On sustainable mobility: Uber Bike by Jump is affordable, reliable transportation that looks smart, too

Imagine a future where everyone, regardless of their income or where they live, has access to affordable, reliable transportation. The future is now.

During a recent visit to Seattle, it struck me that on nearly every downtown street corner – and especially near the trendy W Hotel (1112 4th Avenue, corner Seneca Street) where I stayed – there was an abundance of smart and safe red Uber Bike by Jump bicycles, a dockless, bike share option that is built of the smartest technology platform in micro-mobility.

The latest generation of these flashy, pedal-assist electric Jump bikes includes a lot of likable and useful features: phone mount, front dashboard, swappable battery and cable lock. Now, riders can use their smart phones for navigation hands free. The swappable battery ensures that bikes are readily available and charged and the cable lock is a good, flexible safety measure that enables bikes to be secured to a rack or permanent structure.

With a smarter and safer fleet of bikes offering its users an optimum performance experience, it will be interesting to see if these sleek Jump bikes, like the ones I saw in Seattle, become commonplace in other urban cities. Upon returning home to Washington, D.C., I started noticing more of them in and around the Capitol Hill and Eastern Market areas of the city as well as near Union Station. Like Seattle, in Washington, D.C., the target demo seems to be under-30-year-old Millennials.

Uber Bike by Jump are available in the following U.S. cities: Atlanta, Austin, Texas; Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, Phoenix, Providence, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Calif.; Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Recently, Nick Foley, Jump’s head of product, was quoted by bikebiz.com as saying “With 4G connectivity, the booking experience – whether reserving remotely or walking up to a bike – is much faster. The ride experience is more reliable, since the bike can now self-diagnose its most common failures.

“And with full connectivity for all on-board vehicle systems, our fleets will be smarter and safer over time, as we use the live diagnostic data from each vehicle to uniquely optimize its performance with algorithms running in our cloud.”

Certainly, with Uber’s ability to mobilize its Jump bikes and place them in locations where they’ll enjoy a high profile, users should never have to trek too far to rent one.

Last fall, Uber announced it was committing $10 million over three years to support sustainable mobility in New York and other cities in which it operates. On Monday, the Sacramento Bee reported that an October study “found more Sacramentans were renting Jump bikes than using Uber’s car service by a 53 to 47 percent margin. That makes Sacramento, Calif., the first of 16 Uber cities that have both bike and car service where the bikes are more popular, company officials said.”

In cities with good weather, a flat terrain and a pro-bike mindset, it certainly looks like Jump bikes are here to stay.

Photo: Uber Bike by Jump by Michael Dickens, © Seattle, 2019.

Here are 25 cities you may wish to call home

Some random thoughts while drinking coffee and enjoying a “snow day” at home ...

Our cities are designed for living, working, cultural entertainment and late nights. Even fresh starts, like I experienced when I moved to Washington, D.C. in 2017, after spending 21-plus years living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Some cities have it figured out, some don’t.

From transportation to green space, retail possibilities and residential settlements, it’s always interesting to find out what makes a good city a great place to live.

Every summer, Monocle, the London-based global magazine that’s always been a must-read for me, for its coverage of international affairs, business, culture and design, presents a special quality of life rankings with a top of the world list of the 25 best global cities.

Although I’ve written about Monocle’s Quality of Life rankings before, it’s been a few years – and, somehow, I haven’t visited the subject since 2016. So, as snow begins to blanket the Beltway, I’ve decided to take a look back at what Monocle had to say about last year’s quality of life rankings.

Here’s Monocle’s Top 25 cities in the world:

 1. Munich
 2. Tokyo
 3. Vienna
 4. Zurich
 5. Copenhagen
 6. Berlin
 7. Madrid
 8. Hamburg
 9. Melbourne
10. Helsinki
11. Stockholm
12. Lisbon
13. Sydney
14. Hong Kong
15. Vancouver
16. Amsterdam
17. Kyoto
18. Düsseldorf
19. Barcelona
20. Paris
21. Singapore
22. Fukuoka
23. Auckland
24. Brisbane
25. Oslo

“Cities are the future,” writes Monocle in discussing its 12th annual Quality of Life survey about the Top 25 global cities. You’ll notice the list is heavy on European and Pacific Asian cities, but it doesn’t include London, Paris or Rome. Only one North American city – Vancouver – made this year’s list. “You want a city that’s well run, delivers on life’s essentials and is fun, too.”

