Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
Electric Bikes
A state program is giving free electric bikes to residents in an effort to provide more transportation options and reduce dependence on cars.
CPR News
For the last six months, the world has been on a stand-still. As government-imposed lockdowns spread across the country in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been looking left and right for alternatives to cope with the “new normal.”
E-Ride Solutions
A happy accident, Madrid may have stumbled onto a bike infrastructure program with great results. Only time will tell if "slow" lanes yield long-term positive results.
Streetsblog USA
Decreased public transit ridership is bringing some transit agencies to consider partnerships with micromobility corporations.
CoMotion News
The City Council has legalized electric scooters and bikes. A citywide shared electric scooter pilot program is expected by early 2021.
PIX 11
North America has experienced a 5% jump in rates of cycling since the U.S. started staying home. As electric bikes enjoy impressive sales increases, cities around the world consider making the shift permanent by planning bike-friendly infrastructure.
The Verge
Autonomous micromobility could solve some of dockless bike and scooter share companies' largest remaining challenges, like the local availability of scooters and conformity to local and federal regulations.
Smart Cities Dive
Uber plans to support sustainable mobility by funding advocacy efforts, sharing data, and offering bike-share service.
Curbed
Bird and Lime launched their "Day Without A Scooter" protest this week.
Santa Monica Daily Press
Years before there was e-scooter-share, there was electric (Vespa-like) scooter-share in San Francisco by start-up Scoot. Now that they are ready to launch electric bikeshare, the city won't let them, unlike Barcelona, Spain where it began service.
San Francisco Chronicle
The city attorney vows to bring order to the streets (and sidewalks) of San Francisco by requiring electric scooter share companies to apply for permits. First step: all e-scooters must be removed by June 4, or risk a $100 fine per day per scooter.
San Francisco Chronicle
Allowing bikes on sidewalks pits cyclists against pedestrians, an advocate argues.
Crosscut
It looks like electric bikes are here to stay.
CNN
When Ford GoBike took over Bay Area Bike Share last year and promised to expand the number of bikes ten-fold, they entered into an exclusivity contract with San Francisco. So why is the city going to issue a permit to a competitor?
San Francisco Examiner
Electric Bike Share! The new program is set to launch in famously hilly San Francisco and across the bay in Berkeley next spring. Unlike the region's bike share which just launched August 29, it will be administered by the non-profit City Car Share.
The Daily Californian
At the Shanghai Motor Show, Volkswagen debuted its concept E-Scooter, which has a range of 25 miles per charge. Of more interest to urbanists is their intention to use the vehicle in a "bike-sharing" system.
Autocar
In China, an estimated 120 million electric bicycles are on the streets. So why haven't they caught on in the U.S.? Reporter Alan Durning thinks its time.
WorldChanging
