World Bike Forward
@urbanupgradeglobal
Stephen Graham on global cities & biking. Urban Planning and Global Finance NYU. Former research director Citi and Goldman
Arrival at the edge of the airport, not inside the terminals, but shuttle bus back and forth.
Highways and surface streets were jammed at rush hour, but the train flew through. Car geometry doesn't work well in a city this dense. The train got crowded, but never slow.
Several subway cars for women only at rush hour. This woman's shirt and sign are promoting that as part of national anti-sexual harassment program. I got on the wrong car and she shooed me off and down to the general car.
Subway (and surface metro) barely a decade old. Just 22 stations for now but it goes where I needed to go, bus station to airport. Also connects to Bus Rapid Transit, city bus lines, and soon light rail.
Arrived in capital Salvador, 2.5 million people packed onto a peninsula. New bus station is the nicest I've ever seen, more like a new airport.
Return was by bus from the Diamantina mountains. Big reclining seats like biz class on a plane, refreshments, clean bathroom on board. Once a two-day trip that would wreck car suspensions, now half a day on a smooth road, though crowded with trucks. (online pics, but just like these)
I'm a fan of developing countries that develop. Been traveling for decades to the western backlands of the state of Bahia, Brazil to visit family. Never seen transportation conditions as good as last week, both there and in the coastal capital Salvador.
New NJ/NY Meadowlands? Less parking, more train connections, more action, more green. rpa.org/work/reports...
Love these all-electric buses in São Paulo, hundreds of them. So much quieter than diesel, with no urban air pollution. And this being Brazil, they're running on wind, sunshine, and river power.
the big machines are rolling immediately adjacent, a hazard. Restarting is the worst time to be near cars because it's the most wobbly -- see front wheels. Drivers at intersections may drift, turn, or change their mind at the last minute. If no
Not sure this transmits the tranquility the prefecture is hoping for. São Paulo "arrest meter" listing the feats of the police lately empowered with more camera tech. Starts with "Escapees Captured" totaling 3,323. (OK, it's more like "warrants served," but still.)
The World Cup is on without the Italians, but they did host the Bike Messenger World Championship this year
Name this city. Bottom sign: no bike riding. Top sign: no walking your bike. Hint: applies to almost the whole city.
New York, LA, SF, Miami could all use more of this. Secure bike parking at Milan subway station. Ride to the station, lock up, cross the city, come back hours later, bike not stolen, ride home.
Last year 87% of Brazilian electricity generated was hydro, wind, solar, and nuclear.
Less bus noise, CO2 emission, and diesel smoke in the face. São Paulo transit system took delivery of another 500 battery-electric buses all at once this morning. Formed a double line 4 miles long. Total now 1,759. Made in Brazil by Marcopolo, Caio, Mercedes, and VW with BYD and other Chinese firms.
OK it's just a yogurt ad but the Dutch bike is a nice touch (São Paulo)
Kids learn urban biking early when your city makes it possible (Milan)
Efficiency of trains + bike-share in dense cities. In Milan with 1 hour between trains, picked up a lost phone from 2 km away. Took me 20 minutes total. E-bikes by the steps of the station, park at door of destination, then right back to front of station. Compare w/outlying airport + Uber call.
To build a highway across an entire metro area to carry 72,000 people an hour at peak, you'd have to wipe out enough city to fit 32 lanes plus ramps and intersections. The Elizabeth Line does that every day with no emissions, no traffic jams, no crashes, and no surface disruption in central London.
@governor.ny.gov Now that a few hundred LIRR folks held up a few hundred thousand riders to get their raises and keep earning $200k to move trains like in the 1950s, consider that this train works just fine without a driver or conductor. Which is one reason it comes every three minutes.
Buying a home in America used to cost 2-3X median household income, but now 4-10X. Cities below 5X are either in demand and build aggressively, or are in relative decline. If your city is in demand and not building, it's a problem. You can find yours on this graph live in the reply link.
In Malibu for a wedding. Speed limit on Pacific Coast Highway cut to 25 mph for rebuilding from 2025 fires. Multiple signs, radar displays showing actual speeds, pleas to "Slow Down!" So far seen zero people driving under the limit. So next time someone says cyclists don't follow traffic laws...
If São Paulo can get cars off its equivalent of Fifth Avenue every Sunday and holiday, which can't New York do it on Fifth Avenue? @nyc-dot.bsky.social
Brazilian art from a bike, Bandeirantes sculpture group on the right, batucada on the left (sound)
A kissing canopy, but of bamboo (Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo)
