How does the Philadelphian cross the road? It isn’t always easy or safe. Dangerous intersections mean bikers, pedestrians and people with disabilities risk life and limb to simply get where they’re going. The risks they take are apparent in death and injury statistics — 49 pedestrians and cyclists were killed in 2021, according to the
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Last fall, I was cruising down a street in Mount Airy on my new electric bike, joyfully accelerating into the wind and relishing in emission-free transportation, when suddenly it hit me. The pavement, that is. An SUV facing the wrong way on the two-lane road jumped out from a line of parked cars in front
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Bicycles continue to evolve — with carbon fiber frames and electric motors, among other newfangled components — but the machine’s design hasn’t fundamentally changed for generations: two wheels, handlebars and a diamond-shaped frame. Aaron Zucker, Leslie Lodwick and Alex Bomstein remind us that we can ride bikes made decades ago, that we needn’t buy the
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“Accidents are the predictable result of unequal power in every form — physical and systemic… Accidents are not flukes or freak mishaps — whether or not you die by accident is just a measure of your power, or lack of it.” – Jessie Singer, “There Are No Accidents” At first glance, saying “car accident” instead
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At its height, it reached three feet. The color of chocolate milk, the water flooded The Tricycle Shop’s first-floor retail and café space, submerging bistro tables and balance bikes, buoying trash cans and stacks of paper cups, lapping at the midsections of mannequins sporting branded jerseys. Hurricane Ida’s September 2021 rampage through the Philadelphia region
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In business there are two certainties: convenience is never without cost, and sudden changes — disruptions — create new opportunities. The escalating demand for “last mile delivery,” the process by which industries and companies ship goods directly to the customer, is a textbook example of costs and opportunities. Even if you are among the estimated
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Just as there is no agreed-upon definition for “gentrification” or “safety,” there are no universal standards when it comes to gathering community feedback. A decade-long South Philadelphia streets fiasco demonstrates this idea in a perfect microcosm: Washington Avenue and its controversial repaving. Washington Avenue is a wide corridor housing businesses and residences on either side
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Some are compression-short-wearing athletes who trek through the trails of the Wissahickon or beside the Schuylkill River. Some are commuters, taking the city’s bike lanes to and from work every day. Others are “wheelie” kids, groups of teenagers and young adults pulling tricks down Broad Street, not a single care or helmet in sight. All
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Spring Garden Street, which runs from river to river, is currently a fast but miserable route for a cyclist to cut across Center City. Much of it is unshaded and exposed to the sun, and the bike lane isn’t protected by anything but a white stripe on the asphalt. At the eastern end, cyclists who
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Do impending global disaster and (if that’s not enough) high gas prices have you itching to buy your first electric vehicle (EV)? Before you do, think about investing in a bicycle or a comfortable pair of walking shoes. A new study of the lifecycle emissions of various forms of transportation found that walking and cycling
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