guerrilla Link schedule

We were just lamenting the drift away from useful tips towards comments on AANews articles that now make-up the bulk of our postings. Despite our best efforts to come up with new resources and suggestions for carfree life in Ann Arbor, we're running out of ideas. But in our darkest hour, Ed Vielmetti has picked up the torch, creating a simple flickr post giving estimates for a bunch of bus stops for the Link service.

The comments in his image show his best estimate of Link arrival times by the minute, as well as nearby destinations, parking options, and wireless sources. We have been researching ways to represent this kind of info with map mash-ups or other tricks. While we were pondering and tinkering, Ed made it happen. Thanks, Ed!

AANews round-up

Our housekeeping staff fell asleep at the wheel while the local rag covered a few items of interest to the carfree community.

Ridetrak
We mentioned this in December and January, so the News' announcement is a bit behind the times [insert your own snarky comment on "old media" here]. However, it is nice to find that riders are actually making use of this tool and that it seems to work for them (we were skeptical about the usability of this feature when it first came out).

a serious culture change
The biker banter that we've heard has been pretty positive about this article. Sure, it overlooks the dangers of cycling on the sidewalk, but at least the News is creating a discussion on the topic of road-sharing culture, right? The point of the article, that infrastructure alone will not encourage walking and biking, is a fair criticism.
However, instead of offering examples of other aspects of change, the editorial's advice dwindles at this point. They sum up by saying that, "We'll need a serious culture change, one in which bike riders are viewed as having a legitimate place on our roads." Yet they fail to identify any implementable goals or policies that might bring about this serious cultural change By the end of the article, we were left feeling hopeless about the future of NMT in Ann Arbor instead of inspired.
We also have a gripe with the over-played caveat they tack on that, "That respect cuts both ways, though - cyclists also need to respect the rules of the road, and too often that's not the case."
We're taking the hard line here. Unlawful traffic behavior by a few cyclists should not lead to a less safe environment for all cyclists. This line of argument seems to condone the flawed and dangerous concept of some motorists that cutting off cyclists, running them off the road, not giving sufficient clearance when passing, throwing garbage at bikers as they pass by is justified because some cyclists roll through stop signs or disobey other traffic laws. The News makes the mistake of equating a culture of law with a culture of respect and decency, and they completely disregard the "might is right" attitude that dominates interaction between large, heavy, and fast-moving automobiles with bicycles.

it's cold
AANews declares the recent temperature drop to be a sort of cosmic equalizing to make up for any joy Michiganders may have gotten out of a balmy December. This weather should be taken seriously by carfree folks. Especially those with kids, who lose body heat quickly. Stay warm and keep trips short or stop along the way to warm up. Of course the bus is usually a toasty option. And dress appropriately, as the article points out:

The CDC recommends that in extreme cold, adults and children should wear a hat; a scarf or knit mask to cover face and mouth; sleeves that are snug at the wrist; mittens (warmer than gloves); water-resistant coat and boots; and several layers of loose-fitting clothing.

They're warm, they're stylish, and they're statriotic. As we've said before, wear mittens and drink Michigan beer!

bike parking mapped online

We were tipped off by the WBWC mailing list that getDowntown is working on a sort of inventory of Ann Arbor bike racks. The map they are working from is available online and they appear to be open to contributions. The map is part of an effort to identify potential improvements to downtown bike parking. If you've been bitching about the poor quantity or quality of bike parking downtown, this is your chance to take action.

While a complete inventory is not the goal of the project, this map can also be used to locate bike parking. On our initial browsing, there are still a lot of racks, hoops, and lockers missing from the map, especially non-DDA locations (across Main from the DTE Building, In front of Casey's, and all UofM locations for example). Maybe they are only counting public racks in the DDA boundaries? All the same, even if gDt doesn't intend to include all locations in their study, we hope they will eventually turn over this map (or make a duplicate) so that cyclists can continue to fill it out.

From the email:

Each marker has comments, and you can go far enough to
add photos, links, and so on to each marker. The markers are color coded, where red indicates damaged racks, green indicates potential locations for new racks, and yellow indicates specific racks/areas that need more capacity. One problem with the map is that it is difficult to convey information about a general area as opposed to a specific point (i.e. South University or Main Street).

