CityStories / City Profiles / Large Cities / Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Population: 1,517,550
- Car sharing service
- Bike-sharing program
- phila.gov
Photo Credit: Kyle Gradinger/Flickr
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
February 2011 Update: Philadelphia has been named a 2011 Smarter City for Transportation. The City of Philadelphia's partnership with PhillyCarShare has resulted in the replacement of 330 municipal vehicles and 1,300 private vehicles.
This has saved the city $2 million per year and has led to 40 percent less vehicle use, while saving community members $5.5 million each year and 8.2 million vehicle miles.
The city is also currently developing a bike-sharing program, and in January 2009 it hosted a demonstration to commemorate the anniversary of the bike-share movement in Philly.
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Credit:NonsequitorlassBremerton lies in Kitsap County, Washington, just a ferry ride across the Puget Sound from Seattle. With its semirural population, the region is an...
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Kids getting ready to bike home at this primary school in Utrecht, Netherlands. Ninety-five percent of the older kids bike to school at least some of the time. Credit:...
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Credit:Kyle Gradinger/FlickrDon’t see the link between transit and food? Philly does. The City of Philadelphia and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority...
Credit:Portland Bureau of Transportation“In Portland it’s almost like cars don’t exist, right? They ride bikes! They ride double-decker bikes! They ride unicycles! They...
View the Roots to Reentry photo gallery Credit: Margaret FunderbergJamie Oliver may have trademarked the idea of a food revolution with his recent reality show, but in...
Credit: Oconomowoc Transport Co.The 11 new school buses in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin don’t look particularly special. They’re painted the same yellow, carry the same kids and...
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People across the country were surprised last year when Bicycling magazine named Minneapolis America’s “#1 Bike City”, beating out Portland, Oregon, which had claimed the honor...
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Credit: Edgar Zuniga Jr./FlickrSalt Lake City has the ignominious distinction of ranking as the country’s seventh most polluted city by short-term particle pollution,...
Credit: Oconomowoc Transport Co.Partly rural, partly urban, and close to Sacramento without being under city jurisdiction, the Yolo metropolitan region (which encompasses...
Transportation: Bicycling
Cities for Cycling: National Association of City Transportation Officials project to catalog, promote and implement the world's best bicycle transportation practices in American municipalities. Includes several best practices sheets.
Cycling in the Netherlands: Guide to bicycling policies in the Netherlands (pdf)
Fietsberaad: Dutch cycling knowledge center
Bikeability: UK Cycling Proficiency Test
"At the Frontiers of Cycling: Policy Innovations in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany." World Transport Policy and Practice, Vol. 13, No. 3, December 2007, pp. 8-57
"How to Get More Bicyclists on the Road: To Boost Urban Bicycling, Figure Out What Women Want." Linda Baker. Scientific American, October 2009.
Bikes Belong: Research Resources
Designing Cities for Bicycle Transportation
Chicago Bike Lane Design Guide (pdf)
Los Angeles Bike Plan Draft, Chapter 5: Technical Design Handbook (pdf)
Minneapolis Bicycle Facility Manual (pdf)
New City York Street Design Manual
New York City's Ninth Avenue Bicycle Path and Complete Street, for ITE (pdf)
Portland Bikeway Design Best Practices, Appendix D
San Francisco Bicycle Plan Update: Supplemental Design Guidelines (pdf)
San Francisco Shared Markings Study (pdf)
London Cycling Design Standards, Transport for London (UK)
Cycling Guidelines and Practical Details Issue 2, Sustrans (UK)
Collection of Cycle Concepts, Danish Road Directorate (Denmark)
Learn More
- Switchboard: Philadelphia's new green bank, ready for business
- Change Your Commute, Change Your City
- Plug and Play: A Q&A with Luke Tonachel on Electric Cars
- NYC's Bike Lanes
- On Earth: These Roads Were Made for Biking
- Greening Advisor: Public Transportation
- Clean, Low-Emission, Affordable, New Transportation Act (CLEAN-TEA)
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