Maintaining cycling infrastructure is a matter of course in the Netherlands, a country boasting 35,000 kilometers of bicycle paths. Still, the Dutch province of Friesland managed to make waves when it re-paved a bicycle highway last fall. A 1-kilometer stretch of the bike roadway connecting the Frisian capital of Leeuwarden to the town of Stiens has the distinction of being the world’s first bicycle lane paved with toilet paper. Recycled toilet paper, that is. Most roads in the Netherlands are paved with a blacktop called open-graded asphalt friction course (OGFC), which is porous and water permeable. Compared to more run-of-the-mill types of asphalt, OGFC requires higher volumes of bitumen,

Another day on Pershing Drive in Arlington, Va., and another near miss for Mobility Momma on her bike. Yes, “Motor City Maniac Dear Son,” age 14, and “Blown-the-Coup Bike-Only College Kid,” 18, did warn me to stick to roadways with bike lanes or, better yet, stay on the bike path. I thought the vibe would be better early on a Sunday morning. And it was: there were fewer cars and the new four-way stop at Irving and Pershing did seem to slow the traffic. Nevertheless, ignoring my own maternal admonitions of the laws of greater gross tonnage, I lamented that many of the drivers just didn’t seem to see me. Dear Son: “Or maybe the drivers are like us and they cannot predict what you are going to

Seconds after a powerful earthquake struck Mexico City on September 19, the mobile phone network was down. Stoplights ceased to function as electricity failed, and the city’s streets had turned into one vast traffic jam. In a few frantic minutes, millions of people were driven out of buildings into the public space, incommunicado except for the wi-fi network. In the aftermath, the quality of the city’s public infrastructure became of supreme importance for its citizens—and in some cases, even a matter of life and death. Following a disaster, “the difference between the sidewalk and the pavement of the road disappears and people start walking everywhere,” says Jesus Iglesias, a civil engineer

In the 2015 mayoral race, then-candidate Jim Kenney pledged to build more than 30 miles of protected bicycle lanes in Philadelphia, to accompany the more than 400 miles of unprotected bicycle lanes that already separate bicycle and automotive traffic. Last April, the city won funds for thirteen protected bicycle lane projects, which would fulfill the thirty miles pledge. But actual construction on those projects has lagged since, frustrating many bicyclists who voted for the Mayor. At the end of August, the city celebrated the opening of a protected bike lane on Chestnut Street between 33rd and 45th Streets. Last year, a section of protected bicycle lanes were built along Ryan Avenue Next to

Like many other automakers, Volkswagen Group is targeting the next decade as a major turning point for autonomous cars. By 2021, the automaker will introduce a fleet of self-driving EVs for ride-hailing services, reports Automotive News. The first fleets will arrive in “two to five” cities around the world by the year 2021, says Johann Jungwirth, head of digitization strategy for VW Group. The public will be able to hail these autonomous vehicles through Moia and Gett, two mobility services associated with Volkswagen. Supporting Level 5 autonomy, the fleet of cars, vans, and trucks should be able to navigate themselves to any address in a given city. Testing on fully autonomous vehicles will

Chinese bike-sharing startup Mobike has arrived in Washington D.C., its first U.S. city. The launch comes as myriad bike-sharing companies launch similar services across the country. To recap, Mobike provides cities with the bikes and the technology platform, including mobile apps, allowing riders to unlock a bike by scanning a QR code with their phone. For longevity, the bikes are chainless, have puncture-proof airless tires, and are supported by an anti-rust aluminium frame. Importantly, the bikes are “dockless,” meaning users can padlock the bicycles anywhere once they’re finished. It’s easy for Mobike to find them again due to their built-in GPS functionality. Launched in Shanghai back i

In North America, gondolas are usually used on a ski vacation to access amazing terrain in ritzy towns like Aspen or Whistler. Increasingly, however, urban areas in the United States are considering proposals for gondolas and cable cars to efficiently move people from place to place. In New York City, the East River Skyway would connect Williamsburg in Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan. Elsewhere, the Chicago Skyline project wants to use cable cars to transport tourists along the city’s riverfront, while in Austin the Wire proposal would create an aerial system akin to a "moving sidewalk" that would be much less expensive than a comparable light rail system. Elsewhere in the world, trams, gondolas

Autonomous vehicles offer the opportunity to radically rethink how we implement mass transport in the future, and save billions of dollars in public infrastructure spend. But the challenge in our current way of thinking for all involved, from OEM’s to government, is how best to implement this technology into real world applications, and what economic model will best serve the general population and manufacturers/operators simultaneously, says a white paper published earlier this year. It proposes that a paradigm shift is needed in our terminology, from mass transit to human transit —a minor change in terminology with major implications. We need to be thinking in terms of moving a human, not

It’s World Car-Free Day—a perfect day to try cycling to or from work. But while cycling is an environmentally friendly and healthy way to get around, cyclists die at twice the rate of motor-vehicle occupants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first step to staying safe while cycling is to wear a helmet. (Consumer Reports rates the best ones here.) But if you haven’t ridden in a while, there’s more you need to know if you want to stay safe on the road. We consulted with the League of American Bicyclists (a cycling advocacy nonprofit) as well as Bob Mionske, an attorney and the author of "Bicycling and the Law: Your Rights as a Cyclist" to create the following ch

So we all know that car-free living is better for the environment and for health, but we can’t all live in Giethoorn, right? A new tool from TransitScreen, which offers live transportation information displays, calculates precisely how accessible a place is to public transit and other transit alternatives. MobilityScore rates a location from 0 to 100 based on its proximity to public transit like buses, trains, and taxis, and also ride-hailing, ride-sharing, and bike-sharing opportunities. It’s a fast way to gauge whether you can get by without a car in any given location, though the calculations are currently limited to just the country’s top 35 urban areas. To use it, just plug in an addres

