‘Penny in Your Pants,’ for bicycle riding in a skirt

While on the subject of independence ... Check out this “cyclehack,” an idea that solves a barrier to riding a bicycle. “Penny in Your Pants” involves pushing a penny from back to front, through both layers of a skirt, to form a button and then using a rubber band to secure the button in place.

Bear Creek Greenway: Ashland to Phoenix trip

Bridge along the Bear Creek Greenway north of Ashland

Jonathan and I rode our bikes up the Bear Creek Greenway on Saturday, from Ashland to Phoenix, Oregon. The trip represented enormous progress in our efforts to free ourselves from dependence upon driving a car.

Travel survey: 12 percent of households don’t have car

From the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (citing a 2009 National Household Travel Survey), come a variety of statistics about U.S. transportation that may startle and inspire. Among them, one in 12 U.S. households does not own a car and 11.9 percent of all trips in this country were done by walking or bicycling.

Bicycle publicity for Jackson County library district

Bicycle-billboard publicity for a Jackson County library district

From now until the May election, whenever I ride around Ashland, I will be a moving billboard for the Jackson County library district. Green letters against a gold background urge viewers to vote “YES ON 15-122.”

Automobile bias in job interview videos

In an online discussion of videos about interviewing techniques, a classmate raised the point that an assumption by the producers that applicants will drive to an interview, is a “bit off the mark.”

Transit ridership reaches 57-year high

At 10.7 billion trips, public transit ridership was at its highest in 57 years during 2013, according to a report released March 10 by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).

In the words of APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy, “There is a fundamental shift going on in the way we move about our communities. People in record numbers are demanding more public transit services and communities are benefiting with strong economic growth.”

Crossing I-5’s Exit 14 with bicycle traffic signal

For beginning cyclists’ edification, here's my “review” of Oregon Department of Transportation's I-5 Exit 14 overpass south of Ashland, Oregon.

Yesterday’s trip marked my first experience with a bicycle traffic signal. It resembles the traffic signals commonly used by motorists but with a cut-out bicycle emblem.