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Welcome!
We
cover bicycling as transportation, with an
emphasis on Austin, TX, USA.
We
don't cover biking for recreation, sport, or
charity.
Bicycle Austin is a volunteer project (not an
organization) by Michael
Bluejay.
Advertising revenue supports local cycling
advocacy.
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List & Web Forum
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we can make our discussions easily
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LOBV posts new Downtown Austin Plan documents last post: 12/3 @ 13:58
I haven't read all 174 pages, but I did manage to break the document down to more readable chunks, including the “San Francisco’s Shared...
anti-traffic-calming-measures flyer last post: 12/1 @ 16:49
See the link below for the flyer I found on my door over Thanksgiving.
If you live in this area, please vote FOR the traffic-calming...
DiNotte Lighting battery recall last post: 11/30 @ 18:33
If anybody is using DiNotte lithium-ion batteries with your lights, check out this product recall...
Interesting legal approach to promoting bicycle safety in Europe last post: 11/29 @ 7:37
From the following article - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/26/motoring-cyclingholidays
"There is another important...
Schwalbe Marathon Supremes last post: 11/28 @ 12:19
Hi,
I'm hoping someone out there could point me in the right direction of where to by some specific tires... I would rather buy them from...
This seems convoluted last post: 11/26 @ 9:13
Any North/NE commuters out there with suggestions on improving this route? It seems a bit complex. I live off Far West, work in Tech ...
East Austin to McKinney Falls State Park last post: 11/21 @ 14:17
I'm taking a trip to McKinney Falls State Park with one or more other people. We're starting in East Austin (or maybe the UT area).
This...
Just fyi on Blog last post: 11/18 @ 14:16
Just fyi...I've decided that I should revive the Bicycle Austin blog, even if atxbs and austin bike blog are doing swell work.
I'll be...
Where to live in ATX that's bike friendly last post: 11/16 @ 20:18
I'm getting ready to move to Austin in the fall to begin graduate school at UT. I've been living and biking around DC the past couple ...
Gas & Electric Assisted Bicycles last post: 11/15 @ 12:33
I have been commuting, for about 4 months now, on a beach cruiser with 48cc gas engine installed. It's nice to be able to get to work, no...
New Push for Helmet Laws last post: 11/14 @ 11:54
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/05/29/0529bikestudy.html
http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/052808kvuecyclingi...
Assisted Bicycle Laws In Texas last post: 11/14 @ 11:34
Legal information
Texas Transportation Code Subchapter D
551.301. Definitions.
In this subchapter:
1....
City of Austin Phasing out Meters last post: 11/14 @ 9:06
I just heard a story on KUT that suggests the city plans to phase out parking meters in favor of multi-space kiosks. Under this scheme,...
New development on 360 will add 2,000 cars near Wild Basin Road. last post: 11/14 @ 9:05
All cyclists,
We have an uprecedented opportunity to impact a variance request going in front of ZAPCO next Tuesday. We are asking...
Pay by the Mile Auto Insurance last post: 11/11 @ 22:11
This is an interesting concept (pay by the mile auto insurance)
Since I'm actively bike commuting again, I did a quote for 2,000 miles,...
Celebrities on Bikes last post: 11/10 @ 22:53
David Byrne was spotted in Austin commuting by bicycle in his work clothes, i.e. biking to ACL Music Festival to...
East Riverside Corridor Project News last post: 11/10 @ 13:03
fyi.
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "Leak, Erica" Erica.Leak@ci.austin.tx.us
Every great street starts with a great vision.
Come ...
European support for bicycles promotes sharing of the wheels-NYT last post: 11/10 @ 9:27
Just a reminder: YOU live in the best city in the best nation on the best planet. Still...
...
Obama to offer welfare to automakers? last post: 11/10 @ 6:26
Some things never change:
[quote]Mr. Obama’s new chief of staff, Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois, said the federal...
Carpooling site to find rideshares: PickupPal.com last post: 11/3 @ 6:51
Here's a nifty site to find rideshares: http://www.pickuppal.com/
Works for both drivers and riders.
Here's to the power of the ...
Bicyclists
cheated out of bond money!
On March 7, 2006, Raul Alvarez asked
the city to reveal how the $150 million in
city bond money for transportation passed
in 2000 (Proposition 1 back then) has been
spent so far. I got the results of his
request in response to my own recent
similar open records request made to
reveal how our bond money had been
spent.
This bond money was supposed to be
allocated in portions at $15 million a
year for ten years. So far $84 million has
been spent with $66 million in
transportation bond authorization yet
remaining.
Guess where the first five years
worth of Austin bond money went? The
first $67.2 million ALL went for SH 130
right of way, and not a penny for any of
the the other things promised to the bond
voters on the ballot! Meanwhile those of
us who live inside Austin are additionally
paying a lot for Williamson County toll
roads, like SH 130, via our Travis County
property taxes.
In the last year, for the first time,
some of the $150 million has been used for
other purposes like widening roads (to
widen roads like one that leads to SH 130
for example), but not a penny has yet
been spent for the promised bike
projects, although $10 million was
recently proposed in response to Alvarez's
request (with about $5 million so far for
sidewalks). If you read the
Chronicle article, you will see that
$20 million was being promised for bike
and ped projects just before the election.
The exact ballot language and more
background on these bonds is below.
To me, this kind of tightly held
information and bait and switch bond stuff
is proof of why we need to pass the Open
Government charter amendment, Prop 1.
-- Roger Baker, May 6,
2006
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City to allow
parking in bike lanes on Exposition
Blvd.?!
There's
currently a proposal in City government to
officially allow cars to park in bike
lanes on Exposition Blvd. for certain
segments at certain times. We say,
bike lanes should be for bikes, not cars,
period. All the time. No exceptions. If
you agree, please
email the City
Council.
