In the wake of steady ridership losses and multiplying competitors, Elliott McFadden, executive director of the public bike-share system Austin B-cycle, has decided to step away from the bike rental program. McFadden notified B-cycle’s board of directors in mid-April that he would be leaving his position at the end of May. McFadden has served as […]
Bicycles
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Bicycle Advisory Council says UT plan should not preclude safety now
In light of a preventable tragedy resulting in 39-year-old Anthony John Diaz losing his life from being run over by a Capital Metro bus while riding a bicycle on Monday, Jan. 28, the Bicycle Advisory Council is recommending that the University of Texas at Austin assume immediate action to make sure that it will not […]
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Planning Commission hears about 30-mile loop of urban trails
City transportation officials have a grand vision to dramatically expand the Shoal Creek Trail and eventually connect it to a 30-mile loop of trails around the northern half of the city. But it’s anybody’s guess when that vision will be realized, if ever. In a presentation to the Planning Commission Tuesday night, Janae Spence of […]
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Big plans for Shoal Creek Trail unveiled
The nonprofit steward of Austin’s premier urban trail has published its draft plan for extending the hike-and-bike path north from Central Austin all the way to the Domain. The Shoal Creek Conservancy on Friday publicly debuted its Shoal Creek Trail: Vision to Action Plan, a document that calls for more than tripling the length of […]
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Solution for Shoal Creek landslide coming soon
City engineers are getting closer to figuring out how to fix a catastrophic landslide that knocked out a portion of the Shoal Creek Trail earlier this month. “By the end of next week, we’re probably going to have an idea of what a solution is going to look like,” Mike Kelly, managing engineer with the […]
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Dockless bike-sharing issues surface at city forum
After more than a yearlong absence, dockless bike-sharing returned to downtown Austin on Wednesday, if only for a few hours. Representatives from nine different firms that dabble in dockless technology brought their wares and their pitches to the new Central Library for a community forum hosted by the Austin Transportation Department. The event served as […]
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B-cycle’s UT expansion a towering success
When Austin B-cycle expanded its reach into the University of Texas campus area last month, its executive director predicted it would be a big success. It turns out his expectations were too low. “Forty days into this, and we’re where we thought we’d be in six to eight months,” Elliott McFadden told the Austin Monitor […]
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Dockless bike-share pilot development rolls forward
More than a year after an aborted attempt to move into Austin without permission, several dockless bike-sharing companies have switched gears and are now patiently working with the Transportation Department as it develops a pilot program that could put the smartphone-activated two-wheelers on city streets by this summer. On Wednesday night, Active Transportation Program Manager […]
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Council approves dockless bike-share pilot and expansion of Austin B-cycle
City Council on Thursday approved the creation of a pilot program that will allow private companies to put their on-demand rental bikes on city-owned right of way throughout the city. The vote on the pilot was one of three actions Council took based on recommendations made by Austin Transportation Director Rob Spillar that also included […]
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Dockless bikes are (maybe) coming to Austin. But first, let’s talk it out.
Nobody wants to be the withholding stepparent. That’s why, when dockless bike companies Ofo and Spin rolled out during South by Southwest last year, they put the city in a tough spot. Austin, which markets itself as an innovative, tech-savvy city, had to stifle two seemingly forward-thinking tech startups during a festival that’s been a […]
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City tentatively talks about dockless bike-sharing
The Austin Transportation Department is taking a studious approach to the dockless bike-sharing companies that have swooped into cities throughout the world in 2017. Active Transportation Program Manager Laura Dierenfield brought the Bicycle Advisory Council into the conversation on Wednesday night with a discussion that Dierenfield framed as part of an evaluation process aimed at […]
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Research hopes to fill in the gaps for bicycle and pedestrian data
Traffic is terrible. City and state officials are really good at counting cars to see how terrible traffic is and how it got that way, but that sort of data-collection infrastructure doesn’t exist for bike and pedestrian data. New research hopes to change that. The project has a simple goal, but you wouldn’t glean that […]