The obvious missing item is locations that currently provide sufficient, useful bike parking. It would seem that such information would be helpful for both gDt's project and the cycling community. Maybe that is where you can chip in.

Whether or not you'd actually use this map to find bike parking, it's good to have a full inventory of facilities. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt at building one, so thanks to gDt for taking the initiative. We can't actually imagine pulling up to our downtown destination on a bike and then checking a map to find parking. If a bike rack isn't immediately obvious, we're looking for some other fixed object to lock up on. Of course this is exactly what gDt is trying to prevent with the inventory. We sure hope it improves the options as we know we probably shouldn't be locking up to stop signs and building fixtures.

footprints on our lives

The MinusCar Project posted reflections on an inspirational carfree moment. carfree ann arbor has connected with a growing number of carfree (carless, carlite, minuscar, whatever) blogs across the country. Many of the are based on personal reflections of a carfree life which we enjoy, but don't usually link to. To be honest, this one is just an excuse to post the picture.

If you are curious about other sites on carfree life, commuter cycling, and general "alternative" transportation issues, check out our del.icio.us links. The most recent additions are listed about halfway down the left-hand collumn of this blog. del.icio.us users can contribute to the list by including a "cfa2" tag to their posts.

AATA's RideTrak goes mobile

A while back we got the tip on AATA's new RideTrak internet service. Choose a route at the AATA website, and it gives you the current location and status (early, on-time or late by X minutes) of the bus. While we were excited about finally getting access to the info, we mostly grumbled about how the service could be better. We, and many others, contacted AATA through their comment form to throw a bunch of well-intended, if demanding and uninformed, suggestions at them. High on that list was mobile access to the updates.

Well, ask and ye shall receive. The front page of theride.org now announces that riders can direct browsers on their PDAs and mobile phones to mobile.theride.org for mobile access to bus updates. We haven't tried out the mobile edition yet, but are impressed with what seems like a pretty fast response to rider requests by AATA. If you have tried the mobile version of RideTrak, let us know how it worked in the comments.

We're curious whether enough people use web-enabled phones and are willing to pay connection fees to make this a usefull for a significant portion of current and potential riders. If the AATA is still looking for ways to expand their reach, maybe offering a call-in automated service would be better for some.

In any case, we're impressed with the initiative that our transit service is showing in expanding access to route information. Thanks, AATA!

internet round-up: crazy bike infrastructure

We try to keep posts focused on the Ann Arbor area, but it's good to step out of the box once in a while to gain some perspective. Here is a little collection of bike infrastructure projects that have stepped way outside the traditional sidewalk vs. road paradimgn of cycling infrastructure.

A few years back, significant effort was put into the idea of a bike tunnel under the railroad tracks near Depot St. That is about as radical as Ann Arbor has gotten. Sure, big expensive projects may not be the way to spend our litmited NMV budget, but what if we were to dream big? Are any of these options worth considering in our fair city?

Bicycle Lift currently operating in Norway assists cyclists on ascending steep hills. Need a little boost up Hospital Hill or Broadway St?

Water-cooled bike path designed for Qatar beats the heat with a solar-powered water-misting system on a shaded bikepath. Ann Arbor doesn't have the heat to warrant this kind of project, let alone the oil money to pay for it. Still, simply providing cover from rain, snow, and sun makes cycling and walking a lot more attractive.

Elevated bike wind-powered bike highways have yet to meet a city with the forward-thinking leaders and deep pockets required for implementation. They system provides a tailwind making cycling "90% more efficient" in the weather protected corridors. Connect North and Central Campus, a bike express route to Ypsi running above Washtenaw, ...maybe not.

The McDonalds Cycle Center in Chicago is one of the few dream resources that came to fruition. The center offers secure parking, repair service, rentals, lockers, showers, and towel service, as well as hosting tours, classes and other events. Certainly a big city can more easily support big projects like this. Maybe we could start smaller by getting the YMCA to offer a "Shower Pass" and some bike lockers.

