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Google Maps bicycle maps—how well does it work?
But, how well do these directions work? Well, I’ve now spent some time mapping out various bicycle directions, and the answer is “not perfect but pretty darned well.” They have a blog post about their methodology, which explains how an algorithm tries to help you avoid heavily-trafficked streets and steep hills and such. (Some of us like steep hills, of course.) And it does a decent job of it. But it’s in beta so there are a few things which need minor fixing.
For instance, let’s say I want to go from our office to Uptown. Since I’m lazy, I type in “55104” (our zip) and figure I can drag the marker to my start and end points. The Googles give back:
“We could not calculate directions between 55104 and 55404.”
Whoops. They think that 55104 is centered on I-94, and you can’t bike on I-94, so, no dice. Okay, I’ll type in the addresses. Here we go (no embedding yet). That’s just what I would have done.
Except, if I’m not in a hurry, sometimes I’ll trade busy Selby and Marshall for the wooded expanses of Summit. So I drag the marker and, well, it’s not perfect. It still takes me down Summit and then on to the Greenway, but I usually take a left off of Cretin on to Mississippi River Boulevard, which is totally legal and which it won’t let me do. Harumph. That seems to be a bad point in their data.
The second issue is that the route calculator assumes that I am going to obey all bike laws, and won’t ever turn myself in to a pedestrian to navigate a short section of one way street or no left turn. I usually take a left from Mississippi River Blvd. on to the Lake Street bridge, which is not allowed for cars, but which I can do as a bicyclist, either by crossing there (it’s sort of an unmarked crosswalk) or biking on the sidewalk across the bridge or, uh, darting across the street and on to the westbound traffic side.
And then there’s a little loop-the-loop to get on to West River Drive from Lake Street.
Still, it’s fun to map your routes and see what they suggest and what you’ve done before. You might be surprised how easy it is to get from point A to point B on a bicycle! And as far as the time estimates—I’m not sure what they’re using but in a pinch I can budget 27 minutes (or so) from Selby and Dale to Uptown. (More if I can catch a draft.) At rush hour, it’s quite a bit faster than driving!
2010 Priuses Returned to Service After Toyota Recall
After reports last week of a brake malfunction in some 2010 Toyota Priuses, HOURCAR pulled the two newest cars in its fleet out of service. Safety is our first priority, so we quarantined the cars as soon as it became clear there was a problem and before Toyota issued its recall of the cars this week. The repairs dictated by Toyota’s recall have been performed, so both cars are now back in service at HOURCAR’s newest hub on the Saint Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.
2010 Prius update
As you may have heard, there are concerns about the safety of the braking systems on the 2010 Prius. While we have not had any first hand reports, we are pulling the 2010s from service (we only have two cars, at the new Saint Thomas hubs). Until these concerns are addressed, we will have a 2009 Prius—which does not have these issues—at the Selby hub at Saint Thomas (car #25). We apologize for any inconvenience, but your safety is always our top priority.
2010 Prius safety
After recent news reports that Toyota has been directed by the Japanese government to test the brakes in the 2010 Prius, we wanted to let you know that HOURCAR is following the story closely.
All but two of our Priuses are 2005-2009 models, which are unaffected by this report, but we are carefully monitoring information related to Toyota’s testing of the 2010 Prius’ brakes. (HOURCAR’s only 2010 Priuses are #24 and #25.) As more information becomes available we will determine if additional action is necessary. As always, HOURCAR members can be confident that we are performing all necessary maintenance and safety upgrades. Our members’ safety is HOURCAR’s first priority. We appreciate our members’ diligence in letting us know when they feel that an HOURCAR needs our attention.
HOURCAR Unaffected by Toyota Recall
Toyota announced yesterday that it would temporarily suspend the manufacture and sale of 8 models of its cars. This decision does not include any of the vehicle models in HOURCAR’s fleet, but we are following the story and will take any necessary steps to ensure the safety of our fleet.
In the past, we’ve commented on Toyota’s recall of floor mats.
See us in the Strib
HOURCAR was recently written up in the Star Tribune. The article profiled a member who uses HOURCAR a couple times a month and otherwise lives without a car. This is the case for the majority of our members; many others have one car for two people and use us as an occasional second vehicle.
And, yes, we’re well on our way to 1000 members. Join us today and be part of the movement!
New North Loop Location
HOURCAR has a new location for the #16 car in the North Loop. Thanks to Franklin Bank, we have a parking spot in their lot. It’s at the corner of Washington and Sixth, so we hope it’s a bit closer to some of the activity in the area. It’s closer to the new Northstar Commuter Rail station, too, which opens in November!
HOURCAR has a new website
So hey there, look at this. HOURCAR has a new website. This is cool all on it’s own, but it’s also much more useful than our old website. You can see where our cars are and the Frequently Asked Questions will answer most of yours. Don’t you like it? We sure do.
We’ll migrate our blog over here in the near future. For now, you can find it all at HOURCAR.blogspot.com