Last Friday, BU Sustainability hosted an event to promote awareness on climate change. The event was held in collaboration with groups from around the world who are protesting the rising atmospheric carbon dioxide that’s choking our planet to death and raising global temperatures to dangerous levels. The event took place ahead of the U.N. hosting a climate summit on a new treaty to curb global warming Dec. 10 in Copenhagen.
Of course, BU Bikes wanted to be a part of this awareness campaign, since biking is a zero-emission, low-impact, cheap, easy, and quick way to get around. Especially in this city, full of transportation woes.
We formed the numbers 3-5-0, to signify the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that we need to achieve, parts per million.
You can see me, with the Jam Bike, at the bottom right of the “5,” and Tony and Greg are at the upper left corner of the “5.” Then there’s Alex with a BMX bike in the “0″.
The Boston Globe published the photo (along with other photos from around the world)
the caption reads: Students and faculty from Boston University join together to form a 350 at Marsh Plaza, a special location on campus next to the School of Theology, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received his doctoral education. The 350 global campaign calls for a reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide to 350 parts per million (ppm).
Special thanks to Alyssa Benjamin for getting us on board with this, and to Dennis Carlberg and Susan Lebovitz from the Sustainability Department, and to the Environmental Student Organization for helping put this on, and to everyone who attended and help organize.
Seriously, we need to cut our emissions. Otherwise it’s going to get ugly.
BU Today, the prominent news and information website for BU, posted a feature on the group last Friday in their Campus Life section. It’s called “Where Bicycles Get Fixed, and Celebrated.” Subheadline: “Free Friday tool shops help rubber meet the road.” It’s a great article, and even includes this video of Alex fixing the bike of Gina Daniel.
Thanks to Anna Webster (COM ‘1o) for coming up with the idea and writing the piece, and to Robin Berghaus for making this awesome and attractive video, and to Gina Daniel for letting Alex toss her bike on the stand.
Some of my favorite lines in the piece: “Answers to these questions can be heard ricocheting through the shop, provided by a handful of BU Bikes members. One of them, Alex Boyd (CAS’10), props a bike on a stand and spins the tires, looking for wobble. Most Fridays his fingers are tinged with grease from hanging out at the tool shop performing free tune-ups that would cost $50 at a commercial shop.”
And I like how the last line encourages riders of any level to join the “pack” during our group rides.
I was biking to work yesterday and came across this sight. I just couldn’t help myself and snapped a quick shot with my phone. This was taken right outside University Grill on Comm Ave, yesterday, Sep 8, at around 4 pm. There was one officer sitting in the passenger seat — I think his partner was either grabbing a burger or getting a haircut. I waited a few minutes to see if they’d move, when they didn’t I continued on my way.
As of last month, it is a $100 fine to park in a bike lane in the City of Boston. That may seem unreasonably high, but you have to take into account that cars in bike lanes cause bikers to swerve out into traffic, creating a very dangerous situation. Also, what’s the point in having lanes if they are always full of double-parkers? I suppose with increased enforcement people will learn to keep those lanes clear. The question is: “who’s watching the watchmen?”
it’s car number 597, license BUPD7
Update: Here’s an e-mail response we received after expressing our concerns about this particular vehicle to the BUPD:
I will check into this. However, everyone must understand if an officer is on an emergency call, its is necessary to get to the call no matter what it takes. All officers are aware of the bike lanes and understand not to block them unless there is no other option when responding to a call. Again, I will check into this and address it. Thank you for your assistance.
Sgt Larry Cuzzi
Yes, that deserved all caps. Now we may actually be able to use that bike lane they striped down Comm Ave. FedEx trucks be warned…
The long and short is that the City Council just passed an ordinance prohibiting parking in bike lanes. It empowers BTD and BPD officers to ticket any violators. The tickets are for $100. Wow. The full ordinance is posted below.
This was passed with the help of a few influential bike organizations, namely LivableStreets Alliance, BU Bikes, Allston-Brighton Bikes, Bikes Not Bombs, Institute for Human Centered Design, Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, Rozzie Bikes, JP Bikes, and Dot Bike. Thanks to all the groups that helped push this badly needed legislation.
AN ORDINANCE PROHIBITING PARKING IN A MARKED BIKE LANE
OR MARKED SHARED LANE
WHEREAS: The City of Boston is lacking an effective method to ensure public safety as members of the public not only travel in motor vehicles in marked bike lanes and shared lanes but also park in said lanes; and
WHEREAS: This Ordinance shall establish the following guidelines for parking motor vehicles in marked bike lanes and shared bike lanes; and
Ordained by the City Council as follows:
Purpose. The purpose of this ordinance is to establish guidelines for parking motor vehicles in marked bike lanes and shared bike lanes.
Prohibition from Marked Bike Lanes and Shared Lanes. No driver shall stand or park any motor vehicle in a marked bike or shared bike lane in the City of Boston.
Penalties. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be subject to a fine of one hundred dollars and no cents ($100.00) for each offense. This fine shall increase by thirty-three dollars ($33.00) if it remains unpaid at least twenty-one (21) days after issuance of a notice of the violation.
Exceptions. Nothing in these sections shall prevent standing or parking a motor vehicle in a marked bike lane or shared bike lane: (i) when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or pedestrians; (ii) in compliance with the lawful direction of a police officer or official traffic sign; or (iii) unless authorized to do so under existing regulations (including but not limited to designated residential parking lanes or parking meters).
Enforcement. The Boston Transportation Department and the Boston Police Department shall have the authority to enforce this section. The provisions of Massachusetts General Laws c. 90, s. 20A1/2 may be used to enforce these sections, and the adjudication provisions of this chapter and of Chapter 190 of the Acts of 1982 shall apply to this section. The Boston Police Department and Boston Transportation Department shall have the authority to impound any motor vehicle in violation of these sections.
