Giving Up On Public Transit: Interview With Megan Siegel 71
Toronto bicyclist Megan Siegel – Photo by Doug Estey Two years ago Megan Siegel moved to Toronto from the Maritimes. After commuting on Toronto’s scenic (but dreadful) Queen streetcar for 7 months, Megan was ready to call it quits on Toronto and head back to the east coast. “I lived on Queen Street East and ...
Copenhagenize Bicycle-Friendly Cities 2011 18
The Copenhagenize Index of Bicycle-Friendly Cities 2011 The Danish firm Copenhagenize Consulting recently released its list of the top 20 bicycle-friendly cities in the world for 2011. The “Copenhagenize Index” as it’s called, puts Amsterdam in the #1 spot, scoring 54 out of a possible maximum score of 64, with Copenhagen itself placing second with ...
Contest: Win a Bike Painting By Mike Rubbo 6
Mike Rubbo at his first bike art gallery in Sydney Australia (July 2011) / Photo by Mike Rubbo The Urban Country is holding its first contest, and you are invited to enter. Entering the contest to win a painting by the talented Michael Rubbo is as easy as mounting an upright bicycle. All you have ...
The Bicycle as a Status Symbol 33
Man & son ride a bicycle past an Audi car in Shanghai – Photo by James D. Schwartz / The Urban Country One of the biggest barriers to increasing bicycle transportation in many western countries is the fact that it is difficult to express one’s wealth and status on a bicycle. People are generally drawn ...
Rediscovering The Bicycle 17 Years Later 13
Rediscovering the freedom of the bicycle. Photo by Robert Lawson for The Urban Country 31-year-old Robert Lawson hadn’t owned a bicycle since he was a 14-year-old teenager growing up in Vancouver, Canada. Three months ago – four years after he first moved to Toronto – Robert, a Senior Policy Advisor for the provincial government, decided ...
‘i share the road’ campaign 10
from the i share the road campaign website Yesterday some of you might have seen a sneak preview of a new initiative I am working on: a campaign called ‘i share the road’. We are giving away stickers to give people the opportunity to voice their support for sharing the road between people on bicycles ...
Baby And The Bicycle 15
Photo of baby Sofia by Jamie Morren – All rights reserved Today’s post is about two things that play a prominent role in my life right now: my baby and my bicycle. We took our baby Sofia for her first foray into modeling: an outdoor photo shoot. I decided to bring my bicycle with me ...
How To Win Over Non-Cyclists at a Dinner Party 18
Bicycle Film Festival Panel Discussion at the Gladstone Hotel (Aug 10, 2011) – photo by Erin Simkin / Bicycle Film Festival Toronto Last Wednesday I participated in a panel discussion for the Toronto Bicycle Film Festival. The title of the panel discussion was: “Building Bridges: How to tell good stories and win over non-cyclists at ...
When Driver Kills Cyclist, Media Shrugs… 22
Screenshot from InsideToronto.com article on 84-year-old Jack Roper, the cyclist killed last Friday On July 5th, a cyclist struck and critically injured a pedestrian in Toronto. The pedestrian survived, but this incident set off a flurry of media rage against cyclists. The Toronto Star’s first report on the incident (“Cyclist fractures pedestrian’s skull, gets $400 ...
On Scofflaw Cyclists & Exemplary Motorists 59
“Amsterdam, girl cycling from A to B, multi-tasking, like so many do” by Amsterdamize / RateMyVelo.com You have heard it a million times before: Cyclists don’t deserve any respect on our streets until they obey all of the laws. The implicit message in this fallacy is that drivers have a right to be angry and ...