AUSTIN TEXAS EBIKER TROOPS ATTACK!

LockH

LockH

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Currently in news (various) Toronto Mayor (from Ont., Canada aka Great White frozen North) John Tory just arrived in Austin for 3 daze tour. Seen here (Page 4, March 17, 2015):
http://eedition.toronto.24hrs.ca/epaper/viewer.aspx

Stops include SxSW music festival and visits to tech companies including Giggle (sp? Hehe).

Quote Tory " I'm about getting jobs, jobs and jobs here."

So here's a thought for Mister Tory? Huge transit system in our "Greater Toronto Area". Diseasal buses, (electric) subways, (electric) streetcars - overhead wires. If our Mayor "had a brain", our "TTC" would start building bicycles and trikes with muscle (see Canadian "Power-Assisted Bicycle", aka "Ebike").

Instead, southern Ontario heavily addicted to the 20th-century horseless carriage ("car", "SUV"), with a few multinational manufacturers with branch plants pumping out more weapons of mass death and destruction every day. (Province - think "State" - then sucks up taxes from these manufacturers, used to pay heavy health care costs, road repairs... long list.)

"Ohhh, but it's sometimes cold and wet!" Yah, see "warm clothes". Plenty of roadways (farm lands paved over) to put up parking lots. - Oh wait. I feel a song coming on. "Paved over paradise to put up a parking lot" - IF Canadians "had a brain", roads and pathways and parking lots can be roofed over with overhead solar panels.
solar-arch-road-power,P-3-248439-13.jpg


Solar-panel-above-the-road.jpg


Companies in Italy and India are already developing "solar roofs" over THEIR roads?

"But our roads aren't safe for cyclists!" Easy solution. (Already happening in cities in Europe. Paris, Oslo, etc.) Just BAN (or severely restrict use of) THE CAR (for personal use in urban spaces).

Mayor Tory? For some this scenario is a "no brainer". Wanna be a hero in your home town? Or the next in a row of Mayors to perpetrate the death and destruction of 20th-century LARGE, HEAVY, Monster Vehicles designed to go waaay faster than 99% of urban road speeds?
 
PS. This is about one backwards town (Toronto) that bans ebikes from pathways and side lanes reserved for the antique pedal-only Poop-Mobile bicycle.
 
I'm not sure what you are getting at, what do you want us to do in Austin?
 
'Problem"? Other towns around Ontario playing "follow the leader" to watt Toronto has been doing (fear and ignorance sells these daze). Was kinda hoping Austin folks might do some educating to His Honor our Mayor about the "explosion" of ebiking use around the world, and to ask that Toronto stop forcing ebikers out of bike lanes to mix with far more dangerous vehicles. I smell $$$ to be made if our transit system were to jump aboard the EBike Revolution and Toronto were to *stop* their dangerous "car friendly" behavior.
 
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/150...engthen-the-world-s-first-music-city-alliance
Today Mayor Tory also toured and met with executives from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and the University of Texas Austin Technology Incubator (ATI). This was an opportunity to understand how the technology sector thrives in Austin through the city's recognition of the importance of music. ATI provided an understanding of how the venture capital industry intersects with the University of Texas incubator.

Mayor Tory is in Austin to attend the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival and to meet with technology industry executives based in Austin. The objective of this mission is to learn best practices and experiences from a city at the forefront of harnessing the economic and cultural benefits of the convergence of music with interactive technologies.
Click to expand...
 
https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2...ure-electric-bicycles-hit-the-road-in-austin/
So far, the City of Austin has abstained from taking an openly antagonist position on electric bikes. Pollution isn’t a major concern because most e-bikes sold the United States run on lithium ion batteries. If properly recycled, their carbon footprint is nearly invisible. Industry has been very receptive to the new technology. Austin Energy, for example, has pledged to give Rocket Electric customers a $100-150 rebate for buying one of their bikes, whether it be for commuting or recreational purposes. It’s all part of the Central Texas Clean Cities initiative, a program designed to cultivate partnerships with local businesses to promote alternative fuels and vehicles, fuel economy and hybrid vehicles.
Click to expand...
 
http://bicycleaustin.info/laws/tx-bike.html
Definition of Bicycle
Sec. 541.201. Vehicles.
In this subtitle:
... (2) "Bicycle" means a device that a person may ride and that is propelled by human power and has two tandem wheels at least one of which is more than 14 inches in diameter.

