We were invited for test ride with development version of bike with @Tinkerlmatz in late January in lovely -16°C weather, taking turns in the saddle & passenger department 🤗 2/x
Our initial impressions after the test ride were that it feels really strong & well made with stability & durability and easy & effective maintenance in mind. Smaller but wider wheels & longer wheelbase help w/ low center of gravity & stability especially with precious cargo. 3/x
For example, the #KiddieBus version is designed especially with daycare and pre-schools in mind, as it can carry eight children. 4/x
The Space version is designed for city deliveries, parcels, food etc with its up to 870 liter capacity in the lockable cargo bay.
Ouca Bikes is the same company that's behind the lovely #MuksuBussi kiddiebus cargo bikes. Now they've gone a huge leap forward & developed their completely own model from a scratch. I'm so happy to see this kind of sustainable #BicycleIndustry develop further here in #Oulu 🥰6/x
Photos from oucabikes.com, my camera and Muksubussi FB page. Go check them out, while I'm looking forward to hosting a #livestream with the new cargo bike and of course the guys behind Ouca really soon! 🤗 7/7
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Metsokangas elementary school in the far suburbs of Oulu 🇫🇮. It was -31°C in the morning (-40° windchill). This is just 1 of the 4 parking lots for students. It's not about the cold,it's the safe infrastructure & excellent maintenance. No rocket science.
#MeanwhileInOulu #Oulu 1/
Safe infrastructure means you can safely approach a school from all possible directions. On dedicated, segregated paths and you almost never need to cross a street. Thus, we obviously need bike parking in every direction, around the school at separate entrances. 2/
This school has been so immensely popular that they've had to expand it many times. Naturally with bike parking. A lot of it. Winter and weather are not the issues. Kids will cycle and walk when you give them safe opportunity to do so. 3/
🧵The father of #MeanwhileInOulu, Mauri Myllylä, 87. The first traffic engineer in Oulu. There's just so much we all owe to him especially regarding cycling. Talked with him last week over dinner about some of the historical important planning decisions they made back in 60's 1/
City of Oulu started growing rapidly in the late 50's and 60's. We needed a traffic engineer. I'm so happy they chose Mauri, who understood the importance of #walking & #cycling even during our strongest era of automobilization. He faced a lot and I do mean A LOT of criticism 2/
over his decisions and plans. I can't even imagine how bad it must have been. But he managed to stand his ground. First ever separate bike paths were built in Oulu in the 1960's, and he pushed through a 1971 masterplan for main cycling network that was also built. 3/
Mutta näissä laskureiden datassa on jotain pientä häikkää. Yleensä erot ovat aika pieniä, mutta tämän laskurin kohdalla jokin mättää. Saataisko me tämä nyt lopulta selville @harrivaarala?
Niinkuin tuosta aloituskuvasta näkee, klo 22 tässä on ollut datan mukaan 1696 pyöräilijää. Mutta klo 22:06 ko. laskurin näyttö näytti 1849 🚲. Tuossa ei mitenkään ole voinut kulkea 6 minuutissa yli 150 pyöräilijää.
A better thread of #wintermaintenance of #Oulu 🇫🇮 main #bicycle routes: General info, quality requirements, control & implementation. Oulu shows you can maintain your #cycling infra round the year even in extreme conditions. Where there’s will, there’s a bike path! 1/x
It’s a bit unusual joint contract with two municipalities @oulunkaupunki & @KempeleenKunta and state road adminstration @POPELYkeskus. Due to joint contract, the area borders will show no quality variations or other visible deviations. #MeanwhileinOulu 2/x
This contract consists of 125 km of most important regional routes. Many of them are connections to/from #Oulu city center, but there are also important ring routes and areal paths. The total amount of bike paths in #Oulu region is over 1000 km, naturally maintained as well. 3/x