Bike to work or school:

Four years ago, Worldwatch in their wonderful but now defunct magazine, published a few interesting numbers. In the mid-1990s there were 385 bicycles per 1000 Americans (US), the number in Germany was 588 per 1000 Germans and in Holland .... 1000 bikes per 1000 Dutch people of course! Bicycles in Europe are considered a transport vehicle just like a car and are treated as such unlike in most of the continental US. Bicycles lanes are clearly indicated and often have their own traffic lights and signage, their own (covered) parking lots near public transport hubs like train and bus stations.

The percent of urban travel accounted for by cycling in the US in 1995 was a pitiful 1, in Germany 12 and in the Netherlands 28. Ever heard complaints about traffic jams in town? Ever heard about the difficulties to find parking places and their rising costs? Ever heard about polluted air and the fumes from exhaust going straight into the faces of children in strollers? There is a solution: it is called the bicycle.

Another fascinating number published by Worldwatch is the number of persons per hour that one meter-width-equivalent right-of-way can carry. A car (in mixed traffic) can carry 170 people per hour, a bicycle can carry 1500 people per hour, a bus (in mixed traffic) 2700 and walking shoes will carry 3600 people per hour. The subway can carry up to 4000 people. So obviously, biking or walking is the best way to avoid traffic jams and busy parking lots. Now in terms of energy conservation, a car uses 1860 calories per passenger mile, a bus 920, a train 885, while a person walking uses 100 calories per mile and a bicyclist only 35.

On what seems a related topic, it is important to note that in 2003, while 30.6% of the US adult population was found to be obese, the % in Germany was only 12.9 and in Holland 10. Countless diets, liposuction packages, exercise gyms have been successful money-making fads for US entrepreneurs for many years now. The fact remains that walking and biking are good for your health, reduce energy consumption and waste, and contribute to cleaner air and water (oil and rubber residues from roads to waterways).

I live in Olympia, Washington, where 9 months of the year the weather forecast is about some sort of precipitation. Every year, May is the bike commute month. In 2010, 1336 commuters signed up (the highest number since I moved to town 10 years ago), and 938 of them turned in their mileage logs, in spite of nearly twice the normal rainfall, with 22 days of measurable precipitation that month. 11, 837 commuter trips (average 4.4. mile one way) amounted to 84,452 miles or 3839 gallons of gasoline saved (which at 22 mpg corresponded to about 101,342 lbs. CO2 or 1.2 lb/mile of avoided emission). With respect to climate change, we are working on mitigating its impacts by reducing our urban emissions. We are also reducing our oil addiction. 69% of the participants were between the ages of 20 and 60 and only 4% between the ages of 12 and 18.

I draw two main conclusions from this:

1. There is a huge education need to tell teenagers that bicycling is cool and it is good for the world they and their children will live in. Cars are so yesterday! A friend once suggested football or movie stars should make surprise appearances in school buses to prevent the glut of minivan-driving Moms dropping offs their kids at schools (and around Olympia High School often right smack in the bike lane!) How about Lance Armstrong making surprise visits on his bike to downtowns across America? The up and coming generation seems as set on using cars as my parents generation was in the 1950s, no evolution there, no moving forward into the 21st century.

2. There is another huge education need: to make drivers (including teenage drivers) more aware and respectful of bicycles. While a car will detour to the other side of the street, actually use the passing lane (what a concept!) to avoid a pet walking on the side of the road, they will graze bikers elbows on a regular basis, honk their horns if bikers use "their" lane to turn to a cross street. I have been yelled at, honked at, friends have been hit by beer cans (full and empty), by side view mirrors, by maliciously open doors. And that is why most of us bike very wearily on dark wet days of winter when bike lanes are full of slippery litter (dead leaves, snow/gravel/salt shoveled from sidewalks) and when cars refuse to give an inch of their lanes. Respectful drivers will be a good incentive for people to use their bikes more often. Reporting bike-car accidents putting squarely the blame on bikers "wearing dark clothing" does not cut it. Large unwieldy cars (ex. SUVs, vans) for downtown areas are a danger to pedestrians and bikers alike because their drivers do not see them. I did not want to make this column a rant and it has become it.

I love bicycling to work, I feel myself extremely lucky to be able to do so and to do it a region of the US where bicycling is becoming part of a lifestyle. Born and raised in France I still prefer to tour in France where even fast drivers are aware of bicycle traffic, where my tires last longer because less glass and other trash accumulate in bike lanes. Armstrong has made an amazing contribution to the world by getting the American public's attention on a sport that was not popular and by encouraging people to consider biking to go to work, to go shopping and to enjoy a quiet weekend in the country. Now that Lance won't win another Tour, who will succeed in getting the public committed to more of a two-wheel lifestyle? The challenge is important for all of us who share the same planet.

Here are some helpful links:

Olympia Bike Commute
Roads friendly to bikes
Bike Map of Benton county
Oregon Bicycle Resources