Making The BIXI Pledge 1
Photo by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country The City of Toronto originally planned to bring year-round BIXI bicycle sharing to town in 2010 with 3,000 bicycles at 300 stations. It then encountered some funding complications and postponed BIXI Toronto’s inauguration to the spring of 2011 with a reduced fleet of 1,000 bicycles for ...
G20: We Were Duped 8
Photo by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country The G20 was a historic weekend where Toronto citizens were duped and our rights were stripped in the name of “terrorism”. Our city and our country failed us on so many different levels, and I can honestly say I’m not proud to be a Canadian right ...
G20 Saturday In Photos 1
All Photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country The G20 leaders are in town this weekend, and the protests are abundant. Although there were various causes that I sympathize with, I chose not to participate in the protest this weekend. Instead I jumped on my bike with a friend and set about Saturday ...
Pedaling Po-Po 2
All photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country When it comes to cycling, Toronto is not at the world stage. So with the eyes of the world on Toronto this week for the G20 summit of world leaders, Toronto will not be showcasing its cycling culture. But despite this, Toronto is doing something ...
A Beautiful Morning in Toronto 2
All photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country It seems like ages since I posted a “Winter Cycling in Toronto” article featuring me riding my bike on a blistering cold January day. Summer is here now and there are swarms of people riding bikes for transportation now in Toronto. Despite our poor infrastructure, ...
Wear a Helmet And Get a Cycling Utopia 15
[Photo] This photo of a “frivolous and reckless” Santa Monica cyclist courtesy of Bike by the Sea Shawn Micallef recently wrote an article on the Spacing.ca Toronto blog where he argues that anyone who wants better bicycle infrastructure in Toronto should wear a helmet if they expect to be taken seriously. Micallef claims that anyone ...
Why Do Cyclists Blow Stop Signs? 13
All photos by James D. Schwartz I came across this unique stop sign while walking the dog at the Exhibition grounds here in Toronto. It is a regular stop sign outfitted with a secondary stop sign that reads “CYCLISTS MUST STOP”. The implicit message that I gather from this stop sign is that regular stop ...
I Am Responsible for the Gulf Oil Spill… 5
Photo courtesy of IBRRC on Flickr I am responsible for the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. I claim responsibility for the 11 deaths, 17 injuries from the explosion, and the millions of marine and wildlife that have been killed or displaced as a result. Yes, I am responsible for releasing an estimated 1.9 million to ...
Bicycles for Transporting… [fill in the blank] 6
All photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country Earlier this month I posted 30 photos of Utility Cycling in China. That post generated a lot of interest because like me, you are probably intrigued by how the Chinese use their bicycles for practical purposes – like pizza delivery, garbage pickup, cargo shipping, etc. ...
Shanghai Cycle Chic 10
All photos by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country During my recent trip to China I was fortunate enough to spend a few days in Shanghai. Before I went to China, I promised Mikael Colville-Andersen that I would snap some photos of “Cycle Chic” action while biking around Shanghai. Mikael popularized the term “Cycle ...