tools that City Fix loves. Read the rest of this entry »

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If you live in a suburb like this one in Las Vegas, it might be hard to walk to the grocery store. Photo by ulybug of Flickr.

While surfing the web I found this very interesting website, Walk Score, that calculates the walkability of a residence using an easy to use interface, just like googlemaps or mapquest. All you have to do is enter an address and out comes a rating, from 1 to 100, based on its proximity to nearby services, such as restaurants, parks, and schools.

For the last year I have been more than convinced that I live in a very walkable environment. Yet, I was not satisfied with my score of 78, which according to Walk Score means “Very walkable: possible to get by without owning a car.” Why was my score so low? Does very walkable mean that it’s possible to get by without a car? I would think that very walkable would mean a car would be unnecessary. After doing a little more research I found out that even this great website fails to incorporate things such as availability of public transit, safety, and connectivity, all of which are quite important to what I consider a walkable environment; an environment that supports pedestrian travel in an area. Living close to transit and having a pedestrian friendly design is what motivated me to live where I do and oddly this isn’t even taken into account. Read the rest of this entry »

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