Bikes, Copenhagen and Disneyland: what we have in common.
Steve Hymos is a blogger over at the LA times. He interviewed blogesphere celebrity (in the cycle-chicness world) Mikael Colville-Andersen -aka- Zakkaliciousness in Flickr™ and his series of Cycle Chic and Copenhagenize which, have inspired a myriad of blogs, Flickr™ groups and people around the globe to ride a bike, relax and look good while at it. Mind you, Copenhagen & Europe are quite different in traffic structure than here in the US, but we can still look good trying, right?
He notes interesting facts and history from both cities, Los Angeles and Copenhagen:
“There is no part of the world where cycling is in greater favor than in Southern California, and nowhere on the American continent are conditions so favorable the year round for wheeling. -It’s from a 1897 newspaper article, back during Bicycle Culture 1.0 and back when 20% of all trips were made by bike in Los Angeles. Impressive stats and an impressive cycling history in L.A.”
Hundreds of thousands of cyclists on the roads. Ironically, the world’s most impressive separated bike path was built to connect Pasadena to Los Angeles in 1900. At that time 20% of all trips where made by bicycle in the Los Angeles region so the construction of the eight-mile Arroyo Seco Cycleway — an elevated, multilane, wooden bike path, complete with streetlights and gazebo turnouts -– was a given.
Copenhagen was a congested, polluted city in the 1960s and more and more cars were being bought.
Now, 40-odd years on, a progressive network of separated bicycle lanes blankets the city. Doctors, students, parents with kids in a cargo bike, lawyers and shop assistants are all apart of a pleasingly aesthetic flow of human-powered goodness. Fifty-six percent of Copenhageners say that they ride their bikes because it’s easy and fast.
Bicycles are normalized transport vehicles and they are the lifeblood of the city, not the domain of impenetrable subcultures with political leanings. With my Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog I try to show how my fellow citizens ride each day. In style, with ease and every day of the week.
click ‹HERE› for full article & to find out what these 3, have in common
LA TIMES /August 08, 2008/ Steve Hymon is The Times’ Road Sage. He covers traffic and transportation in a region united by a confounding network of freeways that frustrate drivers daily. The Bottleneck Blog is Steve’s website home, where he breaks transportation news, reports on traffic tie-ups and brings a critical but humorous eye to commuting in Southern California.