The following definition of electric bicycle was passed by the Texas legislature in 2001:
(10) "Motor-driven cycle" means a motorcycle equipped with a motor that has an engine piston displacement of 250 cubic centimeters or less. The term does not include an electric bicycle.
(11) "Motor vehicle" means a self-propelled vehicle or a vehicle that is propelled by electric power from overhead trolley wires. The term does not include an electric bicycle.
(24) "Electric bicycle" means a bicycle that:
(A) is designed to be propelled by an electric motor, exclusively or in combination with the application of human power;
(B) cannot attain a speed of more than 20 miles per hour without the application of human power; and
(C) does not exceed a weight of 100 pounds.
Click to expand...
 
I've commented on those articles (3 and 5 years ago). (Rich)

I'm not sure how I would go about contacting this Mayor. If I could reach him I could suggest he visit Rocket Electrics.
 
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/03/14/Venture_to_Crossroads_Commercial_Drive/

Austin needs an article like this at the time of SXSW. What the hey, there might already be one like it on Vancouver that SOMEBODY might know about.
 
Hey, thanks for the posts on Austin. Lived there awhile, went to UT, have a nephew living there and involved with the music scene, techs for SXSW, periodically visit. Then there's everyone's favorite character, Chalo. Yea, smart cities would do well to get the eBike thing right. Its the future of pedestrian friendly, smartgrowth, friendly urban environments. :mrgreen:
 
Dauntless said:
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/03/14/Venture_to_Crossroads_Commercial_Drive/

Austin needs an article like this at the time of SXSW. What the hey, there might already be one like it on Vancouver that SOMEBODY might know about.
Click to expand...

Ahhh... Vancouver BC, and Commercial Drive, one of only four streets where Vancouverites celebrate in true "Canadian-style Car Free Day" 1/365 daze each year! Victorian-born myself. Sorta always gravitated to islands (largest England, w/my parents while still young) and since stuck in watt some might rudely term the "Armpit of Canada" (Toronto) best place I've lived is on the Toronto Islands (both Wards AND Algonquin - they're a string of sandbars formed from land washed away from the Bluffs in next door town "Scarborough" ), today basically a "park", and "Car Free" 365 days a year. The rest of this MegaCity roads clogged with cars and trucks, and folks drive to the ferry to cross the Harbour, and say "Lovely" (re "car free" life the way it used to be about 100 years ago).

Anyway... Sorry I didn't get that "Heads Up" about the current Toronto Mayors visit to Austin. I'll probably just have to start "stalking" the guy EVery time he plans a visit to some more "Ebike Friendly" town (other than Toronto, that bans and restricts the Canadian "Power-Assisted Bicycle") to give the ES Nation more advance notice.
 
Sad news today from Austin. "Austin Facing Record-Breaking Traffic Fatalities"
http://www.keyetv.com/news/features...cord-Breaking-Traffic-Fatalities-167510.shtml

Simple solution maybe? Just remove the "safety features" like seat belts, air bags, "crush zones" etc from private vehicles. Increase the risk of operating (which would make they SAFER FOR EVERYONE ELSE?), and shrink the size of vehicles to give more room on the roads. Oh. Waitasec... might ebikes and trikes that can pull trailers, rickshaws, etc "fit the bill"?


Hmmmm...
 
Yeah we are at about double the traffic fatalities compared to last year at this time. Some groups here are pushing for "Vision Zero".

It's the culture here. Drink, drive fast, don't care too much about anyone else, traffic congestion getting worse every day because so many people move here and decide to drive. Many drivers are just so stressed and pissed off from the traffic that they take chances. A few days ago a dentist drove in front of a cyclist and slammed his brakes causing a the rider to crash into him. He's in jail now. It's not too often they get caught and prosecuted. http://kxan.com/2015/07/16/police-man-in-pickup-fled-crash-with-bicyclist/
 
veloman said:
A few days ago a dentist drove in front of a cyclist and slammed his brakes causing a the rider to crash into him. He's in jail now. It's not too often they get caught and prosecuted. http://kxan.com/2015/07/16/police-man-in-pickup-fled-crash-with-bicyclist/
Click to expand...

Hell, that is one good thing about having congested traffic, there were plenty of witnesses to this crime...
 
This should bring down the premium we pay for Green Choice" from Austin Energy. It's about $5/more per month over the default 'mixed' power which includes coal. It's suppose to be TX wind power. Well, the actual electricity isn't different, but it just requires the utility to buy a certain amount of renewables. But it looks like they already get a higher % of renewables than green choice subscribers.
 
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