Duke, UNC both offer students collective bikes

Duke

Duke Bikes Grand Opening (from a press release)

Join fellow Duke students, faculty and staff for the grand opening of the new Duke Bikes program this Thursday, August 30th, 4pm on the West Campus Plaza. Snacks, free Duke Bikes t-shirts and other prizes will be given away to the first 100 visitors.

Duke Bikes is a new bike-loan program for Duke undergraduate, graduate and professional students. This collaborate effort provides students with no-cost options for exercise, adventure and campus commuting. It is a tangible example of several of Duke’s efforts to enhance the student experience and promote sustainability.

Duke Bikes works much like checking out a library book. All you need is your DukeCard. The loan period is up to five days, and the bike fleet includes 1-speed and 3-speed Trek Cruisers, equipped with locks, lights, flashers and baskets. Helmets are available, too.

More Info
http://transportation.duke.edu/bikes
(919) 724-6417

Tavey McDaniel Capps
Environmental Sustainability Coordinator
Office of the Executive Vice President
Duke University
tavey.mcdaniel@duke.edu
919-660-1434

Carolina

Blue Urban Bikes (from the SURGE website)
Thursday, 05 April 2007

Blue Urban Bikes is a community bike-loan project serving the Chapel Hill/ Carrboro community and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The mission of Blue Urban Bikes is to provide a reliable, clean, and affordable mode of transportation for our community amidst rising gas prices and growing concerns over global warming.

Background

Blue Urban Bikes ( or “BUB”), a community bicycle loan program, was created through a partnership of the ReCYCLEry and SURGE – Students United for a Responsible Global Environment – after several meetings with local community leaders in 2005 gave rise to the idea. This program is designed to provide a reliable source of clean and affordable sustainable transportation to Chapel Hill/Carrboro residents and visitors, as well as offer a healthy travel alternative and allow citizens to take an active role in lessening the environmental footprint of our community. Chapel Hill and Carrboro are renowned for their bicycle-friendly status, and bicycling proves to be an ideal form of transportation for many community members. Considering the time it often takes to find a parking space, riding a bike simply takes less time and leaves the rider feeling strong, able and healthy. Potential BUB users include Chapel Hill/Carrboro residents, UNC students and staff, commuters, transit and park & ride users, area tourists and visitors, recreational weekend users, and potential new bicycle commuters.

carolina_blue.jpgBUB Hub Locations

The BUB program goal is to site “BUB Hubs”, check-out stations for the Blue Urban Bikes, at local businesses throughout Carrboro and Chapel Hill and on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. Each BUB Hub will accommodate 5 bikes, or “BUBs.” Bike racks, provided through the BUB program, will be installed at hub locations to secure the BUBs when not in use (each locked to the rack with its own cable lock). The program goal is to locate BUB Hubs along the Franklin Street/Main Street corridor from East Chapel Hill to the western edge of Carrboro, as well as to place some north/south hub locations for member convenience. The Blue Urban Bikes program is seeking partnerships with local businesses for hub locations; the following sites have already been confirmed:

* Skylight Exchange – 405 ½ W Rosemary St, Chapel Hill
* 3Cups Coffeeshop – 431 W Franklin St, Chapel Hill
* Townsend & Bertram - 200 N Greensboro St, Carrboro (in Carr Mill Mall)
* Back Alley Bikes - 108 N Graham St, Chapel Hill (behind the Merch)
* Owens 501 Diner - 1500 N Fordham Blvd, Chapel Hill (near Eastgate Shopping Center)

Contacts

Alison Carpenter, SURGE: 919-960-6886 or alison@surgenetwork.org
Chris Richmond, ReCYCLEry: 919-932-1335 or chris@recyclery.info

More information is available online at www.recyclery.info/blue_urban_bikes

Paris

Paris recently launched its own collective bikes program — one of the most ambitious programs to date. More than 10,000 bikes became available in July, with more than 20,000 slated to be available by the end of the year. You can read more about it here or watch the video below to see some folks take the Parisian velos for a test ride.

E.T. meets Donnie Darko


Seen previously on velorution and Martino’s Bike Lane Diary.

Durham Critical Mass returns — September 6

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After a 90+ year hiatus, Critical Mass returns to Durham. These never-before-seen (unless you visit the Durham County Library) photos prove that Critical Mass is much older than those San Franciscans claim. 1992? Try 1920s.

What is unclear is why Critical Mass Durham has lay dormant for the past 94 years.

No longer.

The cycling community swells again. At 5:35pm on the first Thursday of every month, meet at Major — the new bronze bull sculpture right smack in the middle of downtown — for a group ride you won’t forget.

If you want to see more bike lanes, more roads designed with bicyclists in mind, more respect on the road, then come ride with us. If you want to find a safe route to ride to and from work, then come ride with us. If you want to enjoy the company of others like you, who choose to ride, then come ride with us. If you want to find out just how strong Durham’s cycling community really is, then come out and ride with us.

