If it’s Bike Month, then Transportation Alternatives must be hosting their annual commuter pit stops with help from NYC DOT and the five Boro President’s offices. Yesterday, it was a Queens afternoon snack and we thought we’d take the pulse of cyclists departing the QBB as they got some rehydration and filled their packs with literature (and mega safety schwag!) If you missed out, check the Bike Month calendar for future goodie giveaways and swing back here as we cover events all month long.

With sincerest apologies to Fred Rogers, let’s go for a walk in Clarence Eckerson’s Neighborhood - where you will see a livable streets phenomenon created by (gulp!) double-parked cars.

On alternate side of the street parking days, many communities in Brooklyn have worked out a deal so car owners are allowed to double park with impunity so the streets can get their weekly brushing. (Okay, let’s not touch that argument today.) During the interim switchover when drivers are relocating their cars - usually lasting about 15 to 20 minutes - chicanes are temporarily created, which delightfully slow car speeds to more human levels.

We’re always trying to enlighten the public here at Streetfilms, by getting inventive using already existing street reality to placate opponents of traffic calming. (Remember our snowy neckdowns?) To add, yes, I have seen vans and small trucks successfully navigate narrow blocks like these. Also please note: in my travels, typical neckdown installations are usually much less drastic then the conditions created here.

Had enough livable streets lessons from Bogotá? Good. Neither have we.

In the final chapter of our September NYCSR visit to Colombia, where the indefatigable Gil Peñalosa was our tour guide, you’ll find lots of tasty video morsels including: riding the comfortable ciclorutas and cycle paths, a visit to a thriving pedestrian-only street where they said it couldn’t be done, a “bollard farm,” mucho footage of the city’s parks and public spaces and comments from the city’s residents. And we couldn’t resist - just a wee bit more dance mania at the Recreovia.

If this is your first foray into Bogotá, might we suggest these related Streetfilms which will bring you up to speed on Ciclovia and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT):

Ciclovia (9:41)

Bus Rapid Transit: Bogotá (7:29)

Mark Gorton Interviews Enrique Peñalosa (12:07)

The NYC DOT has been quietly rolling out dozens of bike boxes all over Gotham. (*Update: Official number is 60!) It’s really quite remarkable. But since the majority of riders seem not to know what they are or how to use them just yet, StreetFilms thought this would be a fun way to educate cyclists to love and cherish the Bike Box.

*Addendum: Apparently so few New Yorkers know about bike boxes that even the New York Times screwed up in an article about Portland, Oregon installing new bike boxes!

“…the boxes, believed to be the first such to be put to use by any city in the country, will make cyclists even safer and more comfortable on the street, biking advocates and transportation officials say.”

They should really check in with StreetFilms more often.

With New York City recently scoring a medallion for “Bronze Achievement in Bicycling Direction” by the “LAB Academy” (you like us! you really like us!) we figured it was a good time to post our very brief StreetFilms visit to Davis, California back in August 2007. Even though Portland, Oregon is nipping at their heels, Davis is still the only city in America to attain the very prestigious Platinum status for overall bicycle friendliness in a city.

Credit for Davis’s bike-friendliness goes back to the 1960’s when forward-thinking University of California urban planners began thinking about ways to make it safe and convenient for college students and city residents to travel safely by bike. During an era when most California towns were focused on building freeways, strip malls and suburban arterials, Davis’s planning wizards were developing off-street greenways, bike lanes and installing bike racks everywhere.

In the last decade, an influx of car-commuters moving to Davis from nearby Sacramento and San Francisco has decreased the bike commuting mode share from 25 percent to 18 percent. Still, Davis remains an amazing place to use a bike for transportation. Any place that has eliminated school buses and have children riding bikes to school is doing something right. And check this out — Davis has its own Wiki page devoted to bicycling.

Now click your heels four times and repeat after me, “There’s no place like Davis. There’s no place like Davis. There’s no place…”

Tonight I found something on my computer that we never posted. A real curio to publish 16 months later as we head into Summer 2007.

Back in Feb 2006, as the largest ever recorded NYC snowfall (26.9 inches) was winding down - although I’ll bet we had some doozies during the Ice Age! - I popped outside with a camera to try to capture some traffic calming, transportation and livable streets lessons.

One caveat: with our new DOT commissioner and Mayor Bloomberg’s ambitious 2030 initaitive, I would not make some of the same comments today. And I realize my “everybody can take the subway” soundbite is a stretch, but check it out - I think you’ll find some merit as we present a StreetFilm from the cutting room floor!

At many locations in the Bay Area you’ll find electronic, on-demand Bike Link locking facilities where you can park your bike securely for between 3 to 5 cents per hour! The lockers were created by eLock Technologies, which runs the Bike Link facilities.

While not ubiqutous just yet, one can see the amazing potential for this technology on the streets of New York City. Imagine a bike locker on every corner, not having to carry multiple heavy locks, and - most importantly - being able to ride even the most expensive model bike and know it’ll be there when you return.

StreetFilms likes to dream, but seriously folks, this could be a moneymaker in NYC. I’d pay lots more than pennies per hour to lock my bike!

In 1989, a 7.1 earthquake struck the Bay Area which severely damaged many of its elevated highway structures. The Embarcadero Freeway - an ugly, double-decked highway - was replaced with a grand boulevard which emphasizes access to the waterfront and provides people with transportation options like walking, mass transit, and bicycling instead of an emphasis personal vehicle use. In this 12 minute mini-doc, you’ll see some of the dramatic changes and how all users benefit when planning takes a pedestrian and people-first attitude.

Just look at these BEFORE and AFTER shots!

Also discussed: Octavia Boulevard which replaced part of the former-Central Freeway.