Bike Pittsburgh

Harvard Study: Invest in Biking, Walking and Transit

scott — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:40:39 +0000

Healthy Solutions for the Low Carbon Economy

Guidelines for Investors, Insurers and Policy Makers

A project in collaboration with Wells Fargo Bank and The Global Roundtable on Climate Change.

This report examines the suite of energy choices available - the “stabilization wedges” - through a health and environmental lens.

The methodology includes: a) assessing net energy gains and b) conducting full life-cycle analyses of the potential health, ecological and economic consequences of proposed technologies and practices.

The report takes a critical look at the potential unintended consequences of using tar sands, shale oil, coal with carbon dioxide capture and storage, biofuels and nuclear energy, while presenting a positive vision for smart grids with renewable sources, green buildings, smart urban growth, and hybrids of power generation for mobile and stationary systems.

Download the full report here»

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Take the Trek Go By Bike Challenge

scott — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:05:56 +0000

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PDP and CommuteInfo Help You Rise Above Rising Fuel Costs

scott — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:33:47 +0000

Six-Month Campaign Promotes Transportation Alternatives

PITTSBURGH, PA — If boring commutes and high gas prices are putting a damper on your day… and wallet, now’s the time to consider some alternatives for getting to work. The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (PDP) is working with the CommuteInfo program to encourage commuters in the Pittsburgh region to fill out an online profile to receive a free, personalized report of commuting options.

Between now and December, anyone who goes to www.commuteinfo.org and completes an online profile will be automatically entered into a drawing to win one of three gift cards each month for Downtown stores and restaurants, including Capital Grill, Six Penn Kitchen, McCormick and Schmick’s, One Oxford Centre, Saks and Macy’s. Each one is valued at approximately $75. Commuting options include transit, carpooling, bike-pooling and vanpooling.

“Sharing the ride to work can save commuters money, and now with the PDP’s incentive, commuters also have a chance to win,” said Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Director for the CommuteInfo program.

“It’s often difficult to break the habit of driving to work,” said Lucinda Beattie, Vice President of Transportation for the PDP. “This program helps break down those barriers by sorting out the best options for a particular commuter’s situation, which makes the idea of alternative transportation a little less daunting.”

For more information about the program, prize rules or commuting options, visit www.commuteinfo.org or call 1-888-819-6110.

About CommuteInfo

CommuteInfo is a program of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, coordinated in partnership with transportation management associations, transportation providers, businesses and non-profit organizations throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania. The CommuteInfo program is designed to serve commuters and employers as a clearinghouse for information about transit, carpooling and vanpooling. The program serves employers and commuters in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Green, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

About the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (PDP) is a dynamic, nonprofit organization comprised of business and community leaders, property owners, civic organizations, foundations and residents who provide energy, vision and advocacy for Downtown Pittsburgh. Working collaboratively with its partners, the PDP strives to create a positive Downtown experience for residents, workers and visitors alike. The PDP’s strategic initiatives include clean and safe services, transportation, housing and economic development and advocacy. For more information, visit www.DowntownPittsburgh.com.

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CBS Evening News: Trading Gas Guzzlers for Bikes

scott — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:48:58 +0000

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Volunteers Needed: Lose the Training Wheels Bike Camp

scott — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:36:05 +0000

Reposted from an email we received:

—–Original Message—–
From: Sharon Gretz [mailto:sgretz@gotoskn.org]
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 5:05 PM
To: ‘Sharon Gretz’
Subject: Lose The Training Wheels Needs Volunteers!!!
Importance: High

Dear Folks,

I would appreciate it if you can forward this volunteer appeal to anyone that you may know who has some time next week to volunteer for the first ever Pittsburgh area Lose the Training Wheels Bike Camp

Youth with disabilities and special needs are learning to ride regular two wheel bicycles independently. These are older youth,ages 8 - 18 , many of whom gave up on ever learning to ride independently. We are changing that next week at the Iceoplex of Southpointe, right off of I-79 in Canonsburg

We need volunteers to come daily, July 21 - 25, for the following sessions:

11:30 AM - 12:45 PM

1:45 PM - 3:00 PM

We can also use a couple more voluteers at:

3:15 PM - 4:30 P

Each session lasts 1.5 hours. These youth are counting on us so hope you might have some ideas of additional volunteers

Here is information about the Lose the Training Wheels Organization:

http://www.losethetrainingwheels.org

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Community Human Services Build a Bike Program Needs Your Support!

scott — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:55:32 +0000

Many of the 70 children who attend the CHS Summer Camp program do not have working bicycles.

