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DC’s Capital Bikeshare Falls Short 18

All photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country The District of Columbia expanded its Capital Bikeshare program last week to 1,100 BIXI-style bicycles scattered around the D.C. area at 110 stations – stretching as far as Arlington, Virginia. Although a wonderful step in the right direction, the program falls short by trying to ...

Only the poor ride bicycles in Shanghai 12

All photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country When it comes to using bicycles as transportation, there are few cities I have visited that intrigue me more than Shanghai. Shanghai citizens have a knack for utilizing their bicycles to their full capacity. From carrying fridges, to bathtubs, to beds – to the far ...

Futile Bicycle Signals 4

Photo by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country  Toronto loves to take great ideas from cycling cities, and then implement them completely wrong. One good example – bike traffic signals. Cities that are more bicycle-friendly implement bicycle traffic signals to reduce the probability of conflicts between motor vehicles and bicycles. In New York, you ...

Oakville’s Grand Opportunity 1

Photo “Groningen: Colourful City” courtesy of Akbar Simonse The following is an excerpt from an article I contributed to Oakville.com that discusses using bicycles as transportation in Oakville, Ontario: So how exactly can Oakville improve its current state? The first thing Oakville needs is a master cycling plan. It needs a vision that encompasses active ...

Learning From September 11th

Photo by slagheap / Flickr Most people remember where they were on September 11th, 2001 – 9 years ago – when they heard the news about airliners crashing into the World Trade Center and subsequently collapsing. I was working in a skyscraper in downtown Toronto when I heard the news before we were evacuated (after ...

Bicycles in Vietnam 8

All Photos by Mark Green / The Urban Country Our Asia correspondent Mark Green snapped some lovely photographs of bicycles in Vietnam on his last visit to that fascinating country. These photos show how bicycles are used by normal people in normal clothes as transportation – the way bicycles were meant to be used when ...

Bike Helmets Not Warranted 34

Photo Courtesy of Marc van Woudenberg / Amsterdamize  The topic of helmets often comes up on The Urban Country. It’s not really a topic we like to waste a lot of time on, because there are so many more important things we can focus on to improve the conditions for bicycles in North America. The ...