irishboyinlondon

The European Platform on Mobility Management (EPOMM) have created TEMS, a database that lets you calculate and compare the modal split between cars, public transit, cycling and walking in different European cities including the UK!  

EPOMM hopes TEMS will enable comparison and a positive competition between cities for more sustainability. EPOMM is well aware that comparability is difficult with so many different survey methods - but it is far better then non-availability of data. With TEMS EPOMM aims to promote efforts and discussions to make modal split data and surveys more standardised in the future.

plantedcity:

From Reuters:

 

Public bicycle sharing schemes such as Barcelona’s “Bicing” program or London’s “Boris Bikes” save lives and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study on Friday.

Bike schemes are becoming increasingly popular in cities around the world, with more than 360 already running, but their main aim is usually to ease congestion rather than boost health. 

Researchers at the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona found in a study, however, that around 9,000 tons of carbon dioxide pollution are averted and some 12 lives saved each year by Barcelona’s scheme, which was introduced in March 2007.

“Active transport policies such as bike sharing systems promote physical activity among the population and are a good means to improve public health and also reduce expenses in public health services,” said David Rojas-Rueda, whose study was published in the British Medical Journal.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week and says this could be done by walking for 30 minutes five times per week, or by cycling to work every day.

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The researchers said this initial assessment suggested it was important “to encourage cities to change car use by cycling and stimulate the implementation of bike sharing systems in cities to improve the health of the population.”

Check out the rest of the article, including details about London and Barcelona’s bike share systems, here. For an overview of the rapid growth of bike sharing programs around the world take a look at National Geographic’s recent article, ‘Bike share Schemes Shift Into High Gear’. Ride on!

(Photo credit: Inhabitat)

An interesting article by Laura Laker of the Guardian examining the controversial question - when should we take the lane? 

Ask any urban cyclist about “taking the lane”, and even if they haven’t heard of the term, they have probably done it. Although widely regarded as safe practice, this often gets negative responses from other road users. So who is right?

Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian