While the dominant paradigm for our society – from parking garages and roadways to gas stations and AAA – may still be the automobile, more and more we’re seeing thoughtful approaches to designing the bike into our world view. To wit, RentaBikeNow, a site that lets you research the rental bikes available in 157 locations across the U.S. and Canada with information on rates, routes and accessories like racks and helmets. The service enables users to reserve bikes online in advance and easily incorporate them into their travel plans, though we imagine this will be just as useful to locals [...]

Mapumental is an online application that will help people understand the best places to live. Funded by Channel 4’s 4ip in the UK, this service is currently in private beta – but this video shows how the system works. It has taken various data points to help Londoners understand where they can live if they want to commute to work in a certain time. The map produced can be altered depending on house prices and also with how beautiful people think the area is. The narrator says that they’ve asked people to rate images from areas on how ’scenic’ it [...]

In an effort to figure out what half an hour from his apartment actually looked like, programmer and designer Jonathan Soma created triptrop NYC, a handy interactive map based on a combination of subway travel and walking.  Users can easily view their approximate travel times between destinations or compare commutes from two separate locations – i.e. if you really want to see what the effect of moving to Sunnyside, Queens would be. In a world filled with increasing predictability, the only problem might be, that we’re quickly running out of excuses for being late anymore.

Considering how vital public transportation is to life in NYC, the MTA’s recently proposed fare hikes and service cuts have many cash-strapped New Yorkers wondering how they’re going to stretch their budgets to compensate if and when these changes go into effect. Still, for residents of some under-served parts of Brooklyn, their commute just got a little cheaper and a whole lot more entertaining thanks to Dollar Van Demos – an alternative transportation system with a twist. For one dollar, passengers can utilize the van service throughout various routes in the borough while local musicians, rappers and comedians give live [...]

The MTA is the nation’s largest public transportation agency, serving an estimated 8.5 million people daily, making it an integral part of life for a diverse group of riders from every imaginable socio-economic background. This reality creates an interesting dynamic between commuters who share proximity while waiting at the same bus stop or standing at the same spot on the subway platform at the same time every day. They may not know one another exactly, but a connection exists beyond the level of stranger, regardless of whether smiles, waves or head nods are exchanged.
Miranda Purves began to realize these unique relationships [...]

A winner has been announced for the “Commuter Bike For The Masses” competition sponsored by the Bicycle Design blog. The design brief was to come up with a bike which would persuade the average person, with no previous interest in cycling, to take it up in place of  driving.
Torkel Dohmers “This Way” bike has taken first place in the contest, borrowing liberally from the visual language of automobiles. Looking like a 3 way cross between a bike, a child’s Big Wheel toy and a golf cart, it uses the best elements of bikes and cars to create a new hybrid [...]

Overworked and weary subway riders take note, your furtive attempts to catch some Z’s during your daily commute just might make you famous or infamous as the case may be, thanks to the public photography project Asleep On The Subway. The website aims to build a community around the universal need for sleep and the lengths some people will go to get some.  Judging from the early offerings, some people are more successful in their head nodding efforts than others, but all share the common quest for a little extra shut eye that is extremely relatable. Though we don’t expect [...]