Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Japan

Automated Underground Bike Parking in Tokyo

By Brad Aaron | Apr 21, 2008 | 20 Comments

From Japan Probe via Gizmodo comes this video of an automated underground bike garage at a Tokyo commuter train station. For a single-use fee of 100 yen (about $1) or 1,800 yen for a monthly pass, customers roll their bikes onto a platform and use a control panel to have them whisked away to a […]

Traffic Jam on a Petri Dish

By Aaron Naparstek | Mar 11, 2008 | 3 Comments

This one comes to Streetsblog via the Sightline Institute’s Daily Score, a blog covering environmental issues in the Pacific Northwest. Why do traffic jams materialize for no apparent reason? In an effort to answer that question, here’s a surprisingly simple experiment cooked up in Japan by the University of Nagoya’s "Mathematical Society of Traffic Flow:" […]

Young Japanese Just Say No to Cars

By Ben Fried | Mar 3, 2008 | 3 Comments

Now for some good news: Car culture is on the wane, at least in Japan. The Wall Street Journal reports that car sales in Japan are down 31 percent since the peak in 1990, and not only because of stagnant population growth. The newest generation of would-be buyers, it turns out, just doesn’t think cars […]

Pedestrian-Only Fifth Avenue: Tonight, a Three Hour Test

By Ethan Kent | Jun 13, 2006 | No Comments

Tonight is the Museum Mile Festival. From 6:00 to 9:00 pm, twenty-three blocks of Fifth Avenue from 82nd Street to 105th Streets will be closed to traffic for the event billed as "New York’s Biggest Block Party." Admission to the museums is free and there are all kinds of events, workshops and street performances. Project for Public Spaces got […]