Tag Archives: noah budnick

Episode 4: A Brief History Of The American Sharrow

It may come as a surprise, but in some circles of the bike world, sharrows are a source of passionate debate. Are they a lip service from cities hoping to appease cyclists without spending any money or political capital? Are they a viable form of safe infrastructure? In this episode, we trace the origins of sharrows back to their inventor James Mackay, P.E., a former Denver bike planner and talk to bike advocate Noah Budnick and University of Denver, Colorado professor Wes Marshall to look at the evolution of biking and bike infrastructure in America over the last 25 years.

Music:
“Bicycle,” “Night Cave,” “Finding the Balance”
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Noah Budnick: New York’s Tireless Alt-Transportation Advocate, Part 2


Photo by Elly Blue.

Noah Budnick is Deputy Director of Transportation Alternatives, a New York City bicycling, walking, and public transit advocacy group. TransAlt is regarded as one of the leading-edge transportation advocacy groups in the United States and Noah is right in the mix organizing and educating New York residents, pushing for policy and infrastructure reform, and more. Part one of this two-part interview covered Noah’s personal attraction to cycling, views on transportation options, and more. Part two picks up with New York City’s major bike infrastructure overhaul and its impact on ridership, how to increasing biking nationwide, and the anti-bike federal transportation bill.

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Noah Budnick: New York’s Tireless Alt-Transportation Advocate, Part 1


Speaking at the Los Angeles Bike Summit. Photo by flickr user Gary Rides Bikes

Noah Budnick is Deputy Director of Transportation Alternatives, a New York City bicycling, walking, and public transit advocacy group. TransAlt is regarded as one of the leading-edge transportation advocacy groups in the United States and Noah is right in the mix organizing and educating New York residents, pushing for policy and infrastructure reform, and more. In part one of this two part interview, Noah discusses his early love affair with bikes, his views on the severe crash that hospitalized him in 2005 and his eventual recovery and return to bicycling, his appreciation for transportation options, and more.

When did you first get into bikes? Were you one of those kids who learned to ride and never stopped or did bikes come later?

I rode growing up in Vermont. Low traffic dirt roads, potholes to “jump,” lots of coaster brake skids. Fun.

I don’t think my experience growing up and riding is that different from most people. In fact, if you’re the type of person who rides a lot and is really into bikes and doesn’t think there’s much more to say about biking, then I’m writing this for you. I’m writing this for me too, to see what kind of new ideas come out, what new ways there are to talk about ideas, how people will react to them and then what we can do with it all.

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