Tag: sharrows

In internet age, ideas still travel slowly

We’re all very familiar with the idea that if a volcano blows in Indonesia, a plane crashes in Paraguay or a riot breaks out in Helsinki, news of the event will reach every corner of the globe in a couple of hours. The world is of course connected and news can travel quickly.

Theoretically, ideas can travel as quickly as news, and yet it seems that it isn’t the case. Indeed, new ideas, which may be fantastic, well-proven concepts, can take years to be spread and accepted.

When it comes to adopting proven best-practices, that’s a huge roadblock.

Two things inspired me to write this post. One, is the announcement that the New York City bike-share system will launch this summer and be sponsored by Citibank. What caught my eye was the parade of articles about the concept that followed the press releases. The second thing that inspired me to write this post are the songs I heard on the radio today. Those two concepts might seem unrelated, but they both show how ideas still spread slowly. Click to read more!

More thoughts about Philly – East Cost Trip Part 3

Here are the rest of my thought about Philly, in which I spent a whole day! Part 2 is here.

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When we left off, it was evening and I was walking around center city. This was on a Monday, and things were oddly quiet. Certainly not the hustle and bustle of NYC.

I noticed an oddly placed sharrow for bikes.

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The city has great signage for pedestrians. Lots of signs and even maps. This was was oriented so the top of the map is “forward” making it very useful for pedestrians. My one complaint was the location up there makes it hard to read for those with poor eyesight.
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Philly has much more extensive bike infrastructure than I was expecting. When bike lanes didn’t fit, they had bus/bike lanes. One thing is that they could do a better job painting them. Click to read more!