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See you Thursday, September 6th, at 5:35pm.

Come ready to ride. All bikes welcome.

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Transportation Secretary: bikes aren’t transportation

It is little wonder that the United States lags behind Europe and east Asia in the development of real cycling networks and bike-specific infrastructure. Bicycles are vehicles, yet the national Transportation Secretary can go on thinking (and saying) the bikes are not transportation.

In a PBS NewsHour interview last week, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters lamented that transportation funds are being spent on such frivolous earmarks as bike paths.

GWEN IFILL: Explain what you mean when you say earmarks.

MARY PETERS: Well, an earmark is a project that’s designated by a member of Congress specifically to a project generally in his or her district or state. And the level of earmarking has increased substantially over the last couple of decades in terms of the highway bill. The last highway bill that was passed, in the summer of 2005, contained over 6,000 of those marks, those specially designated projects. And the cost of those projects just in that bill alone was $24 billion, almost a tenth of the bill.

GWEN IFILL: Aren’t many of those projects, even though they’re special interest projects, aren’t they roads and bridges, often?

MARY PETERS: Gwen, some of them are, but many of them are not. There are museums that are being built with that money, bike paths, trails, repairing lighthouses. Those are some of the kind of things that that money is being spent on, as opposed to our infrastructure.

…

GWEN IFILL: Who is spending the money inappropriately?

MARY PETERS: Well, there’s about probably some 10 percent to 20 percent of the current spending that is going to projects that really are not transportation, directly transportation-related. Some of that money is being spent on things, as I said earlier, like bike paths or trails. Some is being spent on museums, on restoring lighthouses, as I indicated.

I guess after the bridge collapse in Minneapolis someone has to shoulder the blame for our aging highway infrastructure. Why not blame those weirdos who ride bicycles to work?

By the way — the American Tobacco Trail, a transportation corridor for bicycle commuters in Durham, was built with federal transportation earmarks.

Durham Ride for Rwanda — Saturday, September 8th

From the Durham Bike Co-op website…

On Saturday, September 8th, a community of like-minded Durham businesses will host a truly special event that will benefit a cause very close to our hearts. I’m pleased to announce that The Durham Bike Co-op is a co-sponsor of a bicycle scavenger hunt around the city of Durham designed to raise funds for, and awareness of, Bikes to Rwanda, an organization with the mission to provide much-needed cargo bicycles to co-operative coffee farmers in Rwanda. The organization also works toward improving the quality of life in these coffee-growing communities through a bicycle workshop and maintenance program that not only provides transportation resources for basic needs but also enhances the production of quality coffee.

Registration for the event begins at noon, and the scavenger hunt begins at 1 pm at event co-sponsor Shade Tree Coffee, which is also great place for coffee or espresso before, after, and during the event! Other sites along the route include Durham locations of co-sponsors The Scrap Exchange, SEEDS community garden, Locopops, Chaz’s Bull City Records, and the Durham Bike Co-op. Registration is $7 and all proceeds go directly to Bikes to Rwanda. Special thanks to Docusource for printing one of the most beautiful posters we’ve ever seen; and to Counter Culture Coffee for helping organize the event.

In solidarity with our partners in Rwanda, the event takes place on the same day as the Rwandan Wooden Bike Classic. At each stop on the hunt, participants will complete fun challenges such as riding a wooden bike; competing in a coffee sack race; enjoying a delicious popsicle; drinking a shot of single-origin Rwandan espresso; and more! At the end of the hunt, those who have completed all the challenges and make it back to Shade Tree will be entered in a drawing for prizes.

The event is sure to be a lot of fun for the whole family, and even if you don’t have or ride a bicycle, we encourage you to still come out and join the festivities. For those of you who do plan to ride, please remember your helmets!

Camus and Ethics

As long as enough folks sign up, I’m offering two new courses through Duke Continuing Studies this fall.

For eight weeks (September and October), we’ll be discussing contemporary ethics and the life and writings of Albert Camus. To read course descriptions or register for a class, follow this links.

Bressen_Camus.jpg Photo by Henri Cartier-Bresson

Congressman McHenry offers weak critique of Energy Bill

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This slide accompanied McHenry’s speech

Because of a provision for bicycle commuters in the most recent Energy bill, Representative Patrick McHenry (NC) took the floor to belittle the bill’s Democratic authors and supporters. According to Congressman Earl Blumenaur (Oregon), the provision’s author, “the Commuter Benefit for bikers amends section 132(f) of the IRS

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McHenry

code to include “bicycles” in the definition of transportation covered by fringe benefits. Included in the Ways and Means energy bill is a benefit of $20/month for those employees who bike to work, which is a clean, healthy and efficient mode of transportation.”

McHenry is so proud of his performance that he’s posted a video clip of it on his website: Congressman McHenry Slams Democrats’ Antiquated Energy Plan 08/04/2007 McHenry: Returning To The 19th Century Won’t Solve Our 21st Century Energy Crisis.

