Beginning by the Chamounix Mansion, The Fairmount Park Trolley Trail passes through acres of lush forest. It curves and slopes past trees that are home to birds and squirrels, trees whose trunks sprout mushrooms closer to the forest floor. After a 15-minute walk, visitors arrive at the Skew Arch Bridge, the trail’s most popular feature.
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When Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf shut down “all non-life-sustaining” businesses as a public safety precaution in March, Philadelphia created its own list of businesses it deemed essential, which included bike shops. Such was the beginning of a national bike boom throughout the country. As many businesses, like gyms and fitness studios, were forced to shut
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Nafis Middleton, a local rapper and anti-violence activist known as Fis Banga, was detained on Tuesday, December 15, by Philadelphia police from the 35th District in what he describes as “a traffic ticket gone wrong.” Middleton, 27, has been writing and producing anti-violence skits and raps for more than five years, but this week he
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Suppose you hopped on a vehicle that not only took you to another neighborhood but to a different place in your spirit. For Philadelphians, a journey with such a touch of magic is as close as SEPTA driver Gary Mason’s trolley. Mason tricks out his trolley for different holidays and revels in riders’ responses. Mason,
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Eager to put the last four years in America’s rear view, President-elect Joe Biden and his transition team have published their first batch of plans for their time in the White House, some of which include exciting news for bicycling, public transit and walking. Pledging to allot federal funding for alternative transportation modes, the Biden
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It was just after midnight on June 30, 2018, and Ag Manta and his brother, Vin, were riding their bicycles home from Main Street in Manayunk toward the path along Kelly Drive. Manta remembers the driver of a gray Scion taunting them from behind, using homophobic slurs. Then things escalated. Manta remembers hearing screeching tires
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When folks go to the polls or fill out their mail-in ballots next month, they will likely have key issues on their minds—be it the environment, foreign policy, corruption, the economy, fighting against white supremacy or saving American democracy as we know it. You know, basic voting stuff. What will be on fewer peoples’ minds
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Desperate times call for desperate measures—and the times, they are a-desperate. But with a little bit of planning, and a lot of nudging, desperation can bring out the best in people—and cities. Such was the case when Martin Luther King Jr. Drive was closed to motor vehicles and opened to people in late March 2020.
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For years, bicycle-advocacy organizations across the country and the world have supported a policy called Vision Zero as a push for safer streets for everyone. Emphasizing the five E’s of planning—engineering, education, encouragement, evaluation and enforcement—the Sweden-born safety policy has proven effective where implemented. Utilizing police departments for the enforcement part of Vision Zero has
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By Alex MulcahyThis morning’s commute would have been much more difficult without my Yuba Sweet Curry bike. For reasons too tedious to share, my son didn’t have his bike, his regular means of getting to and from school. But thanks to our bright orange cargo bike, I was able to haul both him and his
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By Alex MulcahyIt takes 5 minutes and 19 seconds for my seven-year-old son and I to bike to his school. At least that’s how long it took the other day when we timed it. I suspect it was a little faster than past rides because we rode on the street.
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