CHS has arranged to take ten of these student to Free Ride for a once a week, eight session course in choosing and fixing up a bicycle. The educational experience is very much enjoyed by the students and in addition to increasing their knowledge everyone gets to take home a bike! Due to limited funds, the money to support these sessions must be sought outside of the general, sliding scale tuition which only covers 20% of the basic funding for the summer camp. That is why we are asking for your help!

By sponsoring one CHS kid (for $100) to attend these classes, they will recieve:

• 8 classes on bike maintenance and repair

• A helmet, lock, and lights

• The bike they built!

We’re reaching out to the Pittsburgh bike community and the general public to find these funds. If you’d like to write a check to sponsor a CHS student or make a donation online, all donations are tax deductible and anything is appreciated. If you donate online please make sure to fill out the donation designation field as ‘Build a Bike Program’. For more information email bike@ography.us

To Donate, click here: https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=251219610

or make a check payable to CHS Youth Programs and send it to:

Build a Bike Project

ATTN: Lizzie Anderson

Community Human Services

374 Lawn Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15213

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Wired: Rising Gas Prices Could Cure Obesity

scott — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:47:52 +0000

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/07/lose-weight-wit.html

Keeping gas in the family truckster is slimming more than wallets these days and could have Americans tightening their belts — literally. According to Charles Courtemanche, an assistant economics professor at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, rising fuel prices are the ultimate crash diet for a nation that grew fat on cheap gas.

Courtemanche says a $1 increase in the price of gasoline could cut the obesity rate by 10 percent, saving 16,000 lives and $17 billion in health care costs each year. He makes the case in “A Silver Lining? The Connection Between Gasoline Prices and Obesity,” his doctoral dissertation in health economics. The paper, currently being peer-reviewed, can be summed up in the simple idea that people walk more, bike more and dine out less when gas prices rise.

Evidence suggests he’s on to something. Read more»

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We have new sticker designs!

erok — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:39:37 +0000

Back by popular demand (and we ran out of the last batch)

We’ve reprinted our ever popular stickers, this time with some new slogans and updated designs. It’s satisfying to say that we’ve seen these all over town. New for this batch include “PIEROGIE POWERED,” “LIVE FREE OR DRIVE,” and “KEEP FIT RIDE A CYCLIST.” We’ve also printed two new ones commenting on the current state of affairs over the gas prices: “GAME OVER,” (for video game fans) and “WHAT ME WORRY?” (for those who grew up reading MAD Magazine). We kept some of the more popular ones with a bit of an updated design.

Make sure to grab some when you see us in person, or if you don’t want to wait, simply send us $6 bucks (shipping included) and we’ll send you one of each.

You can send us a check or well concealed cash to our office, or simply click below to order through google checkout.

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Bike-In Movie Series at Future Tenant

erok — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:08:29 +0000

The downtown art space, Future Tenant, will be screening a bicycle-inspired film each Friday night at 8pm from July 18 through August 15. Come by bike (or car, or bus, or foot!) to enjoy great movies, snacks, and the company of fellow bike-lovers!

…and best of all, it’s FREE!!

JULY

Friday, July 18th Bike-In Movie Night: B.I.K.E, 8pm - B.I.K.E. follows its director’s attempts to join the Black Label Bicycle Club, a group driven by anti-materialism and a belief that the impending apocalypse will render cars useless.

Friday, July 25th Bike-In Movie Night: The Bicycle Thief, 8pm (also Critical Mass)- Vittorio De Sica’s masterpiece about a poor father in postwar-ravaged Rome who finally finds work, only to have his precious bicycle stolen the first day on the job.

AUGUST

Friday, August 1st Bike-In Movie Night: Quicksilver, 8pm- Kevin Bacon stars as a young stockbroker who loses it all, then quits his job to become a city bicycle messenger

Friday, August 8th Bike-In Movie Night: Il Postino, 8pm- Pablo Neruda stays in Italy while exiled from CHile, and postman Mario delivers his mail by bike. The men become friends, and Neruda introduces Mario to poetry, romance, and revolution.