When I type my zip-code into the Send a Message to Congressman McHenry webpage so that I can give him some feedback on his speech in opposition to the Energy Bill, the automatic response generated by the website is Sorry, that zip-code is for another district. I’m not allowed to send him my comments, because he doesn’t represent me directly. And that’s how open, transparent government works in the digital age.

I can call (and I will). I can write a letter (I might). But I can’t send an email, because opening up electronic communications to members of Congress would flood their inboxes with feedback from citizens. Imagine that. In a democracy no less.

Representative McHenry,

I am writing to express my disappointment with your August 4th speech made in opposition to the most recent Energy Bill. I didn’t hear any substance in your critique; only ridicule and a continuation of the kind of partisan politics that prevents finding real solutions to pressing problems.

It is disappointing that such childish rhetoric passes muster as governance and representation. I expect more from an elected member of government in one of the most sophisticated countries on earth.

As a citizen of North Carolina and a frequent visitor of the areas you represent, I hope that you will find a way to rise above party politics and represent the interests of North Carolinians without relying on juvenile tactics.

The good news is that the energy bill passed anyway. Thank you Congressman Price for endorsing it.

Now, how do I go about getting my $20/month?

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Bull City Bikers: Jack and Anne

Jack Edinger, a fellow board member at the Durham Bike Co-op, and Anne Fairchild are the next Bull City Bikers.

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What bike(s) do you own and ride regularly?
Anne: Trek multi track 730 w/ plastic crate attached!
Jack: Currently ride a 1983 Trek 630 fixed-gear conversion. I also have an ever-changing fleet of frames and project bikes. I counted nine bikes in my workshop this morning, four of which are built up.

What’s your primary flavor of riding?
Anne: Commuting, tooling around town, occasionally for fitness
Jack: Daily commuter, weekend errand-runner: road bike flavor. I occasionally do some mountain biking, but it’s been a while.

What’s the length and frequency of your average ride?
Anne: I typically ride about 15 min. six times a week at least
Jack: Too short, only a few miles to work - but I ride back home for lunch. I would guess I ride an average 20 miles per week commuting, plus a few extra miles on the weekends. I try to make up for my short commute by riding in all weather conditions, year-round.

Why did you start riding and why do you still ride?
Anne: I always biked around my neighborhood growing up. As a young adult in the mid nineties I thought mountain bikes were “cool” and purchased one thinking I would ride it, but in hindsight it was mostly about image. Now I have a utilitarian bike that I ride to get around town easily, reduce my carbon emissions, save money, and to keep as active as I can. I also like being a part of the world when I am riding as opposed to being trapped in a steel can.
Jack: I started riding bikes at a very early age - was very much into BMX as a kid. I lived close to elementary school and would sometimes bike to school. I was the youngest of four boys, who all had bike-boom-era ‘ten speeds’, they were undoubtedly the reason I started cycling.

I also rode to class when I was an undergrad at UNC, until my bike was stolen when I was a senior. I didn’t replace it, and consequently did not ride much - if at all - for many years. Four years ago, my wife Anne and I moved closer to my job at Duke and I started riding again. My first commuter bike was her old mountain bike! It was then that my passion for cycling was renewed. I soon discovered the joy of fixed-gear and was hooked.

guardian.jpgWhat’s the most unusual thing you’ve seen while out for a ride?
Anne: An orange cone w/ a face painted on it at the intersection of Hillsborough and Carolina where I cut through to get to work because the road is blocked off to cars. Who made it and why? It has been useful keeping the Duke lot overflow cars from parking so that we can still bike through the narrow passageway.
Jack: I wouldn’t say I have seen anything unusual, other than typical Durham quirkiness. My wife now commutes to her job on Ninth Street, and I work on East Campus, so we often cross paths when I’m riding back home for lunch as she heads to work in the afternoon. That’s the best, getting a kiss on my commute!

How would your world be different if you wake up tomorrow and there are no more cars?
Anne: I think my world would change a lot less than the average person. I can get about everywhere I go by bike. I would have to work a lot harder to see my family in Chapel hill I guess.
Jack: My world wouldn’t change that much… I suppose my summer commutes wouldn’t be so hot! We’d probably be a lot busier at the bike co-op as well.

What’s one thing Durham could do to become more bike friendly?
Anne: Bike racks on Ninth St. and driver education about bicycles so they don’t act so scared around us!
Jack: More of everything: bike racks, lane striping, dedicated bikeways, driver education, you name it! I personally think Durham is headed in the right direction and has made significant progress towards this goal in recent years. I have faith and confidence in a bike-friendly future for the Bull City. The one thing that we really need, however, is the political will to make it happen. That, and more folks on bikes.

Dan Schueller, bike commuter

schueller.jpgThe Minneapolis paper, The Star Tribune, has a moving audio-slideshow of Dan Schueller’s story. Schueller, a bike-commuter, was riding home when the I-35W bridge collapsed. He was one of the first people on the scene and helped a number of people off the bridge. Find it here.