But innovative does not have to mean expensive. Check out this commissioned bike lane in Montreal.

traveling with a bike

For anyone planning to escape the cold over one of the up-coming holiday weekends, BikeAccess.Net has a decent collection on tips for traveling with a bike. the site covers every aspect of with-bike travel including:
*how to get to and from airports by bike
*airline policies on bike lugggage
*bike boxes and packaging
*folding bikes
*shipping bikes via UPS and FedEx
*Renting bikes
*Bikes on trains
*the impact of post 9-11 TSA policy on traveling with bikes

The content is completely user generated. While they have info from all over the world, we didn't find much about the Detroit-Ann Arbor area. Important info for our region is missing, like the fact that you can't take a bike on Amtrak trains from the Ann Arbor station. There is also no bike route posted for DTW. But there are a couple horror stories about people trying to get their bike on a NWA flight. Maybe you can sympathize.

Ebay bike scam

CICLE, an LA-based bike blog, points out a non-existant bike retailer scamming customers on Ebay. Apparently they offer great bikes for very low prices, then ship you an empty cardboard box. They have been shut-down by Ebay and restarted under different names a number of times already.

Two lessons to learn from this:
1) If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
2) Support you local bike store.

Though we try to be understanding of the complex web of causes of crime, and advocate an acceptance of all religious faiths, we firmly believe that "Bike Thieves Go to Hell." Despite their efforts to cirmuvent the technicalities of this axiom, these guys are already in the handbasket.

the cfa2 del.icio.us tag

We plow through a lot of websites in search of posting material for carfree ann arbor. In the process we come across a lot of good information, useful resources and interesting blogs that never make the front page. A while back we set up an account on del.icio.us (if you are not familiar with the service, click the link to find out more. It's dead easy and very useful!) to help keep track of our previous web-scouring efforts.

If you are not interested in this topic, or don't even understand what we are talking about, we apologize for the intrusion on your valuable time. There is no need to read this post and we promise that it doesn't represent a general drift of focus for this blog to techno-geek internet babble.

We're making this bit of administrative trivia public in order to:
1) give you an opportunity to see a broader and deeper range of carfree resources
2) provide an easy way for you to contribute your surfing treasures to other carfree ann arborites

There are three tools now at your disposal.
1) We are using the "cfa2" tag in del.icio.us. You can search del.icio.us for this tag to find lots of carfree stuff, some of which refers to Ann Arbor. If you have a del-icio.us account, you can also use the cfa2 tag to add your own finds to the knowledge/entertainment base.
2) Our del.icio.us account is "cfa2". Vsiting our del-icio.us homepage is another way to search through the collection of internet carfree junk. This may include some links that don't have a cfa2 tag. You can also submit links to us by using the "for:cfa2" tag when posting new links.
3) The sidebar now has a short list of links recently added to the cfa2 account. It's not central to the mission here, but adds a little spontaneous fun.

We'd like to expand the tagging to include flickr and other services, assuming that there is some intersest from readers. Let us know.

While we're talking web 2.0, in our perusal of the tracking logs, we've noticed a large number of Firefox browsers. That's great! We've recently upgraded to Firefox 2.0 and would recommend it to everyone.

Ok, enough of the tech talk. Back to the regularly scheduled carfree banter.

bad weather biking internet round-up

In researching tips on commuting in the coming cold, we find that most information can already be found somewhere else. In fact, there has already been a lot of replication on this topic. We fully intend to recreate the wheel one more time on carfree ann arbor by posting some specific tips. In the meantime, here are a few winter biking drain traps in that series of tubes that we lovingly call the Internets.

As always, readers are encouraged to add their own favorites as a comment.

Pretty much every site that talks about winter cycling recommends ice bike as the authority on biking in bad weather. They cover clothing, equipment, technique, and pretty much everything you need to know. They also have a mailing list. To subscribe send an email with subject heading: "subscribe icebike [firstname] [lastname]" to listserv@listserv.heanet.ie

Kent Peterson posted text from his seminar on bad weather biking. Being from the Pacific Northwest, he provides lots of detail on dealing with rain, but doesn't address the snow and cold of a Michigan winter.

Bike Winter is a midwest celebration of all-season cycling including Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, and Ann Arbor. There are lots of good tips here. Our favorites include winter mods for kid trailers and thrifty winter clothing.

All Weather Sports offers more technical and advanced tips that are not geared toward commuting. But this site has ideas you probably won't find elsewhere.

