A collection of cycling-related articles in the press – New Zealand and worldwide:
- Italians swap cars for bikes – bike sales exceed car sales for the first time in decades (see also 2nd article on same subject). Bit of a shame though about the “unhappy side-effect of the economic crisis” undertone. As most people who have ridden bikes for a while will agree, they offer a lot of other advantages beyond saving money. And the extra cash that comes from driving your car less / not having a second family car – that can be spent on other nice things during better times. Cycling – works during good AND bad times.
- Scientific journal tests impact of carbon fibre on cycle commuting times – a tongue-in-cheek (yet deadpan serious) research article from the UK on whether investing in a carbon frame bike will reduce the duration of your ride to work. Already mentioned on our Facebook page by one of our readers, but too good to not share a bit further! Even the “participants” section of the study makes you do a double-take.
- LA shuts down busiest highway for a weekend, critics predict CARMAGEDDON, nothing happens – well, except that air quality suddenly, massively, improved in the motorway areas. All of Auckland is a motorway area, pretty much. Shame we don’t do a closure at least every couple weekends.
- Bavarian petrol station shops forbidden to sell convenience goods to cyclists – Bureaucracy running wild: citing Germany’s strict shop closing-hour laws, a Bavarian court has insisted that petrol station shops may not sell food or drink to pedestrians and cyclists after hours. Because they aren’t “travellers” – whose needs are exempt from the closing-hour laws. As petrol station and train station shops serve a similar function as NZ all-night corner dairies, this is a pretty significant hindrance.
- Apart from the logical question of why a cyclist shouldn’t be a traveller, the ruling also turned out to be pretty hard to enforce, and – surprise – led to some people arriving by car even if they lived very close to the petrol station. The good news is that the state government of Bavaria eventually realised it was sitting on a real embarassing stinker, and is intending to clarify the law to allow peds and cyclists to be served legally again.
Heard any other interesting or funny press articles related to cycling?