According to Monocle, “By 2030 urban areas are projected to house 60 percent of the global population. But while city halls need to prepare for that future – think grand infrastructure projects and investments in housing – they need to offer their residents a decent quality of life in the present. The best cities manage to find a healthy balance between planning for tomorrow and managing today.”

It makes us ask: What’s my city doing to change? Is it reviving former industrial neighborhoods for more housing stock and new cultures space? Is it expanding its airport or adding new routes to its train network? How well does my city do in putting on a welcoming face to outside businesses, newcomers and tourists?

Monocle suggests that getting it all right is “a challenge but some cities are getting it right.

“Take for instance, our winning city this year, which returned to the top spot: Munich. Safe and efficient with plenty of green space and good restaurants, the German city is thriving and more cosmopolitan than ever. Not only is Munich drawing an increasing number of students (it’s home to 18 universities) and entrepreneurs (its mobility, tech and IT sectors are booming), it’s been managing an influx of refugees and their integration.”

Looking ahead, as cities continue to expand, it seems that maintaining a great quality of life that gets recognized will be a challenge – even for the most forward thinking of cities. Monocle concludes, “Those that will prosper will be open and secure, ambitious and practical, with an eye on the future and a respect for the past.”

Photos and illustrations courtesy of Monocle/Monocle.com.

On Learning: What’s new at the Library of Congress

A 1939 Frank Warner Banjo /
Acquired by the Library of Congress.

One of my favorite days each year at the Library of Congress is the annual “New Acquisitions” display, when the public is invited to view 100 of the most interesting items in all formats that the Library has obtained during the past fiscal year.

During this year’s open house last week, there were holograph manuscript sketches for Beethoven’s monumental “Hammerklavier” Piano Sonata, Op. 106, presented by the Music Division; the 1941 Japanese Pearl Harbor damage assessment map used to brief Emperor Hirohito, presented by the Asian Division; and one of the most famous issues of the New York Daily News, which contains a front page with one of the most iconic baseball cartoons of all time, “Who’s a Bum!” by cartoonist Leo O’Mealia, presented by the Serial & Government Publictions Division.

Multi-faceted French Toy Theatre

There were many fascinating items from a variety of curatorial divisions in the Library, and curators were on hand to answer visitor questions and provide commentary. For instance, I shared a wonderful discussion with Sybille Jagusch, chief of the Children’s Literature Center (which is part of the Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections) about her recent purchase of a superb, multi-faceted French Toy Theatre, with small hand cranks which move color images across the back of a hollow box. I learned that the chromolithgraphed scenes included in this French toy theatre are lovely and handsome images of the Paris Exposition of 1900.

Also, I engaged with Raymond White, a senior music specialist with the Library’s Music Division, to learn about what the Library has added to its wealth of original Felix Mendelssohn (1808-1847) holdings. I did not realize that the Library is a well-known repository for its sources of Mendelssohn research, which includes approximately 20 music manuscripts, nearly 400 autograph letters and a large collection of first and early printed editions, in addition to portraits, contemporaneous clippings, and other documents. It all combines to make the Library of Congress the leading American source for all things Mendelssohn.

Among other new items of interest:

• A World’s Fair New York “Straight to the Gate” print by German-born artist Sasha Maurer that depicts a couple admiring the vista of a train streaming through Manhattan’s Penn State to the brightly glowing World’s Fair Station, presented by the Prints & Photographs Division.

• A beautifully illustrated Book of Hours for an English Market, made in Flanders for exportation to England during the middle years of the 15th century in an era of religious reform, presented by the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

• A Frank Warner banjo, signed by more than 200 performers, made in 1939. The banjo is made of walnut, with walnut tuning pegs, steel strings and animal skin. The signatories include Alan Lomax, Odetta, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, presented by the American Folklife Center.

• Copies of Besuboru magajin (“Baseball magazine”), which belong to a set of 66 issues recently acquired by the Asian Division. These issues span from 1946 to 1951, a period that coincides with the U.S. occupation of Japan (1945-1952) and “marks a time of profound political, social and cultural change.” Besuboru magajin, I learned, appeared shortly after Japanese professional baseball officially returned in November 1945, after a year of inactivity due to World War II.

