Archive for the 'imminent death of car-based culture' Category

How can Arizona get one of these?

Posted by Erik on October 1st, 2008 filed in Joie de vivre, imminent death of car-based culture, opportunity knocks

I mean, maybe without the canal, but still.
Wouldn’t it be cool to have a several-hundred-mile bike highway, away from traffic, through the desert and connecting, say, Tucson, Globe, Phoenix, Prescott, and Flagstaff? Or along the White Mountains from Payson into New Mexico?
There is an awful lot of state and federal land that could be [...]

Read More..>>

Gas shortages leave people “trapped at home” and “unable to do anything.”

Posted by Erik on September 26th, 2008 filed in imminent death of car-based culture

I have been paying attention to news stories about what happens when a community either truly runs out of gas or when rumors cause people to believe their community will run out of gas.
It isn’t pretty. Typically things fall apart pretty fast. It shocks me how little it takes for people to resort [...]

Read More..>>

New bike-safety box at Mountain and Grant

Posted by Erik on September 10th, 2008 filed in Uncategorized, imminent death of car-based culture

I don’t think this is exactly the most dangerous intersection around, but it’s a high traffic one and it just got a little safer thanks to the City of Tucson. It looks good!
Here’s the message about it I got from Tom Thivener today:
This morning TDOT installed the region’s first green thermoplastic bike lane at [...]

Read More..>>

“Yesterday’s fashion statement” takes a tumble in one of its biggest markets

Posted by Erik on September 10th, 2008 filed in imminent death of car-based culture

One of the country’s biggest Hummer dealerships to close, with Hummer sales down nearly 50 percent for the year. It’s the eighth Hummer dealership to close this year.
A symbolic victory, but one to celebrate nonetheless. Thanks Maillotjuine for the link.
-Erik Ryberg

Read More..>>

Hmmm, what to say about the new electric bike store on University?

Posted by Erik on August 28th, 2008 filed in Carhead, Joie de vivre, imminent death of car-based culture

Karl just submitted two sets of comments (sorry Karl, Wordpress won’t let me go in and make your edits for you, so I posted both comments) on the new store at University and Euclid that sells some kind of electric bike contraption.
When I first saw this store I thought I should investigate but honestly my [...]

Read More..>>

“Free” bikes and downtown gridlock

Posted by Erik on August 22nd, 2008 filed in imminent death of car-based culture

On this day when (apparently) I-10 is closed down and drivers are furious about it, my friend M. sent me this article from Seattle about that city’s nascent Free Bike Program.
The whole thing is encouraging and I am behind it but I have to admit the math is a little disconcerting. Seattle is spending [...]

Read More..>>

AZ Daily Star concludes its bus experiment, starts the bike experiment

Posted by Erik on August 18th, 2008 filed in Joie de vivre, imminent death of car-based culture

Today was AZ Daily Star reporter Josh Brodesky’s first day of his car-free week, which he is blogging about on Andrea Kelly’s “Gridlocked” blog. I’m wishing him luck! I find that for the ordinary things I do in life, my bike suits me fine and I could get around without having a car [...]

Read More..>>

Universities offer loaner-bike programs to students

Posted by Erik on August 11th, 2008 filed in Joie de vivre, imminent death of car-based culture

Emory University’s “Bike Emory” program made CNN today. They offer free loaner bikes and discounts to students and faculty on bike purchases; the university is also implementing an aggressive bike-lane construction program. Many other universities–but as far as I know, not the U of A–are following suit.
I’ve always believed that universities offer good [...]

Read More..>>

AZ Star reporters go car-free for a week

Posted by Erik on August 11th, 2008 filed in imminent death of car-based culture

I know what you are thinking, but don’t. This is a great thing they are doing, writing about living without a car. Check out Andrea Kelly’s blog on the subject and follow her progress. She reports it took her 30-40 minutes longer to get to work today than she would have in [...]

Read More..>>

The Apocalypse Bike

Posted by Erik on August 6th, 2008 filed in Cool bikes, imminent death of car-based culture

Yesterday I included a link to www.peacesupplies.org but I got the url wrong so I wanted to give those folks a real link today. Dwight and crew churn out bike stickers, organic t-shirts, and hand-printed publications from his shop in the arts district in Tucson. He also welcomes suggestions for bike stickers. [...]

Read More..>>