MyWHaT

CORRECTION: BATA does now go to the airport, but not via the Traverse Express. Instead, they added a stop to the South Airport route. The BATA website should have the route maps.

There’s a lot here…

Weekly Chatter

The good news

• Ever wonder how to catch a BATA Bus to the airport? Well, before now you couldn’t…The Traverse Express changes all that and it starts Monday with an inaugural 8AM kickoff at the transit center. Next thing to ask for at Cherry Capitol is long-term bike storage-would you use it? And who rides BATA anyway (video)?

• Some real dough is put towards Grand Vision ideals. Congrats to BARC for being granted $$$ for a community compost business, rumor has it that it’ll be picked-up via bike.

Everything else

Black Hawk, CO isn't budging on the No Bikes law.

• How’s this for a commute to work experience? A bear?

• Black Hawk, CO continues to garner attention for it’s NO BIKES downtown law. Now there’s a call for Dismount Black Hawk–not a boycott, a take over. In related two-wheel struggles, The Bicycle Times explains why bike riders are often little more than ‘speed bumps’ when it comes to law enforcement.

• Complete streets can look very different depending on the context. What it doesn’t look like is these images from Washington D.C. As Michigan works on complete street bills, road crews have a long way to go as construction zones don’t measure up. It’s not too late to contact state house representatives on the current bills.

• The Hidden Health Costs of Transportation (PDF) are detailed in a new paper. MyWHaT will hit on that for a future post. One portion of the study deals with general health and another studies the impact on children–they are more healthy when living in walkable communities.

• Another approach to influence health: Lose the shopping carts, lose some pounds.

• The messaging war on energy and global change weirding boils down to simplifying, nationalizing and bashing big oil if environmental groups want to change anything. That message is clear when the president can’t even mention climate change in an energy speech. What he could have said?

• Reality check. This graphic attempts to show what we believe would help climate change and whether we do or don’t do it.

• Our own local news celebrates cheap gas as they overlook the many reasons why gas is dirt cheap. Part of it is called ‘externality‘ and gulf images are only some of the result. Nigeria is case in point #1.

• Follow the pump price at FuelGaugeReport, and follow the cost of the oil dependence at the national debt calculator. Still, gas tax increases are political suicide despite the actually cost savings for individuals.

• The solution to all that? “Yes, We Can Drive Less“.

To wrap, and to get away from all the politics, treat yourself to this video of public space and public art. Japanese architect Kengo Kuma‘s installation at the University of Milan called “CCCWall”. Now this is a courtyard!

Have a weekend.