Photos: By Michael Dickens © 2019.

Thoughts on travel: Leaving your baggage behind

Rick Steves /
PBS travel host,
writer and activist

During my recent visit to Seattle while attending the American Library Assocation’s mid-winter conference, I sat in on an engaging and informative lecture by Rick Steves. He’s the longtime PBS travel host, writer and activist, who spoke about the need to understand our fellow human beings in other countries.

During his lively one-hour conversation, Steves emphasized the importance of traveling outside our comfort zone in order to learn about other people and cultures. One of his goals, I learned, has been to inspire and equip Americans to venture beyond Orlando’s Disney World. The Washington native was clearly a man on a mission on this Sunday morning. He was preaching to the choir – and it gave him its undivided attention.

Certainly, Steves is one who is not afraid to travel. In fact, for decades, he’s been crafting European tour experiences for Americans. By his estimation, he’s spent about a third of his adult life traveling throughout Europe. However, it was following the 9/11 tragedy in 2001 that Steves began to view politics as inextricable from travel.

“A life of travel can be a catalyst of peace,” Steves told his Seattle audience. He’s got a book out to back up his talk, ‘Travel As a Political Act,’ which is in its third edition (Hackett Book Group, 2018).

“When someone tells me to have a safe trip, I’m inclined to say, ‘Well, have a safe trip at home,’” said Steves. Despite Europe being statistically safer than the U.S., he noted that “Our country has never been more fearful.

“Fear is for people who don’t get out very much. The flip side of fear is understanding, and we gain understanding when we travel.”

Rick Steves signing
copies of his book,
‘Travel as a Political Act.’

Steves spoke of the importance that travelers need to get out of their comfort zone and show empathy for the rest of the world. “I’m into reality and humanity,” he said. “There’s a lot of baggage we are clueless to. We need to know about other country’s baggage. It’s important to understand baggage.”

If you think about it, and certainly Steves emphasized it, when you meet people along your travels – and take the time to discover their interests – it fosters an understanding of others and of the world at large.

“You go to France and step into a cheese shop, and it’s a festival of mold. The cheesemonger is evangelical,” said Steves. It’s one of many times that he drew laughter. “In Ireland, I enjoy the sensation that I’m understanding a foreign language. Forget your schedule, this is why you’re there. Get into a conversation.

“Europe knows how to work hard, but it knows how to play, too.”

He added, “You travel and realize the American dream is great, but it’s not unpatriotic to recognize there are other dreams.”

Thoughts on the media: Democracy Dies in Darkness

There were many enjoyable – and, yes, forgettable – commercials that aired during Sunday night’s Super Bowl LIII broadcast on CBS. Some were even thought provoking for their content or message.

One advert that drew my attention – and hopefully yours – came near the two-minute warning late in the fourth quarter of the New England Patriot’s 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. It lasted just 60 seconds, but it was a powerful and poignant minute. It was for The Washington Post newspaper, and its narrator was actor Tom Hanks.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper

If you think about it, though, this commercial was really about more than just a newspaper. Think democracy, think freedom of the press, and think about the importance that good and responsible journalism plays in our country.

As you watch, listen to the words that Hanks flawlessly recites while images of the World War II D-Day invasion and first moon landing are shown as well as clips of Fox News’ Bret Baier and CNN’s Anderson Cooper reporting from war zones and natural disasters. One of the final images gives special tribute to slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered last fall after entering the Saudi consulate in Instanbul.

“When we go off to war. When we exercise our rights. When we soar to our greatest heights. When we mourn and pray. When our neighbors are at risk. When our nation is threatened. There’s someone to gather the facts. To bring you the story. No matter the cost. Because knowing empowers us. Knowing helps us decide. Knowing keeps us free. Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

While this $10 million commercial (paid for by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, who also owns Amazon.com) was seen by millions of football fans and casual sports viewers from coast to coast – and, maybe, it will change a few minds, which good advertising does – imagine if the intended audience for this advertisement was just one person, who just happens to be the President of the United States.

Something to think about as the memory of this year’s Super Bowl game fades to black.