two for tuesday: mexico city and nyc bike share programs

SF has a bike share program, but it is nowhere to the extent that mexico city and the newly introduced new york city programs. the sf program has been discussed since before ade and meli started this blog, but we haven't seen much progress due to delays, politics, delays, delays and more delays.

well, in the meantime, mexico city introduced its ecobici in 2010. as regular readers know, i went to mexico city late last year, and my boyfriend and i were very excited to try it out. we didn't realize at the time that we needed to live in mexico city in order to use them. disappointed, yes, but we were pleased to see that the bikes were used often. we also saw trucks at night redistributing the bikes among various stations. not to mention physically separated bike lanes and a diverse bike community. there are group rides every day.





as you may also know, i lived in nyc for quite some time. 8 years to be exact. i rode my bike while i lived there, but i didn't ever consider it a viable transportation option since legendary stories of bikes being stolen are bountiful. bill cunningham has had a bike stolen 28 times (at least of the time of his documentary--hope that's it though)! so i rode, but just casually.

as has been plastered everywhere in the media lately, NYC introduced its own bike share this past monday. i wish nothing but the best for this program. since i've lived there, over 300 miles of bikes lanes have been introduced, and nyc streets are slowly changing in order to accommodate less cars, more bikes.



incidentally on my old evening commute, i would ride by a spin class and i would always glance in...but i digress.

bitchcakes, whose blog is sadly on infinite hiatus, is still on flickr and shared some pictures of her citibike trip.



that picture reminded me of the bike i rode in DC last year.



can't wait to see how this citibike share goes. if interenet pictures are any indication, this will be a well documented event.



i don't know what it is going to take for SF to finally introduce its own widespread bikeshare program. in the meantime, i know of some extra bikes for tourists and newbies to borrow. heh. or maybe it'll take going to mexico city and learning something about efficient public transportation and bike infrastructure...kinda like what city leaders are doing. hmm.

powered by the people

we over here at the blog think that bike-powered things are pretty cool. if you've ever ridden a bike to power something, you really notice how much energy it takes to do something via electricity. whether it be powering some light for an art exhibit, to make some blended smoothies, or even to power amplified sound, all of it takes some muscle power and sweat to do.

in that vein, i've been seeing some bikey powered things that are popping up at occupy protests in SF and at the one that started it all, wall street. i also heard from friends of mine that were in oakland on tuesday, that there were a LOT of people on bikes. presumably to quickly get away from the chaos.

foto by RTB

i also recently found this video on the spacebooks interwebs about the occupy wall streeters talking about how they need bikes to power the movement in order to be off the grid. word.

have a great weekend y'all!

in solidarity,
CTX

in what world is this ok?

oh, in nyc i guess. my former home for 8 years. work has been nuts for me lately so i can't completely go into what i would like to say to this, but perhaps the quote below will suffice.

from gothamist

In April of last year, 18-year-old cyclist Jake McDonaugh was killed in a collision with a van at the intersection at Flatbush Avenue and Beverly Road. Witnesses say the driver of the van, 28-year-old Michael Oxley, ran a red light and was speeding when he killed McDonaugh. "He got stuck under the van, and the van [dragged] him about half a block against the asphalt," witness Brian Lorde told the Daily News after the 9:30 a.m. accident. Oxley was driving with a suspended license, and the NYPD took the rare step of charging him with criminally negligent homicide! Yesterday, some sort of "justice" was served.

The Post reports that a jury acquitted Oxley of homicide, and his attorney says a video from outside a restaurant "seemed to sway the jurors that Oxley had the light." But the jury did find Oxley guilty of speeding and driving with a suspended license, for which Justice Raymond Guzman sentenced him to 10 days in jail. Driving over the speed limit and killing somebody while your license is suspended? Slap on the wrist, as long as you have the right of way!

i would just like to know in what world is that ok?! ugh.........ok, back to work for me. please let us know what you think in the comments.

rain and rickshaws

the other week i went into exile after the giants won to new york city with the mama texican. we packed a lot into a short trip, maybe minus an afternoon tea date.

we had a SCHEDULE to follow one day. this day was to see carmen at the metropolitan opera. ok, so the only thing we really had to do was leave our hotel at 5pm in order to have dinner and get to the show. it was raining, and oh yah, 5pm is prime rush hour time during the week. maybe you've heard of this phenomenon. hotel was too far from lincoln center to walk and cabs were all full.

so what did we do? we looked at each other and hopped in a pedicab. dresses and fancy pants (literally) and all...

please excuse the quality of the pics. it was pretty bumpy back there.

here we go...


left side bike lane


van blocking bike lane. typical


aren't you cold?

would i recommend it again? depends on a few things. it was super fun though and an experience we both soon wont forget.

thanks for the birthday gift :) i will remember it always.