Notices by darren buck (bikepedantic@transportation.social)

More frequent, cleaner, and quieter trains coming in 2028, this is legitimately exciting (and I selfishly can’t wait to see this on the North Station lines!) https://www.wcvb.com/article/mbta-approves-plan-electrify-trains-on-fairmount-commuter-rail-line/61701725?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2AwXty_oDmsiTiTEEo4RF3K61qxPQ02eb5Wk_YE0dh0e69Nu71c1_YI0k_aem_rwIutZGVs1CdtVAvla3mcg

this is a Penn Ave SE newfound-appreciation toot

Area Man Notorious For Not Replying to Email Anxiously Awaits Replies to Email

New basket day

Welcome to @TheWarOnCars, McKinsey:

“Regulations could also help, including imposition of congestion charges to discourage traffic, creation of no-driving zones, and laws forbidding on-street parking. Most importantly, urban leaders must also increase safety for micromobility to gain ground…. The potential benefits of micromobility justify such measures and also provide urban leaders with an incentive to help residents who want to make the shift.”

https://www.mckinsey.com/features/mckinsey-center-for-future-mobility/our-insights/the-micromobility-city-measuring-the-impact-of-greater-bicycle-use

@Moon understand, but this seems like a solid interim step toward that two-way communication happening.

I distrust meta so so deeply... yet being able to interact with the two or three friends i know who use Threads from here is undeniably exciting. https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/13/meta-starts-testing-threads-integration-with-activitypub/

@seachanger Sorry on behalf.... it's a problem. Mandated talk-therapy for the lot of us.

Great moments on ‘why not both’ history:

“It turns out that more people ride the bus when the trip is free and the service is frequent. At least, that’s the case in Alexandria, where the DASH bus service just set a ridership record, at 4.5 million boardings in just one year.”

https://dcist.com/story/23/08/02/alexandria-free-buses-setting-ridership-records/

My kid is 40 miles away, and I’m watching Bluey

Older couple standing on a street corner, looks like they were waiting for us, filming our bike bus as we rode by. This is either very good or very bad.

They were smiling, so let's assume that it was good.

Great to see so so many kid-hauling cargobikes out this morn who weren't even on our bike bus. The North Cambridge family biking scene is looking very mainstreamish these days.

We know that every bike ride taken is a positive - it contributes to safety-in-numbers, it hopefully gets counted somehow to justify more facilities, it is cleaner and healthier than alternatives, it helps normalize the behavior, etc etc.

But here's a theory - i think every bike ride can bring happiness to other riders. Validates us, lets us know that we're not alone, gives us hope that all the fights are leading us to a marginally-better future.

So go take a ride, because it makes me happy.

Here's a webinar on encouraging more solar panels over parking lots and along highway rights-of-way, a thing I don't care about.

But I do care about shade for people walking and biking, and have always wondered:

*Do the undersides of PV panels give off any absorbed heat?

*Would PV panel porticos over sidewalks/bike lanes/trails offer quality-of-trip benefits along with power generation?

https://environmentamerica.org/events/solar-on-highways-and-parking-lots/

@Shadow This is all very true (and valid). Probably makes it a southern-specific idea. I do wonder if local power generation makes it easier to run low-power pavement warming elements