Last week, dozens of Delaware Valley electric vehicle drivers and enthusiasts participated in two consecutive lunch-time events at Courthouse Square in downtown Norristown. The show was one of 278 similar events, as part of National Drive Electric Week, which ran from Sept. 9-17. NDEW is in its seventh year and is organized nationally by Plug In America, the Sierra Club, and the Electric Auto Association. The Nissan LEAF is the exclusive national automotive sponsor, with a new model being provided by Conicelli Nissan in Conshohocken. Electric cars are rapidly becoming more popular as drivers learn how great these cars are for the environment and their wallet. Norristown’s event, organized an

There are a lot of reasons to go car-free. And you’ve likely heard them all: Cars contribute to harmful greenhouse gases; ditching your SUV is one of the most effective ways to combat climate change; fewer cars on the road would alleviate the metro areas’ crushing traffic. But one reason to trade four wheels in for two doesn’t get talked about very often: Riding a bike is just plain fun. This is the message that resonated over each pothole and through every signal in the past two weeks, as I switched from being a part-time bike rider to a full-time commuter cyclist. I also had a fancy new tool at my disposal that made the experience much more enjoyable: the Copenhagen Wheel. Pedal-addicts mi

While we sit and wait for all the wild hyperloop plans to materialize at some point in the future, China, in the meantime, has relaunched a fleet of the fastest bullet trains you can ride today. The new trains, named Fuxing (which means “Regeneration”), reach a maximum speed of 248 mph and will operate at 217 mph on average, shaving an hour off the current five-and-a-half-hour journey between Beijing and Shanghai. Fuxing’s speeds aren’t exactly a brand-new breakthrough. China’s previous generation of bullet trains, the “Harmony” trains introduced in 2008, also once operated at 217 mph. But after a train crash that killed 40 people in 2011, those trains were capped at a maximum speed of 186 m

Whether you live in the farthest suburb or in the heart of downtown, how you move around your city shapes your social interactions, your job, and even your family dynamics. Peruse the news, however, and you’ll find a laundry list of transportation nightmares: subway systems in a state of emergency, declining ridership in our biggest metro areas, and unreliable bus systems plaguing commuters. What’s a transit-loving urbanite to do? In an effort to parse through the doom and gloom—and in honor of Curbed’s first-ever Transportation Week—we want to share 101 smart transportation solutions that can make our cities better. What You Can Do | What Businesses Can Do | What Your Neighborhood Can Do |

New Census numbers suggest shared rides are on the rise in major U.S. cities. In so many ways, the 1970s are making a comeback. Wide-leg jeans! Off-shoulder tops! Here’s a tentative addition to that list: carpooling. New Census data released on Thursday shows upticks in the proportion of workers who report they’re sharing a ride to the office, across a number of major U.S. cities. The American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates come with fairly wide margins of error, so take the local data with a grain of salt. Still, the national trend is that a smaller share of Americans are driving alone. So, where’d they go? Given continued declines in transit ridership, it doesn’t seem that they’re ridin

A discussion about biking in Philly doesn’t go without a mention of Sarah Clark Stuart. She’s been at the helm of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia as executive director since November 2015; but she’s been a part of the coalition in one way or another since 2009. In Stuart’s role, she’s tasked with being arguably the biggest bike advocate in Philly and the surrounding region. The coalition’s mission is to make bicycling in Philly a fun—and safe—way to get around the city and metro, which includes four suburban counties in Pennsylvania and South Jersey. At a time when tensions are high in this city among drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, we took some time to check in with Stuart

Philly is on the move, whether it’s by car, bus, bike, subway, or foot. More and more people are riding SEPTA, bike lanes are slowly but surely being added to the streets, and we’ve finally made the switch from tokens to card payments. his city continues to be one of the most walkable in the nation. But there’s still a lot of work to be done when it comes to improving and building Philly’s transportation infrastructure. Here, we highlight six transportation projects that all have potential to be game-changers for this city and its 1.5 million residents. A new neighborhood around an improved 30th Street Station This $6.5 billion project led by Amtrak has set the bar high: Its overarching goal

King of Prussia, PA - GVF, a non-profit regional transportation association, hosted its Annual TDM Awards Breakfast on Monday, September 18, welcoming over 100 attendees. Tamala Edwards, 6abc Action News anchor, served as the master of ceremonies, distributing GVF's Annual TDM awards to 36 organizations (listed below). GVF recognized regional organizations for their remarkable leadership and outstanding achievements in implementing programs that promote commuting alternatives for their employees and the community. Organizations included; Main Line Health, GlaxoSmithKline, and Vanguard, as well as local municipalities that represent over 55,000 employees. "Congratulations again to all of our

Cycling, especially bike sharing, offers some of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to check out new neighborhoods or experience a new city. With that in mind, Curbed has curated a list of great bikes rides in, around, or even between U.S. cities. From numerous rails-to-trails projects to great new urban infrastructure, here are a few of the many ways to explore the country on two wheels this season and beyond. Read the full article here: https://www.curbed.com/2017/4/21/15390026/bike-trails-near-me-best-us-cycling-cities

Technology, declining ridership and changing demographics have spurred cities across the country to redesign bus systems that are more convenient. It's no easy task. A few years ago, as the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) was marking the 40th anniversary of its bus service in the Columbus area, a new employee came into the office of Curtis Stitt, the agency’s president and CEO. She brought him a copy of a 1974 annual report that she had stumbled upon while going through the archives. As Stitt looked over the decades-old document, one thing stuck out at him. “The system map from 1974 looked very much like the system map for 2014,” Stitt says. “Forty years later, the routes looked pretty