Friday, August 15th Bike-In Movie Night: The Triplets of Belleville, 8pm - When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her dog team up with the Belleville Sisters to rescue him.

All screenings at Future Tenant
819 Penn Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
412.325.7037

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Post-Gazette: Biking to work forces fashion dilemmas

scott — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:20:23 +0000

Monday, July 14, 2008
By LaMont Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When the weather is favorable, Terry Plowman can get from his West Mifflin home to his Downtown job in about 45 minutes.

Not by car or bus, but by an increasingly popular mode of commuting — bicycle. And after a quick change from his biking gear to business casual, Mr. Plowman is ready for another day of work at Verizon.

There are signs that more Pittsburghers, and Americans in general, are commuting to work on bikes, a trend fueled by warm weather, environmental concerns and the rising cost of gasoline.

“It’s unbelievable to me the change that has gone on over the past two or three years,” said Brad Quartuccio, editor of Urban Velo, a local cycling magazine.

Mr. Quartuccio has been biking to work for more than a decade — currently a 15-mile trip from Bloomfield to Robinson — and has noticed more and fuller bike racks at sites ranging from office buildings to grocery stores.

Sean Brady, assistant executive director of Venture Outdoors, a local outdoor recreational outfit, agrees. “It’s gradually increased in the last seven years, especially the last year or so,” he said. “Gas is probably the biggest inspiration, but the riverfront trails taking shape are part of it. And the culture around here really seems to be responding to outdoor opportunities.”

Whether rolling along special trails, designated lanes or crowded streets, for bike commuters heading to work there’s the added question of how to dress.

Most people who bike to work don’t do so every day because of inclement weather or schedules. But when they do, it takes planning because there’s usually a need to groom and change clothes when arriving at work.

Mr. Plowman, 54, is among those who takes a change of clothes with him each day.

Others, like John Burgess at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, keep a mini wardrobe at the office to avoid added weight on the bike. In nearly five years of biking from Point Breeze to the East Liberty campus, the professor has discovered that it’s best not to wear your work trousers on the 15-minute trip.

“You’ll get grease on your pants, even when you’re being careful,” he said. “And on a hot day, you get sweaty.”

There’s an added dimension for professional women, who may find it more difficult to manage a bike in a skirt or dress.

Barbara Brewton of Oakland wears shorts or capris and a T-shirt and carries a change of business casual work clothes on her bike. Kim O’Dell of Mt. Lebanon, her coworker at the Heinz Family Foundation, keeps business suits and heels at the office to change into.

Both began biking to work this summer a couple of days a week and are fortunate that their office — unlike most — has the convenience of showers, an iron and an ironing board.

Mrs. O’Dell, 47, who commuted by bike in Washington, D.C., before moving to Pittsburgh in 1993, said her family of four “sat down in January and decided we were going to reduce our energy usage and waste.”

The many hills of Pittsburgh can be daunting, and they intimidated Mrs. Brewton into putting her bike in storage when she and her family moved to Pittsburgh from Virginia 27 years ago.

But she recently began biking again when she and her husband began looking for more activities to do together as their children age. And it wasn’t long before she was enjoying a breezy 15-minute bike commute to work.

Getting home can take 20 to 45 minutes, she said, depending upon which of several routes she takes.

“The more I do it, the less overwhelming it seems,” said Mrs. Brewton, 48. “I have this mantra now: ‘The hills are my friends.’ I have to somehow embrace these hills or I’m not going to [bike] at all.”

Whether one wears casual clothes or high-tech biker gear, some sort of clothing change at work is almost inevitable for everyone who works in an office setting.

Mr. Brady, the Venture Outdoors vice president, who bikes from his Observatory Hill home to his Downtown office several times a week year-round, said comfort and being visible are the two key factors in dressing for bike commuting to work.

He and other observers expect a continued rise in the number of people biking to work.

“It’s a nationwide trend, and you’re seeing increases all across the country,” said Eric Boerer with Bike Pittsburgh, a nonprofit that promotes bike safety and public awareness and believes that Pittsburgh is ahead of many cities in being biker-friendly.

“As a society,” added Mr. Quartuccio at Urban Velo, “I don’t think we’re going to have any choice but to rethink our total reliance on cars for short trips.”

Post-Gazette fashion editor LaMont Jones can be reached at ljones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1469.

First published on July 14, 2008 at 12:00 am

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