Memphians to Learn from Livable Communities in Europe

As part of its participation in the Big Jump project from PeopleForBikes, Memphis was invited to send a delegation on a European study tour covering the topic of livable communities. The tour will concentrate on the ways in which towns and cities deliver safe environments for walking and bicycling, as well as how the residents of those communities incorporate these active modes of transportation into their daily lives.

All costs associated with participation in the study tour are being covered entirely through the gracious financial support of the Hyde Family Foundations and PeopleForBikes.

The Memphis delegation consists of:

• Mairi Albertson, City of Memphis Housing and Community Development
• Greg Dotson, Neel-Schaeffer, Inc.
• Stephen Edwards, City of Memphis Engineering
• Marlon Foster, Knowledge Quest
• Rebecca Hutchinson, Soulsville Neighborhood Association
• Eric Neimeyer, The Works, Inc.
• Lyndsey Pender, The Works, Inc.
• Nicholas Oyler, City of Memphis Engineering

As a condition for their acceptance of the eight available spots, each delegate has committed to undertaking a community project in South Memphis as part of the Big Jump. The projects will be executed within one year after the study tour. Delegates will announce the individual projects a few weeks after returning from the trip, and after being inspired by what they’ve experienced abroad.

Over the next several days, we’ll provide glimpses of the lessons learned in Germany and The Netherlands. Follow our journey on the BikePedMemphis Facebook and Twitter accounts, and check back here for an occasional, brief post.

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Bike Share has Arrived

By now you’re surely aware that Explore Bike Share launched with much fanfare this passed Wednesday morning. Nearly 300 individuals took part in the launch festivities, which included a massive group ride from the EBS warehouse in Uptown to Court Square. From there, volunteers broke into smaller groups that rode the bicycles to each of the EBS stations.

Memphis is now home to one of the most state-of-the-art and one of the most equitable bike share systems in the country. Sixty stations and 600 bicycles are scattered around Downtown, South Memphis, Midtown, and Orange Mound. Next year the system will grow by 50% thanks to a Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant. Those 30 additional stations will be used to both double down on the existing service area and expand into new neighborhoods.

As a public resource, bike share will play a key role in the City’s network of bicycle infrastructure and facilities. As such, today we’re releasing a new map of the City’s bicycle network that focuses on the core neighborhoods composing EBS’ service area, and, most importantly, includes icons for the bike share stations.

Bike share and bike lanes exist in a symbiotic relationship. In order for bike share to reach its full potential in Memphis, people need to feel safe riding a bike on our streets. Likewise, by lowering the barriers to accessing a bicycle, bike share will put more people on bikes. The more that Memphians see bike lanes utilized, and by people like them, the more that bike lanes become perceived as basic transportation infrastructure.

In short, if you support safe streets for all users, you should support bike share. If you support bike share, you should support bike lanes and other traffic calming measures that improve the safety of our streets.

To purchase an Explore Bike Share membership or learn more about it, go to: www.ExploreBikeShare.com.