(Please be polite; angry or threatening
messages hurt our cause.) Here's
more
on this issue....
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Quick
Links
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Important/Popular stuff:
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Local Bike & Transpo
blogs/wikis:
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Local Advocacy:
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State & National
Advocacy:
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Upcoming rides &
events
Maker Faire Ride Saturday Noon from the Capitol (10/15)
Maker Faire Ride *Update* 1pm (10/17)
TourDeFat This Sat Oct 18 9-4 Fiesta Garden on Town Lake east of I-35 (10/15)
Halloween Full Moon Cruise - Tuesday, October 14th @ 11:59PM (10/13)
Pedaling study at UTA to find out your maximal power (10/13)
Tour de Fat returns to Austin, Sat, Oct 18, 9 am - 4 pm (10/2)
Frankenbike Schedule for the rest of 2008 (10/2)
Critical Mass Ride - This Friday (9/26) - 9PM @ UT West Mall (9/25)
September Frankenbike Announced- 9/27 (9/15)
Full Moon Cruise tonight, 26th Annual Moonlight Cruze next month (8/16)
"No
justice" issuue for cyclists gets big
story in the Chron
The Austin Chronicle ran
a
big story in Nov. 2006 about
motorists not getting cited or charged for
hitting cyclists, even when the motorist
is clearly at fault. We've been
banging the drum for years about this
issue in our No
Justice for Cyclists section, and it's
good to see the media taking notice. It'll
be a long time until this issue changes,
but the first step is public awareness, so
now we've taken that first step.
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Site
Updates:
- Added Austin
Bike Blog, Austin
Cycling News, Austin
Bike Stuff, and M1EK's
Bake Sale to the front page.
- City to consider allowing cars
to park in bike lanes on
Exposition.
- Added forum topics and events to the
front page.
- Belatedly added Lance Armstrong's shop,
Mellow Johnny's, to the Bike
Shops page.
- Added a note about MN cops confiscating
bikes of kids without helmets, to the
justice
page. Will they confiscate cars
when drivers aren't buckled up?
- Updated "Who's usually at fault in
car-bike collisions" on the No
Justice page
- Added the 8/08 KEYE story which
effectively
blames cyclists for the increase in car-bike
collisions, with zero supporting
evidence
- Cyclist
solves her own hit and run.
- Added a new cycling injury lawyer to
What to
do if you're hit or
harassed.
- Added a link to the 311
online form to the front
page.
- Lubbock driver gets only
probation for hit-and-run killing of
cyclist
- Updated the Austin
bike laws page
- Added a
PDF of "tickets" to put on cars
parked in bike lanes.
- Added Quick Links to front page, updated
govt.
& city
govt. pages
- Added historical info about the
City's failure to spend bike project
money properly
- Linked to the "No justice" article
in the Austin Chronicle, from our No
Justice section
- Our Open
Letter to Dr. Crocker, who supports
the helmet law
- Added The Peddler to the bike
shops page
- Added a route from
Austin to Elgin
- The Yellow Bike Project launches an
Austin
bike culture wiki
- Another drunk driver kills
another cyclist
- Adult
helmet law probably dead
- Law
professor faces no penalty for
intentionally hitting cyclist with her
car
- Updated the City
Council page
- Hit-and-run
case in Garland, TX
- New helmet law being considered (see at
right)
- Added our
endorsements for the May 2006 city
council race
- Added details about cyclists being cheated
out of bond money (above)
- Driver who ran red light and hit two
cyclists not
ticketed.
- Created a new page about the
ACA's advocacy on the Shoal Creek bike lanes
issue
- Two April
car-bike crashes, one
fatal
- Added FrankenBike
to the events and
used bikes
pages.
- Teenagers
throwing stuff at cyclists near Shoal Creek
Blvd.
- Linked to a new
route for IBM to downtown.
- Council set to screw cyclists over Shoal
Creek Blvd.
- Updated the list
of bike shops
- Looks like the Lamar
Bridge might get finished after all.
- Eric Anderson reports on cyclists' success
in mitigating the redesign fiasco on the
Riverside
Drive project (Jan.
2006)
- New update on how bike facilities were
omitted in the Riverside
Drive project
- Added
the law about administrative suspension of
driver's license for DWI offenses to the
laws covering
motorists page
- Linked to a new, safer route to Bastrop on
the Routes
page
- Our endorsements
for City Council
- Added more to the never-ending Shoal
Creek bike lanes debacle
- Added another North
Austin route
- Exemplary
police response to harassment of a
cyclist
- North
Austin bike routes now has its own page.
Plus added a couple of routes.
- Added Patrick Goetz's encouragement for
cyclists to be effective advocates by joining
the Urban Transportation Commission.
- Redesigned the site, nobody noticed.
- Added a
failed statewide helmet bill from 2003.
- Reader-recommended
locks
- Added a route
to Ben White and I-30
- The Lamar
Bike/Ped bridge might actually be
finished
- Yet another hit &
run
- Hit &
Run on Michael Passman
- May
19 newsletter posted
- Costs
of car ownership updated
- Map
to San Marcos
- Guide to Touring
- How
to Rewire Christmas Lights to Run on
Batteries
- Natural
gas buses may be no better than diesel
- An online store selling electric
scooters
- New section on bike
lanes
- More news about the Shoal
Creek bike lanes mess
- Triggering
traffic signals
- Why is
there no justice?
- Keith
Vick's fatal collision
- TXDoT's 25-year
transpo plan
- Another North
Austin route
- Eric Anderon's status
report of roadway projects
- Older
updates....
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