There is a lot happening in the transportation world these days, particularly right here in the Portland region.

Whales? Nope, little bike-shaped cookies celebrating the new Bike and Ride. Photo courtesy of Jim Parsons.

TriMet just opened a new secure bicycle parking facility at Sunset Transit Center in Beaverton.  BikePortland.org covered the grand opening yesterday and has additional articles about the other Bike and Ride facilities set to open later this year. 

In not-so-good TriMet news, the transit agency learned that funding for the planned Orange MAX line from Oak Grove to South Waterfront has a fairly large funding gap.  The Portland Tribune has the coverage.

Electric vehicles are still popping up the news.  In Portland, city council recently adopted an EV strategy to help guide development in the area.  The big take away (for me, anyways) is that EVs alone are not enough to meet our Climate Action goals.  Bicycling, walking, transit, and carpooling are still the keys to reducing carbon from the transportation sector.  On that note, the New York Times published an Op-Ed criticizing GM's development of its EV - the Volt.

There's also increasing evidence that transportation expenses should be a component of calculating housing costs.  It makes sense - if you live far from where you need to go, it's gonna cost you more to get there.  Historically, however, Americans have divorced decisions about transportation and home.  Hence the old "drive 'til you qualify" axiom that's proven disastrous of late.

And while Portlanders walking and biking into downtown on Wednesday morning found the lower deck of the Steel Bridge unexpectedly closed, more and more are discovering the joys of the new Morrison Bridge Bicycle and Pedestrian path.

Speaking of the joys of discovery - the Community Cycling Center partnered with the New Columbia neighborhood to give 58 kids their first bicycles!  Is there anything better than your first bike ride on your brand new, very own two-wheeler?

If you live in London you don't even need your own bike more.  You can now "hire cycles" all over the city (American translation: rent bikes).