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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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Email
List & Web Forum
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sign up for the email list.
Every day the posts from the
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you'll see all the email posts and all the
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I'm asking people to voluntarily
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forum instead of the list. Those posts
will get automatically sent to the list
anyway. And by posting to the web forum,
we can make our discussions easily
readable by any web surfer, not just to
those on the members-only email list.
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Current discussions
"Two cyclists injured on Parmer Lane" last post: 2/8 @ 17:30
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/11/03/two_cyclists_injured_transport.html
[quote]Two...
Nueces Bicycle Boulevard last post: 2/8 @ 11:28
So far all the discussion about the Nueces Bike Blvd. has been on the (private) email list and not on the (public) web, so I'm trying to...
Time to draw a line in the sand last post: 2/8 @ 9:58
On the Nueces Bike Blvd; this 'compromise' committee, if allowed to proceed with the implicit endorsement of the bicycling community, will...
kids n transit last post: 2/8 @ 9:47
Okay, maybe this doesn't completely have to do with bikes, but buses help cyclists lengthen their trips, and that is a good thing. ...
BAC Members Needed last post: 2/8 @ 9:44
For those who are interested in being intimately involved in cycling issues and how we continue to improve conditions for cycling in...
Miles per gallon from bicycling last post: 2/5 @ 12:20
Other articles have compared the energy costs of biking to driving, when we consider the energy needed to produce the cyclist's food....
Bike Safety Video RFI last post: 2/2 @ 11:10
Are you a filmmaker interested in making movies about cycling safety? Do you have creative/fun ideas about how to promote safe cycling ...
Legal Bike Lights last post: 1/31 @ 12:38
Do the Austin police require that I have a bike light mounted on my bike at night or can I just wear a headlamp and some kind of red light...
Rise Across Texas Challenge- Celebrity Ride: Wednesday, March 10 last post: 1/29 @ 20:46
Support the Rise School and make a difference!
Bicyclists of all kinds can join VIPs including Governor Rick Perry and six-time Tour de...
Speedway bike boxes last post: 1/27 @ 11:29
The bike box treatment underway at Speedway/38th is making me nervous – the first steps appear to have been to extend the bike lanes on ...
Free to good home: Magura hydraulic brake fluid last post: 1/26 @ 17:54
I've got about a pint of the stuff I just discovered, sitting around. No need for it anymore. Drop me a line at xxx.
[i][Moderator edit: ...
Vehicles left idling in Austin. last post: 1/26 @ 17:12
In my travels around town by bike, as opposed to my travels around town by car, I notice a large number of vehicles left idling. These are...
Give 3 Feet, It's the LAW! last post: 1/26 @ 12:47
All,
Please check out our new "Give 3 Feet, It's the Law campaign." Thus far we have a CityView News segment and a link to more...
Area Businesses Commuting Best Practices last post: 1/25 @ 13:19
Hi there,
My name is Anna, and I'm working with the Cascade Bicycle Club's Commute Department to create a best practices guide for Seattle...
Fuel efficiency of trains no better than cars? last post: 1/24 @ 13:22
I was floored to recently discover that trains get only about 43 MPG per passenger -- worse than a Prius (46 MPG). And of course, if you...
Biking's environmental benefits negated by longer lifespan last post: 1/23 @ 1:12
We all know that it takes less energy to bike than to drive, even when we factor in the energy used to produce and transport the ...
Is it really that difficult to use the bike lane? last post: 1/21 @ 22:34
I live on West Terrace Dr., which is right along Great Northern. For anyone that rides that area knows there is a two way bike lane on the...
The Alan Hughes Retirement Thursday Night Social Ride - Jan 21st 7:30p last post: 1/21 @ 16:42
From Nathan in the CoA bike program:
[quote]Ride Details:
Please join the Bicycle Program in celebrating Alan’s retirement after 27 years...
Davis lane just East of Mopac last post: 1/21 @ 16:18
Davis lane while heading west, just before you get to the highway entrance seems to be routinely dangerous.
Let me start off by saying...
Hit and Run on NYE -- Mariel Mentink last post: 1/19 @ 10:08
I'm reposting this Facebook plea. The many links below contain more...
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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Upcoming rides &
events
Want to get your event
listed below? Just post
it on the web forum and it will show up here
automatically 30 minutes later. Be sure to
include the exact
date & time of your event in
the title, so that shows up too.
Do NOT use relative
dates like "This Saturday" or "tonight"
because your post will still be here weeks from
now, and at that time the reader won't know which
day you're referring to. (i.e., Do not write your
post as though everyone who reads it is reading it
today.)
Rise Across Texas Challenge- Celebrity Ride: Wednesday, March 10 (posted 1/27)
The Alan Hughes Retirement Thursday Night Social Ride - Jan 21st 7:30p (posted 1/21)
Frankenbike October 31st 11 am - 4 pm at Freewheeling Bicycles (posted 10/29)
FRANKENBIKE #51 at Freewheeling Bicycles (posted 10/29)
Roll Beyond Coal - Austin Bike Ride & Rally - Sat 10/31 @ 1pm (posted 10/28)
Tour de Gruene 2009 (posted 10/15)
Austin LIVESTRONG Challenge (posted 10/15)
Tour de Fat THIS SATURDAY! (posted 10/12)
Austin Framebuilders Happy Hour tonight, Sept 21, 5:30- 7 PM (posted 9/21)
Texas Custom Bicycle Show scheduled for Oct 23-25 in Austin (posted 9/9)
Site
Updates:
- Endorsed Chris Riley for City
Council.
- Overhauled the site design, putting the
menus at the top, and adding the most important
resources and external sites to a sidebar on
every 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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older
news...
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