While I was in Strasbourg, I took a day trip to #Vauban, the famous car-light neighborhood in Freiburg im Breisgau. This former French army base/barracks was turned into a model for sustainable living in 1999. It's fantastisch. It features filtered permeability. You can have a car, but can't take it everywhere throughout the neighborhood. Most people walk and bike. It is within close walking distance to the tram.

I'm in #Strasbourg, the cycling capital of France, looking at what major steps they've taken for biking, walking, and transit. It's important to say that while there is a history of cycling here, just like in Amsterdam there was a concerted effort to take back space from cars. Here it started in earnest in 1989 when they decided to reintroduce trams to the city. By the mid 90s the first lines were in

I'm in #Gent now (also spelled #Ghent, but I'll spell it like the locals do). The reason I'm here is to look at the transportation system under their new Circulation Plan adopted/implemented in 2017. This city of 260k ppl is stunning in its history, charm, and beauty. To address growing congestion from private cars & to make the city more livable, Gent instituted this Circulation Plan (CP) to give more space to walking, bikes, buses & trams. There are 6 zones & cars need to use the Ring Road (pic) to access them - can't cut through city center

Now in #Rotterdam – a very different city than Amsterdam. Much of it destroyed during the WWII, Rotterdam was rebuilt in the late 20th century. While it has a strong 372 mi bike network, it is still fairly car centric. The City has been trying some things to make it more humane. Here's a bike escalator to the underground bike parking facility at Rotterdam Centraal

Just got to #Amsterdam. Having a bite and coffee at Bar Bukowski, adjusting to the new time zone, and watching the street life outside. I'm going to be posting some 🔥 bike/walk infrastructure content so stay tuned to this thread Something that's immediately noteworthy are the human scale signal standards they use here as opposed to the car and truck focused @PennDOTNews standard that don't belong on many streets/sidewalks in Pittsburgh if any at all. And yes, there are cars and trucks here too.

Intersections are where most of the conflicts happen between people on bikes and people driving cars. Naturally it makes sense then to put the bike markings in the intersections and in front of driveways to notify drivers to expect to see bikes. #Montreal But of course bike stencils aren't nearly enough, you need a network protected bike lanes. Here is an example of planted medians separating bikes from cars which are far more beautiful and safer than flex posts.

In #Lisbon now, the last city on my study tour. Immediately I'm struck by the verticality of this city as well as their gorgeous sidewalks and streets. I even got to witness my favorite thing–the by-hand repairing of a mosaic sidewalk. Lisbon is v hilly, but researcher Rita Félix discovered that 75% of Lisbon's streets are <5% grade. They built a bike plan for these flatter areas simultaneously adding hundreds of pedal assist e-bikes to their bike share fleet as well as letting @JUMPbyUber add dockless e-bikes.

I'm now in #Helsinki looking into how the investment in mobility as a service (MaaS for short) has paid off. Also, looking at their street designs, as I do when traveling. I've got lots of mtgs lined up, & I'll be adding more over the next few days, similar to my thread on Oslo. Before I left for my trip, I downloaded @WhimappFI. My first experiment was getting from Central Station to my hotel via the 4 tram. I *think* it worked? Every city's transit is different & there seems to be no need to show proof of payment here. Also, I'm not sure how I would've

Look at what you can do with a street when you don't just default to lining it with car parking #Oslo And this is how major bus stops should look if your society truly values public transit. The sign says the bus route and arrival time.