Bike Forums has a popular winter cycling section with the usual plethera of creative and often contradictory advice that forums thrive on. See the farmer blow for a good example.

ebooks on the bus

It is our firm belief that people who consider riding the bus as a waste of time just haven’t yet realized all the ways that a bus commute can be productive. There is a long list of activities can be accomplished during your bus commute. We’ll post a few of our favorites over the next few weeks and would encourage readers to submit their own transit time productivity tips.

Reading is a pleasant way to pass the commute. It’s easy to pop off into another world for a few pages and let the miles roll by. It also keeps your mind off any delays. A good old paperback is a great bus companion. But we tend to forget such luxuries or don't have extra space in our pocket. If you already carry a cell phone, blackberry, or PDA, ebooks are a great alternative. You can download a lot of them free, too!

Here are a few resources for free ebooks that you can try out on your next bus ride (if your not too busy working on other things or enjoying the view).

Daily Lit will send a small chunk of a book to your email account on a regular schedule that you set up. If you have access to email on your mobile phone or PDA, you can get a transit trip sized reading sent to you every day. They offer about 200 books right now.

Manybooks offers tons of books in 15 different formats, so you are bound to find something that interests you and that works with your PDA. They have books in more than 30 languages and dozens of categories. They currently have just under 1,000 15,000 titles, but they seem to add 5-10 new ones every day.

Abracadabra! The story of the Beatles’ Revolver (PDF only)

Cory Doctrow offers up his scifi books in multiple formats.

You need to figure out which format matches the software on your device. We aren't providing a HowTo simply because there are so many options. If your phone or PDA doesn't come with some kind of ebook reader software, a quick search on Google should turn up a bunch of free options.

We use the mjbookmaker to convert ebooks into bite sized programs for java phones. It has a basic set of features and automatically saves your place on exiting. Quick and easy.
Palm offers the free PalmReader for Palm users.
Plucker is another Palm option.

Amazon grocery delivery

Amazon.com is offering up a “new way to shop” for groceries. They now offer free
shipping and competitive prices on over 14,000 grocery products, including organic and special-diet items. It may be a bit more expensive than Kroger’s, but then you don’t need a car to get large grocery orders home from Amazon. I'm not fan of warehouse grocery shopping, but if you are buying non-perishable, brand name groceries anyway, this will help reduce the load coming home from the local grocer. It's not for everyone, but it may work for you.

Contributed by: Scott TenBrink

online shopping at Busch's

Busch's provides online grocery shopping so you could shop online and have it ready to be picked up. You can even pay (or trade favors with) someone to go to grocery store for you and avoid the trip. People could also use the time that is saved in the store to ride their bike there. I know time is a big issue for people like me with kids.
website: www.buschs.com

Contributed by: Karen Smith

Magicbus: UofM realtime bus data

Simply put, Magicbus is "as an effort to improve the experience of University bus passengers by enabling them to see where buses are and when they can be expected at bus stops." You can check bus location online through three different interfaces (route, line, and stop). The service is brand new, but the information seems to be accurate and updated every minute or two. They also offer an AoL Instant Messager service and an xml feed, which we hope someone will use to make a simpler, map-less version.

This is the best thing to happen to buses since bike racks, which UofM buses don't have. AATA buses have bike racks, but not this great online service. It's time these two did a little technology sharing. Real-time, online info would be VERY useful for AATA buses.

website: mbus.pts.umich.edu

Contributed by: Scott TenBrink

Amtrak weekly specials

Riding Amtrak is by far the easiest way to travel from Ann Arbor to Chicago and points in between. The station is easily accessible from downtown, unlike the airport. The major gripe is usually the cost. However, Amtrak offers cheap fares on the Wolverine (and many other lines) through their weekly specials published on their website. One-way adult tickets to Chicago are often $20. Kids under 2 ride free. The trick is in the timing. You need to plan ahead and buy tickets early as there is a limited quantity of cheap seats but the tickets are only offered two weeks in advance.The other major gripe is that you can’t bring a bike on the Wolverine, unless it is of the folding variety. We’ll have to work on that.
website: http://www.amtrak.com (click on “Hot Deals”)

Contributed by: Ken Clark & Scott TenBrink