Kenneth C. Martin Blogs: The Monday Roundup: Uber’s big Jump, crash journalism 101, calling BS on Mercedes Benz ad, and more

Monday, April 9, 2018

The Monday Roundup: Uber’s big Jump, crash journalism 101, calling BS on Mercedes Benz ad, and more

Welcome to Monday.

This week’s Roundup is brought to you by Cycle Oregon’s Weekender (July 13-15) — a two-day bike bash based at University of Oregon in Eugene.

Here are the best stories we came across in the past seven days…

A leap for dockless bikes: Jump, the company that makes Portland’s Biketown bikes (they used to be called Social Bicycles), has been acquired by Uber. Looks like either Uber has figured out that dockless, electric bikes are superior to cars in urban settings — or they want to snuff out a legit threat to their bottom line. Interesting times.

E-bikes OK in NYC: Mayor Bill de Blasio had come under fire for harsh treatment of e-bike delivery workers. Now he’s clarified rules to permit pedal-assist bikes and prohibit those that use a throttle (for speeds over 20 mph).

Bike libraries in Chicago: To increase access to bikes in low-income communities, activist Oboi Reed has launched a program that loans them out for free.

Bike urbanism primer: Fast Company has an overview of Mikael Colville-Andersen’s new book, Copenhagenize, which lays out his view that all the transportation tech we need is already available in the humble bicycle.

Music to my ears: When it comes to traffic crash reporting, “Journalists need to scrutinize driver’s actions as much, if not more, than the behavior of pedestrians or cyclists,” says the Columbia Journalism Review in this fantastic piece that rightfully calls out the police and the lazy media professionals who enable them for their biased and victim-blaming coverage. (Based on a research paper by Heather Magusin titled, If you want to get away with murder, use your car.)

What Boston is doing: Boston’s mayor has used increased parking fine revenue to fund 20 new city staff positions that will be dedicated to making it easier to bus, bike, and walk.

Flag this, PBOT: As Portland gets ready for the dockless revolution, we should learn what we can from Chicago’s research on best practices and regulations.

The future isn’t more lanes: In yet another example that the I-5 Rose Quarter and other regional freeway widening projects are bad moves, the CEO of Moovel says the future is in updating our existing infrastructure so that it can fully exploit new transportation-related technologies.

Biking so white: North America isn’t alone in grappling with the fact that cycling for transportation is still dominated by white professionals. UK-based New Statesman mag asks, “Why are there so few black and Asian cyclists in London?”

A vision in Seattle: Portland is already doing a lot of the stuff Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan lays out in her vision of transportation; but it’s happening under-the-radar. Having a mayor who’s transparent about their vision is almost as important as doing the work it takes to achieve it.

Speaking of mayors: Los Angeles-based transportation reform journalist Alissa Walker calls out “climate mayors” who like making lofty proclamations, but who have a harder time making the hard choices (like reigning in auto use) it takes to actually push back the needle of climate change.

Bike ban in Prague: Leaders of the Czech capitol say there’s just not enough room for bicycling in the dense urban core.

F*&$ you Mercedes Benz!: This abhorrent advertisement that glorifies racing on city streets and has the audacity to feature a vulnerable road user as a target should be illegal. Full stop. Crap like this a big reason why deaths of people outside of cars is going up in America.

Thanks to everyone who tweeted, emailed and tagged us on these important stories.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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