The video above does a great job of showing the many benefits of cycling-friendly cities. Produced by the Interface for Cycling Expertise, with a script by sustainable transport guru Enrique Penalosa, the video visits Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Bogota and shows how a commitment to designing cities that are people-oriented, not car-oriented, can make urban residents happier, healthier, and more environmentally responsible.

Watching shot after shot of carefree cyclists cruising the streets of these burgs, sans helmets, reminds me of just how unsafe bicycling is in many other urban areas around the globe!

A few quick facts:

• Over the past 30-40 years, Copenhagen and Amsterdam have gradually transformed their public spaces by closing downtown streets to car traffic and building a comprehensive cycling infrastructure
• According to the video, 1/3 of Copenhagen residents use a bicycle to go to everyday activities (like school, work, or shopping)
• the Netherlands has the worldest highest concentration of bicycles, and also boasts 17,000km of bicycle paths

TransMilenio started operations in December 2000, and after more than 8 years it is still regarded as the gold standard for Bus Rapid Transit. Cities as diverse as New York, Delhi, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Beijing and Mexico, to name a few, have all drawn inspiration from Bogotá. But still there is no BRT system that matches its performance - at least not yet.

Why is TransMilenio so special? The clues could be in its “rail like” capacity and travel speed – not seen before in bus systems, and its ability to transform traditional bus operations with an interesting public-private partnership model. The most interesting aspect is that it has shown that it was possible to innovate, transform, and improve transport conditions in a very large city with profound transport challenges. It proved that cities can think outside the box, and bring solutions to the people without costing a fortune or taking decades to build. Kudos to Mayor Enrique Peñalosa, who started it from scratch, and the following administrations, which have continued and expanded it.

After 8 years, 76% of users rate the system as being good or very good. While TransMilenio is still far from solving all the mobility problems in Bogota, it has been a turning point that reversed a downward trend of traffic congestion and urban chaos. TransMilenio’s implementation, along with Bogota’s other sustainable transport initiatives, has resulted in a reduction of private automobile use and increase in non motorized transport in the city, while keeping the transit use stable with a 60%+ share (traditional public transport plus TransMilenio). These trends are quite different than similar ones in other developing cities where auto use increases and transit use declines.

For those interested in facts and figures, you can find this information after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

By walking twenty minutes each way from the metro in Atlanta to her job at the American Cancer Society, Lois Fletcher has lost more than thirty pounds. It’s a remarkable story about how tweaking your day to day routine can have profound influences on your health. But as researchers who study public health will tell, its really not all that surprising. Below are the conclusions of several studies that clearly illustrate the link between good transit and public health:

• Train commuters walk significantly more steps per day (+30%) than automobile commuters. Train commuters are also 4 times more likely than car commuters to meet the recommended standard of 10,000 steps per day.” [Environment and Behavior]
• A study conducted in Shanghai found that women who reported regular exercise and cycling for transportation were at a 20–50% lower risk for early mortality than less active women. [American Journal of Epidemiology]
• 78% of riders from three walkable New Jersey train stations met the national standard for physical activity. As a whole, only 45% of Americans meet this recommended standard. Read the rest of this entry »
  

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 »

Para espanol, clique aqui.

São Paulo is a city of walls erected on a foundation of fear, with it’s 11 million residents, or at least the subset that can afford to, hunkering down in gated condominiums, strolling in private parks, playing soccer on private fields, and driving private vehicles, all to keep out the storm of crime and violence that has pummeled the city. As the wealthy and middle classes retreat from public space and seek security behind walls, the urban poor have been left to fend for themselves in the neglected and decaying public space.

As is the case in many large cities, the poorest residents – those who are most dependent on mass transportation - live on the city’s periphery where jobs in the formal economy are scarce and basic infrastructure, like mass transit, plumbing, and electricity are utterly lacking. As Sociedad do Automovel so successfully shows, the public transportation system is not nearly adequate to meet the needs of these people, many of whom commute more than two hours just to get to work each day, an indignity that only increases the social exclusion of the urban poor.

With the quality of public transportation so low – and fear of assaults so high – people of means opt for private transport, like cars, which provide a veneer of protection. Yet it’s hardly clear that cars make people safer; cars are an indicator of wealth and many robberies happen to people who are locked in their cars: “lightening” kidnappings, muggings at traffic lights, and car heists.

But fear is a powerful feeling, and coupled with the desire to be part of middle and upper classes, a desired inextricably linked with car ownership, people continue to buy cars. And at an astounding rate: on average, 800 new vehicles are added to Sao Paulo’s streets every day! According to Irineu Gnecco Filho, of the 5.4 million cars circulating daily on the highways, only 3 million are traveling at the same time simply because there isn’t enough space for them all. As anyone who has visited Sao Paulo knows, the traffic congestion has become out of control. And with it, the air pollution has become lethal; the pathologist Paulo Saldiva estimates that as many as 7 and 10 people are dying daily in Sao Paulo because of air pollution. Read the rest of this entry »

Although slightly long, this video by the good people at StreetFilms has a lot to offer the urban enthusiast. Long-considered a dangerous country plagued by narcotics and violence, Colombia is actually at the forefront of the worldwide movement to develop innovative solutions for sustainable cities. Bogotá has become an urban gem in recent years, and this video explains how the seemingly simple act of shutting down over 70 miles of city streets every Sunday to motorized traffic in favor of bikes, skates, skateboards, runners, walkers and aerobics enthusiasts has helped create this transformation. As one gratified user says, ¨the Ciclovía (or bike path) is the best thing that Colombia has invented.¨ For new ideas on how to improve quality of life in our cities, watch this video!