Lee Schipper, a blogger for TheCityFix, talks about the future of mobility and movement in this podcast by EarthSky.

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The Eierlegendewollmilchsau is a most unique creature. In addition to having a very long German name, it is capable of providing an amazing amount of bounty for one animal. It can lay eggs, grow wool, provide milk, and even bacon - all from one animal. Literally translated, Eierlegendewollmilchsau means “Egg Laying Wool Milk Sow”.

But there is a catch. Sadly, the Eierlegendewollmilchsau doesn’t really exist. It is a mythical creature that has come to symbolize the concept of “all-in-one” and is mythical because nothing exists that can combine so many useful and beneficial features in one place. There is, however, a city in northwestern Germany that has come close.

Bremen, Germany has succeeded in creating a completely integrated transportation network that is entirely accessible with a single card called - you guessed it - the Eierlegendewollmilchsau. A passenger can easily ride their bike on one of Bremen’s well maintained bike lanes, catch a light rail train, take a bus across town, rent a car from a convenient car-sharing kiosk, and even do some banking at an ATM, all with this one card. It’s a great example of planning a system that puts a priority on user convenience and treats many different types of transportation as seamless, purposefully linked and overlapping. By keeping the ease of use of the passenger in mind more people are more inclined to use it, ultimately making for a healthier environment and higher quality of life.

For more info on Bremen’s integrated transport system check out:
- this city profile,
- this case study,
- this tour,
- and the video below.

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Today, NPR had an interesting story about “Hypermilers”, a group of people who try and get every last bit of distance out of each gallon of gas they use in their cars. In an ideal world, record high gas prices and the threat of global warming would inspire large scale systemic change where automobile companies produce ultra high efficiency cars, cities curb sprawl while fostering high-density mixed-use development, and where investment in mass transit is a top priority.
However, we don’t live in an ideal world. So, in the absence of that kind of change people can take it upon themselves, like these Hypermilers, to protect their wallet and the environment by changing the way they drive. What the Hypermilers are doing is a part of “EcoDriving“, a way of driving that decreases the amount of fuel you use and the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions that you emit. It’s not a substitute for deeper, big picture solutions that get to the root of these problems, but in the meantime, it sure can help.

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Here two-wheelers invade a footpath. All photos by Sudhir Gota, SECON Pvt Ltd.

Krishnappa is a security guard for a multinational software firm in Bangalore who, for the past thirty years, has walked and cycled to work. For Krishnappa, the trip, which often took around 15 to 30 minutes, was one of life’s small pleasures as he made his way along Bangalore’s tree-shaded streets, often meeting friends and acquaintances, discussing politics and family matters, before continuing on his way. However, in recent years he has been unable to walk or cycle to work. And it’s not because of age or injury.

When asked about his transport woes, he blames the government. The increase in land prices, lack of cycle tracks, footpaths, poor public transportation, and the risk of being struck by a motorized vehicle have forced him to drive to work. He now spends nearly 30% of his salary on his monthly commute.

Krishnappa is not alone. Rapidly growing Bangalore city has generated a new human species aptly named “Transport Challenged People.” The common trait of these people is that they are forced to become captive to a mode of transport just because they don’t have an accessible alternative. Their other characteristic is that they pay a price for traveling that they do not consider fair or just, but because they have no other option, they continue to pay it.

Bangalore has seen a spiral of economic activity and urban growth, with the developed area of the city increasing from roughly 175 square kilometers in 1971 to more than 560 in 2006. The government, in order to decongest the city center, restricted the Floor- Space-Index (FSI) – that’s a technical term for building density - in the core and liberated the FSI along the outer peripheries. The restriction in FSI in the city core caused land value here to skyrocket, driving out the lower class to the more affordable peripheries. (There’s a photo essay after the jump)

Read the rest of this entry »

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Going nowhere fast in Bangkok. Photo by pchweat.

Which city has the world’s worst traffic? It’s a tough question, as cities like Sao Paulo, Cairo, Mumbai, and Los Angeles compete neck and neck for the world’s worst bottlenecks. But Time Magazine thinks it has found its answer in Bangkok, dubbing Thailand’s megacity “The Capital of Gridlock.” Hannah Beech, the author of the Time news story, explains just how bad traffic can get, writing that, “Police don’t consider traffic bad until a car is stationary for at least an hour. Really bad is two hours.”

