12 April, 2018 Mark Sutton It's a world-wide pandemic. This report could be processed in any county. This one happens to be from UK. An evidence-based call to action by medical experts to end a “42-year trend” of car domination is gaining traction, with the authors calling on the UK Government to drive a change in transport habits. Published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine , the authors outline the consequences of not getting tough on childhood obesity, something their studies tie to sedentary travel habits. An accompanying letter – mailed to UK transport ministers Chris Grayling, Humza Yousaf, Ken Skates and Karan Bradley – calls for dedicated funding of “at least 10% of the national transport budgets to pay for infrastructure interventions supported by a behaviour change programme.” This is not a new proposal having previously been presented by the Association of Directors of Public Health as long ago as 2008, endorsed by over 100 concerned academic, health, transpor...

Inspired by Bogotá’s weekly ciclovía, CicLAvia temporarily closes streets to car traffic and opens them to Los Angelenos to use as a public park. Free for all, CicLAvia connects communities to each other across an expansive city, creating a safe place to bike, walk, skate, roll, and dance through Los Angeles. Currently, CicLAvia is a Southern California phenomenon. It has been opening streets across Los Angeles county since 2010. Over 1 million people have experienced CicLAvia. It's the biggest open streets event in the US! Participants represent 80% of the population of the City of Los Angeles. Other Southern California communities are now promoting CicLAvia events in the San Fernando Valley, Culver City, Venice, Mar Vista, Wilshire Blvd., Koreatown, MacArthur Park, South LA, Echo Park, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Boyle Heights, Historic Downtown, East LA, Pasadena, Pacoima, Arleta, Panorama City, and Southeast Cities. CicLAvia has five times more people using its tempora...

There’s no question that Generation Y’s tendency to favor city life and its declining enthusiasm for car ownership has boosted bike transportation. But as the older Civil Rights Generation and the Baby Boomers who followed them have entered the last third of their lives, they’ve quietly transformed what it means to be the kind of person who rides a bicycle. Between 1995 and 2009, the most recent year for which National Household Travel Survey data is available, the rise in biking among people ages 60-79 accounted for 37 percent of the total nationwide increase in bike trips. Read Entire Article >>

By Eillie Anzilotti Designing a city for bicycles is not just a pleasant idea for the cyclists among us. Designing a city for bikes will also achieve the goals we want for our future urban centers, making them more equitable, healthy, efficient, and clean.  Cities that prioritize bikes over cars effectively reduce carbon emissions, and support public health both by creating clearer air for people to breathe and more opportunities for safe, active transportation.  Bikes also enable many more people to move through the streets at a time than do cars, and when cities are especially concerned with overpopulation and congestion on the roads, bikes emerge as the more efficient option. The bicycle’s ability to address all these concerns makes now, according to Colville-Andersen, an ideal time for cities to re-embrace the bicycle as a primary mode of urban transit. ............................................... Mikael Colville-Andersen rides his bike every...