Author name: Kyle Park Points

is a working father in New York City by way of Sarasota, Florida. He is a public transportation enthusiast, clean air advocate, lifetime recycler and frequent panderer. He also reluctantly tended to his family's compost heap for many formative years. He hopes to one day leave his daughter with a safer, healthier environment than when she was born - which shouldn't be hard since she was born in Queens, New York.

Bikeshare Riders Cycle Safer

According to research conducted by Mineta Transportation Institute(MTI),  bikeshare riders are actually safer cyclists. A recent article on Curbed.com reported that MTI found a lower accident rate for cyclists using a bikesharing program compared to other ‘regular’ cyclists. The institute’s peer-reviewed report, Bikesharing and Bicycle Safety, utilized interviews, long-term data and focus groups to research …

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Google’s “Popular Times” A Potential Game Changer

When it comes to city planning, research is the key – the key to fluid transportation, efficient land usage, and reasonable allocation of resources. Tim Barton recently made some poignant observations regarding Google’s “Popular Times” feature and how the data gathered by the media juggernaut could be distributed to and utilized by urban planners to better …

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Charm City Bikeshare Receives Funding in Baltimore

According to the Baltimore Sun, Maryland’s largest city has recently released $2.36 million in funding for a bikeshare partnership with Canadian company Bewegen Technologies that will deploy 500 bikes on the streets this fall. The fleet will include 200 bikes with electric pedal assistance, which will be the largest share in North and South America, …

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California Judge Rules in Favor of High-Speed Rail

According to The Fresno Bee, a Sacramento, California, judge recently denied the efforts of Kings County Board of Supervisors to halt production of a high-speed bullet train from San Francisco to Los Angeles. This is yet another advancement for the project which has been held up in litigation and bureaucracy for the last several years. …

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Norway Plans to Spend $1 Billion on Bike Highways

Norway is planning on constructing nearly $1 billion worth of bike highways (click here for Norwegian article) in an attempt to spark a rise in bicycle transit and reduce national carbon emissions. According to a CityLab article, the plan was announced in late February with intent to slash the country’s carbon emissions, the project aims …

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Morgan Freeman Narrates Pedestrians on Hollywood Blvd

On a recent episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, actor and frequent narrator Morgan Freeman lent his signature voice to a segment exploring the “pedestrian experience” on Hollywood Boulevard via a hidden street camera. Noting a certain unsuspecting gentleman and his ‘selfie stick,’ Freeman unleashes a laugh-out-loud minute of commentary which should rouse a genuine laugh …

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Top 20 Cities for Saving Money via Public Transportation

The American Public Transit Association (APTA) recently released its February Savings Report. The association releases a monthly savings report in order to analyze how much money the average two-person household can save by taking public transportation and using one less automobile. The average commuter is looking at a savings of more than $754 a month …

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Spain Tops World in Bicycle Count Growth

A company that has been making headlines lately, Eco-Counter, has once again released some intriguing data for cycle enthusiasts. The French firm recently unveiled its “2015 Eco-Counter Worldwide Cycling Index” which details statistics pertaining to the increasing total global bike count. It seems, according to nextcity.org and the company’s approximately 1,500 counters, that Spain is …

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Milan to Offer Cash-to-Cycle Commuter Incentive

In Italy, officials are targeting pollution with a different strategy. As reported by the Guardian, Milan, the ‘economic powerhouse of Italy,’ and home to countless Vespas and Fiat500s, looks to bring the bicycle back in force by paying citizens to cycle to work. As a city with a history of being auto-centric, a grave pollution …

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Eco-Counter Records Bicycle Count Growth

Eco-Counter, a French business firm that has installed 12,000 automated people counters worldwide to measure bike and foot traffic, has recorded 3 years worth of data showing the bike ‘population’ growing at a rate that is actually faster than the human population. Peopleforbikes.org recently reported that the ‘global bike count has been rising 5 times …

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Chicago Transit Authority Decreases Slow Zones

Not faster than a speeding bullet but Chicago‘s public transportation has achieved the city’s fastest train service since 1997 according to ChicagoNow.com. Blogger Kevin O’Neil recently wrote about Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) completion of many track modernization projects over the last 4 years. The construction and repairs have resulted in a record low  5.5%, level …

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Car-Free Sundays With Less Air & Noise Pollution

In São Paulo, Brazil, citizens are enjoying less air and noise pollution – at least on one day a week. On Sundays, during what is called Paulista Aberta, motor traffic is restricted on the popular Paulista Avenue and the street is dedicated to cyclists and pedestrians. Grassroots group Minha Sampa campaigned for the event since …

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Georgia Government Denies Public Transit Expansion

While it looked like Atlanta, Georgia’s Metropolitan Area Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) was on its way to receiving much-needed funding and updates, the bill that would have enabled this was killed in the legislature late last week. It was reported that the bill would have allowed Fulton, Dekalb, and Clayton counties to levy a half-cent …

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$64 Million Bike & Ped Plan For San Diego Moves Forward

Recently, Next City reported on San Diego, California’s $64 million plan to construct a bicycle and pedestrian transit system complete with “protected bike lanes, pedestrian greenways, curb bulb-outs, road diets and more.” The Downtown Mobility Plan, if adopted, will reinvent the way cyclists and pedestrians travel the downtown streets. “Just getting to this stage is …

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Russia Unrolls Autonomous Trains

A Rostec company, the V. Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design, recently deployed its newest software for autonomously controlling trains on Russian lines. The “driver-less train control” software will deploy first in Circle Line, Moscow Metro. The fully autonomous trains will be responsible for everything but opening and closing the doors — and even …

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Bike Commuting Triples In London, Driving Halves

The streets of London have seen an increase in bike riders and a decrease in car commuters. According to an article published by the BBC, the number of cyclists during rush hour will outnumber cars within the new few years. According to Transport for London, over the last decade and a half car drivers have …

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Bogotá Gets Two-Way Bike Lane On Important Street

Originally published on Gas2. Bogotá, Colombia, has a new vision for bicycle transit. A new message if you will. As part of the city’s 16th annual Car-Free Day, February 4th, the people helped transform one lane of a bustling city street into a two-way bike-only lane. The city had already introduced a bike lane on …

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