Overall, Ms. Beech does a tremendous job covering the wide range of problems connected to Bangkok’s traffic congestion:

The human side: “Traffic in Thailand’s capital snarls with such ferocity that hundreds of women over the past few years have been forced to give birth in cars.” Police are now trained in midwifery, she reports.

The economic side: “More than $1 billion in productivity is lost every year to traffic jams.”

The environmental side: In the 1970’s Bangkok cemented over canals to build more streets for the growing number of cars. “…the declining number of canals, which once served as reservoirs for rain, means that substantial portions of the city flood during the five-month-long wet season. The rising water invariably short-circuits traffic lights, turning intersections into free-for-alls.” Read the rest of this entry »

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CNN has started a series of articles and videos called Eco-Solutions about, well, eco-solutions to the world’s, err, eco-problems. This week’s video features Mayor Marcelo Ebrard of Mexico City and his efforts to transform this bustling capital city infamous for its traffic and smog into a healthy, more livable city. One of the things he has done, which this video highlights, is shut down Paseo de la Reforma, the city’s most important artery (think 5th Avenue in New York City), on Sunday’s to traffic so that children and families can enjoy the tree-lined avenues while strolling or riding their bikes. It’s a remarkable acheivement, given what Reforma looks like on weekdays:

The video also highlights Metrobus, a bus rapid transit line, which has significantly reduced the amount of travel time for its passengers and has cleaned the air in the city. Although the first line was built under the previous Mayor, Manuel Obradar, Marcelo Ebrard plans to extend it to 10 lines, and has already broken ground on two of these. Read the rest of this entry »

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I’m happy to see such a high level of sophistication in recent public services announcements on sustainable transportation issues. First we had Lolo, the planet saving Donkey that takes public transportation and now we have this very clever awareness test from Transport for London. Not only does this ad make the point in a very sticky way but they gave it the means to “go viral” by including links for viewers to spread it to their social network of choice.

Do The Test here -> http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

Pass it on!

Thanks to Eric Gilliland of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association who gave us the tip by passing this through his social networks.

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There’s wifi on this bus! Photo by RACINGMIX

Transit with wireless is an incredibly attractive way to travel. And apparently AC Transit, a regional bus agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, agrees, providing wireless internet on all their buses crossing the San Francisco Bay.

Yesterday I had an action packed day of transit; I took BART from North Berkeley to Union City, then hopped on a bus with wireless that crosses the Dumbarton Bridge to Palo Alto, or so I thought. When I realized I was on the wrong bus, and figured out that there were no more buses coming, I had no other option but to take a cab. Read the rest of this entry »

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China’s Green Beat, is a neat bilingual blog I stumbled upon the other day, written by John Romankiewicz, an American Fulbright scholar currently living in Beijing, and Zhao Xiangyu, a Chinese citizen from Heilongjiang, a province in the northern part of the country. Check out the above video for a comical take on serious challenge: motorization in the Chinese capital.

Read more about Beijing’s metro, BRT system, Olympic bid, and weather problems.

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He’s cute, he’s adventurous, he’s reliable, and he’s closeted. What more could one ask of a folding bike?

My latest love interest is the Dahon Speed 7. I’d been eying him in the bike store for quite a while, examining his features, and comparing him with his strong-framed brothers. Finally, in the beginning of February I decided he was the one for me.

The Dahon - or “Speedy”, as I’ve come to call him - is the latest stage in the shift I’ve been making away from private ownership of a motorized vehicle. Now I look at the Vespa I bought two years ago as a way station on that path, and I’m planning to sell it once spring arrives in full bloom.

Last September I had to give up running because of foot problems. I was accustomed to getting around the city on foot, Metro, and bus, so originally I thought the folding bike would be mainly for recreation or workouts. But in the three-plus weeks I’ve had Speedy, I’ve used him a lot more than I’d expected for errands, and for getting to business meetings and dinner engagements. This February has been a relatively mild winter month by Washington DC standards, and Speedy has given me the freedom of the city in a way that I really hadn’t expected. Read the rest of this entry »

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