Regulatory Authority. The Commissioner of the Boston Transportation Department and the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department shall have the authority to promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement and enforce these sections.
Severability. If any provision of these sections is held as invalid, then such provision shall be considered separately and apart from the remaining provisions, which shall remain in full force and effect.
Implementation. The provisions of this section shall be effective immediately after passage.
Emerson student, Matthew Hashiguchi, made this documentary on bike lanes in Boston. It was for his class on Filmmaking in the Sustainable City. Check it out!
I think that in a University setting, it’s got to be easy to convince people to move about campus by bicycle. Taking that ideal into a full urban setting, however, is a bit difficult. But this bit of news is quite inspiring. I got this story from Bike Europe:
News
Amsterdam: More Trips by Bike than by Car
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – The bicycle is the means of transport used most often in Amsterdam. Between 2005 and 2007 people in the city used their bikes on average 0.87 times a day, compared to 0.84 for their cars. This is the first time that bicycle use exceeds car use.
In 2006 the inhabitants of Amsterdam engaged in some 2 million trips a day, an 8% reduction compared to 1990. This is due to the number of trips per person per day falling from 3.6 to 3.1%. The number of transfers has fallen in the old city within the ring road in particular.
The number of trips by car, compared to 1990, has fallen in all districts (-14%), whereas the number of trips by bicycle has only risen within the ring road (+36%). The bike is used most often in the town centre (41% versus an average of 28%) and the car least often (10% versus an average of 28%). This can be attributed to the restrictive parking policies enacted here since the 1990s.
‘Dienst Infrastructuur en Beheer’, the infrastructure department of the city registered approximately 235,000 car movements in both directions at the city centre in 1990; by 2006 this had fallen to 172,000, a decrease of over a quarter. Over the same period the number of daily movements by bicycle rose from 86,000 to over 140,000 (+60%).
For those who may still be in town, we want your support. Next Tuesday, June 30, is a public meeting about the BU Bridge. “They” are going to release the plans, and the timetable, for the reconstruction of the bridge. We’re hoping they’re going to include bike lanes in the designs. We’re also hoping anyone who is interested will attend the meeting, and make it known that they want bike lanes on the bridge. The more bodies in attendance, and the more voices speaking out, the better our chances for “them” actually listening to us.
Time: Tuesday June 30, 6:30-8 pm
Where: Photonics Building, 8 St. Mary’s Street, big auditorium
Who: Put on by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) (they’re rebuilding all the bridges in the Charles River basin except Mass Ave)
Why: Because we need a bridge that allows for the mass amount of bike traffic (many hundreds, maybe thousands, of bikes) that crosses BU Bridge every day.
* work is expected to begin in the next couple months. it could last potentially 3 years. this is smack in the middle of our campus. please spread the word. *
Here’s another installment of my weekly column in BU’s Daily Free Press. You can check out the link here : http://www.dailyfreepress.com/mook-individual-solutions-1.1644713
(note: the word “energy” is used 8 times, “power” 8 times, and “bike” only twice)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Imagine if each stationary bike, treadmill and elliptical machine in the Fitness and Recreation Center used the friction created while you ran to charge your computer battery. Think of it — all those feet powering all those computers and all that energy going to a practical purpose. I wonder how much we’d save by simply unplugging our laptops from wall outlets.
There’s a professor in the geography and environment department, Nathan Phillips, who does just this. His laptop, desk lamps and telephone are powered by a “deep-cycle” battery that’s charged by the stationary bicycle next to his desk. Professor Phillips is able to provide enough power to effectively take him “off the grid,” meaning he can close up his wall outlets, along with his energy loop, and produce renewable energy with his feet. It takes about a half-hour’s worth of pedaling to run his office for the day. And going beyond the Flintstone simplicity of this idea, since his office faces south, he also has two solar panels on his windows for extra output.
He got this idea by working in a field out in Amazonian Ecuador, where he needed to run his research equipment in places far from any outlet. He initially relied on solar energy but converted to pedal power during the rainy season when clouds rolled in and cut down the sun’s rays. Back in the United States, he decided to put his idea into practice right here on campus. It was a simple enough plan — he had the bike generator, so all Professor Phillips needed was to go to his local electronics store and buy a few power converters to channel his 12V battery into the proper voltages for the appliances.
There’s certain independence that comes with this do-it-yourself attitude that most people in this society don’t understand. “It really forces one to treat energy as precious and worth conserving,” he says. Plus, one big benefit of being self-reliant is that if the grid were to ever fail, he’d still be going strong.
Now, I’ve been thinking about a global application for this idea. I’ve been to Bolivia, which recently discovered that it is holding roughly 60 percent of the world’s known lithium reserves.
Lithium is the essential element in rechargeable batteries, such as those in your laptop, and will soon be in each of the city’s hybrid taxis. Yet even though Bolivia may be rich in the natural resource, that doesn’t mean it has the infrastructure to do anything with it. It will probably rely on foreign investors to suck the lithium out of the ground and refine it for batteries, thus reaping the profits for themselves. But if the country can develop a closed energy loop, say, by constructing batteries that are also powered by bicycles, it can distribute do-it-yourself power to rural areas, providing energy to the most impoverished communities without necessitating power lines stretching across the Andes mountain range. This multilayered self-sufficiency may just be the trick to spreading energy equity to the impoverished sectors, allowing technological advances for people who know nothing of laptops or elliptical machines.
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – The bicycle is the means of transport used most often in Amsterdam. Between 2005 and 2007 people in the city used their bikes on average 0.87 times a day, compared to 0.84 for their cars. This is the first time that bicycle use exceeds car use.
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