Washington, DC Officially Launches Bike Share Program
by Lewis DerkinsAugust 13th, 2008, 10:13 pm
Washington, DC just became the first city in the nation to launch a technologically advanced public bike share program. I actually saw one of these things in action last week, and in general I think this is a very good ... more
Posted in Bicycles, Spending | 6 Comments »
Operation Sentinel
by Lewis DerkinsAugust 12th, 2008, 9:50 pm
God help us…That’s really all I have to say about Operation Sentinel, New York City’s massive surveillance plan targeting every vehicle entering the city. It calls for photographing, and scanning the license plates of, cars and trucks at all bridges and ... more
Posted in Politics, Security | 6 Comments »
Summer Streets – Success or Dud?
by Lewis DerkinsAugust 11th, 2008, 10:42 pm
The question of how successful New York’s Summer Streets was this weekend is hard to answer, and different sources give different accounts. It seems that many businesses think it was a disaster, while most pro-bicycle organizations think it was a ... more
Posted in Bicycles, Spending | 11 Comments »
Homeland Security Can Now Search Without Warrants
by Lewis DerkinsAugust 8th, 2008, 7:36 pm
In case you weren’t paying attention, the Department of Homeland Stupidity recently wiped its ass with the fourth amendment and threw it back in our collective faces. Citizens’ personal electronic devices are now subject to search by Customs and Border Patrol ... more
Posted in Government Workers, Laws, Security, Uncategorized Rage | 2 Comments »
New Variable-Speed Escalators for New York Subways
by Lewis DerkinsAugust 6th, 2008, 11:57 pm
Today, The New York Times reports on an MTA plan to begin replacing its standard escalators with “variable-speed escalators”. Variable-speed escalators [use] infrared motion sensors, [and] the escalators will slow to a crawl of just 15 feet per minute when no one ... more
Posted in Congestion Pricing, Government Workers, Mass Transit, Spending, Subways, Tax Increases | 9 Comments »
Filthy New York Subways
by Lewis DerkinsAugust 5th, 2008, 7:07 pm
Add filth to the growing list of problems with New York’s subways. A Post survey of dozens of stations found a decrepit, aging system fraught with overcrowded trains, crumbling platforms and stations, unfinished repair work, serious rat and cockroach infestations, mystery ... more
Posted in Mass Transit, Spending, Subways | 4 Comments »
Will NYC Congestion Pricing Just Die Already?
by Lewis DerkinsAugust 4th, 2008, 5:38 pm
Faced with a looming $900 million budget shortfall at MTA, congestion pricing advocates have reared their ugly heads again to rally for the implementation of the fees in order to fund mass transit. I make no attempt to conceal the ... more
Posted in Congestion Pricing, Gas Taxes, Mass Transit, Spending, Subways, Tax Increases | 15 Comments »
NYC To Sell Bridges
by Lewis DerkinsJuly 31st, 2008, 10:56 pm
This just in - Governor Paterson announced yesterday that New York may sell much of its infrastructure including roads, bridges and tunnels to “close a massive budget deficit.” Luckily, a mysterious private financier has emerged to bail New York out of ... more
Posted in Bicycles, Privatization | 5 Comments »
National Resources Defense Council Asks: Why So Much Bike Hate?
by Lewis DerkinsJuly 31st, 2008, 10:16 pm
Today a National Resources Defense Council blogger asks why there is so much anger directed toward bicyclists. Plenty of angry cyclists are quick to point out perceived persecution, but you don’t often hear a cyclist take the opposite point of view ... more
Posted in Bicycles, Laws | 8 Comments »
Bloomberg Against Privatizing Subways
by Lewis DerkinsJuly 31st, 2008, 9:44 pm
Mayor Bloomberg has come out against privatizing subways in response to Mayor Paterson’s call to sell state infrastructure to cover a budget shortfall. "You could get somebody to do it, but they wouldn't save you very much money because the potential ... more
Posted in Privatization, Subways | 4 Comments »
A Bicycle Lane Children’s Story
by Lewis DerkinsJuly 31st, 2008, 9:08 pm
Today Bob Korfhage, the former president of Siskiyou Velo bicycle club, treated Southern Oregon’s large contingent of five-year-old Mail Tribune readers to an elementary lesson on bike lanes. I am going to quote this in its entirety, and systematically ridicule it ... more
Posted in Bicycle Lanes, Bicycles | 5 Comments »
You Get the Department of Homeland Stupidity You Deserve
by Lewis DerkinsJuly 31st, 2008, 8:38 pm
I’ve been thinking, we need to establish a new category labeled “Awesome” and file this one under it. It seems Sonia Pitt, one of the clowns associated with the I-10 bridge collapse debacle, has been hired by the Department of Homeland ... more
Posted in Government Workers, Security | 4 Comments »
New York Post Columnist Rips Into Dangerous Bicyclists
by Lewis DerkinsJuly 30th, 2008, 6:27 pm
Today, Andrea Peyser of the New York Post slams bicyclists for the injuries and deaths they inflict on pedestrians. We’ve covered this topic before, but Ms. Peyser has unearthed some new facts. A spokesman for Transportation Alternatives, the bicycle-advocacy group, told me ... more
Posted in Bicycle Lanes, Bicycles, Laws | 9 Comments »
More Gas Tax Revenue Problems
by Lewis DerkinsJuly 29th, 2008, 11:31 pm
The hits just keep coming as the New York Times reports today that Department of Transportation Secretary, Mary Peters, proposed borrowing from the Federal Highway Trust Fund’s Mass Transit account to pay for unfinished road projects. Gasoline tax revenue is falling ... more
Posted in Car Taxes, Gas Taxes, Highways, Mass Transit, Spending, Tax Increases, Uncategorized Rage | 11 Comments »
San Francisco’s Moronic Market Street Plan
by Lewis DerkinsJuly 29th, 2008, 10:15 pm
San Francisco is kicking around a plan to ban all automobile traffic on Market Street. Market Street is a major traffic thoroughfare for San Francisco, and this plan would close 2.3 miles to cars in order to open it up to ... more
Posted in Bicycles, Politics, Traffic Congestion | 2 Comments »
