While the vast majority of cyclists must adhere the same traffic laws as all other vehicles, and in some cases absurd bike-specific laws, bicycle activists in France have successfully campaigned for the right to run red lights. The new laws, presently in a trial phase at 15 intersections in Eastern Paris, will permit cyclists to continue straight through or turn right on red lights when the road is clear of pedestrians and oncoming traffic.

Read the rest of French Cyclists Win the Right to Run Red Traffic Lights

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Post tags: Bike Paths, bike sharing, cyclists, cyclists rights, france, french bike sharing, green planning, green transportation, Paris, running red lights, traffic laws, velib

San Francisco’s new electric bicycle sharing experiment will soon offer an affordable green transit alternative for those navigating the city’s inclines. The e-bike program will offer riders the option to rent bikes by the hour through the website City CarShare. And for those hauling heavier duty cargo such as groceries, e-bicycle trailers will also be available to rent.

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Post tags: alternative transportation, bike sharing, e-bike, electric bike, electric vehicle, green transportation, San Francisco, san francisco bike sharing, Transportation Sustainability Research Center, uc berkeley, UC Berkeley Research, urban bike sharing

Arlington County and MetroBike are currently in the process of scaling up the area’s bike share service by doubling the amount of stations, but instead of figuring it out themselves, they’re asking the public where the new racks should go. In an innovative and very participatory new program, the county is receiving public comments from residents and businesses on the new station locations. Rather than simply install the new racks and then advertise the service to prospective city cyclists, an interactive map has been released that locals can use to make suggestions.

Read the rest of MetroBike Uses Crowd-Sourced Bike Share Program to Figure Out Where Stations Should Go

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Post tags: alternative transportation, arlington, Arlington County, bicycle, bicycling, bike, Bike Rack, bike share, bike sharing, bike station, bikearlington, biking, crowd source, crowd sourcing, crowd-sourced, crowdsourced, crowdsourcing, green transportation, interactive bike share map, metro bike, metrobike, participatory

Bay Area bike-lovers, rejoice — a $7.9 million bike-sharing pilot project will roll out next year in San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto, Mountain View and Redwood City! If all goes well, one thousand bikes will be available for participants who pay a membership fee in the program.

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Post tags: bicycle, bicycle sharing, bike sharing, San Francisco

Yesterday the city of Denver celebrated Earth Day by launching the first large-scale bike sharing network in the US! Dubbed B-Cycle, the program offers offers roughly 400 red Trek B-cycles at 40 B-stations throughout the City. A launch event at the City and County buildings kicked off the program and afterward the Mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper, led a bike parade around the Civic Center Park.

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Post tags: alternative transportation, B-Cycle, B-Station, bike sharing, bikes, Denver, eco design, first US bike share system, green design

Read the rest of Architects Envision Future of Bike Sharing in Copenhagen

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Post tags: bicycle, bike, bike sharing, bike sharing system, bikes, copenhagen, Denmark, eco desgin, gps, green transporation, RAFAA, real-time tracking, sustainable design, Urban design

Do you like the green / health benefits of cycling, but are concerned about the safety of biking in your city? Would you like to see your city made more safe and convenient for cycling? If you care about bicycles and the urban landscape (and we hope most of you do!), then be sure to JOIN US today at 3:30pm est to talk to Boston Bike Czar Nicole Freedman. We’ll be discussing Boston’s new bike initiatives, including the new bike sharing program - which will put 3000 rentable cycles on the streets of Boston to enhance public wellbeing.

Nicole is the driving force behind Boston’s new bike love, and what will be the biggest bike-sharing system in the United States, so she definitely knows a thing or two about the topic at hand. She’s also a former Olympic cyclist and has played a pivotal role in making Boston a more bike-friendly place as the director of the city’s bicycling programs. We are SUPER EXCITED about this can’t-miss webinar with Nicole today, so please JOIN US, and take part in the conversation!

SIGN UP HERE TO JOIN IN THE CONVERSATION >

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Post tags: bike, bike sharing, boston, green bike, Green Talks, nicole freedman, public bike sharing

Pedal power is clearly on the rise. Bike sharing programs are spreading throughout the world, David Byrne’s new book Bicycle Diaries is flying off the shelves, and brilliant new designs like this, this and this, are appearing all over the globe. A wonderfully quirky addition to the scene is the Hopworksfiets party bike, a brilliant mash-up of human-powered pizza delivery, brew pub, and portable entertainment system. Created by Portland, OR-based bike builders Metrofiets, the Hopworksfiets is designed to deliver everything you need to get your pedal-powered party rolling.

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Post tags: bike sharing, green design, Green Transportation, Hopworksfiets, party bike, Portland, sustainable design

On the chic streets of Paris, a woman wearing a purple cardigan zooms by on a chunky, mocha-grey bicycle. The woman fades from mind, but the retro bike lingers on as a memory with its decidedly unique styling. Strangely, an older gentleman with a bouquet of flowers tucked into his bag now rides by on a bike that looks just like the last one. And now, yet another man is walking the exact same bike down the street too. Coincidence, or something more?

Read the rest of Public Bike Sharing: Progress and Challenges Ahead

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Post tags: bike rental, bike sharing, biki bike, boston bike, greener cities, paris bike share, public bike sharing, public bike systems, velib

We’ve already seen the massive success of urban bike sharing in Paris, but now the super-smart Velib Bike program is taking to the streets of London! 15,000 bikes, 1,000 stations and more than 7.5 million miles of combined biking later have already been implemented in London, and the new scheme will contribute £75 million and 6,000 shared bikes to the mass biking scheme. Spearheaded by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, the new ‘granny bike’ sharing scheme will reduce traffic congestion and help clear up the air of England’s sprawling capital city.

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Post tags: bike sharing, bike solutions, car-free travel, cycle share, eco transportation, granny bikes, green transit, green transportation, London bike share system, london transportation, paris bicycle sharing system, sustainable transit, velib, Velib bicycle sharing system

If you live in a large city, such as Sydney, New York, or Paris, odds are that you have faced the very serious problem of automotive congestion in the downtown areas. There are a few solutions that so far have been implemented to try and solve the problem, the most famous one is the one introduced in London, where one has to pay to bring in their vehicle to the downtown district. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried proposing a similar system for his city, only to find himself unable to bring it to fruition. Well, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe , has decided that another way to solve this problem is to provide to people access to cheap alternative, mass transportation, the Velib Bike System.

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Post tags: bike sharing, david haskell, grance, mass transit solutions, New York., Paris, sustainable transportation, velib